Selective Al-Ti reactivity in laser-processed Al/Ti multilayers

Multilayers consisting of five (Al/Ti) bilayers were deposited on (100) silicon wafers. On top was deposited the Ti layer, aimed at preventing Al from diffusing to the surface upon laser treatment. The total thickness of the thin-film structure was 200?nm. Laser irradiations with Nd:YAG picoseconds laser pulses in the defocused regime were performed in air. Laser beam energy was 4?mJ and laser spot diameter on the sample surface was 3?mm (fluence 0.057?J?cm^?2). The samples were treated with different numbers of laser pulses. Structural characterizations were performed by different analytical methods and nano-hardness was also measured. Laser processing induced layer intermixing, formation of titanium aluminides, oxidation of the surface titanium layer and enhanced surface roughness. Aluminum appears at the sample surface only for the highest density of laser irradiation. Laser processing induces increment of nano-hardness by approximately 20% and decrease of residual Young’s modulus for a few percentages from the starting value of the untreated samples. These results can be interesting toward achieving structures with a selective extent of Al-Ti reactivity in this multilayered system, within the development of biocompatible materials.     

THERMAL STABILITY OF SOME COMMERCIAL NATURAL AND SYNTHETIC ANTIOXIDANTS AND THEIR MIXTURES

The thermal stability of some commercially available antioxidants alone or in binary or ternary mixtures was investigated in order to find the optimal combination of antioxidants for food processing. The synthetic antioxidants used were butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate (PG) and tertiary-butyhydroquinone (TBHQ). Other antioxidants such as ascorbyl palmitate (AP), mixed tocopherols (TOCO) and monoacylglycerol citrate (MGC) were also employed. The effectiveness of these antioxidants and their combinations was assessed using the Rancimat test by measuring the induction period for the oxidation of sunflower oil after heating at 180C for 1 h and comparing it to the oxidation kinetics of the oil without added antioxidants. All antioxidants and their binary or ternary mixtures showed different degrees of thermal instability. TBHQ individually, among all the examined antioxidants, showed the highest thermal stability. On the other hand, AP as an antioxidant in sunflower oil exhibited low stability during heating. The thermal stability of AP could be enhanced by the addtion of BHA or BHT in binary mixtures at a ratio of 1:3 (w/w). In addition, the ternary mixture of AP, TOCO and MGC (65:25:10) in sunflower oil also showed a higher stability to thermal inactivation. However, the ternary mixture containing 0.13% AP, 0.05% TBHQ and 0.02% MGC provided the optimal protection during thermal treatment. Although a combination of 0.13% BHT, 0.05% AP and 0.02% MG was very effective synergistically at room temperature, it showed a higher susceptibility to thermal inactivation. It was     

Optimised plasma stabilisation at TEXTOR with an advanced, real-time digital control scheme

The tokamak TEXTOR at the Research Centre in Jülich is in operation since more than 25 years. The various control systems at the start, in 1982, were based on analogue techniques, a standard at the time, and were later partly replaced by specially developed digital systems. These systems proved their robustness over the years. As a replacement for the old system, off-the-shelf products were used to ensure continuity, reliability and to reduce the development cost. To provide advanced control scenarios, the new system allows the implementation of more sophisticated algorithms for magnetic and kinetic control. The LabVIEW Real-Time (RT) modules and real-time hardware from National Instruments satisfy these requirements to a large extent. The new system has already been successfully commissioned at TEXTOR and is used to calculate in real-time the plasma density profile (10 ms), the Shafranov shift (10 ms), the plasma vertical and horizontal position (20 $\mu$s) and to control the plasma shape (1 ms). TEXTOR has circular plasmas and has an iron core. Its central part is operated in saturation. During the saturation phase, stray fields change the plasma shape from nearly circular to slightly triangular. By using a shape-control coil set, we can control and adjust the plasma form. The new real-time system is presented as well as the implemented control applications.     

Theory of the acoustic radiation force exerted on a sphere by standing and quasistanding zero-order Bessel beam tweezers of variable half-cone angles

A rigorous theory is developed to predict the radiation force (RF) exerted on a sphere immersed in an ideal fluid by a standing or quasistanding zero-order Bessel beam of different half-cone angles. A standing or a quasistanding acoustic field is the result of counter propagating 2 equal or unequal amplitude zero-order Bessel beams, respectively, along the same axis. Each Bessel beam is characterized by its halfcone angle β_l;l = 1, 2 of its plane wave components, such that β_l = 0 represents a plane wave. Analytical expressions of RF are derived for a homogeneous viscoelastic sphere chosen as an example. RF calculations for a polyethylene sphere immersed in water are performed. Particularly, the half-cone angle dependency on the RF is analyzed for standing and quasistanding waves. Changing the half-cone angle is equivalent to changing the beamwidth. Potential applications include particle manipulation in microfluidic lab-on-chips as well as in reduced gravity environments.     

黄钾铁矾的生成机理及其对嗜酸氧化亚铁硫杆菌有重要作用的离子的影响(英文)

黄钾铁矾的生成对Sarcheshmeh生物堆浸硫化铜矿有不利影响。实验研究了在嗜酸氧化亚铁硫杆菌存在的情况下,生长介质中Fe(II)的初始浓度、pH及温度影响黄钾铁矾沉淀形成的机理。产生最多Fe(III)沉淀的条件为:硫酸亚铁浓度50 g/L、初始pH 2.2、温度32°C。Fe(III)沉淀的生成影响了对嗜酸氧化亚铁硫杆菌有重要作用的离子的浓度,比如:Fe3+、SO 2?4、K+、PO 3?4、Mg2+。对于Fe3+和K+,他们有相似的模式,这些离子共沉淀而形成黄钾铁矾的组分。在pH高于1.6时,由于PO 3?4与黄钾铁矾共沉淀以及嗜酸氧化亚铁硫杆菌较快的生长速度而导致合PO 3?4的化合物的溶解度急剧降低。在生物堆浸的初期,由于脉石的溶解,Mg2+浓度增大,随后缓慢降低。     

Identification of large-scale goaf instability in underground mine using particle swarm optimization and support vector machine

An approach which combines particle swarm optimization and support vector machine (PSO–SVM) is proposed to forecast large-scale goaf instability (LSGI). Firstly, influencing factors of goaf safety are analyzed, and following parameters were selected as evaluation indexes in the LSGI: uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) of rock, elastic modulus (E) of rock, rock quality designation (RQD), area ration of pillar (S_p), the ratio of width to height of the pillar (w/h), depth of ore body (H), volume of goaf (V), dip of ore body (α) and area of goaf (S_g). Then LSGI forecasting model by PSO-SVM was established according to the influencing factors. The performance of hybrid model (PSO + SVM = PSO–SVM) has been compared with the grid search method of support vector machine (GSM–SVM) model. The actual data of 40 goafs are applied to research the forecasting ability of the proposed method, and two cases of underground mine are also validated by the proposed model. The results indicated that the heuristic algorithm of PSO can speed up the SVM parameter optimization search, and the predictive ability of the PSO–SVM model with the RBF kernel function is acceptable and robust, which might hold a high potential to become a useful tool in goaf risky prediction research.     

Potential-well model in acoustic tweezers--comment

The production of acoustical vortices-based potential wells for particle trapping is not only restricted to the use of a Laguerre-Gaussian beam. Other useful types of vortex beams include an r-vortex beam, a non-diffracting high-order Bessel and Bessel-Gauss beam, a fractional (diffracting) high-order Bessel beam, a non-diffracting high-order Bessel beam of fractional type α, and a hypergeometric beam to name a few. Representative types of vortex beams are chosen here, but the examples are not exhaustive and additional categories of vortex beams may be reported and investigated. Expressions for the incident acoustic pressure field of various vortex beams are provided. The results should assist in the development of a multitude of vortex-based potential-well models for particle entrapment and manipulation.     

The strength of beam-to-staggered column connections of rectangular hollow sections

Not infrequently, a column segment within the a storey of a structural frame must be laterally displaced to accommodate the requirements of the users of a building. The ensuing beam-to-staggered column connection is the subject of this paper.Results are reported of an experimental programme of such connections consisting of square hollow section columns sandwiched between rectangular hollow section (RHS) beams. Specimens tested had beam depth-to-width ratios varying from 0.40 to 2.50. The clear stagger distance-to-beam depth ratio was either 0.5 or 1.0.Two theoretical strength limits are developed employing a modified yield line method that incorporates both yield and ultimate stress values. It is found that the observed failure load lies generally in the range between the two strength limits predicted by theory. The variation of the beam outer web efficiency with beam aspect ratio and gap-to-depth ratio is also discussed.     

Measuring permeability of porous materials at low frequency range via acoustic transmitted waves

An acoustical transmission method is proposed for measuring permeability of porous materials having rigid frame. Permeability is one of the several parameters required by acoustical theory to characterize porous materials such as plastic foams and fibrous or granular materials. The proposed method is based on a temporal model of the direct and inverse scattering problem for the diffusion of transient low frequency waves in a homogeneous isotropic slab of porous material having a rigid frame. This time domain model of wave propagation was initially introduced by the authors [Z.E.A Fellah and C. Depollier, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 107, 683 (2000)]. The viscous losses of the medium are described by the model devised by Johnson et al. [J. Fluid. Mech. 176, 379 (1987)]. Reflection and transmission scattering operators for a slab of porous material are derived from the responses of the medium to an incident acoustic pulse. The permeability is determined from the expressions of these operators. Experimental and numerical validation results of this method are presented. This method has the advantage of being simple, rapid, and efficient.