0000000001162804
AUTHOR
Vanni Lughi
Leading the way toward fuel parity in photovoltaics: The utility-scale market in Sicily, Italy
The global photovoltaic (PV) market has been growing exponentially since almost twenty years. This huge demand for photovoltaic systems has been mainly driven by public subsidies in the form of a variet y of national incentive schemes. However, in Countries where successful incentive schemes have been pioneered and are now – as planned - being brought to an end, the PV market is called to the challenge of surviving without any incentive to the end user. Grid and fuel-parity represent the keystone of this emerging new phase in the history of this renewable energy technology. In this paper we present a sensitivity analysis showing that in Sicily, Italy, the Levelized Cost of Energy from utili…
A Raman spectroscopy study of the oxidation processes in synthetic chromite FeCr2O4
Abstract A crystal of synthetic chromite FeCr2O4 has been annealed in air at 700 °C for 50 days at room pressure in order to study physical-chemical changes. After the annealing treatment, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images of the polished surface of the sample showed areas of different composition. Detailed Raman mapping revealed that the annealed chromite undergoes an oxidation process, proceeding inwards from the outer surface and leading to the transformation of chromite to magnetite, and ultimately to hematite. The oxidation process also leads to the formation of trellis-like lines, arguably via stress-related mechanisms associated with the phase transformation and consequent vo…
The effect of wear on the tetragonal-to-monoclinic transformation and the residual stress distribution in zirconia-toughened alumina cutting tools
Abstract Zirconia-toughened alumina cutting tools have been examined after machining an AISI 1040 steel. The Raman spectrum of zirconia and the fluorescence spectrum from alumina have been used to determine the extent of the tetragonal-to-monoclinic (t-m) transformation and the residual stresses in and around the worn-out crater, respectively. Although about 15% vol. m-zirconia is present even in a brand new cutting tool, it was shown that the crater region undergoes the t-m transformation up to 40% vol. In both cases, the transformed zone is concentrated near the surface. The residual stresses in alumina are slightly compressive in the new cutting tool and away from the crater region, but …