Acceleration waves analyzed by a new continuum model of solids incorporating microscopic thermal vibrations

Acceleration waves propagating in isotropic solids at finite temperatures are studied by applying the method of singular surfaces to a new continuum model derived statistical-mechanically from a three-dimensional lattice model. The continuum model explicitly takes into account the microscopic thermal vibrations of the constituent atoms as one of the field variables. The propagation speeds and the ratios of mechanical and thermal amplitudes for both longitudinal and transverse waves are consistently determined. The differential equations that govern the time variation of the amplitudes of the waves are also derived. The analytical results, which are valid over a wide temperature range that includes the melting point, are evaluated numerically for several materials, and their physical implications are discussed. One of the findings to be emphasized is that of the singularities of the characteristic quantities at the melting point.Received: 13 March 2003, Accepted: 20 June 2003PACS: 62.30. + d, 65.40.-bM. Sugiyama: Correspondence to Dedicated to Prof. Ingo Müller on the occasion of his 65th birthday.     

Thermal Behavior and Primary Degradation Mechanism of Some Aromatic Polyethers with Semi-flexible Chain

The present paper describes a thermogravimetric study combined with mass spectrometry of some aromatic polyethers and copolyethers in order to obtain information on the degradation mechanism. The investigated polymers were synthesized starting from 3,3-bis(chloromethyl) oxetane and various bisphenols: 4,4'-dihydroxyazobenzene, 4,4'-dihydroxydiphenyl, bisphenol A and 4,4'-dihydroxydiphenylether. The presence of an oxetanic spacer in the structure, permitting the opening of the cycle, induces more complications in the characterization procedure. But, due to the possibilities relative to the modification of polymers or cross-linking reactions, the presence of the oxetanic moiety may offer some advantages. Out of all the investigated polymers, those containing azobenzenic moieties have the lower thermostability. If the chain flexibility is augmented, the degradation mechanism is based on chain transfer reactions. All polymers present higher thermostability in an argon atmosphere. Based on mass spectra, a degradation mechanism sustained with the assumption that the oxetanic unit is the most labile was proposed. The opening of the oxetanic cycle begins with the most tensioned bond (-C-CH₂-) and generates across-linking process, which is more evident if the polymer melts below 200°C. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Single Machine Scheduling of Unit-time Jobs with Controllable Release Dates

The paper presents a bicriterion approach to solve the single-machine scheduling problem in which the job release dates can be compressed while incurring additional costs. The two criteria are the makespan and the compression cost. For the case of equal job processing times, an O(n⁴) algorithm is developed to construct integer Pareto optimal points. We discuss how the algorithm developed can be modified to construct an -approximation of noninteger Pareto optimal points. The complexity status of the problem with total weighted completion time criterion is also established.     

Mechanism Study for Thermal/Electric Field Poling of Fused Silica

On the basis of the experimental reports, the mechanism of the second-order susceptibility ⁽²⁾ for the thermal/electric field poling of fused silica is analyzed, and expressions for ⁽²⁾ are detailedly derived and numerically calculated for the first time. By comparison the theoretical value of ⁽²⁾ with the experiment results, we propose that the effective ⁽²⁾ is created via both the interaction of the intense electric field with the third-order susceptibility ⁽³⁾ and the dipole orientation. The theoretical results show that, in the differently applied voltage, the dipole orientation and ⁽³⁾ play different role in the formation of ⁽²⁾. This theory successfully explains some experiment results.     

Effects of impurity on the entanglement of the three-qubit Heisenberg XXX spin chain

We investigate the entanglement of the three-qubit Heisenberg XXX chain in the presence of impurity and obtain the analytical expressions of the concurrence C. It is found that for impurity entanglement, C appears only when J ₁ > J for J > 0, and J ₁ > 0 for J < 0, and in these two regions C increases with the increase of J ₁, so is the critical temperature T _c. When J ₁ ≫ | J |, C reaches its maximum value 0.5 and T _c reaches the asymptotic value T _c = 3.41448J ₁. For entanglement between the normal lattices, C appears only when J > 0 and −2J < J ₁ < J, and initially increases with the increase of J ₁ and arrives at the maximum value C _max = (e^4J/T −3)/(e^4J/T + 3) before it decays to zero gradually, so is the critical temperature T _c with, however, the maximum value T _cmax = 4J/In3. Supported by the Natural Science Research Project of Shaanxi Province (Grant No. 2004A15)     

LD侧面抽运板条激光器热效应分析

针对板状Nd:YLF激光介质,在高斯光束抽运情况下,用ANSYS有限元软件模拟了激光介质的热效应,对激光介质中各点的温度和应力分布进行了分析和比较.研究发现双侧抽运与单侧抽运相比,更易获得对称的温度分布,随着抽运光斑横截面变大,抽运面中心温度变低.同时得到板条的棱边、端角处存在较大热应力,且引入的机械应力不可忽视,因此,激光器运转时此区域需防止断裂.     

煤颗粒热膨胀量与破碎特性的研究

煤颗粒的热膨胀破碎特性直接影响流化床锅炉的运行效率.本文利用热机械分析仪(TMA)测定了不同种类不同密度的型煤和原煤的热膨胀特性,并对部分破碎微观形貌进行了FSEM观察;通过旋转炉内的燃烧试验研究了热膨胀特性和破碎的关系.研究表明,煤颗粒在燃烧过程中其热膨胀破碎主要发生在挥发分析出阶段;内部挥发分的析出会使颗粒内压增大而产生膨胀,进而产生细小裂纹并破碎;挥发分越高,颗粒密度越大,其热膨胀形变率越大,越容易发生破碎现象;主要挥发分析出后热膨胀引起的破碎可以忽略.     

Organo-modified magnesium hydroxide nano-needle and its polystyrene nanocomposite

Acrylic acid modified magnesium hydroxide nano-needles (AA–Mg(OH)₂) had been synthesized by alkaline injected into magnesium chloride solution at about 0°C in the presence of acrylic acid (AA). Then the polystyrene/magnesium hydroxide nano-needles composite (PS/Mg(OH)₂) had been prepared by the radical copolymerization with styrene in toluene system using AA–Mg(OH)₂ as a macro-monomer. The elemental analysis (EA) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analyses show that the polystyrene had been grafted onto the surfaces of the nano-needles (AA–Mg(OH)₂). The nano-needles (AA–Mg(OH)₂) had better dispersibility in polystyrene matrix as observed by transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis. The thermal behavior analysis results from the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) indicated that the magnesium hydroxide nano-needles had lower thermal decomposition temperature than that of the polymer matrix and it is expected that the nano-needles prepared by the proposed method could be used as an environmental-friendly flame retardant.     

Sinter-active nanocrystalline CeO<Subscript>2</Subscript> powder prepared by a mixed fuel process: Effect of fuel on particle agglomeration

A modified combustion process, namely a mixed fuel process making use of a mixture of two fuels, such as citric acid and glycine has been developed to prepare nanocrystalline ceria powders. The effect of the mixed fuel and the different fuel to oxidant ratios on the decomposition characteristics of the gels were investigated by simultaneous thermal analysis experiments. It was established from various characterization techniques that the ceria powder prepared through the mixed fuel process has got the optimum powder characteristics, namely, a surface area of 33.33 m²/g and a crystallite size of 14 nm compared to the powders produced through the combustion process using a single fuel like glycine or citric acid. Such powders when sintered at 1250°C resulted in pellets with densities in the range of 94–96% of theoretical density. In this paper, we have carried out systematic studies on the sintering of ceria powders prepared by different approaches. The sintered ceramic from mixed fuel batch, exhibited and retained relative density more than 95% up to 1250°C and this data clearly underscores the ability of this process in developing ceria ceramics with increased stability against reduction.