The effect of crystal structure on the thermal reactivity of CL-20 and its C4-bonded explosives

The critical temperature and mechanism functions for thermal decomposition of ε-CL-20, RS-ε-CL-20, α-CL-20, ε-CL-20/C4, and RS-ε-CL-20/C4 were evaluated based on non-isothermal TG data. A two-step mechanism has been found for thermal decomposition of α-CL-20, ε-CL-20/C4, and RS-ε-CL-20/C4, where the initial step is partly controlled by crystal structure of CL-20. The more reasonable mean activation energies could be obtained after peak separation for each individual steps. In fact, the activation energy for the post integrated process is almost equivalent with that of the second step, indicating that the total activation energy at the main decomposition process is dominated by thermolysis of CL-20 molecular. Besides, it has been found that the decomposition of C4 matrix does not affect the decomposition of normal ε-CL-20, resulting in identical activation energy and reaction model. However, the interaction between the C4 matrix and RS-ε-CL-20 is significant especially at the initial stage, where the activation energy of RS-ε-CL-20/C4 was overestimated before peak separation, while the activation energy for the second step due to thermolysis of CL-20 molecular is underestimated. The first decomposition step for α-CL-20, ε-CL-20/C4, and RS-ε-CL-20/C4 could be considered as autocatalytic process (AC model), whereas the second as JMA model, which is also applicable to that of pure ε-CL-20 and RS-ε-CL-20. Moreover, The critical temperatures of thermal explosion (T _b) are obtained as 205.6, 205.5, 209.4, 214.4, and 227.5 °C for α-CL-20, ε-CL-20, RS-ε-CL-20, ε-CL-20/C4, and RS-ε-CL-20/C4, respectively. It proves that the C4 matrix could stabilize ε-CL-20 while the crystal form of CL-20 has little effect on its thermal stability.     

Optical and X-ray emission spectroscopy of high-power laser-induced dielectric breakdown in molecular gases and their mixtures

Large-scale plasma was created in molecular gases (CO, CO2, N2, H2O) and their mixtures by high-power laser-induced dielectric breakdown (LIDB). Compositions of the mixtures used are those suggested for the early earth's atmosphere of neutral and/or mildly reducing character. Time-integrated optical spectra emitted from the laser spark have been measured and analyzed. The spectra of the plasma generated in the CO-containing mixtures are dominated by emission of both C2 and CN radicals. A vibrational temperature of approximately 10(4) K was determined according to an intensity distribution in a vibronic structure of the CN (B2Sigma(+)u-X2Sigma(+)g) violet band. For comparison, the NH3-CH4-H2-H2O mixture has been irradiated as a model of the strongly reducing version of the early earth's atmosphere. In this mixture, excited CN seems to be significantly less abundant than C2. The LIDB experiments were in the molecular gases carried out not only in the static cell but also using a large, double stream pulse jet (gas puff target) placed in the vacuum interaction chamber. The obtained soft X-ray emission spectra indicate the presence of highly charged atomic ions in the hot core of high-power laser sparks.     

A spectral approach to bandwidth and separator problems in graphs

Lower bounds on the bandwidth, the size of a vertex separator of general undirected graphs, and the largest common subgraph of two undirected (weighted) graphs are obtained. The bounds are based on a projection technique developed for the quadratic assignment problem, and once more demonstrate the importance of the extreme eigenvalues of the Laplacian. They will be shown to be strict for certain classes of graphs and compare favourably to bounds already known in literature. further improvement is gained by applying nonlinear optimization methods.     

On periodical behaviour in societies with symmetric influences

We propose a simple model of society with a symmetric functionw(u, v) measuring the influence of the opinion of memberv on that of memberu. The opinions are chosen from a finite set. At each step everyone accepts the majority opinion (with respect tow) of the other members. The behaviour of such a society is clearly periodic after some initial time. We prove that the length of the period is either one or two.     

Evaluation of the Fe2+/Fe3+ ratio from57Co Mössbauer emission spectra: Influence of the relaxation of Fe3+

The Fe³⁺ fraction after the EC of⁵⁷Co is usually evaluated supposing that ferric ions contribute a quadrupole doublet to Mössbauer emission spectra. It is shown that a not sufficiently fast relaxation of the electron spins may falsify the evaluated intensity even by a factor 2. Additional information can be gained from measurements performed in a large velocity span at low temperatures in high magnetic fields.     

Behavior of cold-worked AISI-304 steel in stress-corrosion cracking process: Microstructural aspects

Austenitic stainless steel is one of the key structural materials for a wide-range of components for present nuclear power plants. Moreover, this type of steel is also foreseen as a key structural material in future reactor systems, the so-called Generation IV. However, for the successful application of these materials in new environmental conditions an integrated Research and Development program needs to be successfully completed. This work is focused to the evaluation of cold-worked AISI-304 stainless steel from 20 to 45% of cold-worked deformation by different spectroscopic techniques within the aim to study the microstructural characteristics. In particular, positron annihilation spectroscopy and small angle neutron scattering have been used for characterization of phase transformation and microstructural behavior. Furthermore, outcomes of corrosion properties of cold-worked AISI-304 stainless steel exposed for 100 and 500 h in super-critical water reactor conditions are correlated with the obtained results.     

The distribution of ions and their valencies in manganese ferrites II. Mn1+xFe2-xO4+y ferrites

The influence of the oxygen content on the saturation magnetic moment and the Curie temperature was studied experimentally on non-stoichiometric manganese ferrites having a varying excess of manganese. Taking into consideration the results of studying the electrical conductivity and magnetic relaxation effects, a model was elaborated for the distribution of ions in these ferrites, which starts out from the distribution of ions in stoichiometric manganese ferrite. The experimental results obtained by us and those of other authors confirm the justification of this model.

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II. Mn_1+xFe_2-xO_4+y

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In conclusion the authors thank members of their technological department for preparing the samples and M. Mikulá for carefully carrying out the chemical analyses.