Correlation of the chemical properties of carbon nanotubes with their atomic and electronic structures

The nature of chemical bonding in carbon nanoclusters is investigated by the PM3 semiempirical quantum-chemical method. The influence of the atomic structure on the electronic characteristics and chemical properties of nanoclusters is analyzed. A σ-π model is proposed for the chemical bonding in nanotubes. It is shown that, in the framework of the proposed model, nanotubes are objects characterized by a small contribution of π states to the valence band top.     

Calorimetric investigation of the structural relaxation and crystallization of amorphous Ge16Te84 alloys

Differential scanning calorimetric measurements have been performed on amorphous Ge₁₆Te₈₄ alloys; the study of the dependence of the cooling rate on the reciprocal fictive temperature yields the activation energy of the relaxation process; this value fits well that deduced from shear viscosity measurements. The enthalpy difference between the supercooled liquid and the crystal has been investigated by drop calorimetry on samples annealed at different temperatures below T_g, during different times. These results, combined with the former obtained by DSC lead to the enthalpy values of the metastable liquid system from 390 to 510 K.     

Turbid media optical properties derived from the characteristics of propagating laser radiation beams

The possibility is studied to develop a straightforward analytical approach to the determination of the optical properties of liquid turbid media having forward-peaked scattering indicatrices. The approach is based on investigating the in-depth behavior of the radius and the axial intensity of a laser radiation beam propagating through the turbid medium. Based on the small-angle approximation, the detected forward-propagating light power spatial distribution, at relatively small or large optical depths along the beam axis, is obtained asymptotically in analytical form allowing one to derive relatively simple expressions of the extinction, reduced-scattering and absorption coefficients and the anisotropy factor of the medium through the characteristics of the propagating light beam. Preliminary experiments have also been performed, using Intralipid dilutions of different relatively low concentrations and measuring the cross-sectional radial distribution of the detected light power at different depths along the beam axis. The corresponding on-axis detected light power profiles have been measured independently as well. The experimental results are consistent with the analytical expressions obtained that allow one to estimate the optical coefficients and the anisotropy factor of the investigated media on the basis of the measured beam characteristics. The values obtained are near those predicted by other researchers.     

Dynamics of solid propellant motor composite casing under impact pressure

A dynamic behavior of solid propellant motor composite casing under the action of an internal impact pressure is treated. This pressure describes the engine operation. The thin-walled casing consists of the cylindrical shell and two bottoms. These bottoms are truncated hemisphere. The casing is clamped along two edges of the bottoms. A shear, a rotary inertia and stress–strain relations for an orthotropic material are accounted. Semi analytical method is suggested to analyze the structure stress–strain state. The thin-walled casing dynamic is described by large dimension system of the ordinary differential equations.