Existence of Surface Waves and Band Gaps in Periodic Heterogeneous Half-spaces

We find a sufficient condition for the existence of surface (Rayleigh) waves based on the Rayleigh-Ritz variational method. When specialized to a homogeneous half-space, the sufficient condition recovers the known criterion for the existence of subsonic surface waves. A simple existence criterion in terms of material properties is obtained for periodic half-spaces of general anisotropic materials. Further, we numerically compute the dispersion relation of the surface waves for a half-space of periodic laminates of two materials and demonstrate the existence of surface wave band gaps.     

About macroscopic models of instability pattern formation

Various macroscopic models to describe instability pattern formation are discussed in this paper. They are similar to the Ginzburg–Landau envelope equation, but they can remain valid away from the bifurcation and are based on the technique of Fourier series with slowly varying coefficients. We focus on two questions: the need to take phase changes into account and the boundary conditions to be associated with macroscopic models. The analysis is carried out on the basis of numerical simulations for the problem of a compressed beam on a nonlinear foundation that is quite similar to the well known Swift–Hohenberg equation. The first macroscopic model involves a real envelope so that the phase is assumed to be constant. The second model is also macroscopic and it is a sort of Ginzburg–Landau equation with a complex envelope. The third one follows from a multi-scaled approach with a numerical bridging between the full model near the boundary and a macroscopic model in the bulk.     

Highly oriented and ordered microstructures in block copolymer films

Block copolymer (BCP) films with long-range lateral ordering and orientation are crucial for many applications. Here, we report a simple, versatile strategy based on a solution casting procedure, to produce millimeter thick film of BCPs with highly oriented nanostructures. Transmission electron microscope (TEM), small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), and Hansen solubility parameters were used to study the morphology and interactions of the system. A variety of BCP-solvent pairs were investigated. Factors including set-up geometry, BCP characteristics, solvent evaporation, surface tension, and interactions, such as solvent-BCP, solvent-substrate, and BCP-substrate were examined. A mechanism is proposed to describe the observed long-range lateral ordering and orientation in films up to 1 mm in thickness. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2018 , 56, 1369–1375     

2 W quasi-white-light based on idler-resonant optical parametric oscillation cascading sum-frequency generation with PPSLT

We present a high power red-green-blue (RGB) laser light source based on cascaded quasi-phasematched wavelength conversions in a single stoichiometric lithium tantalate. The superiority of the experimental setup is: the facula of the incident beam is elliptical to increase interaction volume, and the cavity was an idler resonant configuration for realizing more efficient red and blue light output. An average power of 2 W of quasi-white-light was obtained by proper combination of the RGB three colors. The conversion efficiency for the power of the quasi-white-light over pump power reached 36%. This efficiency and powerful RGB laser light source has potential applications in laser-based projection display et al.     

Kinetic and thermodynamic modeling of Portland cement hydration at low temperatures

Portland cement have to hydrate in cold climates in some particular conditions. Therefore, a better understanding of cement hydration under low temperatures would benefit the cement-based composites application. In this study, Portland cement was, therefore, kinetically and thermodynamically simulated based on a simple kinetics model and minimization of Gibbs free energy. The results of an evaluation indicate that Portland cement hydration impact factors include the water–cement ratio (w/c), temperature, and specific surface area, with the latter being an especially remarkable factor. Therefore, increasing the specific surface area to an appropriate level may be a solution to speed the delayed hydration due to low temperatures. Meanwhile, the w/c ratio is believed to be controlled under cold climates with consideration of durability. The thermodynamic calculation results suggest that low-temperature influences can be divided into three levels: irrevocable effects (<0 °C), recoverable effects (0–10 °C), and insignificant effects (10–20 °C). Portland cement was additionally measured via X-ray diffraction, thermal gravity analysis, and low-temperature nitrogen adsorption test in a laboratory and comparisons were drawn that validate the simulation result.     

Localization of diffusion sources in complex networks with sparse observations

Locating sources in a large network is of paramount importance to reduce the spreading of disruptive behavior. Based on the backward diffusion-based method and integer programming, we propose an efficient approach to locate sources in complex networks with limited observers. The results on model networks and empirical networks demonstrate that, for a certain fraction of observers, the accuracy of our method for source localization will improve as the increase of network size. Besides, compared with the previous method (the maximum–minimum method), the performance of our method is much better with a small fraction of observers, especially in heterogeneous networks. Furthermore, our method is more robust against noise environments and strategies of choosing observers.     

Synthesis and characterization of Li1.05Co1/3Ni1/3Mn1/3O1.95X0.05 (X = Cl,Br) cathode materials for lithium-ion battery

In order to improve the thermal stability and dynamic performance of LiCo_1/3Ni_1/3Mn_1/3O₂ materials, Cl-doped and Br-doped materials were synthesized via the co-precipitation method. The morphology, structure, electrochemical performance and thermal stability were characterized by environment scanning electron microscopy (ESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), charge–discharge cycling and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Results show that all materials had a stable layered structure with α-NaFeO₂ and that Cl-doping slightly increased the size of grains. Both Cl-doping and Br-doping improved the high rate of discharge capacity, cycle-life performance and thermal stability, but Cl-doping was better than Br-doping in improving the material structure stability, dynamic performance and thermal stability.