Abstract An attempt has been made to determine the effect of an addition of colloidal suspensions of the nanoparticles of magnesium oxide on the structure of water glass, which is a binder for moulding and core sands. Nanoparticles of magnesium oxide MgO in propanol and ethanol were introduced in the same mass content (5wt.%) and structural changes were determined by measurement of the FT-IR absorption spectra.

In this study, solidification/stabilization (S/S) of electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) which is generated during the production of steel from scrap metals and classified as hazardous waste were investigated by using different ratios of cement and low grade MgO (LG MgO) as binding agents. Type I PC 42.5 R portland cement and LG MgO which contains 70–80% MgO were used. S/S blocks that contain different ratios of binding agents which have 1/0.5 – 1/1 – 1/2 – 1/3 – 1/4 – 1/5 cement/LG MgO ratio and S/S blocks which contain only cement and no LG MgO agents were prepared. These blocks, which contain 3 different waste ratios according to weight, 20%, 30% and 40% respectively, were produced and exposed to 28-day water purification. At the end of the purification process, S/S blocks were extracted using TCLP (Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure) tests in order to determine the leaching behavior of Zn, Pb, and Cd in S/S blocks. By the end of this study, it was concluded that the recovery of EAFD is possible and applicable by immobilization. The findings of the study concluded that environmental performances or structural properties of blocks contain 30% waste by weight are suitable. This method is a proper one for recovering and treatment of EAFD with mixture of cement and LG MgO.

Y2O3-MgO nanocomposites are one of the most promising materials for hypersonic infrared windows and domes due to their excellent optical transmittance and mechanical properties. In this study, influence of the calcination temperature of Y2O3-MgO nanopowders on the microstructure, IR transmittance, and hardness of Y2O3-MgO nanocomposites was investigated. It was found that the calcination temperature is related to the presence of residual intergranular pores and grain size after spark plasma sintering. The nanopowders calcined at 1000°C exhibits the highest infrared transmittance (82.3% at 5.3 μm) and hardness (9.99 GPa). These findings indicated that initial particle size and distribution of the nanopowders are important factors determining the optical and mechanical performances of Y2O3-MgO nanocomposites.

High-power terahertz sources operating at room-temperature are promising for many applications such as explosive materials detection, non-invasive medical imaging, and high speed telecommunication. Here we report the results of a simulation study, which shows the significantly improved performance of room-temperature terahertz quantum cascade lasers (THz QCLs) based on a ZnMgO/ZnO material system employing a 2-well design scheme with variable barrier heights and a delta-doped injector well. We found that by varying and optimizing constituent layer widths and doping level of the injector well, high power performance of THz QCLs can be achieved at room temperature: optical gain and radiation frequency is varied from 108 cm⁻¹ @ 2.18 THz to 300 cm⁻¹ @ 4.96 THz. These results show that among II–VI compounds the ZnMgO/ZnO material system is optimally suited for high-performance room-temperature THz QCLs.