In this study, powder technology was used to obtain Fe-SiC composites in which SiC particles act as precursors to generate a large amount of turbostratic graphite dispersed in the composite matrix. The selection of the alloy composition was studied employing Thermo-Calc® software to obtain the temperature and composition range for the stabilization of the graphite phase in iron with a high yield. The extracted turbostratic 2D graphite particles were dispersed in mineral oil in order to evaluate the potential of these particles as a lubricating oil additive. The structure and morphology of the extracted graphite were examined by Raman spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), indicating the highly disordered nature of turbostratic graphite. Reductions in the friction coefficient and wear rate of a tribological pair were observed when compared to the pure mineral oil and mineral oil with commercial graphite particles added. The misorientation and increase in interplanar distances of turbostratic 2D graphite induce a low degree of interaction between these atomic planes, which contributes to the low-friction coefficient and the lower wear rate obtained for this system.

Among the rare earths, Cerium (Ce) and several of its compounds find a wide range of industrial applications. Cerium is also that most abundant of the rareearth elements, being found in several minerals (e.g. monazite) in high proportions. It is generally extracted from fractions obtained in the processing of these minerals. Potassium stearate has been used as one of the extracting agents for Ce (IV). In this study, the feasibility of extractingcerium both as Ce (IV) and Ce (In), by precipitation with sodium and potassium salts for stearic, lauric, palmitic, capric, oleic acids; mixture of these acids and saponified coconut oil was investigated. The main objtive was to study the extractibility of Ce (III) and Ce in coconut oil saponified by sodium hydroxide (NaOH); because both coconut oil and sodium hydroxide are available in Sri Lanka, and the method if successful could be economically used on a large scale. The extractibilities of Ce (111) and Ce (IV) ions were determined on a quantitative basis, by their conversion into acylates in each of the above systems over a range of pH values. The results showed that (a) the extent of extraction of Ce (III) and Ce (IV) are reasonably high in the saponified coconut oil, (b) Ce (IV) is best extracted with sodium salts and Ce (111) with potassium salts at a pHvaluearound 5, (c) more than 65 % of Ce (111) can be extracted by sodium salts in the pH range of 3.5-6.8 under carefully controlled conditions. Therefore coconut oil saponified by sodium hydroxide can be considered as a promising extracting medium for Ce (IV) ions especially, while the oil saponified by hydroxides of both sodium and potassium is promising for the extraction of Ce (111) ions.