Grain boundary plane distributions and single-step versus multiple-step grain boundary engineering

The ‘five-parameter’ (i.e. both misorientation and grain boundary plane) distribution in type 304 austenitic stainless steel has been measured and evaluated for an ‘as-received’ (AR) specimen and specimens undergoing both single-step grain boundary engineering processing (SSGBE) and multiple-step grain boundary engineering processing (MSGBE) comprising three iterations. The results showed that the fundamental requirement for twinning-related GBE is to maximise concomitantly the proportion of both Σ3 and Σ9 boundaries, which in turn supports the development of special planes in the grain boundary network. 1 1 0 and 1 1 1 tilt and twist boundaries play a key role in the formation of ‘special’ grain boundary planes. MSGBE added increased proportions of Σ3 boundaries and resulted in development of different characteristics in the planes distribution compared to SSGBE. These modifications are likely to result in improved grain boundary properties after MSGBE compared to SSGBE.     

Effect of the extrusion conditions on microstructure evolution of the extruded Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloy rods

Hot extrusion experiment was conducted using an Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloy and the effect of the extrusion conditions on microstructure and texture changes through the radial direction was investigated by using SEM/EBSP analysis method. In the surface layer where severe frictional shear deformation is predominant, the recrystallized 1 1 0//ED grains surrounded by high angle grain boundaries are formed in spite of the existence of some peripheral overcoarse grains. Strong 1 0 0//ED and 1 1 1//ED fiber textures evolve in the center where axisymmetric deformation along the extrusion direction is intensive. As the extrusion ratio increases, number of 1 1 1//ED grains remarkably decreases while the number of 1 0 0//ED grains apparently increases. It is also found that the 1 0 0//ED grains surrounded by low angle grain boundaries form orientation colonies in the center of the extruded rods.     

Early physics results

For the past year, experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) have started exploring physics at the high-energy frontier. Thanks to the superb turn-on of the LHC, a rich harvest of initial physics results have already been obtained by the two general-purpose experiments A Toroidal LHC Apparatus (ATLAS) and the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS), which are the subject of this report. The initial data have allowed a test, at the highest collision energies ever reached in a laboratory, of the Standard Model (SM) of elementary particles, and to make early searches Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Significant results have already been obtained in the search for the Higgs boson, which would establish the postulated electro-weak symmetry breaking mechanism in the SM, as well as for BSM physics such as Supersymmetry (SUSY), heavy new particles, quark compositeness and others. The important, and successful, SM physics measurements are giving confidence that the experiments are in good shape for their journey into the uncharted territory of new physics anticipated at the LHC.     

Electrical characterization of CMOS transistors subject to externally applied mechanical stress

Hole and electron mobilities in CMOS structures are significantly influenced by a mechanical strain state. In the present work a new experimental device has been designed, able to apply a uniaxial in-plane strain along different crystallographic orientations. A hole mobility enhancement of +10% and an electron mobility decrease of −5% have been demonstrated with the application of a 0.05% compressive 1 1 0 strain; a hole mobility enhancement of +2% and an electron mobility decrease of −3% have been induced into the material with the application of a 0.05% compressive 1 0 0 strain.     

Measuring the Magnetic Flux Density in the CMS Steel Yoke

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) is a general purpose detector, designed to run at the highest luminosity at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Its distinctive features include a 4 T superconducting solenoid with 6-m-diameter by 12.5-m-length free bore, enclosed inside a 10,000-ton return yoke made of construction steel. The return yoke consists of five dodecagonal three-layered barrel wheels and four end-cap disks at each end comprised of steel blocks up to 620 mm thick, which serve as the absorber plates of the muon detection system. Accurate characterization of the magnetic field everywhere in the CMS detector is required. To measure the field in and around the steel, a system of 22 flux loops and 82 3-D Hall sensors is installed on the return yoke blocks. Fast discharges of the solenoid (190 s time-constant) made during the CMS magnet surface commissioning test at the solenoid central fields of 2.64, 3.16, 3.68 and 4.01 T were used to induce voltages in the flux loops. The voltages are measured on-line and integrated off-line to obtain the magnetic flux in the steel yoke close to the muon chambers at full excitations of the solenoid. The 3-D Hall sensors installed on the steel–air interfaces give supplementary information on the components of magnetic field and permit to estimate the remanent field in steel to be added to the magnetic flux density obtained by the voltages integration. A TOSCA 3-D model of the CMS magnet is developed to describe the magnetic field everywhere outside the tracking volume measured with the field-mapping machine. The results of the measurements and calculations are presented, compared, and discussed.     

Grain-boundary structure of oxygen-free high-conductivity (OFHC) copper subjected to severe plastic deformation and annealing

The influence of grain-boundary structure on grain growth in copper subjected to severe plastic deformation has been studied using orientation imaging microscopy. The investigation was carried out on oxygen-free high-conductivity (OFHC) copper which was wire drawn to a true strain of about 4 and processed by equal-channel angular extrusion (ECAE) to 4 and 8 passes via “route B_c” (where the billet is rotated by 90° in the same direction between consecutive passes). The grain-boundary character distribution (GBCD) of the as-drawn wire was similar to that of ECAE-processed specimens, and both materials possessed a higher fraction of high-angle grain boundaries (HAGBs) than special coincidence-site lattice (CSL) boundaries. While the high fraction of HAGBs was retained in the annealed wires, they were transformed to CSL boundaries in the annealed ECAE-processed materials. In spite of an initially smaller grain size, when annealed at 750 °C for 1 h, the grain size of the 4-pass ECAE-processed material was larger than that of the wire drawn to a similar strain. This difference was attributed to a high density of high-mobility 35–50° 0 0 1 boundaries in the 4-pass ECAE materials. On the other hand, the presence of 50–60° 1 1 1  pinning boundaries in the annealed 8-pass material accounted for the smaller grain size after recrystallization.     

Dependencies of grain refinement on processing route and die angle in equal channel angular extrusion of bcc materials

The efficiency of grain refinement in equal channel angular extrusion of body-centered cubic (bcc) materials is investigated based on slip activities from crystal plasticity simulations, which account for both the macroscopic and crystallographic features of deformation. It is shown that the characteristics of slip activities, especially the relative contributions of slip systems newly activated or reversed at the transitions between successive passes, vary significantly with the processing routes (A, B and C) and die angles ( = 90° and 120°). The simulations assuming {1 1 0}111 slip suggest that routes B and A lead to the most significant contributions of newly activated slip systems and hence are most efficient for grain refinement with  = 90° and 120°, respectively. Further incorporation of {1 1 2}111 slip systems leads to the highest efficiency by route B for both die angles. These predictions are in partial agreement with experimental observations in the literature. Comparison of these results with those of face-centered cubic materials reveals the relevance of crystal structure and deformation mechanism during grain refinement.     

Molecular dynamics simulations on nanoindentation mechanisms of multilayered films

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were carried out to study the effects of indention deformation, contact, and adhesion on Al, Ni, and Al/Ni multilayered films. The results show that when the indention depth of the sample increased, the maximum load, plastic energy, and adhesion increased. Jump-contact behavior was observed at the beginning of the loading process. Force relaxation and adhesion took place at the holding depth and during the unloading process, respectively. The glide bands of the interface were on the {1 1 1} 1 1 0 slip systems and the maximum width of the glide bands was about 1 nm. The mechanical responses of the indented films are also discussed.     

Length scale effects on recrystallization and texture evolution in Cu layers of a roll-bonded Cu–Nb composite

Recrystallization textures were investigated in thin layers of both pure Cu and alloyed Cu combined with Nb in roll-bonded composites. Texture analysis using X-ray revealed that Cube orientation was the dominant texture component after recrystallization in rolled monolithic pure Cu whereas {2 1 5} 2 1 1 and B/S were the dominant components for the recrystallized alloyed Cu. In the composites, however, the rolling texture is retained during annealing in both the pure Cu and the alloyed Cu layers when the layer thickness enters the sub-micron regime. This is attributed to the nucleation and growth of recrystallizing grains being impeded via a reduction in recrystallization driving pressure and the grain boundary movement and growth being limited due to the layer thickness effect. A new term—“confined recrystallization” was also introduced to describe more accurately the morphological evolution observed within the sub-micron thick layers after annealing and highlights the contrast to either simple recovery or continuous recrystallization.     

钨酸铅（PbWO4）闪烁晶体研究进展

钨酸铅（ＰｂＷＯ４）闪烁晶体是拟使用于西欧大型强子对撞机（ＬＨＣ）中精密电磁量能器量有希望的候选者，本文概要介绍了近年来国际上对于钨酸铅晶体的研究进展。包括它的闪烁性能、发光机制、辐照硬度和杂质效应等。本文最后列出了欧洲核子研究中心（ＣＥＲＮ）的ＣＣＣ组最近对７５根大尺寸ＰＷＯ晶体综合测试的统计结果。这有助于建立批量生产ＰＷＯ晶体的质量监控方法。     

Solid phase epitaxy on N-type polysilicon films formed by aluminium induced crystallization of amorphous silicon

In this work, undoped amorphous silicon layers were deposited on n-type AIC seed films and then annealed at different temperatures for epitaxial growth. The epitaxy was carried out using halogen lamps (rapid thermal process or RTP) or a tube conventional furnace (CTP). We investigated the morphology of the resulting 2 µm thick epi-layers by means of optical microscopy. An average grain size of about 40 µm is formed after 90 s annealing at 1000 °C in RTP. The stress and degree of crystallinity of the epi-layers were studied by micro-Raman Spectroscopy and UV–visible spectrometer as a function of annealing time. The presence of compressive stress is observed from the peak position which shifts from 520.0 cm^− 1 to 521.0 cm^− 1 and 522.3 cm^− 1 after CTP annealing for 10 min and 90 min, respectively. It is shown that the full width at half maximum (FWHM) varies from 9.8 cm^− 1 to 15.6 cm^− 1, and the magnitude of stress is changing from 325 MPa to 650 MPa. Finally, the highest crystallinity is achieved after annealing at 1000 °C for 90 min in a tube furnace exhibiting a crystalline fraction of 81.5%. X-ray diffraction technique was used to determine the preferential orientation of the poly-Si thin films formed by SPE technique on n⁺ type AIC layer. The preferential orientation is 100 for all annealing times at 1000 °C.     

The LHCb DAQ interface board TELL1

We have developed an electronic board (TELL1) to interface the DAQ system of the LHCb experiment at CERN. 289 TELL1 boards are needed to read out the different subdetectors. Each board can handle either 64 analog or 24 digital optical links. The TELL1 mother board provides common mode correction, zero suppression, data formatting, and a large network interface buffer. To satisfy the different requirements we have adopted a flexible FPGA design and made use of mezzanine cards. Mezzanines are used for data input from digital optical and analog copper links as well as for the Gigabit Ethernet interface to DAQ. The LHCb timing and trigger control signals are transported by a dedicated optical link, while the board slow-control is provided by an embedded PC running a Linux kernel.     

Induced radioactivity in and around high-energy particle accelerators

Particle accelerators and their surroundings are locations of residual radioactivity production that is induced by the interaction of high-energy particles with matter. This paper gives an overview of the principles of activation caused at proton accelerators, which are the main machines operated at Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire. It describes the parameters defining radio-nuclide production caused by beam losses. The second part of the paper concentrates on the analytic calculation of activation and the Monte Carlo approach as it is implemented in the FLUKA code. Techniques used to obtain, on the one hand, estimates of radioactivity in Becquerel and, on the other hand, residual dose rates caused by the activated material are discussed. The last part of the paper focuses on experiments that allow for benchmarking FLUKA activation calculations and on simulations used to predict activation in and around high-energy proton machines. In that respect, the paper addresses the residual dose rate that will be induced by proton-proton collisions at an energy of two times 7 TeV in and around the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector. Besides activation of solid materials, the air activation expected in the CMS cavern caused by this beam operation is also discussed.     

Preparation of multilayered nanocrystalline thin films with composition-modulated interfaces

The properties of multilayer thin film structures depend on the morphology and structure of interfaces. A broad interface, in which the composition is varying, can enhance, e.g., the hardness of multilayer thin films. In the present experiments multilayers of TiAlN and CrN as well as TiAlN, CrN and MoS₂ were studied by using unbalanced magnetron sputter sources. The sputter sources were arranged side by side on an arc. This arrangement permits development of a transition zone between the layers, where the composition changes continuously. The multilayer system was deposited by one-fold oscillating movement of substrates in front of sputter sources. Thicknesses of layers could be changed both by oscillation frequency and by the power applied to sputter sources. Ti/Al: 50/50 at%, pure chromium and MoS₂ targets were used in the sputter sources. The depositions were performed in an Ar–N₂ mixture at 0.22 Pa working pressure. The sputtering power of the TiAl source was feed-back adjusted in fuzzy-logic mode in order to avoid fluctuation of the TiAl target sputter rate due to poisoning of the target surface. Structure characterization of films deposited on 1 0 0 Si wafers covered by thermally grown SiO₂ was performed by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy. At first a 100 nm thick Cr base layer was deposited on the substrate to improve adhesion, which was followed by a CrN transition layer. The CrN transition layer was followed by a 100 nm thick TiAlN/CrN multilayer system. The TiAlN/CrN/MoS₂ multilayer system was deposited on the surface of this underlayer system. The underlayer systems Cr, CrN and TiAlN/CrN were crystalline with columnar structure according to the morphology of zone T of the structure zone models. The column boundaries contained segregated phases showing up in the under-focused TEM images. The surface of the underlayer system was wavy due to dome-shaped columns. The nanometer-scaled TiAlN/CrN/MoS₂ multilayer system followed this waviness. Crystallinity of the TiAlN and CrN layers in the multilayer system decreases with increasing thickness of the MoS₂ layer.     

LHC and the dark matter search: A review

The restart of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, foreseen in November 2009 after the incident of 2008, will finally open a new window on the physics at the TeV scale and will allow the discovery of the Standard Model Higgs boson, if it exists, or of possible alternative schemes for the spontaneous symmetry-breaking mechanism. Moreover the LHC Collider will hopefully provide an answer to one of the most compelling questions of today coming from astronomical observations, astrophysics and cosmic ray experiments: which is the particle physics candidate for the Dark Matter component of the Universe? Supersymmetry (SUSY) is a theoretically attractive scenario for physics beyond the Standard Model which can provide a suitable Dark Matter candidate in case R-parity is conserved. If SUSY is manifesting at the TeV scale, as favored by several arguments, it will be accessible at the LHC Collider within the first few years of data taking. In this paper search strategies for a generic SUSY models with R-parity conservation with the ATLAS detector are described. These inclusive search strategies are based on signatures with missing transverse momentum from undetected neutralinos, in addition to multiple hard jets and leptons. The corresponding discovery reach for the first fb⁻¹ of integrated luminosity of ATLAS data will be presented together with a discussion of possible measurements needed to extract the masses of SUSY particles including the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP), which in various supersymmetric (SUSY) symmetry breaking scenarios, is the lightest neutralino .     

Modeling of the very low pressure helium flow in the LHC cryogenic distribution line after a quench

This paper presents a dynamic model of the helium flow in the cryogenic distribution line (QRL) used in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The study is focused on the return pumping line, which transports gaseous helium at low pressure and temperature over . Our aim is to propose a new real-time model of the QRL while taking into account the non-homogeneous transport phenomena. The flow model is based on 1D Euler equations and considers convection heat transfers, hydrostatic pressure and friction pressure drops. These equations are discretized using a finite difference method based on an upwind scheme. A specific model for the interconnection cells is also proposed. The corresponding simulation results are compared with experimental measurements of a heat wave along the line that results from a quench of a superconducting magnet. Different hypotheses are presented and the influence of specific parameters is discussed.     

Experiments and simulations of directionally annealed ODS MA 754

Both directional and isothermal annealing experiments have been performed on the hot-rolled ODS nickel-based superalloy MA 754. Directional annealing of MA 754 produced an elongated, coarse grain structure with a {1 1 0}1 0 0 texture for all hot-zone velocities examined, with the grain aspect ratio and twin boundary density decreasing with increasing hot-zone velocity. Isothermal annealing also produced elongated structures, but with larger grain aspect ratios and a stronger {1 1 0}1 0 0 texture. In order to elucidate the results of the experimental studies, a front-tracking computer-based model [H.J. Frost, C.V. Thompson, C.L. Howe, J.H. Whang, Scripta Metall. 22 (1988) 65–70] was modified to simulate the directional/isothermal annealing processes for materials with particles. Simulations of directional annealing with particles aligned in the direction of hot-zone movement could produce (at the appropriate hot-zone velocities) columnar grain structures with some finer grains clustered around the particles. Contrary to experimental observations, simulations of isothermal annealing in similar particle-containing material did not produce columnar grain structures, but equi-axed grains whose size was defined by the spacing between the lines of particles. Thus, the simulation results suggest that it is the texture, and not the particles, of the hot-rolled MA 754 that leads to a columnar grain structure.