A thermogravimetric technique for continuous quantitative sulphur analysis at elevated temperatures

The problems of conventional methods for determining sulphur content at elevated temperatures are discussed and a thermogravimetric technique for a direct continuous analysis is described. The technique is illustrated by employing the Cu-S system at 1200 and with a discussion of the necessary correction factors for buoyancy and volatilization being included.

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Zusammenfassung Es werden die Probleme der üblichen Methoden der Schwefelbestimmung bei hohen Temperaturen erörtert und eine thermogravimetrische Methode zur direkten kontinuierlichen Analyse vorgeschlagen. Das Verfahren wird an dem Beispiel des Systems Cu-S bei 1200 gezeigt mit Hinweis auf die infolge Auftrieb und Verflüchtigung nötige Korrektur.

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Résumé On discute les problèmes posés par les méthodes conventionnelles pour doser le soufre aux températures élevées et l'on décrit une méthode thermogravimétrique pour l'analyse directe en continu. La technique est illustrée sur l'exemple du système Cu-S à 1200; on discute les facteurs correctifs que l'on doit appliquer pour tenir compte de la poussée et de la volatilisation.

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. Cu-S 1200 .

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One of the authors, C. W. B., is grateful to the Noranda Research Centre for a graduate fellowship. We are also grateful to the Canadian National Research Council for financial assistance.     

Cavity-enhanced absorption: detection of nitrogen dioxide and iodine monoxide using a violet laser diode

We present an application of cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy with an off-axis alignment of the cavity formed by two spherical mirrors and with time integration of the cavity-output intensity for detection of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and iodine monoxide (IO) radicals using a violet laser diode at λ=404.278 nm. A noise-equivalent (1σ≡ root-mean-square variation of the signal) fractional absorption for one optical pass of 4.5×10^-8 was demonstrated with a mirror reflectivity of ∼0.99925, a cavity length of 0.22 m and a lock-in-amplifier time constant of 3 s. Noise-equivalent detection sensitivities towards nitrogen dioxide of 1.8×10¹⁰ molecule cm^-3 and towards the IO radical of 3.3×10⁹ molecule cm^-3 were achieved in flow tubes with an inner diameter of 4 cm for a lock-in-amplifier time constant of 3 s. Alkyl peroxy radicals were detected using chemical titration with excess nitric oxide (RO₂+NO→RO+NO₂). Measurement of oxygen-atom concentrations was accomplished by determining the depletion of NO₂ in the reaction NO₂+O→NO+O₂. Noise-equivalent concentrations of alkyl peroxy radicals and oxygen atoms were 3×10¹⁰ molecule cm^-3 in the discharge-flow-tube experiments. Received: 4 February 2003 / Revised version: 10 March 2003 / Published online: 12 May 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +44-1865/275-410, E-mail: vlk@physchem.ox.ac.uk     

Regeneration of surface roughness by the Langevin equation using stochastic analysis on AFM image of a carbon fiber

A new method was developed using AFM images of a fiber surface to regenerate the surface roughness in 3D geometry, such as the cylindrical shape of a “model” fiber. The Langevin equation was used to derive the fluctuations of a carbon fiber surface image. The equation contains two quantities, D⁽¹⁾ (h) and D⁽²⁾ (h) which in physics represent drift and diffusion coefficients. Knowing this coefficient and adding a proper noise function, a similar surface of larger dimension with the same statistical properties of the initial data was created. The generated surface was mapped into cylindrical coordinates, then a mesh generated. The resulting reconstructed surface, input over the geometry of a cylindrical shape, can be implemented for finite element analysis of a single fiber surrounded by matrix and generalized to a many fiber model.     

Characteristic parameters of drift vortices coupled to Alfvén waves in an inhomogeneous space plasma

We present detailed measurements of ion scale vortices of drift type coupled to Alfvén waves in an inhomogeneous and collisionless space magnetoplasma. The two free parameters of a dipolar vortex, intensity and spatial radius, are measured. The vortices are driven by a strong density gradient on a boundary layer with scale size of the same order as the vortex diameter. Observations of vortices off the gradient show that symmetry-breaking conditions in a real inhomogeneous plasma can lead not only to cross-field but also to cross-boundary anomalous transport of particles and energy.     

What are the relative roles of heating and cooling in generating solar wind temperature anisotropies?

Temperature anisotropy in the solar wind results from a combination of mechanisms of anisotropic heating (e.g., cyclotron-resonant heating and dissipation of kinetic Alfvén waves) and cooling (e.g., Chew-Goldberger-Low double-adiabatic expansion). In contrast, anisotropy-driven instabilities such as the cyclotron, mirror, and firehose instabilities limit the allowable departure of the plasma from isotropy. This study used data from the Faraday cups on the Wind spacecraft to examine scalar temperature and temperature components of protons. Plasma unstable to the mirror or firehose instability was found to be about 3-4 times hotter than stable plasma. Since anisotropy-driven instabilities are not understood to heat the plasma, these results suggest that heating processes are more effective than cooling processes at creating and maintaining proton temperature anisotropy in the solar wind.     

Organic electro-optic thin films by simultaneous vacuum deposition and laser-assisted poling

Organic materials with a high second-order optical nonlinearity have an important application for the next generation of computing, telecommunications, and other industries. Because of a high electro-optic coefficient and low dielectric constant, N-benzyl-2-methyl-4-nitroaniline (BNA) single crystals have been grown and their optical properties have been extensively studied. In this Letter, a poled BNA thin film material was prepared through simultaneous vacuum evaporation and laser-assisted electrical poling. The linear electro-optic coefficients of BNA were measured by a Young's two-slit interference electro-optic measurement method. The dependence of the resulting electro-optic properties on optical power was explored. Enhancement induced by laser illumination was demonstrated. The BNA thin film can exhibit an r(33) value comparable to that of BNA single crystals.     

Generating virtual textile composite specimens using statistical data from micro-computed tomography: 1D tow representations for the Binary Model

A Monte Carlo algorithm is defined for generating replicas of textile composite specimens that possess the same statistical characteristics as specimens imaged using high resolution computed tomography. The textile reinforcement is represented by one-dimensional tow loci in three-dimensional space, which are easily incorporated into the Binary Model of textile composites. A tow locus is expressed as the sum of non-stochastic, periodic variations in the coordinates of the tow centroid and stochastic, non-periodic deviations. The non-stochastic variations have period commensurate with the dimensions of the unit cell of the textile, while the stochastic deviations, which describe geometrical defects, exhibit correlation lengths that may be incommensurate with the unit cell. The model is calibrated with data deduced in prior work from computed tomography images. The calibration obviates the need for assuming any ideal shape functions for the tow loci, which can take very general form. The approach is therefore valid for a wide range of textile architectures. Once calibrated, a Markov Chain algorithm can generate numerous stochastic replicas of a textile architecture very rapidly. These virtual specimens can be much larger than the real specimens from which the data were originally gathered, a necessary feature when real specimen size is limited by the nature of high resolution computed tomography. The virtual specimen generator is illustrated using data for an angle interlock weave.