Ultrasonic evaluation of anisotropic damage in multiaxially textile-reinforced thermoplastic composites made from hybrid yarns

The basic damage and failure models of multiaxially reinforced composites with a thermoplastic matrix are presented and verified. Within the framework of continuum damage mechanics, a phenomenological model is introduced, where the damage is defined as a change in the elasticity tensor. For damage identification, a specific ultrasonic device was developed. A combination of an immersion set-up and a contact coupling device formed a system for an efficient determination of stiffness-tensor components from convenient sets of velocity measurements. Linked to a tensile machine, it allowed us to measure the anisotropic damage of the new materials group caused by tensile loading. Russian translation published in Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 42, No. 2, pp. 221–234, March–April, 2006.     

Chemical Reactivity of Tetrasulfur Tetranitride: Synthesis,Physical Properties,and Structural Characterization of the Amorphous Phase Cu7S4N4

Tetrasulfur tetranitride, S₄N₄, reacts with elemental Cu within inert solvents to a black‐blue material of approximate composition Cu₇S₄N₄ which is totally amorphous to X‐rays and which cannot be made crystalline by either thermal treatment or electron radiation. Cu₇S₄N₄ explodes if heated above 234 °C or when subjected to mechanical shock to eventually yield copper(I) sulfide; this together with the characteristic infrared spectrum of Cu₇S₄N₄ indicates the presence of molecular S₄N₄ units inside the amorphous phase. The metastable nature of Cu₇S₄N₄ is also mirrored by electron microscopy which furthermore allows the structural characterization of its degradation products. Based on experimental EXAFS data offering characteristic Cu—N and Cu—S distances, a theoretical crystalline approximant of Cu₇S₄N₄ was suggested and structurally optimized by density‐functional total‐energy calculations including periodic boundary conditions. This model incorporates a central S₄N₄ unit bonded to three shells of Cu atoms of different functionalities; in addition, a partial rupture of the S₄N₄ unit is likely to allow for a lowering of the total energy of the metastable phase. The latter observation supports the impossibility to make Cu₇S₄N₄ crystallize using ₄N₄ crystallize using whatever kind of measures.     

Product Integration Rules at Clenshaw-Curtis and Related Points: A Robust Implementation

Product integration rules generalizing the Fej?r, Clenshaw-Curtis,and Filippi quadrature rules respectively are derived for integralswith trigonometric and hyperbolic weight factors. The Chebyshevmoments of the weight functions are found to be given by well-conditionedexpressions, in terms of hypergeometric functions ₀F₁. An a priori error estimator is discussed which is shown bothto avoid wasteful invocation of the integration rule and toincrease significantly the robustness of the automatic quadratureprocedure. Then, specializing to extended Clenshaw-Curtis (ECC) rules,three types of a posteriori error estimates are considered andthe existence of a great risk of their failure is demonstratedby large scale validation tests. An empirical error estimator,superseding them for slowly varying integrands, is found toresult in a spectacular increase in the output reliability. Finally, enhancements in the control of the interval subdivisionstrategy aiming at increasing code robustness is discussed.Comparison with the code DQAWO of QUADPACK, with about a hundredthousand solved integrals, is illustrative of the increasedrobustness and error estimate reliability of our computer codeimplementation of the ECC rules.     

A perturbative approach toB decays into two π mesons

The modified perturbative approach in which transverse degrees of freedom as well as Sudakov suppressions are taken into account, is applied toB decays into two mesons. The influence of various model parameters (CKM) matrix elements,B decay constant, mesonic wave functions) on the results as well as short distance corrections to the weak Hamiltonian are discussed in some detail. The perturbative contributions to theB decays yield branching ratios of the order of 10^–7–10^–6 which values are well below the upper limit for the branching ratio as measured by CLEO.Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft     

TheΛ b →Λ c decay form factors

The recently measured cross-sections for diffractive dissociation of nuclei in high-energy proton nucleus (pA) collisions show a strikingA ^1/3 dependence on the target massA. Such a dependence emerges from an optical model which incorporates a simple mechanism to produce the absorption fluctuations required for inelastic diffraction. The observed momentum transfer (t) dependence of the differential cross-section, dσ/dt∝ exp(?B|t|), is described in terms of a correlation length \(R_F = \sqrt {2B} \) of the absorption fluctuations which turns out to be of the size of a nucleon. The excitation massM dependence, dσ/dM ²∝M ^?2, is explained by a bremsstrahlung mechanism.     

Octet-baryon form factors in the diquark model

We present an alternative parameterization of the quark-diquark model of baryons which particularly takes care of the most recent proton electric form-factor data from the E136 experiment at SLAC. In addition to electromagnetic form factors of the nucleon, for which good agreement with data is achieved, we discuss the weak axial vector form factor of the nucleon as well as electromagnetic form factors of and hyperons. Technical advance in calculating the pertinent analytic expressions within perturbative quantum chromodynamics is gained by formulating the wave function of the quark-diquark system in a covariant way. Finally, we also comment on the influence of Sudakov corrections within the scope of the diquark model.Sponsored in part by the Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technologie, Germany, under contract number 06 Wu 737