Fracture mechanics-based model of abrasive waterjet cutting for brittle materials

Advanced engineering ceramic materials such as silicon carbides and silicon nitride have been used in many engineering applications. The abrasive waterjet is becoming the most recent cutting technique of such materials because of its inherent advantages.In the present study, two elastic-plastic erosion models are adopted to develop an abrasive waterjet model for cutting brittle materials. As a result, two cutting models based on fracture mechanics are derived and introduced. The suggested models predict the maximum depth of cut of the target material as a function of the fracture toughness and hardness as well as the process parameters.It is found that both models predict the same depth of cut within a maximum of 11%, for the practical range of process parameters used in the present study. The maximum depth of cut predicted by the suggested models are compared with published experimental results for three types of ceramics. The effect of process parameters on the maximum depth of cut for a given ceramic material is also studied and compared with experimental work. The comparison reveals that there is a good agreement between the models' predictions and experimental results, where the difference between the predicted and experimental value of the maximum depth of cut is found to be an average value of 10%.Nomenclature C abrasive efficiency factor, see equation (16) - C ₁,C ₂ c ₁/4/3, c₂/4/3 - c ₁,c ₂ erosion models constants, see equations (1) and (2) - d _a local effective jet diameter - d _j nozzle diameter - d _S infinitesimal length along the kerf - f ₁ ( _E ) function defined by equation (7) - f ₂ ( _E ) function defined by equation (8) - f ₃ ( _e ) function defined by equation (14) - g ₁ ( _E ) f ₁( _e )/f ₃ ² ( _e ) - g ₂ ( _e ) f ₂( _e /f ₃ ² ( _e ) - H Vickers hardness of the target material - h maximum depth of cut - K _c fracture toughness of target material - k kerf constant - M linear removal rate, dh/dt - m mass of a single particle - abrasive mass flow rate - water mass flow rate - P water pressure - Q total material removal rate, see equation (11) - R abrasive to water mass flow rates - r particle radius - S kerf length - u traverse speed - V material volume removal rate (erosion rate) - V idealised volume removal by an individual abrasive particle - particle impact velocity - ₀ initial abrasive particle velocity - x,y kerf coordinates - local kerf angle, Fig. 1 - _E jet exit angle at the bottom of the workpiece, Fig. 1 - particle density - _w water density On leave from: Mechanical Engineering Department, Suez Canal University, Egypt.On leave from: Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Alexandria University, Egypt.     

Identification of Characteristic Features of Envelopes of Testing Pulses with the Help of the Diade Convolution Adaptable to Noise Level: I. Identification of Types of Characteristic Features

A method has been suggested for binary coding of envelopes of measured pulses from eddy-current transducers. The method enables one to identify their characteristic features of various types, such as leading edge, trailing edge, maximum, minimum, horizontal portion, start point of leading edge, end point of leading edge, start point of trailing edge, and end point of trailing edge, using weighted sums of no more than four Hadamard-ordered Walsh functions with numbers 0, 1, 2 ^n–1, and 2 ^n–1 + 1. The paper demonstrates the existence of obvious diade correlations of coded combinations corresponding to specific fragments with both one another and distortions of a current sampling simulated by adding an error vector. These properties make possible an identification of types of characteristic features in current samplings of binary data with four levels of a noise immunity, which are selected in the process of adaptation to the noise intensity with due account of the significance of identified features.     

A Two-Section Gas-Filled Ionization Chamber for Neutron Flux Measurements

A promising design of a -type two-section gas-filled ionization chamber is described for the first time. A relationship between the design parameters, gas pressure, and characteristics of the material is determined, under which full compensation of the background currents from the -radiation and the measurement of thermal neutron fluxes in a range of 400 to 7 ×10⁹cm^–2s^–1at a load characteristic with a 5% nonlinearity are provided. Test results of the chamber are presented.     

A novel representation of tandem systems with inter-stage storage applied to on-line system monitoring

One of the goals of operating a tandem manufacturing system with finite inter-stage storage and asynchronous operations is to meet the demand without over-producing, under-producing or carrying large quantities of material in storage. We believe that analysing the operation of such a system on a real-time basis helps achieve this goal. The first step in this real-time analysis would be to quantitatively associate the causes and effects of over-production or under-production as they occur. This requires determining the cumulative effect that the performance that any stage has on the system, based on its history, the current system state and the interrelationships between the stages. This paper proposes a method which first represents uniquely and completely each stage and surrounding storage as an element. While this system, which consists only of this simple type of element functions in exactly the same way as the original one, each element is put into an ideal world for decoupled measurement. Though an element behaves in exactly the same way whether it is in the ideal world or in the real world, the elapsed times in the two worlds since the beginning of production can be different, since the responses (occurrences and durations of the blockings and starvations) of the two worlds can be different. A phase parameter is introduced for each element to represent this difference. Once the formation of the phase parameter of the output element is formulated, quantitative relationships between causes and effects of over-producing or under-producing can be explained as they occur.     

The RFR-4 X-ray Streak Camera

The RFR-4 X-ray streak camera with a slit scan designed on the basis of an X-ray sensitive evacuated image tube is described. The obtained images are recorded using a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. The basic parameters of the X-ray streak camera are as follows: (1) the recorded spectral range starts at 0.1 keV; (2) the time resolution is as high as 30 ps; (3) the spatial resolution is five pairs of lines per millimeter (for a contrast ratio of 0.5); (4) the dynamic recording range is as high as 2000; and (5) the detectability is 2 × 10⁵ quanta/(cm²ns) (for a quantum energy of 1.5 keV). The design of the device and the purpose and operation of its components are described. The streak camera is equipped with a gate-valve unit with an autonomous evacuation system; this allows one to use it in installations where the working-chamber pressure increases dynamically up to 0.1 Torr. The sharp-focusing operating mode, which allows one to increase the device's sensitivity by an order of magnitude without loss in the time resolution, is described. The streak camera was used to record the X radiation in experiments with various targets performed at the ISKRA-4 and ISKRA-5 laser installations and the SIGNAL-2 Z-pinch installation.     

A Position-Sensitive Detector for the Polarized-Neutron Spectrometer

A linear detector of thermal neutrons, developed at the Laboratory for High Energies (Joint Institute for Nuclear Research), is used in the polarized-neutron spectrometer of the -2 reactor (JINR). The data are acquired in the regime of frame-by-frame survey to select neutrons with a wavelength = 1–12 Å by the time of flight. The neutron-detection efficiency is 70% for a wavelength of 2 Å. The detector exhibits a low sensitivity to -rays, a differential nonlinearity of 1.5%, and a spatial resolution of 1.5 mm at counting rates of 10⁵events/s.     

A РК-АГ-02 α–γ-Radiometer–Spectrometer for Proximate Monitoring of 241Am and Other Transuranium Radionuclides

A --02 –-radiometer–spectrometer is made up of a refined detector on the basis of a GSO scintillator and a CASSIOPEIA A-11A laptop personal computer. This instrument can measure ²⁴¹Am activity in samples, without their concentration and radiochemical treatment, against a high (10^–3) background level due to the accompanying radionuclides (¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁷Cs, ¹⁵⁴Eu, ¹⁵⁵Eu, etc). The maximum detectable activities for field and laboratory modifications of the instrument are 0.7 and 0.25 Bq per sample, respectively (for a measurement time of 8 h). In addition, this instrument can measure an -particle flux density from 0.15 s^–1cm^–2and perform the spectrometry of low-energy -rays over a 20- to 200-keV range (analog spectrometry by three differential channels and multichannel spectrometry with the use of an external analyzer).     

Desorption Kinetics of Polyether Lubricants from Surfaces

Desorption or evaporation is one of the mechanisms for loss of perfluoropolyalkylether (PFPE) lubricants from the surfaces of data storage media. One approach to minimizing PFPE loss to desorption is the use of lubricants with increasing molecular weight or increasing average chain length. In order to understand the effects of chain length on the lubricant evaporation kinetics we have studied the desorption kinetics of monolayer films of oligomeric ethers with varying chain length adsorbed on the surface of graphite. The desorption pre-exponents, v, and desorption barriers, E _des , have been measured for poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ethers, CH₃O(CH₂CH₂O) _m CH₃, with m=1,2,3,4,8 and 10. These are models for the PFPE known as Fomblin Z, which has a structure CF₃O(CF₂CF₂O) _x (CF₂O) _y CF₃. The results show that the desorption pre-exponents are independent of chain length and have an average value of v=10^18.7±0.3 s^–1. The E _des for the poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ethers vary non-linearly with chain length and can be fit with a power law expression of the form E _des =a+bN , where N is the total number of atoms in the oligomer backbone (N=3m+3) and the scaling exponent has a value of 1/2. This non-linear dependence of E _des on chain length has also been observed in recent studies of the desorption kinetics of straight chain alkanes from graphite. A desorption mechanism is described that explains the non-linearity of E _des for the poly(ethylene glycol) dimethyl ethers. The implication for the lifetime of lubricants on data storage media is that the long chain PFPE lubricants desorb more rapidly than one might expect based on simple linear scaling of the E _des of lower molecular weight PFPEs.     

A Stable Temperature Sensor Based on GaAs Structures with Schottky Barriers

The current–voltage and temperature–voltage characteristics of a GaAs structure with a Schottky barrier were measured, and their dependence on technological factors and temperature were determined. The main technological parameters of the device (the concentration of free carriers n ₀ in the base of diodes, the area S of the contact of the barrier-forming metal, and the value of the direct current I through the structure) were optimized. As a result, an element with a highly linear temperature–voltage characteristic was obtained. For Pd–GaAs structures with S 0.32 mm² (d 640 m), I 10 A, and n ₀ = (1–3) × 10¹⁶ cm^–3, the thermal sensitivity coefficient is 2 mV/°C, and the nonlinearity coefficient is < 0.5% within a range of 100 K, which is much lower than obtained theoretically. A highly stable temperature sensor is manufactured on the sensitive element offered.     

Time-of-Flight Characteristics of Scintillation Counters with Fine-Mesh Photomultipliers

The characteristics of the time-of-flight system of scintillation counters with the -527 and R5505 fine-mesh-dynode photomultipliers for high-magnetic-field environment were measured. Scintillation counters with thin plastic scintillators 1, 3, and 5 mm thick were designed to operate in comparatively strong stray magnetic fields of up to several kilogauss. The measurements were carried out in beams of the U-10 proton synchrotron (Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics) with proton, ⁺-meson, and ^–-meson momenta of 0.63, 1.03, and 1.28 GeV/c. For counters with scintillator sizes of 1 × 20 × 154 mm (BI-408) and 3 × 20 × 200 and 5 × 20 × 200 mm (Kuraray and SCSN-81), time resolutions of 45–180 ps were obtained. The time resolution of the scintillation counters, in which scintillators 20 mm thick and -527 photomultipliers were used, was found to be 50–80 ps.     

Single-Electron Characteristics of a ФЭУ-184U Photomultiplier Tube

Single-electron and time characteristics of a -184U photomultiplier tube with a uviol window are presented. The -184U single-electron resolution can reach a value of 63–64%, and, in case of single-electron light-striking of the photocathode, the photoelectron transit time distribution (full width at half maximum) is 6 ns.     

Interferometric Methods for Surface Testing. High-Order White-Light Interferometer

A high-order white-light interferometer for three-dimensional fast noncontact testing of optical surface profiles is described. The device ensures measurements of absolute flatness deviations to an accuracy of /1000 within a wide technological field of 80 mm (the resolution in the plane is 0.1 mm).     

Reconstruction of Coordinates of Scintillations in a Large-Size Cylindrical Detector with Radially Arranged Photomultipliers

An algorithm for calculating the scintillation coordinates developed for a large-size coordinate-sensitive detector is developed. The detector based on a liquid scintillator has nine radially arranged -174 photomultipliers. The results of simulation of the dependence of the coordinate resolution at the detector center on -quanta energy between 0.2 and 8 MeV are presented. The experimental data obtained with a collimated beam of -quanta from a ⁶⁰Co source, which irradiated the central part of the detector, were processed by using this algorithm. The -ray spectrum measured by the detector and the results of determining the scintillation coordinates for a -quanta beam are presented. The accuracy of coordinate measurements at the central region of the detector with this algorithm is 10 mm.     

The Tribological Properties of Monolayer KCl Films on Iron in Ultrahigh Vacuum: Modeling the Extreme-Pressure Lubricating Interface

The friction coefficients of thin KCl films deposited onto clean iron in ultrahigh vacuum are measured using a tungsten carbide tip. A rapid decrease is found in the friction coefficient from 2 for clean iron to 0.27 ± 0.03 after the deposition of 40 Å of KCl. Based on previous contact resistance measurements, this was proposed to be due to the completion of the first layer of KCl. The first-layer KCl coverage was measured by adsorbing deuterium onto an iron surface partially covered by KCl, where deuterium selectively adsorbs onto the iron. This revealed that the first monolayer is complete after the deposition of 40 Å of KCl and that the first-layer KCl film coverage _KCl ⁽¹⁾ is given by _KCl ⁽¹⁾ = 1 - exp(-0.39±0.02t), where t is the film thickness. XPS data suggest that heating a KCl film to 550 K causes it to wet the surface. This leads to decreases in the friction coefficients for thin KCl films in accord with the idea that friction is reduced by the first monolayer of KCl on iron. Temperature-programmed desorption data indicate that KCl in the first monolayer is 5 kJ/mol more stable than the multilayer consistent with the wetting behavior. Finally, the kinetic data are analyzed to suggest that the first-layer film is 2.6 Å thick.     

Automated Devices for the Testing of Mill Rolls

Multichannel -type devices developed at TsNIITMASh for the automated ultrasonic inspection of cylindrical objects, such as mill rolls, shafts of turbines and compressor units, circular welded joints of thick-walled shell rings, etc., are described. These devices feature from two to eight acoustoelectronic channels. Acoustic contact occurs through industrial water. The testing is performed under workshop conditions; the object being inspected is rotated by a turning lathe or any other handling mechanism. Sonication is simultaneously performed by piezoelectric transducers (PETs) with input angles of 0, 40, 50, 60, and 70° and also by surface and head waves in order to reveal surface and subsurface flaws. A wide-span eddy-current transducer of special design is also used for this purpose. All data are stored in flash memory and retrieved on a PC located in an office. The inspection results are displayed as C- and B-type scanning defectograms. Moreover, it is possible to obtain an isometric image of flaw zones. -type devices have been used for over one and a half years in two workshops at OAO Severstal'.     

Measurement of the Background Level in the Spectra of Internal-Conversion Electrons Using the МАС-1 Microscope Complex

A method for measuring the spectral lines in an -50 photoemulsion plate with a varying background level is described. The -ray spectrograph of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research's Laboratory of Nuclear Problems, was used to record the spectra. The plate was exposed to internal-conversion electrons produced by the decay of erbium isotopes (erbium fraction). The spectral measurements were performed using the -1 microscope complex. The distribution of the background level over the plate surface was measured. Using the L-structure of the -ray line of ¹⁶¹Ho with an energy of 175.5 keV as an example, it was shown that the accuracy of the intensity measurements was 10% or better. The accuracy in measuring the background level governed the accuracy in identifying the multipolarity of nuclear transitions. A precision TV system for data readout based on a 768 × 576 pixel CCD matrix provided a measurement accuracy of 0.5 m for both coordinates.     

Capacitive Discharge Excilamps

UV radiating sources on KrCl ( 222 nm), XeCl ( 308 nm), and XeBr ( 282 nm) molecules excited by a capacitive discharge are described. The sources have a simple design of the radiator and are characterized by a high radiation efficiency (up to 25%), a lifetime of up to 2500 h, and a radiation band half-width of 4–8 nm.     

An Energy Source Based on Helical Explosion–Magnetic Generators for High-Impedance Loads

A transportable standard module developed at the Institute of Experimental Physics as a component of an energy source for modeling current pulses of positive lightning is described. The source is designed as a combination of several unified helical explosion–magnetic generators with output transformers and an inner diameter of the stator of 200 mm. According to our calculations, the source generates current pulses with an amplitude of up to 100 kA in loads with an inductance of 100 H and a resistance of several tens of ohms. The results from testing a typical module operating with a circuit having an inductance of 100 H and a resistance of 4 are presented. The experimental data coincide well with the results of a mathematical simulation of the module's operation.     

Efficient Generation of Microwave Oscillations at Harmonics of the Conductance of a Gunn Diode

Basic characteristics of prototype oscillators operating at the second (19 GHz) and third (36 GHz) harmonics of the negative conductance of a 3715 Gunn diode are presented. The output power of these oscillators is 1.5–8.0 mW and the range of electronic frequency tuning is up to 390 MHz.     

Surface diffusion and flow activation energies of perfluoropolyalkylether

Surface diffusion of perfluoropolyalkylether (PFPE) Fomblin Z15 and Fomblin Zdol (hydroxyl terminated PFPE) on silicon wafers was investigated over the temperature range of 25 to 50°C using scanning microellipsometry. Zdol exhibits a much lower mobility and a distinctly different thickness profile as compared to Z15. The activation energy for surface diffusion of Zdol is higher than that of Z15, reflecting the stronger affinity of its hydroxyl end groups for the substrate. The viscosity flow activation energy E ^* is compared with that of surface diffusion E _d ^* yielding E _d ^* E ^* for Z15, and E _d ^* 1.5E ^* for ZOn leave from Korea Insitute of Science and Technology, PO Box 131, Cheongryang, Seoul, Korea 305-701.