La-Mg-Ni Based Alloys

La-Mg-Ni Based Alloys Abstract: Degradation behaviors of La2MgNi9, La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 alloys were studied. The results indicate that severe pulverization and corrosion are important factors leading to the capacity deterioration. However, it is puzzled that corrosion of the electrochemical cycled alloys is aggravated, which is inconsistent with the result that La2MgNi9 present poor cycling stability andalso the assumption that alloy with high Mg content is easy to be corroded. Then, the intrinsic anti-corrosion and anti-pulverization characteristics were mainly focused in the first part of this work. Immersion experiments demonstrate that the Mg-rich phases are more easily to be corroded. The intrinsic anti-corrosion resistance of the three alloys presents an improved trend which is inversely proportional to the abundance of the Mg-rich phases. However, the intrinsic anti-pulverization ability just presents an inverse trend, which is closely related to mechanical property of the phase structures. LaNi5 with the highest hardness is easy to crack, but the soft (La,Mg)Ni2 is more resistant to crack formation and spreading, suggesting a possibility to improve the anti-pulverization ability by adjusting the phase constitution. In general, the weaker corroded extent of La2MgNi9 in the electrochemical test is attributed to its better intrinsic anti-pulverization capability though the intrinsic anti-corrosion of La2MgNi9 is worse. As to La4MgNi19 which possesses excellent intrinsic anti-corrosion resistant, enhancement of the anti-pulverization ability is the key issue to improve the cycling stability. 1 Introduction Superlattice La-Mg-Ni based hydrogen storage alloys have received substantial attentions over the last decade because the excellent electrochemical performances used in nickel/metal hydride (Ni/MH) battery [1-5]. Up to now, A2B7 type alloys have been successful developed for the practical use [3]. However, AB2 and AB3 type alloys present poor cycling stability though the theoretical discharge capacities are higher than A2B7 type alloys [6-8]. In addition, A5B19 type alloys have been reported to possess good electrochemical performances, but they still need improvement to meet the practical application, especially on the cycling stability in the long-term reversible cycles [9-10]. It is well accepted that electrochemical capacity decrease of the metal hydride electrodes is caused by both the physical and chemical degradation [11-12]. In La-Mg-Ni system, factors affecting the capacity degradation were emphasized on pulverization and corrosion during the charge/discharge cyclings [13-17]. Corrosion leads to damage and disappearance of the phases which possess considerable hydrogen storage capacity. It has been reported that La-Mg-Ni alloys are easily to be corroded into La(OH)3 and Mg(OH)2 [13-15]. And these kinds of corrosion products are loose and passive which cannot protect the matrix for further corrosion [15-16]. Severe pulverization of La-Mg-Ni alloys during cycling had also been reported in many works [13-17]. Pulverization makes fresh surface of the electrodes alloys continuously exposed to the electrolyte and dramatically improves development of corrosion. Liu et al. classified the degradation process of the La-Mg-Ni-Co alloy into three stages: the pul verization and Mg oxidation stage, the Mg and La oxidation stage and the oxidation and passivation stage [14]. In addition, capacity degradation of the metal hydrides is closely related to the structural changes during absorption/desorption cycling. Our previous works demonstrated that transformation from crystallinity to amorphous viz. hydrogen induced amorphization (HIA) of La-Mg-Ni alloys occurred during the hydrogenation cycles and remarkably worsens both the gas-solid and electrochemical storage performances [18-19]. Understanding of the degradation mechanisms is the precondition for improvement of the cycling stability of the La-Mg-Ni based alloys. Several compounds including AB2, AB3, A2B7 and A5B19 type phase exist in this system, and the alloys usually present multi-phase microstructure. Though quiet a number of efforts have been applied on the degradation characters of the La-Mg-Ni based alloys, these works mainly focused on the overall capacity deterioration behaviors of the alloys. Diversity of the degradation characteristics of various compounds in this system is also lacking. In the present study, degradation mechanisms of three typical La-Mg-Ni alloys: La2MgNi9, La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 have been systematically investigated. In the first part of this work, corrosion and pulverization behaviors of the alloys, especially the intrinsic characteristics of the AB3, A2B7 and A5B19 type La-Mg-Ni phases during absorption/desorption cycling were generated. In a following paper, HIA and its in fluence on the hydrogen storage properties are discussed. 2 Experimental materials and methods 2.1 Alloy preparation The as-cast La2MgNi9, La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 alloy was prepared by induction levitation melting under argon atmosphere. The as-cast alloys were remelted twice for homogeneity. Appropriate excess of Mg was added in order to compensate for the evaporative loss of Mg during melting. Then the as-cast La2MgNi9, La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 alloys were annealed at 1143, 1173 and 1193 K respectively for 6 h protected in argon atmosphere. 2.2 Characterization The sample was fine polished and then etched using a mixed etchant (including water, ethanol, acetic acid, picric acid, nitric acid and hydrochloric acid) at 343K. Then metallographic microstructure of the alloys was observed using a laser scanning confocal microscope (LSCM: Olympus-OLS4000). Phase constitution of the alloys was also characterized by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM: FEI-Qanta 400) under backscatter electron mode (BSE) applied on the unetched samples. The chemical composition of various phases was studied by energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) equipped in the SEM. Crystal structures of the alloys were measured by an X-ray diffractometer (XRD: Bruker-D8 Advance) with Cu KÃŽÂ ±1 radiation. Micro-morphologies and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) were applied by means of a transmission electron microscopy (TEM: JEOL-2100 and FEI-F20) to examine the microstructural and crystallographic information. TEM samples were firstly crushed the bulk into fine powder , and then ultrasonic dispersion was performed in ethanol for 1800 s. Several drops of the mixed liquid were laid on a carbon membrane support on the copper grid, and dried in a vacuum oven. Particle size of the cycled alloys was tested by a laser particle size analyzer (Malvern-Mastersizer 3000) where the alloy particles were dispersed by absolute alcohol. Oxygen content of the electrochemical cycled and immersed alloys was performed on a nitrogen/oxygen tester (NCS-ON3000). Before the oxygen test, samples were immersed in deionized water for 24 h, then washed using absolute alcohol twice to remove the residual KOH, and dried in a vacuum drying oven. 2.3 Hydrogen storage properties Gas-solid cycling and PCT isotherm measurement were carried out by Suzuki -2SDWIN PCT system at 303K (Sieverts type). Before the PCT analysis, sample was activated as follow: evacuated at 473 K for 2 h, placed to 303K, hydrogenated under 3Mpa H2 (Purity 99.999%) pressure for 5 h, evacuated at 573 K for 2 h again. Each cycle consists of absorption at 2MPa for 600s and desorption by evacuating at 298K for 1200 s. For the electrochemical measurement, the alloy particles (40-50 µm) were mixed with carbonyl nickel powder in a weight ratio of 1:5 and cold pressed to form a pellet about 1g firstly. The pellets were then packed in a Ni foam substrate spot-welded with a Ni strip. The simulated three-electrode cell including a working electrode (metal hydride), a counter electrode (NiOOH/Ni(OH)2) and a reference electrode (Hg/HgO) was installed. Before electrochemical test, the alloy metal hydride electrode was immersed in 6 M KOH aqueous solution for 1d. The measurement to get the maximum capacity and cycling stability was to charge at current density of 105 mA/g for 4h followed by a rest of 10min, then discharged at the same current density to the cut-off voltage of -0.6 V. 3 Results and discussions 3.1 Microstructure and hydrogen storage performances LSCM and BSE micrographs of the three alloys are shown in Fig.1. Four contrasts can be detected in the La2MgNi9 alloy. The chemical quantitations of various contrast from EDS analysis are listed in Table 1, from which the four phases are speculated to be (La,Mg)Ni2, (La,Mg)Ni3, (La,Mg)2Ni7 and LaNi5. Five crystal structures including CaCu5-type, MgCu4Sn-type, PuNi3-type, Ce2Ni7-type and Gd2Co7-type are identified in XRD profile of the La2MgNi9 alloy, as shown in Fig.2. The structural parameters and phase abundance are refined and listed in Table 2. The results are in consistent with the metallographic observation that the main phase is (La,Mg)Ni3, then (La,Mg)Ni2and (La,Mg)2Ni7, but content of LaNi5 is rare. In case of the La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 alloy, metallographic and XRD characterization indicate that (La,Mg)Ni2disappears, (La,Mg)5Ni19 emerges and LaNi5 increases with elevation of the B-side stoichiometry. The main phase of the La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 alloy is (La,Mg)2Ni7 and (La,Mg)5Ni19 respectively, and the structural parameters and phase abundance are also listed in Table 2. Fig.3 displays P-C-Tcurves of the alloys, and the detailed data are given in Table 3. Theoretically, hydrogenation capability increases with reduction of the B-side stoichiometry in the La-Mg-Ni based alloys. However, the maximum hydrogen absorption content of the La2MgNi9 alloy is slightly lower than the La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 alloy. It is ascribed to the fact that some (La,Mg)Ni2 which can hardly absorb and desorb hydrogen at room temperature [8], existing in the La2MgNi9 alloy. The three alloys have analogic hydrogen absorption plateau. But both the desorption pressure and the reversible hydrogen capacity elevate with increase of the B-side stoichiometry of the three alloys. Reversible hydrogen capacity of the AB3-typed La2MgNi9 alloy is only 1.15 wt%, and the hysteresis effect is more evident than the other alloys. Electrochemical discharge curves and performances of the alloys are shown in Fig.4 and Table 3 respectively. Discharge capacities of the La2MgNi9 and La4MgNi19 alloy are lower than the La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 alloy. The lower discharge capacity of La2MgNi9 is due to the weak reversible hydrogen storage capacity. As to the La4MgNi19 alloy, it is attributed to high abundance of LaNi5 which is unsuited for the electrochemical application without alloying [20]. Furthermore, La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 presents better cycling stability than the other two alloys. Capacity retention after 100 cycles of the La2MgNi9 alloy is similar with that of the La4MgNi19 alloy. 3.2 Degradation characteristics after electrochemical cycling From morphology and EDS results of the alloys, it is clear that pulverization and corrosion have occurred after electrochemical cycling by 100 times (only La2MgNi9 alloy presents in Fig.5). XRD analysis shows that La(OH)3, Mg(OH)2 and La2O3 appear in the cycled alloys, as displayed in Fig.6. Likewise, morphology and SAED analysis of TEM confirm existence of La(OH)3 combined with La2O3 (stick-like), Mg(OH)2 (needle-like) and MgO (particles), which are marked with 1, 2 and 3 respectively as illustrated in Fig.7. The results are in consistent with the other literature studied on the corrosion products of a La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 alloy [21]. Detailed determinations of TEM are provided in the supplementary information (Fig.S1-S3). In addition, size and amount of La(OH)3 and La2O3 are obvious than that of Mg(OH)2 and MgO, indicating that corrosion of La is significant in the electrochemical environment. Mg(OH)2 and MgO are close to the alloy surface but very loose. It agrees well with the previous works that corrosion products of Mg are gel-type and cannot form a solid protection layer for further corrosion [15-16]. Compared among the three alloys, it is noteworthy that corrosion productions of the La2MgNi9alloy are less than the other alloys (see in Fig.6). Identically, oxygen contents of the electrochemical cycled alloys follow the order that La2MgNi9 1.5Mg0.5Ni7 4MgNi19, indicating that the corroded extent are aggravated (see in Fig.8). It is puzzled that the result is inconsistent with the electrochemical performances that La2MgNi9 possesses poor cycling stability. It also disagrees with the consideration that high Mg content is harmful to the corrosion resistance in La-Mg-Ni based alloys [22-24]. In order to comprehend this fact further, the intrinsic anti-corrosion resistance of the three alloys was investigated next. 3.3 The intrinsic anti-corrosion properties To avoid impacts of pulverization on the corrosion behaviors, the alloy particles with the same diameter (around 40 ÃŽÂ ¼m) were immersed in KOH solution at 60  °C for 15 d. Then the morphology, phase structure and oxygen content were measured for characterization of the intrinsic corrosion behaviors. SEM micrographs and EDS analysis of the alloy particles illustrate that severe corrosion occurred after immersion, the typical results are shown in Fig.9 (only La2MgNi9 alloy particles are given here). Compared to the electrochemical cycled alloys, the stick-like products which have been confirmed as composite of La(OH)3 and La2O3, are remarkable in the immersed samples which is due to aggravated corrosion at higher temperature. XRD profiles identify that the corrosion products are mainly La(OH)3, but La2O3 cannot be detected in the immersed alloys, as shown in Fig.10. Coincidently, SAED by TEM found that the stick-shaped phase is single-phase La(OH)3, as shown in Fig.11. The result suggests that La2O3 transforms to La(OH)3 during evolution of the corrosion process. Besides, Mg(OH)2 and MgO are also found existing in the immersed samples, and their morphologies are same with that in the electrochemical cycled alloys. However, Mg(OH)2can only be detected in La2MgNi9 from the identifications of XRD, indicating that corrosion of Mg is violent in La2MgNi9. Fig.12 is the oxygen contents of the immersed alloys, from which severity of corrosion of the three alloys are La2MgNi9 > La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 > La4MgNi19. To provide detailed information of the relationship between the corrosion behaviors and phase constitution, immersion test applied on the massive samples has also been studied (the condition is same with that of the powder samples). Fig.13 shows the SEM-BSE micrographs of the immersed samples (only La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 alloy are present here). Obviously, the corroded extent is inhomogeneous which is considered to be caused by differences of the anti-corrosion capabilities of the various phases. EDS analysis on two regions with diverse corrosion grades (as marked with 1 and 2 in Fig.13) shows no Mg but less O existing in region 1. Whereas, more Mg and O are detected in region 2 with severe corroded extent than region 1. Likewise, EDS-mapping indicates that the region possessing more Mg presents richer O, as shown in Fig.14. Similar result is more evident in the as-cast alloys, which is attributed to the inhomogeneous chemical composition and microstructure of the as-cast alloy, details can b e seen in the supplementary (Fig. S4 and S5). The aforementioned results demonstrate that the Mg-rich phases are easy to be corroded in the alkaline solution. It has been well demonstrated that Mg solubility in La-Mg-Ni alloys follows the order that (La,Mg)Ni2> (La,Mg)Ni3 > (La,Mg)2Ni7 > (La,Mg)5Ni19 > LaNi5 [25]. Thus the intrinsic anti-corrosion resistances of various phases in the La-Mg-Ni system are considered to be according with the inverse trend. This result is in agreement with several works where AB2and AB3 type La-Mg-Ni alloys have suffered serious corrosion after electrochemical experiments [8, 23-24]. The tendency is also exactly identical with that the anti-corrosion resistance is inversely proportional to the abundance of the Mg-rich phases. La2MgNi9 presents worse anti-corrosion capability because contents of the Mg-rich (La,Mg)Ni2and(La,Mg)Ni3 arehigher thanthe other two alloys. However, trend of the intrinsic anti-corrosion resistance is opposite to the corrosion extent of the three alloys after electrochemical cyclings. Concern to the fact that corrosion extent of the electrode alloys is also closely related to severity of pulverization during the electrochemical charge/discharge process, the pulverization properties of the alloys are carefully characterized then. 3.4 The intrinsic anti-pulverization properties In order to avoid influence of the additives in the electrochemical test on characterization of the intrinsic pulverization behaviors, the alloys are gaseous hydrogenated and dehydrogenated for 30 cycles. Morphology observation indicates that remarkable pulverization has occurred where decrease of the particle size and emergence of cracks can be seen clearly in the cycled alloys, as shown in Fig.15 (only La2MgNi9 alloy are present here). Then the particles sizes before (Sb) and after (Sa) cycling are measured and the size retention is calculated by Sb/Sa. It (Fig.16) shows that severity of pulverization for the three alloys are La2MgNi9 1.5Mg0.5Ni7 4MgNi19, which is just contrary to the tendency of the corrosion extent after the immersion experiment. Combined with the results of the intrinsic anti-corrosion and pulverization characterization, we can conclude that the weaker corrosion extent of La2MgNi9 in the electrochemical test is attributed to its better intrinsic anti-pulverization capability though the intrinsic anti-corrosion of La2MgNi9 is worse. It has been well accepted that pulverization is induced by the cell volume expansion upon hydrogen absorption [11-12]. Thus, large volume change leads to severe pulverization. Unfortunately, exact measurement of the volume expansion in the present work is difficult due to the multi-phase microstructure. Instead, we summarize the volume changes according to other experimental works where microstructures of these alloys are all sing-phase to ensure the accuracy as far as possible. Based on the data as listed in Table 4, there is no regular trend for the volume changes among the various structures in La-Mg-Ni system. And, no special relationship between the reported volume expansion data and the pulverization performances in the present work can be found. Besides, pulverization is believed to depend on the mechanical properties of the alloys [11-12]. Alloys with the more ductile character are more resistant to pulverization than the brittle materials. Usually, hydrogen storage alloys ar e hard and brittle, thus measuring ductility directly is difficult. Alternatively, Vickers hardness has been used to evaluate the preference of pulverization for the hydrogen storage alloys. And, previous works have found an almost inverse relationship between Vickers hardness and the pulverization rate [11-12, 30], suggesting the availability of Vickers hardness measurement on characterization of the anti-pulverization ability. Fig.17 gives indentations of the various phases in La2MgNi9 and La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 alloy. Evolution of Vickers hardness can be seen in Fig.18. It presents a linear relation between the Vickers hardness and B-side stoichiometry of the structures, which also agrees well with the pulverization behaviors of the alloys. Obviously, the mechanical property is an important factor affecting the anti-pulverization ability in the La-Mg-Ni phases. It is found that hardness differences of the AB3, A2B7 and A5B19 type phase are small. Under low loading of the hardness test, micro-cracks can hardly be observed in all the above three phases. Since the test force increase, micro-cracks can be seen in all these phases, but there is no obvious difference between them. Differently, LaNi5 is the hard phase, but hardness of (La,Mg)Ni2 is far more lower than the other phases. To comprehend more understanding on the crack formation of various phases, a massive sample with a polished surface was partial charged by electrochemical method, and the morphology and distribution of crack was observed. To highlight character of the hard and soft phase, the as-cast La2MgNi9 alloy was selected for the high abundance of LaNi5 and (La,Mg)Ni2. Microstructure characteristics of the as-cast La2MgNi9 alloy are given in the supplementary (Fig.S6-S7). As shown in Fig.19, quite a number of cracks can be observed in the sample which is only charged for 10 min. Most of the cracks exist in LaNi5 with the darkest contrast in the BSE image. One reason is that LaNi5 is the catalytic phase that primarily charged in the La-Mg-Ni system [31-32]. More importantly, it also ascribes to the brittle character of LaNi5 which agrees well with the above result that the hard phase is easy to crack formation. It is noteworthy that cracks are often stopped in front of (La,Mg)Ni2. Obviously, the soft phase is more resistant to crack formation and able to prevent the crack spreading. Similar result has been reported in other literatures where ductile secondary phases are believed to be beneficial to the cycling stability [33]. According to the above results, we can conclude that La4MgNi19 alloy is easy to pulverization as the high abundance of the hard phases LaNi5 and (La,Mg)5Ni19. As to La2MgNi9, little LaNi5 but existence of the soft (La,Mg)Ni2 and (La,Mg)Ni3 make it more resistant to crack emergence. These findings enlighten a way to improve the anti-pulverization ability by introduction appropriate abundance and distribution of soft secondary phases. 4 Conclusions In the present study, corrosion and pulverization behaviors of three typical La-Mg-Ni alloys: La2MgNi9, La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 and La4MgNi19 have been systematically investigated. All the alloys present multi-phase microstructure with (La,Mg)Ni3, (La,Mg)2Ni7and (La,Mg)5Ni19 as the main phase respectively. La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 possesses better electrochemical properties among the three alloys. It is found that pulverization and corrosion with the main product La(OH)3, combined with La2O3, Mg(OH)2 and MgO, have occurred after the electrochemical cycling. The overall corrosion extent of the electrochemical cycled alloys follow the order that La2MgNi9 1.5Mg0.5Ni7 4MgNi19. Immersion test demonstrate that the Mg-rich phases are easy to be corroded in the alkaline solution. The intrinsic anti-corrosion resistance are found to be La2MgNi9 1.5Mg0.5Ni7 4MgNi19, which is inversely proportional to the abundance of the Mg-rich phases. However, the intrinsic anti-pulverization ability just presents an inverse tre nd that La2MgNi9 > La1.5Mg0.5Ni7 > La4MgNi19. It is found that the mechanical property is an important factor affecting the anti-pulverization ability. Vickers hardness elevates with increase of the B-side stoichiometry of the various phases, which agrees well with the pulverization behaviors of the alloys. Furthermore, LaNi5 with the highest hardness is found to be easy to crack formation, but the soft (La,Mg)Ni2 is more resistant to crack formation and able to prevent the crack spreading. The weaker corrosion extent of La2MgNi9 in the electrochemical test is attributed to its better intrinsic anti-pulverization capability though the intrinsic anti-corrosion of La2MgNi9 is worse. Acknowledgments The authors are grateful to the Natural Science Foundation of China (NO. 51371094) and Natural Science Foundation Application of Inner Mongolia (NO.2014MS0526) for financial support. References [1]J Chen, N Kuriyama, H T Takeshita, H Tanaka, T Sakai, M Haruta. Hydrogen storage alloys with PuNi3-type structure as metal hydride electrodes. Electrochemical and Solid State Letters, 2000, 3: 249-252. [2]T Kohno, H Yoshida, F Kawashima, T Inaba, I Sakai, M Yamamoto, M Kanda. Hydrogen storage properties of new ternary system alloys: La2MgNi9, La5Mg2Ni23, La3MgNi14. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2000, 311: L5-L7. [3]S Yasuoka, Y Magari, T Murata, T Tadayoshi, J Ishida, H Nakamura, T Nohma, K Masaru. Development of high-capacity nickel-metal hydride batteries using superlattice hydrogen-absorbing alloys. Journal of Power Sources, 2006, 156: 662-666. [4]Y F Liu, Y H Cao, L Huang, M X Gao, H G Pan. Rare earth-Mg-Ni-based hydrogen storage alloys as negative electrode materials for Ni/MH batteries. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2011,509: 675-686. [5]J J Liu, S M Han, Y Li, L Zhang, Y M Zhao, S Q Yang, B Z Liu. Phase structure and electrochemical properties of La-Mg-Ni-based hydrogen storage alloys with superlattice structure. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2016, 41: 20261-20275. [6]J Guo, D Huang, G X Li, S Y Ma, W L Wei. Effect of La/Mg on the hydrogen storage capacities and electrochemical performances of La-Mg-Ni alloys. Materials Science and Engineering B, 2006, 131: 169-172. [7]B Liao, Y Q Lei, G L Lu, L X Chen, H G Pan, Q D Wang. The electrochemical properties of LaxMg2-xNi9 (x=1.0-2.0) hydrogen storage alloys. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2003, 356-357: 746-749. [8]T Yang, T T Zhai, Z M Yuan, W G Bu, S Xu, Y H Zhang. Hydrogen storage properties of LaMgNi3.6M0.4 (M=Ni, Co, Mn, Cu, Al) alloys. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2014, 617: 29-33. 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Effect of the La/Mg ratio on the structure and electrochemical properties of LaxMg3à ¢Ã‹â€ Ã¢â‚¬â„¢xNi9 (x=1.6-2.2) hydrogen storage electrode alloys for nickel-metal hydride batteries. Journal of Power Sources, 2004, 129: 358-367. [14]Y F Liu, H G Pan, Y J Yue, X F Wu, N Chen, Y Q Lei. Cycling durability and degradation behavior of La-Mg-Ni-Co-type metal hydride electrodes. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 2005, 395: 291-299. [15]X Z Sun, H G Pan, M X Gao, R Li, Y Lin, S Ma. Cycling stability of La-Mg-Ni-Co type hydride electrode with Al. Transaction of Nonferrous Metal Society of China, 2006, 16: 8-12. [16]P Zhang, Y N Liu, J W Zhu, X D Wei, G Yu. Effect of Al and W substitution for Ni on the microstructure and electrochemical properties of La1.3CaMg0.7Ni9-x(Al0.5W0.5)x hydrogen storage alloys. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2007, 32: 2488-2493. [17]Y H Zhang, D L Zhao, B W Li, H P Ren, X P Dong, X L Wang. Cycle stability of La0.7Mg0.3Ni2.55-xCo0.45Cux(x=0-0.4) electrode alloys. Transaction of Nonferrous Metal Society of China, 2007, 17: 816-822. [18]Y M Li, H W Zhang, Y H Zhang, H P Ren. Changes of the crystal struc

The Haitian Revolution Essay -- Toussaint LOuverture

The cause and effects of the Haitian Revolution have played, and continue to play, a major role in the history of the Caribbean. During the time of this rebellion, slavery was a large institution throughout the Caribbean. The success of the sugar and other plantations was based on the large slave labor forces. Without these forces, Saint Domingue, the island with the largest sugar production, and the rest of the Caribbean, would face the threat of losing a profitable industry. The Haitian Revolution did not just start and end in one day. Instead, the entire revolution took place over a very event filled thirteen years. The start of the revolution was influenced by many other incidents. Including slave revolts throughout Saint Domingue beginning in the 1790s, and other world affairs such as the French Revolution in 1789, the passing of United Sates Bill of Rights in 1791, and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man in 1794. Of the three, The Rights of Man probably was probably the one affair that truly angered the people of Saint Domingue the most. In France, this law was supposed to provide people with the rights of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Therefore, the people of Saint Domingue felt that because they were a French colony that they should be entitled to the same rights as the citizens of France. Unfortunately, the French government did not feel the same, and this angered the inhabitants of Saint Domingue. But the slaves of Saint Domingue "did not need to hear the revolutionary slogans of ?liberty, equality, and fraternity? or ?the rights of man ? to plot their freedom. Slave revolts were endemic in every slave society, and the quest for freedom was never far from the minds of many great slaves" (Knight 201). .. ... were other people who were also essential in the successful outcome of this rebellion. This Revolution sparked a new hope in the eyes of slaves across the world. It marked only the beginning of the end to a treacherous institution. For the state newly renamed Haiti, the birth of the first republic in the world led by persons of African descent had emerged. Bibliography Knight, Franklin. The Caribbean: The Genesis of a Fragmented Nationalism. New York: Oxford University Press, 1978. Steward, T.G. The Haitian Revolution 1791 to 1804. New York: Russell & Russell, 1914. Bellegrade-Smith, Patrick. Haiti: The Breached Citadel. San Francisco: Westview Press, 1990 Ott, Thomas. The Haitian Revolution 1789-1804, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press, 1973. Parkinson, Wenda. ?This Gilded African?: Toussaint L?Ouverture. New York: Quartet Books, 1978.

Disarmament of Paramilitary Groups in the Former Yugoslavia :: Political Science

Disarmament of Paramilitary Groups in the Former Yugoslavia The Committee on Disarmament and International Security has taken upon the task of disarming paramilitary groups in Yugoslavia. It is important that we examine states' policies toward disarmament and prevention of the proliferation of light weapons. While states generally support active and forceful disarmament of paramilitary groups, it is important to note that some nations have a stronger commitment to the containment of the small arms. Two separate views have emerged regarding the cause of the war in Yugoslavia, each of them drawing their conclusions from a different set of historical facts. One interpretation claims that the war is the result of an act of Serbian aggression instigated by an nationalistic leader, Slobodan Milosevic. The other side holds that his is a civil war based on the revival of ancient ethnic conflicts in the region that erupted after the fall of communism, States in the international community have aligned according to their interpretation of the history of the region. Argentina does not have a major role on this topic, but has strong trade ties with the United States and will side with them on the issue. The United States adopts a different interpretation on the issue than the rest of the world. Most of Europe, except Great Britain, was extremely critical of the actions the United States took in the bombing in Yugoslavia. The leaders believed that the campaign would only make a bad situation worse. Russian government criticized the Clinton Administration for it's actions. China also disagreed with the United States, saying they had no right to intervene in the international affairs of Yugoslavia, regardless of the actions taken by Milosevic. Argentina will side with the United States unless they propose an idea to make all the countries pay for an active and forceful disarmament of paramilitary groups.

Mannerism

Manners in Today's Society Good manners have shifted over the past generations from â€Å"caring for others† to â€Å"pleasing ourselves. † With pleasing ourselves comes a loss of respect for one another and its is a growing problem. People no longer take time to interact with one another due to our fast paced high tech lives. We are not the courteous and thoughtful people we used to be. This research paper will explain how our manners have changed and why. In today's society email, IM and text messaging is our main source of communication.This technology is slowly is affecting the way we interact with one another decreasing the amount of time in face-to-face conversation. People text while driving, then flip you off when you beep at them for not paying attention. Then you have the people who talk extra loud on their cell phone in public and they get mad at you when Join into their conversation. If they weren't talking so loud you wouldn't have Joined in. Nowadays a sim ple courtesy smile or hello might go unnoticed because of our inability to look away from the cell phone, lap top or ‘pod.Making the person who gave the smile or hello feel you were being rude, when you were Just preoccupied. Most of us today are way too concerned with pleasing ourselves to lend a helping hand. Holding a door open for someone used to be a natural gesture, now it's can be considered a tedious task. People are more worried about how helping someone will affect their own life, will it put them a little behind schedule or somehow make them late for a dinner? What happened to common courtesy and the reward of Just being able to make someone day?Television also has a big influence on our manners can because the media gives praise to bad behavior and screw ups. Making adults, teens and children think acting rude and obnoxious will earn them popularity amongst friends and peers. When all it really does is make them look and sound foolish. Family talk at the dinner tab le is being replaced with television. Other rude behavior done at the dinner table is testing or talking on the phone, this is a habit children and teens everywhere are doing and it drives most parent's crazy. There are many theories about how we as a society let our manners get to this point.Some experts think parent's are no longer teaching their children common routers causing them to think it is natural to not say please or thank you. Others think technology is to blame. The truth of the matter is bad mannerism are beginning to have an impact on peoples life in a big way†¦ In 2002 a survey conducted by Public agenda show some shocking statistics about manners. In it, 88 percent of respondents said they often or sometimes came across people who were rude or disrespectful, and 79 percent of them felt that disrespect and lack of courtesy were major problems.Furthermore, 62 percent said they were bothered a great deal by engine rudeness in public. Those are large numbers, which clearly shows that more than half of Americans are not pleased with the current situation. Another statistic shows 81 percent of the united states admits to testing while driving while another study shows the average child will watch 8,000 murders on TV before finishing elementary school. By age eighteen, the average American has seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 40,000 murders. At a meeting in Nashville, TN last July, Dry.John Nelson of the American Medical Association (an endorser of National TV-Turnoff Week) said that if 2,888 out of 3,000 studies show that TV violence is a casual factor in real-life mayhem, â€Å"it's a public health problem. † The American Psychiatric Association addressed this problem in its endorsement of National TV-Turnoff Week, stating, â€Å"We have had a long-standing concern with the impact of television on behavior, especially among children. † Having better manners will not only make you standout in a crowd, but it will mak e the person receiving your thoughtful gesture feel uplifted. Mannerism Manners in Today's Society Good manners have shifted over the past generations from â€Å"caring for others† to â€Å"pleasing ourselves. † With pleasing ourselves comes a loss of respect for one another and its is a growing problem. People no longer take time to interact with one another due to our fast paced high tech lives. We are not the courteous and thoughtful people we used to be. This research paper will explain how our manners have changed and why. In today's society email, IM and text messaging is our main source of communication.This technology is slowly is affecting the way we interact with one another decreasing the amount of time in face-to-face conversation. People text while driving, then flip you off when you beep at them for not paying attention. Then you have the people who talk extra loud on their cell phone in public and they get mad at you when Join into their conversation. If they weren't talking so loud you wouldn't have Joined in. Nowadays a sim ple courtesy smile or hello might go unnoticed because of our inability to look away from the cell phone, lap top or ‘pod.Making the person who gave the smile or hello feel you were being rude, when you were Just preoccupied. Most of us today are way too concerned with pleasing ourselves to lend a helping hand. Holding a door open for someone used to be a natural gesture, now it's can be considered a tedious task. People are more worried about how helping someone will affect their own life, will it put them a little behind schedule or somehow make them late for a dinner? What happened to common courtesy and the reward of Just being able to make someone day?Television also has a big influence on our manners can because the media gives praise to bad behavior and screw ups. Making adults, teens and children think acting rude and obnoxious will earn them popularity amongst friends and peers. When all it really does is make them look and sound foolish. Family talk at the dinner tab le is being replaced with television. Other rude behavior done at the dinner table is testing or talking on the phone, this is a habit children and teens everywhere are doing and it drives most parent's crazy. There are many theories about how we as a society let our manners get to this point.Some experts think parent's are no longer teaching their children common routers causing them to think it is natural to not say please or thank you. Others think technology is to blame. The truth of the matter is bad mannerism are beginning to have an impact on peoples life in a big way†¦ In 2002 a survey conducted by Public agenda show some shocking statistics about manners. In it, 88 percent of respondents said they often or sometimes came across people who were rude or disrespectful, and 79 percent of them felt that disrespect and lack of courtesy were major problems.Furthermore, 62 percent said they were bothered a great deal by engine rudeness in public. Those are large numbers, which clearly shows that more than half of Americans are not pleased with the current situation. Another statistic shows 81 percent of the united states admits to testing while driving while another study shows the average child will watch 8,000 murders on TV before finishing elementary school. By age eighteen, the average American has seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 40,000 murders. At a meeting in Nashville, TN last July, Dry.John Nelson of the American Medical Association (an endorser of National TV-Turnoff Week) said that if 2,888 out of 3,000 studies show that TV violence is a casual factor in real-life mayhem, â€Å"it's a public health problem. † The American Psychiatric Association addressed this problem in its endorsement of National TV-Turnoff Week, stating, â€Å"We have had a long-standing concern with the impact of television on behavior, especially among children. † Having better manners will not only make you standout in a crowd, but it will mak e the person receiving your thoughtful gesture feel uplifted. Mannerism Manners in Today's Society Good manners have shifted over the past generations from â€Å"caring for others† to â€Å"pleasing ourselves. † With pleasing ourselves comes a loss of respect for one another and its is a growing problem. People no longer take time to interact with one another due to our fast paced high tech lives. We are not the courteous and thoughtful people we used to be. This research paper will explain how our manners have changed and why. In today's society email, IM and text messaging is our main source of communication.This technology is slowly is affecting the way we interact with one another decreasing the amount of time in face-to-face conversation. People text while driving, then flip you off when you beep at them for not paying attention. Then you have the people who talk extra loud on their cell phone in public and they get mad at you when Join into their conversation. If they weren't talking so loud you wouldn't have Joined in. Nowadays a sim ple courtesy smile or hello might go unnoticed because of our inability to look away from the cell phone, lap top or ‘pod.Making the person who gave the smile or hello feel you were being rude, when you were Just preoccupied. Most of us today are way too concerned with pleasing ourselves to lend a helping hand. Holding a door open for someone used to be a natural gesture, now it's can be considered a tedious task. People are more worried about how helping someone will affect their own life, will it put them a little behind schedule or somehow make them late for a dinner? What happened to common courtesy and the reward of Just being able to make someone day?Television also has a big influence on our manners can because the media gives praise to bad behavior and screw ups. Making adults, teens and children think acting rude and obnoxious will earn them popularity amongst friends and peers. When all it really does is make them look and sound foolish. Family talk at the dinner tab le is being replaced with television. Other rude behavior done at the dinner table is testing or talking on the phone, this is a habit children and teens everywhere are doing and it drives most parent's crazy. There are many theories about how we as a society let our manners get to this point.Some experts think parent's are no longer teaching their children common routers causing them to think it is natural to not say please or thank you. Others think technology is to blame. The truth of the matter is bad mannerism are beginning to have an impact on peoples life in a big way†¦ In 2002 a survey conducted by Public agenda show some shocking statistics about manners. In it, 88 percent of respondents said they often or sometimes came across people who were rude or disrespectful, and 79 percent of them felt that disrespect and lack of courtesy were major problems.Furthermore, 62 percent said they were bothered a great deal by engine rudeness in public. Those are large numbers, which clearly shows that more than half of Americans are not pleased with the current situation. Another statistic shows 81 percent of the united states admits to testing while driving while another study shows the average child will watch 8,000 murders on TV before finishing elementary school. By age eighteen, the average American has seen 200,000 acts of violence on TV, including 40,000 murders. At a meeting in Nashville, TN last July, Dry.John Nelson of the American Medical Association (an endorser of National TV-Turnoff Week) said that if 2,888 out of 3,000 studies show that TV violence is a casual factor in real-life mayhem, â€Å"it's a public health problem. † The American Psychiatric Association addressed this problem in its endorsement of National TV-Turnoff Week, stating, â€Å"We have had a long-standing concern with the impact of television on behavior, especially among children. † Having better manners will not only make you standout in a crowd, but it will mak e the person receiving your thoughtful gesture feel uplifted.

9/11 Conspiracies Essay

On September 11th, 2001, Islamic terrorists hijacked four passenger airlines. Two of the planes flew into the twin towers; one plane flew into the Pentagon; and the other plane was aimed at Washington D.C., but was taken over by passengers on the plane and crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. In total, nearly 3,000 people died including 227 civilians on the plane and 19 hijackers. These hijackers were believed to be under the command of Osama Bin Laden, the head of the terrorist group Al Qaeda. However, the question of whether these attacks are truly as the government has portrayed or whether they actually part of a larger scheme to justify war in Iraq has come into light in recent years. Many individuals criticize the story told by the federal government and create alternate theories that explain some confusion with the attacks. The most popular and convincing of these theories is the controlled demolition and collapse of the twin towers by the federal government. The radical side of the political left was the first to start the conspiracy theories concerning 9/11. People have always had a deep distrust of our government. The most convincing of the theories about 9/11 is the strategic placement of bombs in the three buildings to cause a collapse (NewsOne, 2012). When you watch the videos of the collapsing towers, it looks like a controlled demolition instead of what one would expect from a building just hit by a plane or collapsing from a fire (Brain, 2013). The buildings collapse in on themselves rather than burning from the bottom up which creates a gargantuan amount of skepticism as to the accuracy of the story told by the government. So when people see something that doesn’t make sense, such as how three buildings collapsed from a fire, it begs lots of questions (Brain, 2013). This allowed many cu rious conspirators with an abundance of time on their hands to snoop around and see what they could possibly find that would better explain the actual cause of the collapse of the three buildings, disproving the official story expressed by the government. It is also important to understand how conspiracy theorists  build their case to perpetuate certain conspiracies. Upon examining the collapse of the north tower, the south tower, and WTC 7, it is easily determined that the collapse of these three buildings is not only unusual, it is almost unbelievable. No skyscraper has ever collapsed by a fire alone; however, on the day of the attacks, a blaze took down three separate towers. It is highly improbable that such a fire would take down two skyscrapers that stood 110 stories high and an additional building that was never touched by a plane. These discrepancies grant conspirators a form of â€Å"credibility† that makes their theories believable to many people. Although the official story may seem a bit anomalous, that doesn’t necessarily give a reason why people believe it. Scandals like the Iran-Contra affair with President Reagan and the Watergate Scandal with President Nixon create a deep distrust with many people and their government when such scandals prove that the government and its leaders deliberately mislead or lie to the public. So much so that people often look to find things that the government could be lying about or covering up. When conspirators start to gather evidence for their theories, this same process occurs (Brain, 2013). After discovering scandals involving the federal government, it’s impossible to trust all of the official stories told by the government. Furthermore, even if the collapse of the north and south towers is believable, the collapse of the third building is extremely difficult to believe as it was never touched by a plane. It seems impossible that a building that was never touched by anything except fire would completely collapse if no tower has ever been completely destroyed by a fire before (911Truth, n.d.) . According to Van Romero, an explosives expert and Vice President of the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, there had to have been explosives in the building for it to have collapsed in such a demolition-like manner. Additionally, the controlled explosions that were theorized to have taken place in the towers have been accredited with puffs of dust and debris seen being shot out from the building (Popular Mechanics, 2013). There is no way to explain the puffs of dust shooting out of the buildings from a mere fire that caused a collapse of the building without there being an external force of explosions. Because of the suspicious circumstances of the 9/11 event, there must be some amount of skepticism. The government and its leaders are historically proven to not be above lying to the public from instances like  Watergate and Iran-Contra affair. 9/11 could just as easily be the same way. Without clear answers to these questions the reality of an inside job is immense and cannot be overlooked. Although there are many who refuse to believe the official story told by the federal government, there are also large quantities of people who do believe the official story. Many people consider the World Trade Center collapse as a highly unlikely scenario unless additional force was added to bring the building down. However, others find it extremely difficult to believe that the government would commit such an atrocity and would instead argue that the structure of the building and widespread damage from debris were the main contributors to the collapse of the buildings (Popular Mechanics, 2013). Without solid proof, it is preposterous to believe a theory that does not have any facts or basis for the assertions that it makes. For example, many often believe that even if the terrorist attacks on 9/11 were true, there are still some unanswered questions. Conspiracy theorists are quick to draw a link between the 9/11 attacks and the war in Iraq claiming it was a justification for invasion as support of it being a government conspiracy. However, this is clearly false in that the justification in the intervention in Iraq was the risk that Sadam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction meaning that 9/11 was not needed as justification for the war in Iraq. Another reason the notion of inside job is ludicrous is because it would be impossible for all of the media to gloss over such an event had it been a governmental conspiracy. There are also no hard facts for conspirators to base their theories on meaning there is no reason to believe them. To understand the collapse of the towers it is important to understand the structure of the buildings. The twin towers were created using â€Å"innovative† design. It was built with central core columns like most other buildings. However, instead of reinforcing the columns with fireproof concrete, they decided to fortify the columns using a sprayed on form of fire proofing called â€Å"Passive† fire proofing, which was much faster but also less effective (debunking911). This is what allowed the jet fuel from the plane to be so deadly. Many people argue that jet fuel is not near hot enough to melt steel, which is actually true. However, jet fuel burns between 800 and 1500 degrees Fahrenheit while the melting point of steel is around 2750 degrees Fahrenheit. Most experts agree though that the steel doesn’t need to melt for the entire building to  collapse. According to Farid Alfawak-hiri, the senior engineer of the American Institute of Steel Construction says th at at 1100 degrees Fahrenheit, Steel loses 50 percent of its strength. At 1800 degrees Fahrenheit, Steel is less than 10 percent. This immense heat can then cause Steel to become bent and warped which can in turn collapse the entire building (Popular Mechanics 2013). The first plane crashed into the 94th through the 98th floors of the first tower; the second plane crashed into the 78th through 84th floors of the south building. Additionally, there was damage in both of the lobbies of the buildings before the collapse of the two towers. Conspirators make a common claim that the planes could not have caused that much damage to go through over 80 floors to reach the lobby without some sort of explosive material. However, The National institutes of Standards and Technology released a report revealing that the debris of the plane had sliced through the elevator shaft which created an outlet for jet fuel. If the fuel came into contact with any combustible sources, it would immediately explode causing severe damage. Jet fuel traveling down the elevator shaft would cause extensive damage to the lobby as well. A similar observation as to the cause of the damage in the lobby was noted in the South’s building also (Popular Mechanics 2013). This fact illustrates the improbability of explosives being needed to cause a collapse of the skyscrapers. Despite the plethora of convincing theories about the attack of September 11th, many people will still continue to remain unconvinced due to the lack of evidence, even if the government was truly involved with the collapse of the twin towers. Furthermore, people who don’t believe the conspiracies about the twin towers would contend that the actual structure of the building and the intense launching of debris from the crash were the causes to the collapse of the towers, not bombs planted by the government. The lack of factual evidence on the side of the conscripts coupled with the overwhelming evidence that the government was not involved makes i t nearly impossible to believe that 9/11 was an inside job. References Brain, M. (n.d.). How Conspiracy Theories Work. HowStuffWorks. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://people.howstuffworks.com/conspiracy-theory2.htm Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories and Controlled Demolition Myths – Government Planning. (n.d.). Debunking 9/11 Conspiracy Theories and Controlled Demolition Myths – Government Planning. Retrieved February 3, 2014, from http://www.debunking911.com/meeting.htm Popular Mechanics. (n.d.). Debunking the 9/11 Myths: Special Report – The World Trade Center. Popular Mechanics. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/news/debunking-911-myths-world-trade-center â€Å"Reality Check: More American’s are â€Å"Rethinking† 9/11† 9/11?. (n.d.). 911Truthorg. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://www.911truth.org/tag/controlled-demolition/ The 11 Most Compelling 9/11 Conspiracy Theories. (2012, September 11). News One RSS. Retrieved February 2, 2014, from http://newsone.com/742485/the-11-most-compelling-911-conspiracy-theories/

Consumer Buying Behavior for Life Insurance

Consumer buying behavior is nothing but their needs, which arouse them to buy. There is hierarchy of need from high level to low level. They initiate to buy their high level need after completed that they move for another need. Consumers 1st recognize their need or problem then gather information about that product. They get many alternatives regarding that product then they evaluate each and every criterion, which give them bundle of attribute towards that product. Now they choose among one of them to buy and they make decision to buy that product. There are some factors influence them to buy.These are cultural factor, social factor and demographic factors. ? Culture factors include their region, culture and their social classes, which is based on their education and occupation. ? Social factors include reference, groups and family, which influence them to buy according to their choice. People buy product according to its role and status. ? Demographic factors includes age group, pe rsonality, occupation, life style etc. people buy product according to under comes all these factors. Introduction Insurance has got its origin from the concept of Indemnity.Indemnity against to loss, it has occurred due to some unavoidable circumstances. To some, the concept of insurance has got its origin related to the uncertainty in the life. Uncertainty has been the integral part of everyone's life, be the uncertainty in terms of money, uncertainty in terms of life etc. Throughout the tenure every other individual's effort is directed towards avoiding this uncertainty. The concept of insurance has got its origin from this very effort of avoiding the uncertainty. Though it is not possible to avoid the uncertainty, it is highly possible to compensate the loss, which has occurredVIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 6 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY due to happening of this uncertainty. This compensation of unavoidable circumstances (uncertainty ), which has occurred, is known as Insurance. It is the pooling of funds by many to compensate the loss of few, whereby many individuals pool themselves together to create a fund in order to compensate the loss that has occurred to the few. Insurance as we know today can be traced to the Great Fire of London which, in 1666 AD, destroyed 13200 houses.In the aftermath of this disaster, Nicholas Barbon opened an office to insure buildings. In 1680, he established England's first fire insurance company, â€Å"The Fire Office†, to insure brick and frame homes. Gradually the concept of insurance came to be understood as a contract that offered the purchaser protection against the financial loss due to specific incident. Since the risk of financial loss was to be spread amongst the large group of people, the extent of financial loss, In the event of mishap occurred, became less devastating to the individual.Though the concept of insurance is old as history of mankind, back to some 6 000 years, it got its presence registered in India somewhere in 1818 with opening up of Oriental Life Insurance Company in Calcutta by Europeans. During those years Indians were considered as substandard and they were forced to give high premium on account of their low profile. However with the continuous effort of few eminent people Indians were later considered as of equal status and they were charged the normal rate, at par with the Europeans.This was majorly due to the establishment of first Indian life Insurance company, Bombay Mutual Life Assurance society in the year 1870. Later on the development of Indian life insurance industry was more fired by the patriotic sentiments and gave rise to number of Indian life insurance companies viz. United India in Madras, National Indian and National Insurance in Calcutta and the Co-operative Assurance at Lahore were amongst those company which was formed to treat the Indian populace at par.With increase in the pressure from Indian intell ect, to give the Indian Insurance industry an organized structure, Government of India was forced to pass Life insurance Companies act, 1912 and Provident Fund act. But this was not the end to the suffering of Indian populace that even this act recognized the demarcation between the Europeans and Indian while charging the premium, then came the act of 1938 which not only governed the Life Insurance Industry but also had its spread VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 7 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY to the Non life Insurance Industry.With the increase in atrocities from all these companies, the demand to amend the prevailing act of 1938 assumed velocity. Thus in the year 1956 the act was passed as Life Insurance Corporation act, 1956 on 19th June, 1956 which called for nationalization of all the Insurance company working in India under one name as Life insurance corporation of India (hereafter LIC). Thus LIC was formed on 1st September 1956, wit h an objective to spread life insurance especially in rural areas as a mean to provide the protection cover to the life of Indian populace and as tool to help them in the time of financial need at a reasonable cost.Till 1999 LIC was the only life insurance player in Indian Life Insurance field, when government of India decided to amend the then prevailing act prohibiting the private life insurance player to enter the Indian market. It was Insurance Regulatory Authority, 1999 (IRA) that gave the freedom the private players to play in the field. But the basic motive for introducing such an act was not fulfilled as the amended act was meant for only regulation purpose only and not as a development tool and hence the act was further modified to add the element of development to the concept and thus came the current prevailing act i. . Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), 1999. It was further amended to incorporate the element of competitiveness. Thus Government of Indi a via IRDA permitted the private Life Insurance player also to enter the Indian field; and made some provision for foreign insurance companies that if they want to enter the Indian market they can do so but to the extent of 26 % of share only with any of Indian partner. Today almost 15 private life insurance companies are working India, some in wholly owned format and some as a joint venture with foreign company or with Indian company.Together they hold the market share of approx. 24 % in life insurance market. Still LIC holds the kingship with almost 76 % of market share. That's the good news for the LIC people on one part but on another aspect if we deal that shows the pace at which the private life insurance companies are moving, they are defiantly going to give the tough fight to LIC. The leadership lies not in getting the maximum out of market share but it is there somewhere in understanding the reason for the choice of one product over another one. VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABADPage 8 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY Consumer hierarchy of needIt is important to understand the relevance of human needs to buyer behavior remember, marketing is about satisfying needs). Need as a physiological or psychological deficiency a person feels the compulsion to safety, suggesting that need creates tension that can influence a person’s work attitudes and behavior. Customers set an order for their needs from high level – low level need. They prefer 1st, which is most essential for them, after completed that, they give privilege to next need.There are five needs exist in a hierarchy – Need- Physiological needs such as food, air, water, heat, and the basic necessities of survival need to be satisfied. Safety -Need for a secure environment, protection and stability in the events of day to day’s life, Such as life insurance. It make people tension free about any risk at their life. Society- At the third level we meet our social and belongingness needs i. e. we marry, or join groups of friends, etc. person paying tax according to their income, feels the social responsibility and acceptance by society as a good citizen.Life insurance is also a part of the social needs, which reduce the tax and also cover the risk with the attribution of facilities towards plans. Esteem- Esteem means that you achieve something that makes you recognized and gives personal satisfaction, example writing a book, investment for family obligation or have a pension plan for support at future, which arise self respect insight a person. Self actualization – Self actualization is achieved by few. Here a person is one of a small number to actually do something.For example, Neil Armstrong self-actualized as the first person to reach the Moon. The study of how and why people purchase goods and services is termed consumer buying behavior. The term covers the decision-making processes from those that precede the p urchase of goods or services to the final experience of using the product or service. Models of consumer VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 9 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY buying behavior draw together the various influences on, and the process of, the buying decision.They attempt to understand what happens within the consumer between his or her exposure to marketing stimuli and the actual decision to purchase. Characteristics of Indian consumer behavior The Indian consumers are noted for the high degree of value orientation. Such orientation to value has labeled Indians as one of the most discerning consumers in the world. Even, luxury brands have to design a unique pricing strategy in order to get a foothold in the Indian market. Indian consumers have a high degree of family orientation.This orientation in fact, extends to the extended family and friends as well. Brands with identities that support family values tend to be popular and accep ted easily in the Indian market. Indian consumers are also associated with values of nurturing, care and affection. These values are far more dominant that values of ambition and achievement. Product which communicate feelings and emotions†¦ What is insurance? Insurance is a policy from a large financial institution that offers a person, company, or other entity reimbursement or financial protection against possible future losses or damages.The meaning of insurance is important to understand for anybody that is considering buying an insurance policy or simply understanding the basics of finance. Insurance is a hedging Instrument used as a precautionary measure against future contingent losses. This instrument is used for managing the possible risks of the future. What is life insurance? Life Insurance is the key to good financial planning. On one hand, it safeguards your money and on the other, ensures its growth, thus providing you with complete financial well being.Life Insur ance can be termed as an agreement between the policy owner and the insurer, where the insurer for a consideration agrees to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of the insured individual's or individuals' death or other event, such as terminal illness, critical illness or VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 10 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY maturity of the policy. Life insurance plans, unlike mutual funds, are beneficial when you look at them as a long term avenue of investment which also offers protection through life cover. Life insurance policies are broadly categorized into two Types- Traditional Plans ? Unit Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs) Traditional planTraditional policies offer in-built guarantees and define maturity benefits through variety of products such as guaranteed maturity value. The investment risk in traditional life insurance policies is borne by life insurance companies. Additionally, the investment decisions are regulate d to a large extent by IRDA rules and regulations, ensuring stable returns with minimal risk. Investment income is distributed amongst the policy holders through annual bonus. These policies are ideal for policy holders who are not market savvy and do not wish to take investment risks.Term planTerm Insurance helps the customers in safeguarding their families from financial worries that rise due to unfortunate circumstances. Term plans are pure risk cover plans with or without maturity benefits. These pure risk plans cover your life at a nominal cost Term plans also let you avail the benefit to cover your outstanding debts like mortgage, home loan etc. In case of something happens to you, the financial burden is borne by the insurance company and not your loved ones. VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 11 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICYTerm plan offers following benefits? High insurance Cover at lower costs ? Financial security against loans and mortgages, ? Single premium payment option available Whole life policy? As the name suggests, a Whole Life Policy is an insurance cover against death, irrespective of when it happens. ? Under this plan, the policyholder pays regular premiums until his death, following which the money is handed over to his family. Endowment policyCombining risk cover with financial savings, endowment policies is the most popular policies in the world of life insurance. In an Endowment Policy, the sum assured is payable even if the insured survives the policy term. ? If the insured dies during the tenure of the policy, the insurance firm has to pay the sum assured just as any other pure risk cover. ? A pure endowment policy is also a form of financial saving, whereby if the person covered remains alive beyond the tenure of the policy; he gets back the sum assured with some other investment benefits. In addition to the basic policy, insurers offer various benefits such as double endowment and marriage/ education endowment plans.The cost of such a policy is slightly higher but worth its value. Money back policy? These policies are structured to provide sums required as anticipated expenses (marriage, education etc) over a stipulated period of time. With inflation becoming a big issue, companies have realized that sometimes the money value of the policy is eroded. That is VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 12 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY why with-profit policies are also being introduced to offset some of the losses incurred on account of inflation. ?A portion of the sum assured is payable at regular intervals. On survival the remainder of the sum assured is payable. ? ? In case of death, the full sum assured is payable to the insured. The premium is payable for a particular period of time. Annuities and pensionIn an annuity, the insurer agrees to pay the insured a stipulated sum of money periodically. The purpose of an annuity is to protect against risk as well as provide money in the form of pension at regular intervals. Over the years, insurers have added various features to basic insurance policies in order to address specific needs of a cross section of people.ULIP planUnit linked insurance plan (ULIP) is life insurance solution that provides for the benefits of risk protection and flexibility in investment. The investment is denoted as units and is represented by the value that it has attained called as Net Asset Value (NAV). The policy value at any time varies according to the value of the underlying assets at the time. In a ULIP, the invested amount of the premiums after deducting for all the charges and premium for risk cover under all policies in a particular fund as chosen by the policy holders are pooled together to form a Unit fund.A Unit is the component of the Fund in a Unit Linked Insurance Policy. The returns in a ULIP depend upon the performance of the fund in the capital market. ULIP investors have t he option of investing across various schemes, i. e. , diversified equity funds, balanced funds, debt funds etc. It is important to remember that in a ULIP, the investment risk is generally borne by their investor. Life insurance companies in IndiaIn India, Insurance is a national matter, in which life and general insurance is yet a booming sector with huge possibilities for different global companies, as life insurance premiums ccount to 2. 5% and general insurance premiums account to 0. 65% of India's GDP. The Indian Insurance sector has gone through several phases and changes, especially after 1999, when the Govt. of VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 13 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY India opened up the insurance sector for private companies to solicit insurance, allowing FDI up to 26%. Since then, the Insurance sector in India is considered as a flourishing market amongst global insurance companies. However, the largest life insurance com pany in India is still owned by the government.Top 5 life insurance Company in India? Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC): This remains the largest insurance company in India and is owned by the government. In 2008, LIC accounted for 64 percent market share. Although it is still the market leader, the company has to battle against the innovative strategies and better sales force of private enterprises. Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) registered an 83 per cent increase in new business income in March 2010, while private players posted a 47 per cent growth in new business premium. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance: This life insurance companies has attracted a loyal customer base with great customer support and a wide range of cheap policies to choose from. ? Bajaj Allianz general Insurance: This private company has been rising steadily in terms of market capture. It now sells the second most number of insurance policies in India after LIC and has been growing at a fast pace since 2006. ? Birla Sun Life Insurance: This Company has played its cards well. It offers a variety of insurance policies for the customers to choose from, provides them with attractive deals and offers great customer service and support.There is no reason why people shouldn’t prefer this one. VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 14 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY ? SBI Life: Though a little slow on the marketing propaganda, SBI Life has been consistently growing in the Indian life insurance market because of good service and a great brand image. Consumer perception for life insurance – According to the need life insurance is the second need of people, because nobody knows about future. Life is suffering from full of risk and incidents. Nobody knows that what would be a financial condition in coming time.To be secure about future people are speedily holding insurance policy. Insurance is actually a protection against economic l oss, by sharing the risk with others. â€Å"Consumers need Life Insurance because typically the need for income continues for those who are financially dependent on them, but there is no guarantee of their ability to earn consistently and for the rest of their life. Life insurance can help them safeguard the financial needs of their family. This need has become even more important due to steady disintegration of the prevalent Joint family system and emergence of nuclear families.The need to protect their family's ever growing needs is why they need Life Insurance†. Consumer buying behavior for buying life insurance policyA consumer buying behavior starts from need/requirement for product, then evaluation about product and decide product, which gives better satisfaction then take decision for buying. ? Need- Need or requirement is a primary model for buying a life insurance. A need arouse people to act of buy. Different person have different purpose for buying life insurance s uch as: investment for future security or family obligation (children education, children marriage) or risk cover.If there are individuals who depend on you for financial support, or if you work at home providing your family with such services as child care, cooking, and cleaning, you need life insurance. Older couples also may need life insurance to protect a surviving spouse against the possibility of the couple's retirement savings being depleted by unexpected medical expenses. And individuals with substantial VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 15 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY assets may need life insurance to help reduce the effects of estate taxes or to transfer wealth to future generations. Information search- After recognize need, they search for limited amount of information regarding loyal companies, and its plan according to their desire. At the next level the person may enter an active information search: looking for regarding insu rance, phoning friend, go online, meet to salesman and advertisement are rich source to gather information. ? Evaluation of alternatives- Having information about many companies, they evaluate which company giving better plan according to their’ admire within the budget. Second they look for certain benefits from the policy and stability of company.Third customer see Each insurance as a bundle of attributes with varying abilities for delivering the benefit sought to satisfy their need such as: ? ? Face Value — The original death benefit amount. Convertibility — Option to convert from one type of policy to another (whole life), usually without a physical examination. ? ? ? ? Cash Value — The savings portion of a policy that can be borrowed against or cashed in. Premiums — Monthly, quarterly, or yearly payments required to maintain coverage. Beneficiary — The individual(s) or entity (trust) that is designated as benefit recipient.Paid Up †” A policy requiring no further premium payments due to prepayment or earnings. ? â€Å"Customers evaluate all positive and negative point of services according to importance and give preference to a better plan provided by company. † Purchase decision-. In the evaluation stage, customer form preference among the company, full filling their requirements. But there are few factors, which can divert consumer mind set. ? Other person can make them advice for another investment like: share market, bond, mutual fund and bank deposit or other alternatives. VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 16CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY ? ? ? ? ? ? ? An unsatisfied policy holder can divert their mind. Customer is not getting a loyal salesperson. Customer is influenced by perceived risk for losing money. The policy is not giving up as ones expected. They attracted for other best investment. Ones may be a policy holder and not getting benefit as ones expec ted, so he is not getting decision for buy. Customer may be from rural area, he is not getting belief at company cause of conservative thinking. â€Å"If Customers get satisfaction struggling from these all factor, then they make decide for buy insurance policy. The Purchase Decision The purchase decision in general is prompt by number of factors viz. Psycho graphical, Economical, Social, Political legal and Demographical.The list is not exhaustive but it is sufficient to have the deep understanding of the factors influencing the decision. Psycho graphical Factors are those factors, which includes the behavioral aspect of the individual viz. lifestyle, living standard. Here purchase decision in influenced by those issues that affect the lifestyle of the consumer or in the other that reflects the status. For e. g. purchase decision related to buying of car and that to Mercedes Benz. Talking specifically to the insurance sector, here customer will buy only that policy that has got hi gh premium or that type of policy which company is promoting to limited high-income level group only. For e. g. â€Å"Classic Life premier† policy of Birla Sun life insurance is meant for only those individual who can pay at least Rs. 25000/- per annum. Economical factorEconomical factors affect the purchase decision by influencing the issues pertaining to money and income level of the individual.Consumer will buy only that product which will not have any VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 17 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY negative effect on his pocket. For e. g. decision to buy an insurance policy is influenced by the deepness in the pocket. Social factorSocial factor affect the purchase decision by influencing the issues pertaining to social beliefs and morals. Person influenced by group and their family members. They buy mostly same plan from same company whether their friends or family members have it.Some time if ones want to buy a new plan from other companies, their family member remorse them to buy it. Political factorsPolitico legal is the macro level environment. It effects in a way, say IRDA has restricted the sale of Key Man Insurance policy through Term Plan only. Demographic factorDemographical factor is that factor which has got the maximum of its effect in the purchase decision of the product and especially if that product is life insurance product. It is so because these factors incorporate other above said factors and includes those factors that can influence the buying decision to maximum extent viz.Occupational factor (service/business), Age factor, Gender, Marital status factor and Income level etc. It cannot be denied that buying decision of the individual who is unmarried and is into business, having the income level of the range Rs. 2. 4 lakhs per annum, is into the age group of say 25 years have the entirely different approach towards purchase of the life insurance policy with the individu al who is into service and is married, is into the age group of, say 35, and is earning Rs. 30000/- per month.Keeping the above phenomena under consideration a study was conducted to know exactly to what extent Demographical factor has got its influence in purchase decision of the life insurance product. VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 18 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY The Study This study, which was conducted in the city of Bangarmau (Utter Pradesh), covered almost 50 individual of different status. The duration of the study was almost one month. The method which we used to collect the information was through questionnaire and personnel interview.The data so collected was grouped according to the company of the consumer's choice from where they have purchased the product and further it was analyzed that what was the demographic profile of that consumer and result was thus generalized. The study covered 50 individuals, of which 84 % were fo und insured and 16 % uninsured. Of the total insured 75% were from 21-45 age group and 25 % were from age group 46-60. It was 78 % of the male who was there in the total insured and rest 22% were female. Occupation wise 40 % of the total insured were into service and 60 % into business.Thus the overall penetration of companies in to the psyche of consumer buying preference (based on the customer's purchase of a company's life insurance policy) is given in the graph as under: Types of consumer- There are two kinds of customers according to their region? Urban customer? Rural customer- I did my research in rural area. It is my home town name is Bangarmau. I find that people having lack of knowledge and awareness about life insurance. Here insurance adviser playing a vital role to make them aware and convenience them for buying life insurance policy.In the exact word I can say that people don’t buy policy here, they buy belief of adviser. They buy it on the basis of reputation a nd loyalty of insurance adviser. Here customer do not worry about their security, they buy it as a investment, which should give them good return in very short of time. I find that if adviser does not push them for having life insurance, number of people would be very less to buy life insurance. VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 19 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY The main factor is unawareness, that’s why they do not believe at Pvt Company.They have fear about lost their money, because they don’t know what IRDA is and what it is work. QuestionnairesI prepared 13 questionnaires to know about consumers’ perception for buying life insurance policy. 1-Whether you have life insurance policy? life insurance 50 40 30 20 10 0 yes No 8 yes No 42 2- As what purpose did you buy it? VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 20 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY policy holder investment family obligation sa ving tax 10% 19% 71% 3-If yes, which company life insurance you have? COMPANYNO. OF POLICY (x-8. 4) HOLDER (x) S. D. LIC SBI Reliance ICICI Bajaj 26 4 6 0 6 17. 6 -4. 4 -2. 4 -8. 4 -2. 4 9. 11 I did survey around 50 people at Bangarmau. I find that consumer mostly prefer LIC for life insurance. Actually it is a business town and people do not have enough knowledge about regulatory authority, that’s why they do not believe on other Pvt. companies. I got above 60% people have policy of LIC out of 42 policyholder. VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 21 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY Three more Pvt.Insurance companies are providing service at Bangarmau, but consumers are less responsive for those companies, it is less than 40 % customer hold by these companies. Mean for all these customer towards company is 8. 4 and standard deviation is 9. 11. 4-What was the source of medium, you buy it? T. V. Insurance adviser Other 6 34 2 Here customer do not go at company to buy policy, they always need a agent to make them understand about the better plans and companies, which is good service responsiveness. Those people belong to the service sector, they influenced towards TV and other sources for buying policy -What is the feature of your policy attracted to you? Low premium High risk coverage Money back guarantee Reputation of company Agents convictions 2 2 12 3 23 VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABADPage 22 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY Most of the policyholder in this region are businessman, they need only high growth of their money that’s why they maximum attracted by money back guarantee, but agent attracted them a lot. They make them understand better plans. Customer influenced by agents behavior and they believe upon company, what they suggest them. -Now you are satisfied with your policy? Satisfied Not satisfied Not respondent 36 4 2 7- People perception at appropriate age for buy ing life insurance policy? VIGNANA JYOTHI INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, HYDERABAD Page 23 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR FOR LIFE INSURANCE POLICY Age No. (X) Mean Standard deviation < 25 year 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65 above 3 15 12 5 5 2 0. 6 3 2. 4 1 1 0. 4 1. 07 5. 36 4. 29 1. 78 1. 76 0. 71 Customer belongs to 25 -45 maximum prefer the insurance policy sake of growth of money and saving the tax. People, who are less than 25 year are students,

Is there anything we can do to save the environment Essay

Is there anything we can do to save the environment - Essay Example Various aspects of going green can be used in such an initiative. To begin with, the world should start by the initiative of planting trees. Over the last decade, the world has experienced massive deforestation, where many trees are used as a source of energy, raw materials, and other uses. This has had a dire effect on the climate change, especially when looking at the ratio of gases in the air. With massive deforestation, the numbers of trees that purify the air are reduced. As such, there will be excessive carbon in the air. This will pose a danger to environmental conservation, as the initiatives will not be optimized. To rectify such a situation, there is a need to reflect on the positivity of planting trees on large scale (Cook 140). For example, the late Professor Wangari Maathai initiated the Greenbelt movement. This was an initiative to help in conserving the environment from the forecasted climate change. Through the initiative, she was awarded a Nobel Prize. This shows tha t the world is appreciating such initiatives in ensuring the world is conserved to the highest limits. Secondly, there is a need to stop deforestation. Many countries across the globe have initiated strict penalties on deforestation, as it is a threat to the world’s ecosystems. Therefore, this initiative should be enhanced in the whole world, as it will be a prudent approach in conserving the environment. According to research, the population of trees in the world has been drastically reducing.