A new micromechanical formulation of martensite kinetics driven by temperature and/or stress

Summary Martensitic transformation behavior of alloys is studied under the arbitrary action of a thermal and/or a triaxial mechanical load-stress state by solving a transformation kinetic equation presented recently by the same authors. Numerical and analytical solutions reveal that the transformation behavior is almost path-independent. Lines of constant volume fraction of martensite are nearly parallel in the stress-temperature plane. Some new analytical formulae for martensitic transformation kinetics are presented.

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Eine neue mikromechanische Formulierung der Martensit-Kinetik unter Temperatur- und/order Spannungsbelastung

Übersicht Es wird das Verhalten der martensitischen Umwandlung von Legierungen unter beliebiger thermischer und/oder dreiachsiger mechanischer Spannungsbelastung untersucht, indem eine neue Gleichung der Umwandlungskinetik gelöst wird. Diese Gleichung wurde vor kurzem von denselben Autoren vorgestellt. Die numerischen und die analytischen Lösungen zeigen, daß das Transformationsverhalten nahezu pfadunabhängig ist. Die Linien gleicher Volumsfraktion von Martensit sind nahezu parallel im Spannungs-Temperatur-Diagramm. Es werden auch einige neue analytische Formeln für die Umwandlungskinetik von Martensit präsentiert.

     

Computation of a two-dimensional stress intensity factor by the boundary element method

Summary This paper presents a boundary element formulation for elastostatic problems. The formulation is expressed in terms of the matrix notation, so that it is easily applicable to an available system of matrix structural analysis. A computer program developed is used to calculate the stress intensity factor K _I for some example problems in plane elasticity. Comparison is made between the boundary element calculations and other solutions, whereby the effectiveness of the boundary element method is demonstrated.

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Berechnung eines zweidimensionalen Spannungsintensitätsfaktors mit der Methode der Bandelemente

Übersicht Dieser Aufsatz bietet eine Formulierung elastostatischer Probleme durch die Methode der Randelemente an. Die Formulierung benutzt eine Darstellung in Matrizenbezeichnung, so daß sie auf ein verfügbares System für Matrizenstrukturberechnung einfach anwendbar ist. Ein ausgebautes Computerprogramm wird auf die Berechnung des Spannungsintensitätsfaktors K _i für einige Beispiele in der ebenen Elastizität angewendet. Die mittels der Randelemente erhaltenen Ergebnisse werden mit anderen Lösungen verglichen. Dadurch zeigt sich die Wirksamkeit der Methode der Randelemente.

     

Glycyl-alanyl-histidine protects PC12 cells against hydrogen peroxide toxicity

Background

Peptides with cytoprotective functions, including antioxidants and anti-infectives, could be useful therapeutics. Carnosine, β-alanine-histidine, is a dipeptide with anti-oxidant properties. Tripeptides of Ala-His-Lys, Pro-His-His, or Tyr-His-Tyr are also of interest in this respect.

Results

We synthesized several histidine-containing peptides including glycine or alanine, and tested their cytoprotective effects on hydrogen peroxide toxicity for PC12 cells. Of all these peptides (Gly-His-His, Ala-His-His, Ala-His-Ala, Ala-Ala-His, Ala-Gly-His, Gly-Ala-His (GAH), Ala-His-Gly, His-Ala-Gly, His-His-His, Gly-His-Ala, and Gly-Gly-His), GAH was found to have the strongest cytoprotective activity. GAH decreased lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage, apoptosis, morphological changes, and nuclear membrane permeability changes against hydrogen peroxide toxicity in PC12 cells. The cytoprotective activity of GAH was superior to that of carnosine against hydrogen peroxide toxicity in PC12 cells. GAH also protected PC12 cells against damage caused by actinomycin D and staurosporine. Additionally, it was found that GAH also protected SH-SY5Y and Jurkat cells from damage caused by hydrogen peroxide, as assessed by LDH leakage.

Conclusion

Thus, a novel tripeptide, GAH, has been identified as having broad cytoprotective effects against hydrogen peroxide-induced cell damage.

     

Rhenium complex-catalyzed acylative cleavage of ethers with acyl chlorides

It was found that rhenium complex was an efficient catalyst for the acylative cleavage of C-O bond of ethers with acyl chlorides. When acyclic ethers were allowed to react with acyl chlorides in the presence of a catalytic amount of ReBr(CO)₅, acylative cleavage of C-O bond of acyclic ethers smoothly proceeded to give the corresponding esters in moderate to good yields. Similarly, cyclic ethers were acylative cleaved by acyl chlorides to give the corresponding chloro substituted esters in good yields by the use of Re₂O₇ catalyst.     

Control of peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence by nitrogen-containing ligand quenching: turning off and on by ligand-metal ion host-guest interactions

The control of peroxyoxalate chemiluminescence (PO-CL) by the coordination of nitrogen-containing ligands and metal cations was investigated. Turning the CL off and on was done by PO-CL using 15-monoazacrown-5-tethered anthracene and alkali metal ions. CL quenching and regeneration was also observed in the separated molecular system of 15-monoazacrown-5 and the fluorophores. CL quenching by a number of ligands bearing dipicolylamino groups was evaluated by these PO-CL reactions and found to be closely related to their oxidation potentials, which is dependent on the Weller rate law for electron exchange and this provides strong support for the existence of the CIEEL PO-CL process. When Zn²⁺ or Cu²⁺ are added to the PO-CL system quenched by the ligand, N-[2-(2,2′-dipicolylamino)ethyl]aniline, CL was turned on because the electron donating ability of the ligands was modulated. This was controlled by the coordination of the studied metal ions and, therefore, this system results in CL because of host-guest interactions.     

Binding of metal ions by pyrimidine base pairs in DNA duplexes

Pyrimidine base pairs in DNA duplexes selectively capture metal ions to form metal ion-mediated base pairs, which can be evaluated by thermal denaturation, isothermal titration calorimetry, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. In this critical review, we discuss the metal ion binding of pyrimidine bases (thymine, cytosine, 4-thiothymine, 2-thiothymine, 5-fluorouracil) in DNA duplexes. Thymine-thymine (T-T) and cytosine-cytosine (C-C) base pairs selectively capture Hg(II) and Ag(I) ions, respectively, and the metallo-base pairs, T-Hg(II)-T and C-Ag(I)-C, are formed in DNA duplexes. The metal ion binding properties of the pyrimidine-pyrimidine pairs can be changed by small chemical modifications. The binding selectivity of a metal ion to a 5-fluorouracil-5-fluorouracil pair in a DNA duplex can be switched by changing the pH of the solution. Two silver ions bind to each thiopyrimidine-thiopyrimidine pair in the duplexes, and the duplexes are largely stabilized. Oligonucleotides containing these bases are commercially available and can readily be applied in many scientific fields (86 references).     

Effect of void structure on the toughness of double network hydrogels

Introduction of soft filler in a hard body, which is one of the common toughening methods of hard polymeric materials, was applied for further toughening of robust double network (DN) hydrogels composed of poly(2‐acrylamido‐2‐methylpropanesulfonic acid) gels (PAMPS gels) as the first component and polyacrylamide (PAAm) as the second component. The fracture energy of the DN gels with the void structure (called void‐DN gels) became twice when the volume fraction of void was 1–3 vol % and the void diameter was much larger than the Flory radius of the PAAm chains. Such toughening was induced by wider range of internal fracture of the PAMPS network derived from partial stress concentration near void structure. Considering the mechanical tests and the dynamic light scattering results, it is implied that the absence of the load‐bearing PAAm structure inside the void is important for the toughening. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 49: 1246–1254, 2011     

Heat capacity and characteristic thermodynamic functions of dysprosium boride DyB62 in the temperature range of 2 to 300 K

Heat capacity at constant pressure C _p (T) of a dysprosium boride DyB₆₂ single crystal obtained by zone melting was studied experimentally in the temperature range of 2 to 300 K. Abnormally high values of dysprosium boride heat capacity were revealed in the range of 2–20 K, due to the magnetic contribution and the effect of disorder in the boride lattice. Temperature changes in DyB₆₂ enthalpy, entropy, Gibbs energy, and standard values of these thermodynamic functions were calculated.     

Confinement in carbon nanospace-induced production of KI nanocrystals of high-pressure phase

An outstanding compression function for materials preparation exhibited by nanospaces of single-walled carbon nanohorns (SWCNHs) was studied using the B1-to-B2 solid phase transition of KI crystals at 1.9 GPa. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and synchrotron X-ray diffraction examinations provided evidence that KI nanocrystals doped in the nanotube spaces of SWCNHs at pressures below 0.1 MPa had the super-high-pressure B2 phase structure, which is induced at pressures above 1.9 GPa in bulk KI crystals. This finding of the supercompression function of the carbon nanotubular spaces can lead to the development of a new compression-free route to precious materials whose syntheses require the application of high pressure.