A Review of Metallic Fractal Aggregates
ABSTRACT
Metals are the main components of the Earth’s mass and are characterized by high thermal and electrical conductivity as well as high reflectivity of electromagnetic fields. Finely divided metals are efficient catalysers and this indicates the relevance of surfaces when their ratio to volume becomes large. This is a characteristic of fractal aggregates and their constituent monomers (spheroidal or other) in the micrometer to nanometer scales. Exotic fern shaped aggregates are also produced. All aggregates exhibit large ratios of surface to volume. Condensation of metallic vapours allows to obtain particle sizes much smaller than those obtained via grinding techniques and far superior in purity. Exotic alloys of non miscible metals have been obtained at the micrometer scale. Thermal and laser evaporation methods of metals followed by condensation are described. Low gravity aggregation experiments were also carried out on aircraft in parabolic flight.
Metals are the main components of the Earth’s mass and are characterized by high thermal and electrical conductivity as well as high reflectivity of electromagnetic fields. Finely divided metals are efficient catalysers and this indicates the relevance of surfaces when their ratio to volume becomes large. This is a characteristic of fractal aggregates and their constituent monomers (spheroidal or other) in the micrometer to nanometer scales. Exotic fern shaped aggregates are also produced. All aggregates exhibit large ratios of surface to volume. Condensation of metallic vapours allows to obtain particle sizes much smaller than those obtained via grinding techniques and far superior in purity. Exotic alloys of non miscible metals have been obtained at the micrometer scale. Thermal and laser evaporation methods of metals followed by condensation are described. Low gravity aggregation experiments were also carried out on aircraft in parabolic flight.
Cite this paper
nullR. Slobodrian, C. Rioux and M. Piché, "A Review of Metallic Fractal Aggregates," Open Journal of Metal, Vol. 1 No. 2, 2011, pp. 17-24. doi: 10.4236/ojmetal.2011.12003.
nullR. Slobodrian, C. Rioux and M. Piché, "A Review of Metallic Fractal Aggregates," Open Journal of Metal, Vol. 1 No. 2, 2011, pp. 17-24. doi: 10.4236/ojmetal.2011.12003.
References
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[1] R. J. Slobodrian, “Fractal Cosmogony: Similarity of the Early Universe to Microscopic Fractal Aggregates,” Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Vol. 23, No. 3, 2005, pp. 727-729. [2] B. Mandelbrot, “Les Objets Fractals, Forme, Hasard et Dimension,” 3rd Edition, Flammarion, Paris, 1989. [3] G. A. Edgar, Ed. “Classics on Fractals,” Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, Boston, 1993. [4] J. Feder, “Fractals,” Plenum Press, New York, 1988. [5] R. J. Slobodrian and C. Rioux, “Test of Modified Newto- nian Dynamics in Picogravity: The Dark Matter Alterna- tive Solution,” Japan Society of Microgravity Applica- tions, Vol. 25, No. 3, 2008, pp. 243-246. [6] P. Deladurantaye, et al., “Effect of Gravity on the Growth of Fractal Aggregates,” Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Vol. 8, No. 10, 1997, pp. 1693-1709. doi:10.1016/S0960-0779(96)00133-6 [7] J. Blum, et al., “Dust from Space,” Europhysics News, Vol. 39, No. 3, 2008, pp. 27-29. doi:10.1051/epn:2008303 [8] A. Orr, “The IPE Facility in the ISS,” 38th COSPAR Sci- entific Assembly, Bremen, 15-18 July 2010, p. 293. [9] C. Rioux, L. Potvin and R. J. Slobodrian, “Particle-Parti- cle Aggregation with 1/r2 Forces in Reduced Gravity En- vironments,” Physical Review E, Vol. 52, No. 2, 1995, pp. 2099-2101. doi:10.1103/PhysRevE.52.2099 [10] M. Laliberté, et al., “A Clue for Unusual Metallic Aggre- gates with Monomers in the Nanometer Scale,” Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Vol. 22, No. 4, 2004, pp. 935-938. doi:10.1016/j.chaos.2004.03.014 [11] J.-C. Leclerc, Ph. Binette, M. Piché, N. McCarthy, C. Ri- oux and R. J. Slobodrian, “Alloys of Aluminium and Tun- gsten in the Micrometer Scale,” Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Vol. 452, No. 2, 2008, pp. L1-L4. doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2006.11.070 [12] R. J. Slobodrian, “Quantum Aspects of Fractal Structures and Monomers,” Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Vol. 14, No. 6, 2002, pp. 817-822.