Lanthanum chromite-based materials have a good prospect for use in various high temperature applications, as well as an SOFC separator. A citrate–nitrate gel combustion reaction was used for the ...preparation of submicron crystalline strontium-substituted lanthanum chromite (LSC). The effect of the fuel-oxidant molar ratio and sample form prior to combustion was investigated in terms of reaction period, phase formation, particle size, morphology and agglomerate formation. Several characterization methods including scanning electron microscopy, mercury porosimetry, BET measurement, X-ray powder diffraction and thermal analysis were used to evaluate the influence of reaction mixture packing on powder characteristics for different citrate–nitrate (c/n) ratios. It was shown that the reaction period depends on the fuel/oxidant ratio and reaction mixture packing. The LSC powders prepared via the combustion route exhibited surface areas of about 12 m
2/g for the loose packed layer prepared samples and 7 to 11 m
2/g for samples prepared from a pellet. The nature of the agglomerates was studied from the pore size distribution in the green compacts pressed at different pressures. The sintering behaviour of powders and some of the electrical properties of sintered samples are reported. Sintering tests on LSC powders prepared via the combustion route showed that the sintering process started at about 900°C and proceeded in two steps in the presence of a liquid phase.
In 2018, the European Strategic Forum for research infrastructures (ESFRI) was tasked by the Competitiveness Council, a configuration of the Council of the EU, to develop a common approach for ...monitoring of Research Infrastructures' performance. To this end, ESFRI established a working group, which has proposed 21 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to monitor the progress of the Research Infrastructures (RIs) addressed towards their objectives. The RIs were then asked to assess their relevance for their institution. The paper aims to identify the relevance of certain indicators for particular groups of RIs by using cluster and discriminant analysis. This could contribute to development of a monitoring system, tailored to particular RIs. To obtain a typology of the RIs, we first performed cluster analysis of the RIs according to their properties, which revealed clusters of RIs with similar characteristics, based on to the domain of operation, such as food, environment or engineering. Then, discriminant analysis was used to study how the relevance of the KPIs differs among the obtained clusters. This analysis revealed that the percentage of RIs correctly classified into five clusters, using the KPIs, is 80%. Such a high percentage indicates that there are significant differences in the relevance of certain indicators, depending on the ESFRI domain of the RI. The indicators therefore need to be adapted to the type of infrastructure. It is therefore proposed that the Strategic Working Groups of ESFRI addressing specific domains should be involved in the tailored development of the monitoring of pan-European RIs.
