Acoustic emission during the thermal cycling of titanium nickelide under conditions of uneven heating

The behavior of acoustic emission (AE) upon thermal cycling of the T–Ni alloy is studied. It is shown that AE can be used to assess working parts made of shape memory alloy.     

Intrinsic strength of silicon crystals in pure- and combined-mode fracture without precrack

Measurement of the critical fracture strength of single-crystal silicon was carried out by contact-free laser-based excitation and detection of nonlinear surface acoustic wave (SAW) pulses. The three crystallographic geometries Si(112)111[over ], Si(112)1[over ]1[over ]1, and Si(110)11[over ]1 were examined. A comparison of the optically detected SAW transients and numerically calculated stress-strain fields allowed an estimate of the intrinsic mechanical strength without using an artificial precrack. Depending on the geometry, the critical strength varied between 5 and 7 GPa.     

Focused array transducer for two-dimensional optoacoustic tomography

Optoacoustic (OA) imaging utilizes short laser pulses to create acoustic sources in tissue and time resolved detection of generated pressure profiles for image reconstruction. The ultrasonic transients provide information on the distribution of optical absorption coefficient that can be useful for early cancer diagnostics. In this work a new design of wide-band array transducer is developed and tested. The array consists of 32 focused piezo-elements made of PVDF slabs imposed on a cylindrical surface. A single array element response to an OA signal coming from arbitrarily located point source is investigated theoretically and experimentally. The measured signals correspond well to numerically calculated ones. Focal zone maps of the elements with aperture angles 30 degrees and 60 degrees are presented and discussed; the resolution in direction perpendicular to the imaging plane is determined. Point spread function of the whole array is calculated using experimentally obtained signals from the sources located at different distances from the array. Backprojection algorithm is employed for reconstruction of the optoacoustic images. It is shown that the spatial resolution of the images yielded by the proposed array increases significantly compared to previous transducer designs.     

Nonlinear surface acoustic waves: silicon strength in phonon-focusing directions

The anisotropy of the elastic properties of single-crystal silicon manifests itself in features of both the linear and nonlinear surface acoustic wave (SAW) propagation. Directions showing the phonon-focusing effect and strong nonlinearity were employed in contact-free and notch-free laser-based fracture experiments, yielding the intrinsic strength of silicon. The critical tensile stress values vary between 2.5 GPa and 7 GPa for the different crystallographic planes and directions of SAW propagation investigated.     

Interference of opposing longitudinal acoustic waves in an isotropic absorbing plate and a periodic structure with defects

Interference of longitudinal acoustic waves propagating in opposite directions in a homogeneous isotropic absorbing plate and a periodic structure with a defect is considered theoretically. The periodic structure consists of alternating absorbing solid and transparent liquid layers. The defect is modeled by replacing a solid layer by a liquid layer of the same thickness. The dependences of the transmission spectrum of the energy flux on the amplitude ratio and phase difference of the interacting waves are studied. It is shown that, by varying the parameters of the opposite pressure wave, it is possible to change the transmission spectrum of the direct wave in a wide frequency range. An expression is obtained to determine the extremums of the wave amplitude transmitted through an absorbing plate depending on the amplitude ratio of the interacting waves. The results of studying a one-dimensional periodic structure demonstrate the possibility to considerably change the transmission spectrum of the pressure wave leaving the structure and also to eliminate the invariance of this spectrum under the interchange of the kth and (n?k+1)th layers (where n is the total number of layers in the structure).     

Wideband focused film transducer for optoacoustic tomography

The response of a focused film transducer to wideband acoustic signals is studied both theoretically and experimentally. The transducer has the form of a narrow PVDF strip placed on a concave cylindrical surface. A software package is developed for calculating the impulse transient response functions depending on the position of the point source of spherical waves. The experiments are performed using laser thermooptical sources of acoustic spherical wave pulses excited by a pulsed diode-pumped Nd: YAG laser. The theoretical and measured temporal profiles of signals recorded by the transducer are shown to be in good agreement for the source positioned near the transducer’s focus. For this region, a transducer sensitivity map is investigated. For the case of the source positioned at the focus of the transducer, the absolute value of the transducer sensitivity is 8 µV/Pa.     

Influence of microporosity on the strength properties of SiC ceramic materials

A series of silicon carbide ceramic samples with variable characteristics of the microporosity and strength, such as the ballistic strength σ _B and the static strength σ _S , are investigated. The dependences of the strength on the integral porosity for ceramic materials are determined. It is established that the strength (both σ _B and σ _S ) is directly proportional to the average length of the bridges between micropores. The mechanism of the influence of microporosity on the strength of the ceramic materials is elucidated. According to this mechanism, interpore bridges are concentrators of stresses and, hence, are broken when a load is applied to the ceramic material. Numerous breakings of bridges bring about the failure of the ceramic body. The average stress concentration coefficient is estimated as a function of the integral porosity of the ceramic material. It is demonstrated that the static strength of the ceramic material is determined by the presence of large micropores (50–100 μm).     

High-rate penetration of a striker into SiC ceramic with different void content

The kinetics of penetration of deformable striking rods into SiC ceramics with different void content is studied. The penetration may be viewed as a two-stage process. At the first stage, the penetration rate is minimal and the rate of contraction of the rod is maximal. At this stage, the penetration resistance of the ceramic is the highest. At the second (quasi-steady-state) stage, the penetration kinetics is similar to the kinetics of penetration into a zero-strength medium and resistance to penetration is largely inertial. At the first stage, the penetration resistance is shown to correlate with the hardness of the ceramic and depend strongly on the void content.     

Determination of the rate constants of the reaction of pentaerythritol tetravalerate peroxy radicals with polyfunctional phosphites at high temperature

The effectiveness of a number of aromatic phosphites as inhibitors of the high-temperature autooxidation of pentaerythritol tetravalerate was studied, and the rate constants of the reaction of its peroxide radicals with aromatic phosphites at 200°C were determinedInstitute of Chemistry, Bashkir Science Center, Urals Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 450054 Ufa. Institute of Organic Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Uk-raine, 252000 Kiev. Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 2, pp. 289–291, February, 1992.