Effects of Adsorbed Polyaniline on Redox Processes on As(2)O(3) Surfaces

Polyaniline deposited on As(2)O(3) surface resulted in a new material, which was characterized by infrared spectoscopy, thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and cyclic voltammetry. The mass percentage of polymer deposited on oxide surface is approximately 13%. The scanning electron microscopy images as well as the X-ray diffraction patterns provided conclusive evidence that the oxide surface is coated by the polymer. The cyclic voltammograms of the polyaniline adsorbed on As(2)O(3) surface showed that the adsorbate exerts remarkable effects on redox processes on this oxide. The pure oxide exhibited two oxidation/reduction peaks at 0.25/-0.06 and 0.47/-0.25 V attributed tentatively to the processes As(2)O(3)(s)+6H(+)+6e(-)=2As(s)+3H(2)O and As(s)+3H(+)+3e(-)=AsH(3)(g), respectively. The polyaniline-coated sample exhibited a better-defined voltammogram in which the first oxidation peak of the oxide had its intensity increased about four times. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.     

A Gurson-type criterion for porous ductile solids containing arbitrary ellipsoidal voids—II: Determination of yield criterion parameters

The aim of this paper is to fully determine the parameters of the approximate homogenized yield criterion for porous ductile solids containing arbitrary ellipsoidal cavities proposed in Part I. This is done through improvements of the limit-analysis of some representative hollow cell presented there. The improvements are of two kinds. For hydrostatic loadings, the limit-analysis is refined by performing micromechanical finite element computations in a number of significant cases, so as to replace Leblond and Gologanu (2008)'s trial velocity field representing the expansion of the void by the exact, numerically determined one. For deviatoric loadings, limit-analysis is dropped and direct use is made of some general rigorous results for nonlinear composites derived by Ponte-Castaneda (1991), Willis (1991) and Michel and Suquet (1992) using the earlier work of Willis (1977) and the concept of “linear comparison material”. This hybrid approach is thought to lead to the best possible expressions of the yield criterion parameters. The criterion proposed reduces to (variants of) classical approximate criteria proposed by Gurson (1977) and Gologanu et al., 1993, Gologanu et al., 1994, Gologanu et al., 1997 in the specific cases of spherical or spheroidal, prolate or oblate cavities. An overview of the validation of this criterion through micromechanical finite element computations is finally presented.     

Coherent soliton pattern formation in a fiber laser

We report the observation of bound states of 350 pulses in a ring fiber laser mode locked by nonlinear rotation of the polarization. The phenomenon is described theoretically using a multiscale approach to the gain dynamics; the fast evolution of a small excess of gain is responsible for the stabilization of a periodic pattern, while the slow evolution of the mean value of gain explains the finite length of the quasiperiodic soliton train.     

In-plane perturbation of a system of two coplanar slit-cracks – II: Case of close inner crack fronts or distant outer ones

The study of the in-plane perturbation of a system of two coplanar slit-cracks carried out in Part I is specialized to the case where the distance between the inner crack fronts is small, or equivalently that between the outer fronts large. The limit process involved is complex because of appearance of a “boundary layer” in the limiting case considered; this boundary layer occurs near the origin in the Fourier space used to determine the unknown components of the fundamental kernel looked for. A technique of matched asymptotic expansions is used to tackle this difficulty.The problem is thus reduced to determining two unknown functions only, which characterize the “interactions” between the two inner fronts. These functions obey a system of nonlinear differential equations in Fourier’s space, which are solved analytically near the origin and numerically in general. The results evidence a very slow decrease of long-range interactions between distinct points on the same front or distinct ones. This represents a striking difference with respect to the cases considered earlier of a single semi-infinite crack and a single slit-crack.     

Numerical implementation and assessment of the GLPD micromorphic model of ductile rupture

Just like all constitutive models involving softening, Gurson's classical model for porous ductile solids predicts unrealistic, unlimited localization of strain and damage. An improved variant of this model aimed at solving this problem has been proposed by Gologanu, Leblond, Perrin and Devaux (GLPD) on the basis of some refinement of Gurson's original homogenization procedure. The GLPD model is of “micromorphic” nature since it involves the second gradient of the macroscopic velocity and generalized macroscopic stresses of “moment” type, together with some characteristic “microstructural distance”. This work is devoted to its numerical implementation and the assessment of its practical relevance. This assessment is based on two criteria: absence of mesh size effects in finite element computations and agreement of numerical and experimental results for some typical experiments of ductile fracture. The GLPD model is found to pass both tests. It is therefore concluded that it represents a viable, although admittedly complex solution to the problem of unlimited localization in Gurson's model of ductile rupture.     

Sources recovery from boundary data: A model related to electroencephalography

We are concerned with an inverse problem related to sources detection from boundary data in a 2D medium with piecewise constant conductivity. It stands as a 2D version of the inverse problem of electroencephalography, where pointwise sources model epilepsy foci, with the so-called multi-layer spherical model of the head (scalp, skull, brain). When overdetermined electrical measurements (potential and current flux) are available on the scalp, one wants to recover the current sources (conductivity defaults) located in the brain (inner boundary). This recovery issue reduces to a number of inverse problems, where the sources identification process makes use of best rational approximation in the disk, whereas the preliminary cortical mapping step (Cauchy type issue) relies on best constrained harmonic or analytic approximation in an annulus (bounded extremal problems).