Oxygen Transport Ceramic Membranes

The present quarterly report describes some of the investigations on the structural properties of dense OTM bars provided by Praxair and studies on newer composition of Ti doped LSF. In the current research, the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient were measured as a function of temperature in air. Based on these measurements, the charge carrier concentration, net acceptor dopant concentration, activation energy of conduction and mobility were estimated. The studies on the fracture toughness of the LSFT and dual phase membranes at room temperature have been completed and reported previously. The membranes that are exposed to high temperatures at an inert and a reactive atmosphere undergo many structural and chemical changes which affects the mechanical properties. To study the effect of temperature on the membranes when exposed to an inert environment, the membranes (LAFT and Dual phase) were heat treated at 1000 C in air and N{sub 2} atmosphere and hardness and fracture toughness of the membranes were studied after the treatment. The indentation method was used to find the fracture toughness and the effect of the heat treatment on the mechanical properties of the membranes. Further results on the investigation of the origin of the slow kinetics on reduction of ferrites have been obtained. The slow kinetics appears to be related to a non-equilibrium reduction pathway that initially results in the formation of iron particles. At long times, equilibrium can be reestablished with recovery of the perovskite phase. 2-D modeling of oxygen movement has been undertaken in order to fit isotope data. The model will serve to study ''frozen'' profiles in patterned or composite membranes