Nanolayered lightweight flexible shields with multidirectional optical transparency

New nanolayered coatings are designed and deposited on flexible plastic substrate having the thickness of 100 /spl mu/m, in order to realize lightweight ultrathin transparent shielding foils. The structure of the coating is optimized considering three figures of merit: the average transmittance in the visible range for normal incidence, the normalized average transmittance for oblique incidence at 550 nm, and the transmittance quality factor. The nanotechnology exploited for the deposition of the transparent metals is the dual ion beam sputtering. Tests of durability, optical transmission, and shielding effectiveness demonstrate that the film has a high adhesion under mechanical solicitation, high resistance against aging, peak transmittance in the visible range higher than 70%, omnidirectional properties in the range 0/spl deg/-60/spl deg/, and shielding effectiveness of 40 dB up to 6 GHz.     

Simulation of viscous water column collapse using adapting hierarchical grids

An adaptive hierarchical grid‐based method for predicting complex free surface flows is used to simulate collapse of a water column. Adapting quadtree grids are combined with a high‐resolution interface‐capturing approach and pressure‐based coupling of the Navier–Stokes equations. The Navier–Stokes flow solution scheme is verified for simulation of flow in a lid‐driven cavity at Re=1000. Two approaches to the coupling of the Navier–Stokes equations are investigated as are alternative face velocity and hanging node interpolations. Collapse of a water column as well as collapse of a water column and its subsequent interaction with an obstacle are simulated. The calculations are made on uniform and adapting quadtree grids, and the accuracy of the quadtree calculations is shown to be the same as those made on the equivalent uniform grids. Results are in excellent agreement with experimental and other numerical data. A sharp interface is maintained at the free surface. The new adapting quadtree‐based method achieves a considerable saving in the size of the computational grid and CPU time in comparison with calculations made on equivalent uniform grids. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The thermodynamic characteristics of formation of vacancies in carbon subgroup element crystals

A method for calculating the parameters of formation of vacancies in crystals formed by spherically symmetrical atoms was developed. Both quantum effects at low temperatures and the possibility of the delocalization of atoms at high temperatures were studied. The parameters of formation of vacancies in carbon subgroup element crystals C-diam, Si, Ge, α-Sn, and Pb were calculated. The inclusion of the delocalization of atoms was shown to increase the enthalpy, entropy, and volume of vacancy formation. At low temperatures, the parameters of vacancy formation were found to depend strongly on the temperature, and the entropy of vacancy formation became negative. At high temperatures, close agreement with experimental data and theoretical estimates reported by other authors was obtained. The temperature dependence of vacancy parameters was studied for diamond heated isobarically from 100 to 4500 K. The applicability scope of the Arrhenius equation with a temperature-independent activation energy is discussed. The validity of the “compensation rule” (correlation between the entropy and enthalpy of vacancy formation) was demonstrated. It was also shown that the volume and entropy of vacancy formation were correlated over the whole temperature range studied.

     

K X-ray production cross sections for 40-180 keV protons

Considering the importance of the X-ray production cross sections for the determination of the element concentrations in a given material, we have measured them experimentally for Al Si, Sc, Ti, V, Fe, Co, Ni and Cu bombarded by protons with energies ranging from 40 to 180 keV. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

High-gain pseudomorphic InGaAs base ballistic hot-electron device

A high-gain ballistic hot-electron device is described. The GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructure device, with a 21-mm-thick pseudomorphic In _0.12Ga_0.88As base, had a current gain of 27 at 77 K and 41 at 4.2 K. As characteristically seen in ballistic devices, transfer into the L valley limited the maximum gain. The Γ-L valley separation in the strained In_0.12Ga_0.88As was estimated to be about 380 meV     

Unsteady motion in single-line flow-injection systems

Unsteady motion in single-line flow-injection systems consisting of n tubular elements with valve or hydrodynamic injection is studied theoretically. A formula for the duration of the initial period of unsteady flow is derived. This initial period is much shorter than the mean residence time of the analyte in practical systems. It can therefore be neglected in mathematical modelling of such systems. Experimental data obtained with single-line systems with valve and hydrodynamic injection confirmed the validity of the theoretical equations.     

Arc root mobility on piezoelectrically actuated contacts in miniature circuit breakers

A novel contact opening mechanism has been developed using a piezoelectric actuator to open the contacts in a low contact opening velocity circuit breaker. The arc control on the contacts is critical for successful current interruption (10/sup 3/-10/sup 4/ A) in low voltage (<250V) devices. Previous work has shown how arc root commutation from the contact region into the arc chamber is affected by arc chamber materials, contact materials and the gap behind the moving contact for contact velocities between 1ms/sup -1/ and 10ms/sup -1/. This work is extended using a commercially available piezoelectric actuator to open the contacts. Contact opening speeds are assessed and the arc root mobility is characterized under this operating regime. A flexible test apparatus and solid-state high-speed arc imaging system are used to gather data on the arc root during the opening of the contacts. New experimental results are presented on the anode and cathode root velocity and arc root motion in an arc chamber with piezoelectrically actuated contact opening. These results can be used to improve the design of high current low voltage circuit breakers suitable for piezoelectric actuation.     

A WKB analysis of the buckling condition for a cylindrical shell of arbitrary thickness subjected to an external pressure

We consider the plane-strain buckling of a cylindrical shellof arbitrary thickness which is made of a Varga material andis subjected to an external hydrostatic pressure on its outersurface. The WKB method is used to solve the eigenvalue problemthat results from the linear bifurcation analysis. We show thatthe circular cross-section buckles into a non-circular shapeat a value of µ₁ which depends on A₁/A₂ and a mode number,where A₁ and A₂ are the undeformed inner and outer radii, andµ₁ is the ratio of the deformed inner radius to A₁. Inthe large mode number limit, we find that the dependence ofµ₁ on A₁/A₂ has a boundary layer structure: it is constantover almost the entire region of 0 < A₁/A₂ < 1 and decreasessharply from this constant value to unity as A₁/A₂ tends tounity. Our asymptotic results for A₁ – 1 = O(1) and A₁– 1 = O(1/n) are shown to agree with the numerical resultsobtained by using the compound matrix method.