Structure and properties of the Ti-Si-N nanocrystalline coatings synthesized in vacuum by the electroarc method

Phase composition, defect substructure, and mechanical properties of the Ti-Si-N coating deposited on metal and ceramic-metal substrates by electroarc sputtering of the Ti-Si composite cathode in an ionized nitrogen atmosphere are investigated by the methods of modern materials science. It is established that coatings so formed with a thickness of ∼1–3 μm are superhard (H_v ∼ 50 GPa), and have the nanocrystalline structure (with crystalline sizes D = 7 nm) based on titanium nitride δ-TiN. __________ Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 46–51, February, 2007.     

Characterization of spherical particles using high-order neural networks and scanning flow cytometry

We retrieve the radius R, real n and imaginary k parts of the refractive index of homogeneous spherical particles using angular distribution of the light-scattering intensity. To solve the inverse light-scattering problem we use a high-order neural-network technique. The effect of network parameters on optimization is examined. The technique is evaluated for noise-corrupted input data at 0.6 μm<R<10.6 μm, 1.02<n<1.38, and 0<k<0.03. The errors of retrieval for nonabsorbing particles do not exceed 0.05 μm for radius and 0.015 for refractive index. The experimental verification is fulfilled by experimental data retrieved by means of a scanning flow cytometer. The light-scattering profiles of polystyrene beads and spherized red blood cells are processed with the high-order neural networks and a non-linear regression at Mie theory. The parameters retrieved by the high-order neural networks correlate well with the parameters retrieved by the least-square method.     

Click chemistry in materials synthesis. III. Metal‐adhesive polymers from Cu(I)‐catalyzed azide–alkyne cycloaddition

1,2,3‐Triazole‐based polymers generated from the Cu(I)‐catalyzed cycloaddition between multivalent azides and acetylenes are effective adhesive materials for metal surfaces. The adhesive capacities of candidate mixtures of azide and alkyne components were measured by a modified peel test, using a customized adhesive tester. A particularly effective tetravalent alkyne and trivalent azide combination was identified, giving exceptional strength that matches or exceeds the best commercial formulations. The addition of Cu catalyst was found to be important for the synthesis of stronger adhesive polymers when cured at room temperature. Heating also accelerated curing rates, but the maximum adhesive strengths achieved at both room temperature and high temperature were the same, suggesting that crosslinking reaches the same advanced point in all cases. Polytriazoles also form adhesives to aluminum, but copper is bound more effectively, presumably because active Cu(I) ions may be leached from the surface to promote crosslinking and adhesion. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 5182–5189, 2007     

Kinetics and mechanism of free-surface vaporization of zinc, cadmium and mercury oxides analyzed by the third-law method

On the basis of critical comparison of experimental and theoretical values of the E parameter and investigation of the retardation effect of oxygen on the evaporation rate of ZnO, CdO and HgO, it was concluded that the dissociative evaporation of ZnO and HgO proceeds with releasing of atomic oxygen (O) as a primary product of decomposition. By contrast, the mechanism of dissociative evaporation of CdO corresponds to the equilibrium reaction with releasing of molecular oxygen (O₂) as a primary product of decomposition. As was shown, this difference in mechanisms is not related with interatomic OO distances in these oxides. From the analysis of crystal structure for 12 different oxides, which evaporate with releasing of atomic oxygen, and for 13 compounds, which evaporate with releasing of molecular oxygen, it was revealed that the first mechanism is observed for all oxides with the cubic crystal structure. It was proposed that a decisive role in this difference belongs to a local symmetry in the position of O atoms.     

QED interconnection effects on W momentum distributions at LEP 2

The process ${? e}^{+}{? e}^{-}?ghtarrow {? W}^{+}{? W}^{-}?ghtarrow {? f}_{1}{?erline {? f}}_{2}{? f}_{3}{?erline {? f}}_{4}$ contains charges in the initial, intermediate and final stages. This gives a rich selection of possible QED interconnection effects. Coulomb interaction is the simplest of these, and can thus be used to explore consequences. We study a number of experimental observables, with emphasis on those related to the W momentum distribution. Second-order Coulomb effects are shown to be practically negligible. The limited LEP 2 statistics will not allow detailed tests, so any theory uncertainty will be reflected in the systematic error on the W mass. Currently the uncertainty from this source may be as high as 20 MeV.     

Lysine-containing calcium hydroxylapatite: Synthesis and physicochemical characterization

The CaCl₂-(NH₄)₂HPO₄-NH₂(CH₂)₄NH₂CHCOOH-NH₃-H₂O system at 25°C is studied using Tananaev’s solubility (residual concentrations) method and pH measurements. Lysine-containing calcium hydroxylapatite Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆(OH)_1.9[NH₂(CH₂)₄NH₂CHCOO]_0.1 · 6H₂O is identified using chemical analysis, thermogravimetry, powder X-ray diffraction, and IR spectroscopy.     

Application of Horner–Emmons Olefination to the Crown-Ether Derivatives

An effective synthetic approach to the preparation of a new crown-ether vinylogs involving the Horner–Emmons olefination of carbonyl precursors with the use of C₂- and C₅-phosphonates was proposed. The effects of the conjugation chain length and the nature of the terminal polar functions in the phosphonate reagent on the yield and process stereoselectivity were discussed.