In September I was carrying measurements of Crofer22APU steel. EDS and WDS techniques were applied to investigate chemical composition of oxide layers forming on materials surface. Particular attention was paid to precipitates. It was found that with increasing oxidation time the density of crystallites containing higher amount of chromium was also increasing. Additionally, it increase in Mn amount on the samples surface, compared to theoretical value, was observed.

Simulation model based on measurements of enhancement of light transmission to the silicon substrate revealed that 160nm diameter sphere should be the most relevant in that case.
This model will be improved in the spring 2013.

In September I attended th XXIIth Conference on Applied Arystallography which took place between the 2nd-6th this month in Targanice in Silesia region. Few talks I found interesting although there weren't too many on shape memory materials. In fact there was only one concerning the mechanics of twin boundary motion in Ni-Mn-Ga alloys. In September also I busied myslef with milling. The ribbons obtained by melt spinning technique from induction cast alloys were subjected to the following milling times 1, 3, 5 hours. A sampel was taken after each milling time for XRD analysis. I managed also to get the powders milled the longest analysed in terms of voulme fraction distribution.

During the month I was studying samples of alloys with five components (namely with Zr and Mo addition) using TEM. I took part in the conference „9-th Polish-Japanese Joint Seminar on Micro and Nano Analysis” where I gave presentation titled: „Effect of alloying elements on microstructure and properties of Al-Mn-Fe alloy". In September I also participated in the Polish conference for young scientists studying in the field of Materials Science called “School in Materials Science”. I gave short presentation during one of the session dedicated to non-ferrous alloys.

In this month I was mainly studying samples with Zr addition using TEM. I also performed some microhardness measurements. In the second part of the month I was preparing for the conference „9-th Polish-Japanese Joint Seminar on Micro and Nano Analysis” (abstract, presentation).