Dendritic growth and solute trapping in rapidly solidified Cu-based alloys

Rapid solidification of binary Cu-22%Sn peritectic alloys and Cu-5%Sn-5%Ni-5%Ag quaternary alloys was accomplished by glass fluxing, drop tube and melt spinning methods. The undercooled, by glass fluxing method, Cu-22%Sn peritectic alloy was composed of α(Cu) and δ(Cu41Sn11) phases. If rapidly solidified in a drop tube, the alloy phase constitution changed from α(Cu) and δ(Cu41Sn11) phases into a single supersaturated (Cu) phase with the reducing of droplet diameter, and the maximum solubility of Sn in (Cu)...     

Investigations of high-pressure and high-temperature behaviors of the newly-discovered willemite-Ⅱ and post-phenacite silicon nitrides

Using the first-principles method of the plane-wave pseudo-potential, the structural properties of the newly-discovered willemite-Ⅱ Si3N4 （wⅡ phase） and post-phenacite Si3N4 （δ phase） are investigated. The α phase is predicted to undergo a first-order α→wⅡ phase transition at 18.6 GPa and 300 K. Within the quasi-harmonic approximation （QHA）, the α→wⅡ phase boundary is also obtained. When the well-known β→γ transition is suppressed by some kinetic reasons, the β→δ phase transformation could be observed in the phase diagram. Besides, the temperature dependences of the cell volume,thermal expansion coefficient, bulk modulus, specific heat, entropy and Debye temperature of the involved phases are determined from the non-equilibrium free energies. The thermal expansion coefficients of wⅡ-Si3N4 show no negative values in a pressure range of 0-30 GPa, which implies that the wⅡ-Si3N4 is mechanically stable. More importantly, the δ-Si3N4 is found to be a negative thermal expansion material. Further experimental investigations may be required to determine the physical properties of wⅡ- and δ-Si3N4 with higher reliability.     

Hydrogen-Bond Symmetrization of δ-AlOOH

The δ-AIOOH can transport water into the deep mantle along cold subducting slab geothenn. We investigate the hydrogen-bond symmetrization behavior of δ-AIOOH under the relevant pressure-temperature condition of the lower mantle using ab initio molecular dynamics(AID). The static symmetrization pressure of 30.0 GPa can be reduced to 17.0 GPa at 300 K by finite-temperature(T) statistics, closer to the experimental observation of-10.0 GPa. The symmetrization pressure obtained by MD simulation is related to T by P(GPa) = 13.9(GPa) +0.01(GPa/K) × T(K). We conclude that δ-AIOOH in the lower mantle exists with symmetric hydrogen bond from its birthplace, or someplace slightly deeper, to the core-mantle boundary(CATB) along cold subducting slab geotherm. The bulk modulus decreases with T and increases anomalously upon symmetrization: K_o(GPa) =181(GPa)-0.013(GPa/K) × T(K) for δ-AIOOH with asymmetric hydrogen bond, and K_o(GPa) = 216(GPa)-0.013(GPa/K) × T(K) for δ-AIOOH with symmetric hydrogen bond. Our results provide an important insight into the existent form and properties of δ-AIOOH in the lower mantle.     

Discrimination of neutrons and γ-rays in liquid scintillator based on Elman neural network

In this work,a new neutron and γ(n/γ) discrimination method based on an Elman Neural Network(ENN) is proposed to improve the discrimination performance of liquid scintillator(LS) detectors.Neutron andγ data were acquired from an EJ-335 LS detector,which was exposed in a ~(241)Am-~9Be radiation field.Neutron and γ events were discriminated using two methods of artificial neural network including the ENN and a typical Back Propagation Neural Network(BPNN) as a control.The results show that the two methods have different n/γdiscrimination performances.Compared to the BPNN,the ENN provides an improved of Figure of Merit(FOM)in n/γ discrimination.The FOM increases from 0.907 ± 0.034 to 0.953 ± 0.037 by using the new method of the ENN.The proposed n/γ discrimination method based on ENN provides a new choice of pulse shape discrimination in neutron detection.     

Phase-field simulation of the effect of interaction among ordered domains on interdiffusion in Ni--Al--Cr alloys

The effect of interaction among γ ' ordered domains on the interdiffusion process in γ +γ ' /γ and γ +γ ' /γ +γ ' diffusion couples is investigated by using the phase-field method, in which bulk free energy and mobility are linked with thermodynamic and kinetic databases. Simulated results show that the interaction among γ ' ordered domains has great influence on the microstructure, the interdiffusion velocity and the volume fraction of γ ' phase on both sides of the diffusion couples.     

Transport enhancement and efficiency optimization in two heat reservoir ratchets

We study a Brownian motor moving in a sawtooth potential in the presence of an external driving force and two heat reservoirs. Based on the corresponding Fokker--Planck equation, the analytical expressions of the current and efficiency in the quasi-steady-state limit are obtained. The effects of temperature difference and the amplitude of the external driving force on the current and efficiency are discussed, respectively. The following is our findings. (i) The current increases with both δ and A. In other words, δ and A enhance the transport of the Brownian motor. (ii) The competition between the temperature difference and the amplitude of the external driving force can lead to efficiency optimization. The efficiency is a peaked function of temperature, i.e., δ>0 and a lower amplitude value of the external driving force is necessary for efficiency optimization. (iii) The efficiency increases with δ, and decreases with A. δ and A play opposite roles with respect to the efficiency, which indicates that δ enhances the efficiency of energy transformation while A weakens it.     

Coercivity and microstructure of sintered Nd-Fe-B magnets diffused with Pr-Co,Pr-Al,and Pr-Co-Al alloys

The commercial 42 M Nd-Fe-B magnet was treated by grain boundary diffusion(GBD)with Pr₇₀Co₃₀(PC),Pr₇₀Al₃₀(PA)and Pr₇₀Co₁₅Al₁₅(PCA)alloys,respectively.The mechanism of coercivity enhancement in the GBD magnets was investigated.The coercivity was enhanced from 1.63 T to 2.15 T in the PCA GBD magnet,higher than the 1.81 T of the PC GBD magnet and the 2.01 T of the PA GBD magnet.This indicates that the joint addition of Co and Al in the diffusion source can further improve the coercivity.Microstructural investigations show that the coercivity enhancement is mainly attributed to the exchange-decoupling of the GB phases.In the PCA GBD magnet,the wider thin GB phases can be formed and the thin GB phases can still be observed at the diffusion depth of 1500μm due to the combined action of Co and Al.At the same time,the formation of the Pr-rich shell can also be observed,which is helpful for the coercivity enhancement.     

Study on the Hydrogen Bond Interaction Between Soy Protein Isolate and Glycerol Using Two-Dimensional Correlation Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy

A series of soy protein isolate(SPI)films plasticized by glycerol(Gly)were studied using attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(ATR/FTIR).Perturbation-correlation movingwindow two-dimensional(PCMW2D)and two-dimensional correlation(2DCOS)analyses were applied to the amideⅠband and thus the hydrogen bond interaction between SPI and Gly was systematically investigated.When Gly concentrations were in the range 0~35%,the hydrogen bond amongβ-sheets was replaced by the one between SPI chain and Gly molecule,which caused these protein chains being changed toα-helix.However,the transformation ofβ-sheet toα-helix was saturated and both of them tend to change to random coil when Gly concentrations were in the range 35%~60%.     

Study of n-γ discrimination for 0.4-1 MeV neutrons using the zero-crossing method with a BC501A liquid scintillation detector

An experimental system aimed at n-γ discrimination using the zero-crossing method with a φ3’’×2’’ BC501A liquid scintillation detector was established and tested with an Am-Be neutron source. Two-dimensional plots of energy versus zero-crossing time were obtained. The quality of n-γ discrimination was checked by the figure-of-merit (FOM), the neutron peak-to-valley ratio, and the proportion of leaked neutrons over all neutron events. The performance of n-γ discrimination in terms of FOM was compared with previous work done by other groups. The n-γ discrimination in four different energy regions with an interval of 0.1 MeV between 0.3 MeV and 0.7 MeV was studied, and the results indicate that the n-γ discrimination threshold can go down to 0.4 MeV.     

Description of the Superdeformed Bands of the Odd-Odd Nuclei in A ～ 150 Region

With the supersymmetry scheme including many-body interactions, the global property and the △I ＝ 4bifurcation in the superdeformed (SD) bands of odd-odd nuclei in A ～ 150 mass region are investigated systematically.Good results for the γ-ray energies, the dynamical moments of inertia, and energy differences △ Eγ - △ Erefγ are obtained.It shows that this approach is quite powerful in describing not only the SD bands in even-even and odd-A nuclei butalso those in odd-odd nuclei in the mass region.     

Tunneling field effect transistors based on in-plane and vertical layered phosphorus heterostructures

Tunneling field effect transistors(TFETs) based on two-dimensional materials are promising contenders to the traditional metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor, mainly due to potential applications in low power devices. Here,we investigate the TFETs based on two different integration types: in-plane and vertical heterostructures composed of two kinds of layered phosphorous(β-P and δ-P) by ab initio quantum transport simulations. NDR effects have been observed in both in-plane and vertical heterostructures, and the effects become significant with the highest peak-to-valley ratio(PVR)when the intrinsic region length is near zero. Compared with the in-plane TFET based on β-P and δ-P, better performance with a higher on/off current ratio of ～ 10~6 and a steeper subthreshold swing(SS) of ～ 23 m V/dec is achieved in the vertical TFET. Such differences in the NDR effects, on/off current ratio and SS are attributed to the distinct interaction nature of theβ-P and δ-P layers in the in-plane and vertical heterostructures.     

Study of n-γ discrimination in low energy range(above 40 keVee) by charge comparison method with a BC501A liquid scintillation detector

A VME-based experiment system for n-y discrimination using the charge comparison method was established.A data acquisition program for controlling the programmable modules and processing data online via VME64X bus was developed through the use of Lab VIEW.The two-dimensional(2D) scatter plots of the charge in the slow component vs.the total charge from ~(241)Am-Be and ~(252)Cf neutron sources are presented.The 2D scatter plots of the energy vs.the ratio of the charge in the slow component to the total charge of the pulses are also presented.The quality of n-γ discrimination was checked by the figure-of-merit,and the results showed good performance of n-γ discrimination at the low energy range.Neutrons and γ-rays were separated above 50 keVee(electron-equivalent energy).The quality of n-γ discrimination has been improved compared with others' results at five energies(150,250,350,450,550 keVee).     

Influence of polymer additives on turbulent energy cascading in forced homogeneous isotropic turbulence studied by direct numerical simulations

Direct numerical simulations(DNS) were performed for the forced homogeneous isotropic turbulence(FHIT) with/without polymer additives in order to elaborate the characteristics of the turbulent energy cascading influenced by drag-reducing effects.The finite elastic non-linear extensibility-Peterlin model(FENE-P) was used as the conformation tensor equation for the viscoelastic polymer solution.Detailed analyses of DNS data were carried out in this paper for the turbulence scaling law and the topological dynamics of FHIT as well as the important turbulent parameters,including turbulent kinetic energy spectra,enstrophy and strain,velocity structure function,small-scale intermittency,etc.A natural and straightforward definition for the drag reduction rate was also proposed for the drag-reducing FHIT based on the decrease degree of the turbulent kinetic energy.It was found that the turbulent energy cascading in the FHIT was greatly modified by the drag-reducing polymer additives.The enstrophy and the strain fields in the FHIT of the polymer solution were remarkably weakened as compared with their Newtonian counterparts.The small-scale vortices and the small-scale intermittency were all inhibited by the viscoelastic effects in the FHIT of the polymer solution.However,the scaling law in a fashion of extended self-similarity for the FHIT of the polymer solution,within the presently simulated range of Weissenberg numbers,had no distinct differences compared with that of the Newtonian fluid case.     

CHANGES OF CORTICAL FM-EVOKED RESPONSES IN GUINEA PIGS AFTER EXPOSURE TO INTENSIVE NOISE

After exposure either to a steady intensive noise(white noise,repetitive clicks,or narrow bandnoise.all of 110 dB SPL and 15 minute duration)or to impulse noise(300 impulses of 150 dB peak SPLand 50 ms impulse duration)amplitudes of the evoked potentials recorded from the primary audi-tory cortex of guinea pigs in response to frequency modulation of pure tones were found to be syste-matically augmented while the response threshods(△F_m) markedly lowered for most carrier fre-quencies and in most conditions.For all threshold lowering cases,the averaged △F_m shift was about1/2 of their pre-exposure values,with some extreme examples where post-exposure △F_m could beas small as only 1/5 of the pre-exposure ones or even lower.Post-exposure amplitude augmentationof evoked responses can be considered as a sign of certain cortical facilitation induced by noise.Lowering of △F_m tends to suggest that such cortical facilitation implies some temporary functionalchange in the sense of improving auditory discrimina     

Topological Structure of Phase Vortex in Resonating Valence Bond Superconductivity

In this paper, based on the Schrodinger equation and the ψ-mapping theory, the accurate expression for the gradient of resonating valence bond superconducting phase Θs is found. The expression of (△→)Θs is just the velocity flow (V) without considering the coefficient. The curl of (△→)Θs is where the vortex lies, and has important relation to δ2(ψ) and an important relation to the zero points of resonating valence bond superconducting order parameter ψ. The topological structure of the vortex is characterized by the ψ-mapping topological numbers Hopf-index and Brouwer degrees. The Ginzberg-Landau equation in resonating valence bond state also is discussed in this theory. The magnetic property is discussed also.     

Nonequilibrium dynamical phase transition of 3D kinetic Ising／Heisenberg spin system

We have studied the nonequilibrium dynamic phase transitions of both three-dimensional (3D) kinetic Ising and Heisenberg spin systems in the presence of a perturbative magnetic field by Monte Carlo simulation. The feature of the phase transition is characterized by studying the distribution of the dynamical order parameter. In the case of anisotropic Ising spin system (ISS), the dynamic transition is discontinuous and continuous under low and high temperatures respectively, which indicates the existence of a tri-critical point (TCP) on the phase boundary separating low-temperature order phase and high-temperature disorder phase. The TCP shifts towards the higher temperature region with the decrease of frequency, i.e. T_{TCP}=1.33×exp(-ω/30.7). In the case of the isotropic Heisenberg spin system (HSS), however, the situation on dynamic phase transition of HSS is quite different from that of ISS in that no stable dynamical phase transition was observed in kinetic HSS after a threshold time. The evolution of magnetization in the HSS driven by a symmetrical external field after a certain duration always tends asymptotically to a disorder state no matter what an initial state the system starts with. The threshold time τ depends upon the amplitude H_{0}, reduced temperature T/T_C and the frequency ω as τ=C·ω^α·H_0^{-β}·(T/T_C)^{-γ}.     

More than six hundred new families of Newtonian periodic planar collisionless three-body orbits

The famous three-body problem can be traced back to Isaac Newton in the 1680 s. In the 300 years since this "three-body problem"was first recognized, only three families of periodic solutions had been found, until 2013 when ˇSuvakov and Dmitraˇsinovi′c [Phys.Rev. Lett. 110, 114301(2013)] made a breakthrough to numerically find 13 new distinct periodic orbits, which belong to 11 new families of Newtonian planar three-body problem with equal mass and zero angular momentum. In this paper, we numerically obtain 695 families of Newtonian periodic planar collisionless orbits of three-body system with equal mass and zero angular momentum in case of initial conditions with isosceles collinear configuration, including the well-known figure-eight family found by Moore in 1993, the 11 families found by ˇSuvakov and Dmitraˇsinovi′c in 2013, and more than 600 new families that have never been reported, to the best of our knowledge. With the definition of the average period T = T=Lf, where Lf is the length of the so-called "free group element", these 695 families suggest that there should exist the quasi Kepler's third law T* ≈ 2:433 ± 0:075 for the considered case, where T*= T|E|~(3/2) is the scale-invariant average period and E is its total kinetic and potential energy,respectively. The movies of these 695 periodic orbits in the real space and the corresponding close curves on the "shape sphere"can be found via the website: http://numericaltank.sjtu.edu.cn/three-body/three-body.htm.     

Preface

The 11th IUMRS-ICA 2010 (ICA-2010) conference organized by C-MRS was held in Qingdao city, China from 25th to 28th September 2010. The event was timely and impressive not only due to the rapid development of science and technology in China and Asian areas but also due to the emerging cultural and economic transformation. I had been invited to take part in Session Q: Magnetic Materials at Nano-scale, and gave an invited talk about the magnet-     

A comparison of n-γ discrimination by the rise-time and zero-crossing methods

The n-γ discrimination performance of two experimental arrangements based on the rise-time method and the zero-crossing method was compared for a 50.8 mm-diametered and 50.8 mm-high BC501A liquid scintillator coupled to a 50.8 mm-diametered 9807B photomultiplier in this work. The low energy limitation of the detected neutron with different detector high voltages and the figure of merit of the n-γ discrimination in four neutron energy regions (1–2 MeV, 0.75–1 MeV, 0.5–0.75 MeV and below 0.5 MeV) were studied by using the Am-Be neutron source. Under a time statistical model of the photoelectron emission process in scintillation counters, the intrinsic capability of the n-γ discrimination performance under the optimal condition was evaluated. The experimental results of the zero-crossing method demonstrate a better n-γ. discrimination performance than those of the rise-time method, which is consistent with the calculated results.     

Fractals of Silica Aggregates

Silica aggregates were prepared by base-catalyzed hydrolysis and condensation of alkoxides in alcohol.Polyethylene glycol(PEG) was used as organic modifier.The sols were characterized using Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS) with synchrotron radiation as X-ray source.The structure evolution during the sol-gel process was determined and described in terms of the fractal geometry.As-produced silica aggregates were found to be mass fractals.The fractl dimensions spanned the regime 2.1-2.6 corresponding to more branched and compact structures.Both RLCA and Eden models dominated the kinetic growth under base-catalyzed condition.