Optical characteristics of uniaxial polyester films with the optical axis perpendicular to the surface

The functions of the main indices of refraction n(ν) and absorption κ(ν) of uniaxial thin polyethylene terephthalate films have been calculated by the experimental spectra of frustrated total reflection of s-and p-polarized radiation in the 700–760-cm⁻¹ range. The κ_o(ν) maximum falls at the the 727-cm⁻¹ frequency and the maximum of κ_e(ν) falls at the the 724-and 732-cm^{− 1} frequencies. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 72, No. 6, pp. 756–759, November–December, 2005.     

Phase diagram of uniaxial antiferromagnetic particles: Field perpendicular to the easy axis

We consider a spherical uniaxial antiferromagnetic particle in the presence of an external magnetic field perpendicular to its easy axis. The model is described by a classical Heisenberg Hamiltonian including a single-ion uniaxial anisotropy, where the magnetic moments of the particle are represented by continuous spin vectors. We employ mean-field calculations and Monte Carlo simulations to determine the phase diagram of the system. The phase diagram in the plane field versus temperature is obtained for particles with radii ranging from three up to twelve spacing lattice units. We have seen that a particle with more than nine shells behaves as a true thermodynamic system. We find the explicit dependence of the zero temperature critical field and the Néel temperature on the diameter of the particle. At low temperatures, we have also shown that, for particles with three or more shells, the critical field follows a T² law, which is in agreement with the predictions of the spin-wave theory, when the field is perpendicular to the easy axis.     

NMR study of triglycine sulphate (TGS) in electric field perpendicular to the ferroelectric axis

The electric field applied perpendicular to the ferroelectric axis bHOP (in Hoshino, Okaya, Pepinsky notation) of the TGS crystal, results new domain structure-striped domains with walls parallel to the cHOP axis. The process is accompanied by changes of the dielectric properties. We present the results of NMR study of TGS crystal with electric field applied parallel to the cHOP or to the cHOP x bHOP directions. After 12 h application of the DC field, a decrease in amplitude of the 1H NMR central line is observed.     

New method to determine the domain wall energy in thin uniaxial films with perpendicular easy axis and large saturation magnetization

The surface energy density, γ, of domain walls in thin uniaxial films with perpendicular easy axis is usually found either by measurements of the domain pattern period of the stripe domain pattern or by determination of the bubble collapse field and diameter. However, when the saturation magnetization is large, the widths of stripe domains and bubbles become smaller than the minimum optical resolution, and optical observation becomes impossible. The method proposed in this paper is based on measurements of the susceptibility S = d (M/M_s)/d(H_a/4πM_s) of the stripe pattern at M = 0. Optical observations are avoided. The only additional important quantities are the saturation magnetization M_s and the film thickness. The method has been successfully applied to MnBi films (M_s = 625 G). The determination of γ in this material yields γ = (15 ± 1) erg/cm².     

Crack front waves and the dynamics of a rapidly moving crack

Crack front waves are nonlinear localized waves that propagate along the leading edge of a crack. They are generated by both the interaction of a crack with a localized material inhomogeneity and the intrinsic formation of microbranches. Front waves are shown to transport energy, generate surface structure, and lead to localized velocity fluctuations. Their existence locally imparts inertia, which is not incorporated in current theories of fracture, to initially "massless" cracks. This, coupled to microbranch formation, yields both inhomogeneity and scaling behavior within the fracture surface structure.     

Bleustein-Gulyaev waves in a functionally graded piezoelectric material layered structure

This work presents a theoretical study of the propagation behavior of Bleustein-Gulyaev waves in a layered structure consisting of a functionally graded piezoelectric material (FGPM) layer and a transversely isotropic piezoelectric substrate. The influence of the graded variation of FGPM coefficients on the dispersion relations of Bleustein-Gulyaev waves in the layered structure is investigated. It is demonstrated that, for a certain frequency range of Bleustein-Gulyaev waves, the mechanical perturbations of the particles are restricted in the FPGM layer and the phase velocity is independent of the electrical boundary conditions at the free surface. Results presented in this study can not only provide further insight on the electromechanical coupling behavior of surface waves in FGPM layered structures, but also lend a theoretical basis for the design of high-performance surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10632060), the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2006CB601202), the National 111 Project of China (Grant No. B06024), and the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. 20070698064)     

Energy harvesting based on piezoelectric Ericsson cycles in a piezoceramic material

The possibility of recycling ambient energies with electric generators instead of using batteries with limited life spans has stimulated important research efforts over the past years. The integration of such generators into mainly autonomous low-power systems, for various industrial or domestic applications is envisioned. In particular, the present work deals with energy harvesting from mechanical vibrations. It is shown here that direct piezoelectric energy harvesting (short circuiting on an adapted resistance, for example) leads to relatively weak energy levels that are insufficient for an industrial development. By coupling an electric field and mechanical excitation on Ericsson-based cycles, the amplitude of the harvested energy can be highly increased, and can reach a maximum close to 100 times its initial value. To obtain such a gain, one needs to employ high electrical field levels (high amplitude, high frequency), which induce a non-linearity through the piezoceramic. A special dynamic hysteresis model has been developed to correctly take into account the material properties, and to provide a real estimation of the harvested energy. A large number of theoretical predictions and experimental results have been compared and are discussed herein, in order to validate the proposed solution.     

A FEM-based method to determine the complex material properties of piezoelectric disks

Numerical simulations allow modeling piezoelectric devices and ultrasonic transducers. However, the accuracy in the results is limited by the precise knowledge of the elastic, dielectric and piezoelectric properties of the piezoelectric material. To introduce the energy losses, these properties can be represented by complex numbers, where the real part of the model essentially determines the resonance frequencies and the imaginary part determines the amplitude of each resonant mode. In this work, a method based on the Finite Element Method (FEM) is modified to obtain the imaginary material properties of piezoelectric disks. The material properties are determined from the electrical impedance curve of the disk, which is measured by an impedance analyzer. The method consists in obtaining the material properties that minimize the error between experimental and numerical impedance curves over a wide range of frequencies. The proposed methodology starts with a sensitivity analysis of each parameter, determining the influence of each parameter over a set of resonant modes. Sensitivity results are used to implement a preliminary algorithm approaching the solution in order to avoid the search to be trapped into a local minimum. The method is applied to determine the material properties of a Pz27 disk sample from Ferroperm. The obtained properties are used to calculate the electrical impedance curve of the disk with a Finite Element algorithm, which is compared with the experimental electrical impedance curve. Additionally, the results were validated by comparing the numerical displacement profile with the displacements measured by a laser Doppler vibrometer. The comparison between the numerical and experimental results shows excellent agreement for both electrical impedance curve and for the displacement profile over the disk surface. The agreement between numerical and experimental displacement profiles shows that, although only the electrical impedance curve is considered in the adjustment procedure, the obtained material properties allow simulating the displacement amplitude accurately.     

Dynamic interaction of anti-plane shear waves with arc-shaped interfacial crack in piezoelectric media

The dynamic interaction between anti-plane shear waves with arc-shaped interfacial crack of piezoelectric media is considered here. The region of the debonding is modeled as an arc-shaped interfacial crack with non-contacting faces. The electric permeable and impermeable boundary conditions are adopted to get the disturbed solution, respectively. The crack opening displacement and the electric potential are represented by Chebyshev polynomials and a system of equations is derived. The calculation results show that the piezoelectric coefficient has remarkable effect on the crack opening displacement.     

On the limiting velocity and forced motion of ferromagnetic domain walls in an external field perpendicular to the easy-magnetization axis

A theory is constructed for the dynamics and braking of domain walls in ferromagnets when a magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the axis of easy magnetization (i.e., a transverse field H _⊥). The theory is valid for velocities v up to the limiting domain wall velocity v c. The Landau-Lifshitz equations in the dissipationless approximation are used to investigate the motion of domain walls and the change in the character of the wall motion as its velocity v approaches v _c. The force acting on a domain wall due to viscous friction is calculated within the framework of generalized relaxation theory, and the dependence of the domain wall velocity v on the forcing field H _z is investigated. Calculations of the braking force show that the contributions of various dissipation mechanisms to the friction force have different dependences on the domain wall velocity, which affects the form of the function v=v(H _z). The shapes of the curves v(H _z) differ very markedly from one another for different values of the field H _⊥. The theory developed here can be used to describe the experimental results, in particular the almost linear behavior of v=v(H _z) for small H _⊥ and its strongly nonlinear behavior when H _⊥∼H _a, whereas these data cannot be reconciled within the standard theory based on relaxation terms of Hilbert type. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 112, 953–974 (September 1997)     

Crack effects on the in-plane static and dynamic stabilities of a curved beam with an edge crack

The effects of a single-edge crack and its locations on the buckling loads, natural frequencies and dynamic stability of circular curved beams are investigated numerically using the finite element method, based on energy approach. This study consists of three stages, namely static stability (buckling) analysis, vibration analysis and dynamic stability analysis. The governing matrix equations are derived from the standard and cracked curved beam elements combined with the local flexibility concept. Approximation for the displacements using coupled interpolations based on the constant-strain, linear-curvature element (SC) has yielded results with reasonable accuracy. The numerical results obtained from the present finite element model are found to be in good agreement with those, both experimental and analytic, of other researchers in the existing literature. Results show that the reductions in buckling load and natural frequency depend not only on the crack depth and crack position, but also on the related mode shape. Analyses also show that the crack effect on the dynamic stability of the considered curved beam is quite limited.     

An experimental investigation of dynamic crack propagation in a brittle material reinforced with a ductile layer

The fracture behavior of a dynamically loaded edge crack in a brittle-ductile layered material, as a function of applied loading rate, was experimentally investigated. Layered specimens were prepared by sandwiching a thin layer of ductile aluminum between two thick layers of brittle Homalite-100. The layers were bonded using Loctite Depend 330 adhesive, and a naturally sharp edge crack was introduced in one of the Homalite-100 layers. These single-edge notched specimens were loaded in dynamic three-point bending using a modified Hopkinson bar. The fracture process was imaged in real time using dynamic photoelasticity in conjunction with digital high-speed photography, and the applied load and load-point displacement histories were determined from the strain signals recorded at two locations on the Hopkinson bar. The results of this study indicated two distinct mechanisms of dynamic failure, depending on the applied loading rate. At lower loading rates, the starter crack arrested on reaching the aluminum layer and then caused delamination along the aluminum–Homalite interface. On the contrary, as the loading rate was increased, interfacial delamination was followed by crack re-initiation in the Homalite layer opposite to the initial starter crack. It was determined that the times required for crack initiation, delamination and crack re-initiation decreased as the loading rate was increased. However, it was also observed that the applied load values associated with each event increased with increasing loading rate. These observations indicate that both the dynamic failure process and plausibly the failure mode transition are affected by the rate-dependent properties of Homalite, aluminum and the interfacial bond. Finally, based on the measured peak loads and the observed failure mechanisms it was concluded that the incorporation of a thin ductile reinforcement layer can increase both the overall fracture toughness and strength of a nominally brittle material.