Helium and point defect accumulation: (i) microstructure and mechanical behaviour

Ferritic/martensitic (F/M) steels are good candidate structural materials for the future fusion reactors and spallation sources. However, irradiation of steels is known to produce hardening, loss of ductility, shift in ductile to brittle transition temperature (DBTT) and reduction of fracture toughness and creep resistance starting at low doses. Helium (He), produced by transmutation during the irradiation, also impacts mechanical properties. Numerous experimental and theoretical studies on the evolution of the microstructure of steels under irradiation have been conducted until now. We review the effect of irradiation-induced point defects and in particular of He on the mechanical properties of F/M steels. To cite this article: R. Schäublin et al., C. R. Physique 9 (2008).     

Nanoindentation and the indentation size effect: Kinetics of deformation and strain gradient plasticity

A study of the indentation size effect (ISE) in aluminum and alpha brass is presented. The study employs rate effects to examine the fundamental mechanisms responsible for the ISE. These rate effects are characterized in terms of the rate sensitivity of the hardness, , where H is the hardness and is an effective strain rate in the plastic volume beneath the indenter. can be measured using indentation creep, load relaxation, or rate change experiments. The activation volume V∗, calculated based on which can traditionally be used to compare rate sensitivity data from a hardness test to conventional uniaxial testing, is calculated. Using materials with different stacking fault energy and specimens with different levels of work hardening, we demonstrate how increasing the dislocation density affects V∗; these effects may be taken as a kinetic signature of dislocation strengthening mechanisms. We noticed both H and exhibit an ISE. The course of V∗ vs. H as a result of the ISE is consistent with the course of testing specimens with different level of work hardening. This result was observed in both materials. This suggests that a dislocation mechanism is responsible for the ISE. When the results are fitted to a strain gradient plasticity model, the data at deep indents (microhardness and large nanoindentation) exhibit a straight-line behavior closely identical to literature data. However, for shallow indents (nanoindentation data), the slope of the line severely changes, decreasing by a factor of 10, resulting in a “bilinear behavior”.     

Thermomechanical Analysis of Polysaccharide Hydrogels in Water

Application of thermomechanometry to the measurement of hydrogels containing a large amount of water was carried out by static and dynamic methods. A thermomechanical analyzer (TMA) equipped with a quartz compression probe immersed in water was used. Polysaccharide hydrogels containing ca 98% water were measured. Creep of hydrogels in water was analyzed in a stress range from 1.04⋅10³ to 5.2⋅10³ Pa and loading rate from 0.3⋅10³ to 3.0⋅10³ Pa min⁻¹.Stress relaxation was measured in compressed ratio range from 0.02 to 0.45 m m⁻¹ and in compressing rate was 0.09 to 0.15 m m⁻¹ min⁻¹. Dynamic viscoelasticity was measured by TMA when dynamic Young’s modulus which was larger than 1⋅10⁴ Pa in frequencies ranging from 0.02~0.2 Hz. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Electrodynamics of the vortex lattice in untwinned YBaCuO by complex impedance measurements

We report complex impedance measurements in an untwinned YBaCuO crystal. Our broad frequency range covers both the quasi static response and the resistive response of the vortex lattice. It allow us to characterize the irreversibility line without the need of any frequency dependent pinning parameters. We confirm the validity of the two modes model of vortex dynamic, and extract both the surface critical current and the flux flow resistivity around the first order transition T_m. This latter is identified by the abrupt loss of pinning and by an unexpected step of (T) at T_m. Received 22 November 2002 / Received in final form 17 February 2003 Published online 20 June 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: alain.pautrat@ismra.fr RID="b" ID="b"UMR 6508 associée au CNRS     

多层介质膜脉冲宽度压缩光栅与超短脉冲作用时的性能分析

基于啁啾脉冲放大技术的超短脉冲激光系统是提供超快、超强激光的重要途径，具有良好输出波形和高损伤阈值的多层介质膜脉冲宽度压缩光栅是获得高峰值功率脉冲激光的关键. 基于傅里叶谱变换方法和严格模式理论，分析了多层介质膜光栅(MDG)在超短脉冲作用下的光学特性. 结果表明，当MDG的反射带宽小于具有高斯分布的入射脉冲的频谱宽度时，-1级反射脉冲呈非对称高斯分布，其前沿出现振荡，并且-1级反射脉冲能量开始剧烈下降. 讨论了MDG结构参数对其反射带宽的影响. 分析了MDG与超短脉冲作用时的近场光分布，对提高其抗激光损 关键词： 脉冲压缩光栅 傅里叶谱变换 模式理论 损伤阈值     

短脉冲激光辐照下SiO2损伤微观机理简化模型

 从电子密度速率方程出发，建立短脉冲激光辐照下SiO₂材料中导带电子增长简化模型，计算了SiO₂中光致电离速率和电子雪崩速率，得到SiO₂激光损伤阈值与脉冲宽度的关系，计算分析了光致电离和碰撞电离两种电离机制在导带电子累积过程中的不同作用。结果表明：脉冲较长，碰撞电离几乎能提供全部的导带电子，激光损伤阈值与脉宽的0.5次方成正比；脉冲较短时，导带电子主要由碰撞电离产生，光致电离提供碰撞电离的初始电子，激光损伤阈值随着脉宽的减小，先增加后减小。     

高功率脉冲激光对阶跃折射率多模光纤损伤机理

 理论分析和模拟仿真研究了激光点火系统中光纤端面损伤、光纤初始输入段损伤和光纤内部损伤机理。结果显示：端面损伤主要是由光纤端面的杂质和缺陷引起；光纤初始输入段损伤是由光束的初次反射造成光纤局部激光能量密度增大引起的；光纤内部体损伤主要由于激光自聚焦效应引起损伤和光纤受到的意外应力产生微小碎片，吸收激光能量，引起光纤局部损伤。给出了激光点火系统中提高光纤损伤阈值的一般方法，主要包括光纤端面处理、设计合理的激光注入耦合装置。