Multiscale approach to micro/macro fatigue crack growth in 2024-T3 aluminum panel

When two contacting solid surfaces are tightly closed and invisible to the naked eye,the discontinuity is said to be microscopic regardless of whether its length is short or long.By this definition,it is not sufficient to distinguish the difference between a micro-and macro-crack by using the length parameter.Microcracks in high strength metal alloys have been known to be several centimeters or longer.Considered in this work is a dual scale fatigue crack growth model where the main crack can be micro or macro but there prevails an inherent microscopic tip region that is damaged depending on the irregularities of the microstructure.This region is referred to as the"micro-tip"and can be simulated by a sharp wedge with different angles in addition to mixed boundary conditions.The combination is sufficient to model microscopic entities in the form of voids,inclusions,precipitations,interfaces,in addition to subgrain imperfections,or cluster of dislocations.This is accomplished by using the method of"singularity representation"such that closed form asymptotic solutions can be obtained for the development of fatigue crack growth rate relations with three parameters.They include:(1)the crack surface tightness*represented by o/=0.3-0.5 for short cracks in region I,and 0.1-0.2 for long cracks in region II,(2)the micro/macro material properties reflected by the shear modulus ratio*(=micro/macro varying between 2 and 5)and(3)the most sensitive parameter d*being the micro-tip characteristic length d*(=d/do)whose magnitude decreases in the direction of region I II.The existing fatigue crack growth data for 2024-T3 and 7075-T6 aluminum sheets are used to reinterpret the two-parameter da/dN=C(K)nrelation where K has now been re-derived for a microcrack with surfaces tightly in contact.The contact force will depend on the mean stress m or mean stress ratio R as the primary parameter and on the stress amplitude a as the secondary parameter.     

Global Existence for a Parabolic-hyperbolic Free Boundary Problem Modelling Tumor Growth

In this paper we study a free boundary problem modelling tumor growth, proposed by A. Friedman in 2004. This free boundary problem involves a nonlinear second-order parabolic equation describing the diffusion of nutrient in the tumor, and three nonlinear first-order hyperbolic equations describing the evolution of proliferative cells, quiescent cells and dead cells, respectively. By applying Lp theory of parabolic equations, the characteristic theory of hyperbolic equations, and the Banach fixed point theorem, we prove that this problem has a unique global classical solution.     

A three-dimensional steady-state tumor system

The growth of tumors can be modeled as a free boundary problem involving partial differential equations. We consider one such model and compute steady-state solutions for this model. These solutions include radially symmetric solutions where the free boundary is a sphere and nonradially symmetric solutions. Linear and nonlinear stability for these solutions are determined numerically.     

Heterogeneous nucleation and depletion effect in nanowire growth

Recent experiments by Ross and co-workers proved the possibility of a mononuclear regime with heterogeneous nucleation as well as jerky growth in the vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) process for silicon nanowires. In this work, a theoretical model is presented which incorporates the effects of (i) a mononuclear regime with layer by layer growth, (i) heterogeneous nucleation of each new layer at the edge of a Au–Si droplet, (iii) drop of supersaturation after each successful nucleation and respective fast layer growth, (iv) time-dependent nucleation barrier during each new waiting period and (v) correlation between subsequent waiting periods (non-Markovian sequence of waiting periods).     

Bifurcation and disaggregation in urban/regional spatial modelling: A technical note

Using the Lowry-Garin model as an example, we illustrate the complexity of bifurcation and aggregation issues in urban/regional spatial systems. As a first step, a disaggregate version of the Lowry-Garin model is formulated. Then the general conditions for bifurcation are identified in terms of disaggregate labor-force participation rate, population-serving ratio and accessibility indices. Physical interpretation of these conditions is also given.     

Flying qubits and entangled photons

Efficient generation of polarized single photons or entangled photon pairs is crucial for the implementation of quantum key distribution (QKD) systems. Self organized semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are capable of emitting on demand one polarized photon or an entangled photon pair upon current injection. Highly efficient single‐photon sources consist of a pin structure inserted into a microcavity where single electrons and holes are funneled into an InAs QD via a submicron AlOx aperture, leading to emission of single polarized photons with record purity of the spectrum and non‐classicality of the photons. A new QD site‐control technique is based on using the surface strain field of an AlO_x current aperture below the QD. GaN/AlN QD based devices are promising to operate at room temperature and reveal a fine‐structure splitting (FSS) depending inversely on the QD size. Large GaN/AlN QDs show disappearance of the FSS. Theory also suggests QDs grown on (111)‐oriented GaAs substrates as source of entangled photon pairs.     

Containerless rapid solidification of undercooled Cu-Co peritectic alloys

Droplets of Co-16%Cu and Co-71.6%Cu peritectic alloys were solidified during containerless processing in a 3_m drop tube. The microstructures of Co-16%Cu alloy droplets were characterized by dendritic or equiaxed α-Co phase with a small amount of Cu-rich solid solution distributed on α-Co phase boundaries. Two thresholds of droplet diameter were observed for Co-16%Cu alloy at which "equiaxed-dendritic-equiaxed" morphological transitions occur to primary α-Co phase. This conspicuous refinement of primary α-Co grains results from the fragmentation of α-Co dendrites caused by recalescence effect. For Co-71.6%Cu alloy, the primary α-Co phase forms as coarse columnar dendrites in large droplets and equiaxed dendrites in small droplets. Theoretical calculations indicate that Marangoni migration contributes more to the growth of disperse Co-rich spheres by stimulating collision and coalescence than Stokes motion caused by the residual gravity in the falling Co-71.6%Cu alloy droplets.     

Exact field-driven interface dynamics in the two-dimensional stochastic Ising model with helicoidal boundary conditions

We investigate the interface dynamics of the two-dimensional stochastic Ising model in an external field under helicoidal boundary conditions. At sufficiently low temperatures and fields, the dynamics of the interface is described by an exactly solvable high-spin asymmetric quantum Hamiltonian that is the infinitesimal generator of the zero range process. Generally, the critical dynamics of the interface fluctuations is in the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang universality class of critical behavior. We remark that a whole family of RSOS interface models similar to the Ising interface model investigated here can be described by exactly solvable restricted high-spin quantum XXZ$XXZ$-type Hamiltonians.     

Broadening of Cr nanostructures in laser-focused atomic deposition

This paper presents the experimental progress of laser-focused Cr atomic deposition and the experimental condition.The result is an accurate array of lines with a periodicity of 212.8±0.2 nm and mean full-width at half maximum as approximately 95 nm.Surface growth in laser-focused Cr atomic deposition is modeled and studied by kinetic Monte Carlo simulation including two events:the one is that atom trajectories in laser standing wave are simulated with the semiclassical equations of motion to obtain the deposition position;the other is that adatom diffuses by considering two major diffusion processes,namely,terrace diffusion and step-edge descending.Comparing with experimental results(Anderson W R,Bradley C C,McClelland J J and Celotta R J 1999 Phys.Rev.A 59 2476),it finds that the simulated trend of dependence on feature width is in agreement with the power of standing wave,the other two simulated trends are the same in the initial stage.These results demonstrate that some surface diffusion processes play important role in feature width broadening.Numerical result also shows that high incoming beam flux of atoms deposited redounds to decrease the distance between adatoms which can diffuse to minimize the feature width and enhance the contrast.