Scaling properties of fracture surfaces on glass strengthened by ionic exchange

In this work the results of the statistical topometric analysis of fracture surfaces of soda-lime-silica glass with and without ionic exchange treatment are reported. In this case, the mechanism of substitution is K⁺-Na⁺. atomic force microscopy (AFM) was employed to record the topometric data from the fracture surface. The roughness exponent (ζ) and the correlation length (ξ) were calculated by the variable bandwidth method. The analysis for both glasses (subjected and non-subjected to ionic exchange) for ζ shows a value ∼0.8, this value agrees well with that reported in the literature for rapid crack propagation in a variety of materials. The correlation length shows different values for each condition. These results, along with those of microhardness indentations suggest that the self-affine correlation length is influenced by the complex interactions of the stress field of microcracks with that resulting from the collective behavior of the point defects introduced by the strengthening mechanism of ionic exchange.     

Micromachining of circular ring microstructure by femtosecond laser pulses

In this paper, integration of interference phenomenon into femtosecond laser micromachining was reported as the femtosecond laser pulses were reshaped spatially to perform ablation. The generation of circular interference pattern was demonstrated by overlapping infrared femtosecond laser pulses. The interference pattern was subsequently focused on a copper substrate to ablate microstructures of concentric circular rings. The present technique is expected to open up new applications in the areas of rapid fabrication of micro-Fresnel lenses, hybrid microlenses and lens arrays.     

Character of the thermal motion of water molecules according to the data on quasielastic incoherent scattering of slow neutrons

The paper discusses the applicability of quasi-crystalline approximation to describing the thermal motion of water molecules in their normal and supercooled states. The problem is subjected to the critical analysis of experimental data on incoherent scattering of slow neutrons based on theories developed by Singwi-Sjolander [1] and Oskotsky [2] modified to duly take into account the limited applicability range of diffusion approximation. The applicability conditions of quasi-crystalline approximation are shown to be consistently satisfied only when water is in supercooled state and within a narrow temperature range above the melting temperature.     

Approximate inverse computation using Frobenius inner product

Parallel preconditioners are presented for the solution of general linear systems of equations. The computation of these preconditioners is achieved by orthogonal projections related to the Frobenius inner product. So, min_M∈??∥AM?I∥ _F and matrix M₀∈?? corresponding to this minimum (?? being any vectorial subspace of ??_n(?)) are explicitly computed using accumulative formulae in order to reduce computational cost when subspace ?? is extended to another one containing it. Every step, the computation is carried out taking advantage of the previous one, what considerably reduces the amount of work. These general results are illustrated with the subspace of matrices M such that AM is symmetric. The main application is developed for the subspace of matrices with a given sparsity pattern which may be constructed iteratively by augmenting the set of non‐zero entries in each column. Finally, the effectiveness of the sparse preconditioners is illustrated with some numerical experiments. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pulse radiolysis study of the initial steps of the polymerization of cyclohexyl acrylate and cyclohexyl methacrylate

Pulse radiolysis with kinetic spectroscopic detection was applied to study the kinetics of the first steps of radiation induced polymerization of cyclohexyl acrylate and cyclohexyl methacrylate in cyclohexane solvent. The reactions were initiated by cyclohexyl radicals produced in the radiolysis of the solvent. The transient absorption spectra of the -carboxyalkyl type radicals produced in addition reaction show maxima around 300 nm. This shifts to longer wavelength with time after the pulse. This phenomenon was explained by the oligomerization reaction. From the kinetic curves average rate coefficients of termination for the oligomer radicals (2k_t) were determined as a function of time elapsed after the electron pulse. The values obtained were compared with those calculated for other (acrylate and methacrylate type) monomers.     

Phase separation in blends of two homopolymers and a diblock copolymer during film casting

Demixing during film casting of blends of polystyrene, polymethylmethacrylate, and a symmetric diblock copolymer of styrene and methylmethacrylate is discussed. The concentration fluctuations in the homogeneous solutions were calculated in mean field approximation. The structures in the homogeneous and demixed solutions and in the dry films were measured by small-angle x-ray scattering, and the morphologies of the dry films were characterized by transmission electron microscopy. The structure of the dry blends is evidently already pre-formed in solution.     

Viscoelastic properties of amorphous polymers 3: low molecular weight poly(methylphenylsiloxane)

By making creep and recoverable creep measurements of a nearly monodisperse low molecular weight poly(methyl phenyl siloxane) sample, we have found on decreasing temperature towardsT _g that there is continuously a change in the viscoelastic spectrum concomitant with a decrease of the steadystate recoverable compliance. This behavior is exactly the same as previously observed in low molecular weight poly(styrene), proving that this spectacular anomaly in the viscoelasticity of low molecular weight polymers is general and deserves an explanation. Photon correlation spectroscopic measurements performed on the same sample have extended the observation of the viscoelastic response to shorter times and the result corroborates the trend of variation established by the creep data.Dedicated to Prof.Dr. E. W. Fischer on his 65th Birthday. Prof.Dr. Fischer is known for his valuable contribution to fosterine, international collaboration of research in polymer science. This work is an example of his contribution because it would not be possible without him bringing us together. One of us (KLN) would like to take this opportunity to thank Prof. Dr. Fischer for his unwaiving support of the 1st (Crete) and the 2nd (Alicante) International Discussion Meeting on Relaxations in Complex Systems     

Effect of phonon scattering from neutral and charged impurity centers on the lattice heat conductivity of PbTe:(Tl, Na)

Experimental data on the effect of thallium and sodium impurities on the lattice heat conductivity of PbTe at room temperature are reported. Because the lattice of lead chalcogenides is strongly polarized near charged impurities, the effect of impurities on the lattice heat conductivity depends substantially on their charge state. This property of the material has been used to determine the charge state of the thallium impurity in PbTe. The results obtained argue for a model of quasi-local thallium-impurity states which assumes low electron-correlation energy at an impurity center. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 1206–1208 (July 1998)