Thermal loading induced near-infrared broadband upconversion emission of Sm-doped β-NaYbF4 nano-phosphors

A non-closed hydrothermal synthetic processing is improved to synthesize Sm³⁺ doped β-NaYbF₄ nano-phosphors at 98 °C without any high-temperature and high-pressure treatments as a final step. Novel green, red, and near-infrared broadband (799-873 nm) upconversion emissions of Sm³⁺-doped β-NaYbF₄ nano-phosphors under 980 nm excitation are observed. These UC emissions can be assigned to the Sm³⁺ transitions of ⁴G_J, ⁴F_3/2 and ⁶F_11/2→⁶H_J. The half-width of 873 nm emission band is broadened nearly two-fold through the annealing treatment for nano-phosphors. The upconversion process in Yb³⁺-Sm³⁺ system is discussed based on energy transfer mechanisms.     

Electromechanical cracking in ferroelectrics driven by large scale domain switching

Experimental results indicate three regimes for cracking in a ferroelectric double cantilever beam (DCB) under combined electromechanical loading. In the loading, the maximum amplitude of the applied electric field reaches almost twice the coercive field of ferroelectrics. Thus, the model of small scale domain switching is not applicable any more, which is dictated only by the singular term of the crack tip field. In the DCB test, a large or global scale domain switching takes place instead, which is driven...     

Correlation between microstructure and property of electroless deposited Pt counter electrodes on plastic substrate for dye-sensitized solar cells

Flexible Pt counter electrodes (CEs) were prepared on indium-doped tin oxide coated polyethylene naphthalate (ITO-PEN) substrate by electroless deposition. The correlation between the microstructure and the property of the Pt CEs was investigated. Results showed that isolated Pt nanoparticles were uniformly distributed on the ITO surface at a short deposition duration, and then grew with the deposition duration, leading to the interconnection of adjacent Pt nanoparticles. The interconnection of Pt nanoparticles was beneficial to the electrical property of the Pt CEs, while it was unfavorable to the electrocatalytic property of the Pt CEs. A microstructure model was proposed to explain the correlation between the microstructure and the property of the Pt CEs. In addition, the Pt CEs showed low charge transfer resistance (1.66-0.58 Ω cm²), which was comparable to that (1.16 Ω cm²) of the conventional sputtered Pt CE. The high electrocatalytic property of the electroless deposited Pt CEs makes the assembled DSCs present comparable energy conversion efficiency of the DSCs using sputtered Pt CE.     

Toughness and failure of heat resistant steel before and after hydrogenation

Fracture toughness of heat-resistant steel can be increased by a preliminary thermomechanical loading called warm pre-stressing (WPS). The procedure creates a plastic deformed area around the crack tip and hence allows larger service loads to be tolerated by the cracked specimen. It is shown that a hydrogenation in the preloading stage decreases the fracture toughness of material.Investigations are also presented of the applicability of physical and mechanical approaches for the prediction of cleavage stress of materials after preliminary plastic deformation (PPD) effects and hydrogenation. Different schemes of the plastic deformation and influence of hydrogenation are considered in the preloading stage to provide different levels cleavage stress of steel 15Kh2MFA.     

Computing stable loads for pallets

This paper describes an Integer Programming model for generating stable loading patterns for the Pallet Loading Problem under several stability criteria. The results obtained during evaluation show great improvement in the number of stable patterns in comparison with results reported earlier. Moreover, most of the solved cases also ensure optimality in terms of utilization of a pallet.     

Elastodynamic analysis of a thin layer bonded on a visco-elastic medium under combined in-plane and lateral pulse loads

An analytic solution of a thin layer bonded on a visco-elastic medium under the action of in-plane and lateral pulse loads is presented. The analysis is based on double integral transforms with respect to space and time. Representative examples are studied and discussed to determine the influence of the (a) damping and elastic coefficients of visco-elastic medium, and (b) in-plane compression and stretching of the thin layer on wave propagation.     

On the penetration of a rotating impactor into an elastic-plastic medium

This research is devoted to the modeling of high-speed rectilinear penetration of a rigid axisymmetric body (impactor with a flat bluntness) into an elastic–plastic media with account for its rotation about the axis of symmetry. The body has an arbitrary shape of the meridian. The resistance to the motion is represented as the sum of the body drag and the contribution of friction. The dynamic system governing the body motion is derived and the qualitative and numerical analysis of the projectile movement and perforation of a slab are performed. The problem of shape optimization of impactor with a flat bluntness is studied using evolutionary algorithm.     

Coupled fluid–solid interaction under shock wave loading

This paper considers the treatment of fluid–solid interaction problems under shock wave loading, where the solid experiences large bulk Lagrangian displacements. This work addresses the issues associated with using a level set as a generalized interface for fluid–solid coupling where the fluid–solid interface is embedded in an unstructured fluid grid. We outline the formulation used for the edge‐based unstructured‐grid Euler solver. The identification of the fluid–solid interface on the unstructured fluid mesh uses a super‐sampled ??² projection technique, which in conjunction with a Lagrangian interface position, permits fast identification of the interface and the concomitant imposition of boundary conditions. The use of a narrow‐band approach for the identification of the wetted interface is presented with the details of the construction of interface conditions. A series of two and three‐dimensional shock‐body computations are presented to demonstrate the validity of the current approach on problems with static and dynamic interfaces, including projectile/shock interaction simulations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of voice onset by means of a multidimensional voice analysis system (MVAS) using high-speed imaging

High-speed filming is one of the most informative methods for assessing voice physiology data. Tracing high-speed images of the glottis provides quantitative parameters such as the glottal area and the glottal width function. By way of example, a number of studies are discussed which extract quantitative data from high-speed images showing voice onsets. Furthermore, a new computer system (MVAS; multi-dimensional voice analysis system) is presented that synchronously displays a laryngoscopic high-speed film, the electroglottographical signal, and several acoustic analyses of the recorded voice sample. The automatic measurement of glottal width and glottal area from the laryngoscopic images is also provided. Looking at former studies and our analyses of voice onsets reveals a tremendous intersubject and even intrasubject variability (different prephonatory closure, different time span until full amplitude is reached, different open quotient).