This dissertation presents the effects of atmosphere, time, and energy input (thermal and mechanical) on the kinetics of gas-solid and solid-solid reactions in systems of dysprosium, uranium, oxygen, and nitrogen. Accordingly, Chapter Two presents a novel synthesis technique used to form DyN via a gas-solid reaction between dysprosium and nitrogen. DyN was rapidly formed through a mechanochemic...

The introduction of rare-earth permanent magnets based on samarium-cobalt in about 1970, and neodymium-iron-boron magnets in the mid-nineteen eighties, has ushered in a new era in hard magnetic materials. This has resulted in a dramatic improvement in permanent magnet performance, with neodymium-iron-boron (Nd2Fe14B) magnets having a magnetic energy product up to an order of magnitude greater t...

•Develop a high-throughput experiment to study rare-event rupture•Fabricate 1,000 samples and stretch them simultaneously•Identify rupture of individual by image processing•Analyze the data from extreme value statistics Engineers place high premium on unexpected material subjected small or number cycles. Under such conditions, is rare event. Predicting event requires tests many extremely time-c...

We review our recent progress in the characterization of the embedding of rare-earth elements in nanometer-scale particles or phase-separated glassy regions within the core of silicabased optical fibres, and discuss future directions. OCIS codes: (060.2290) Fiber materials; (060.2410) Fibers, erbium; (060.2320) Fiber optics amplifiers and oscillators; (060.3510) Lasers, fiber; (160.5690) Rare-e...