Joint strength and behaviour of coated aluminium in laser lap welding of steel sheets

When galvanized steel sheets are closely overlapped and welded by laser lap welding, a large amount of molten metal spatters, resulting in a poor surface appearance of the weld and weakened strength of the welded joint, as compared with that of cold-rolled steel sheets. Whereas in the case of aluminium-coated steel sheets, even when they are closely overlapped and welded by laser lap welding, no spattering occurs. Thus, a good surface appearance of the weld is obtained, but the welded joint has lower strength. In both the mentioned cases, it is known that if a clearance of about 0.1 mm is provided between the steel sheets, laser lap welding produces a good surface appearance of the weld and the welded joint strength equal to that of the cold-rolled steel sheets. This report discusses specifically how, in laser lap welding of overlapped Al-coated steel sheets, Al of the coated layer comes to enter the weld metal, also specifically how to reduce the joint strength, as well as what behaviours of Al are present when a clearance is provided between the steel sheets. When the steel sheets are closely overlapped and welded, Al becoming molten on the base metal side of the bond of the overlapped face becomes swallowed up by the bath streams of the molten pool, flowing into the molten pool, then forming the Fe–Al intermetallic compound, while not being sufficiently stirred. It is considered that when subjected to the tensile shear test, the Fe–Al intermetallic compound starts to fracture, thereby causing a partial loss of the weld metal and a reduction in the joint strength. On the other hand, when a clearance is provided between the steel sheets, it may be inferred that the fusion Al on the base metal side of the bond stays in place without flowing into the molten pool, consequently not forming the Fe–Al intermetallic compounds within the weld metal.     

Power attenuation and focus shift of solid state laser beam caused by laser-induced plume

Currently, remote laser welding using solid-sate lasers is widespread in industry. Meanwhile, it is well known that the laser-induced plume blown up from the processing point affects penetration in laser welding, through the attenuation and the refraction of the laser beam. These phenomena in carbon dioxide laser welding have been investigated well and it is widely recognized that using the shielding gas flow to blow away the laser-induced plume is very important. However, in remote laser welding it is not easy to maintain the shielding gas flow to the processing point. By the way, these phenomena depend on the wavelength of the laser. So, quantitative knowledge of the attenuation and refraction of the solid state laser beam are necessary in achieving stable penetration in remote laser welding with this laser. This study was made to determine the attenuation coefficient and the amount of the effective focus shift caused by refraction of the laser beam in the plume, through melt run experiments with a YAG laser. The attenuation coefficient of the laser beam was estimated to be 0.00090 mm^?1 from the dependence of the cross-sectional area of weld metal on the laser power and the plume length. This value is about one twentieth of the attenuation coefficient of a carbon dioxide laser beam at welding found in the literature. The amount of focus shift was estimated to be 0.67 mm per 100 mm plume length, from the dependency of penetration depth on the defocusing distance and the plume length. Comparing the 3 mm of plume length, this value is centesimal of the estimated value by Beck et al. [The effect of plasma formation on beam focusing in deep penetration welding with CO₂ lasers. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 1995;28:2430–2442] in CO₂ laser welding. Therefore, a solid-state laser such as a YAG laser is considered to be a suitable laser source for remote laser welding.     

Three-dimensional MMIC technology for low-cost millimeter-waveMMICs

This paper highlights the key advantages of the three-dimensional (3-D) MMIC technology in the millimeter-wave frequency band and describes recently developed compact 3-D MMICs on GaAs and Si substrates. The 3-D MMIC technology offers high integration levels, compactness, simple design procedures, and short fabrication turn-around time, resulting in millimeter-wave MMICs at greatly reduced cost. This paper also proposes a new methodology for MMIC development based on 3-D/multilayer MMIC technology that accelerates the cost reduction of millimeter-wave MMICs. The new technology achieves compact and highly integrated millimeter-wave MMICs that are extremely cost effective     

The COX-2 Selective Blocker Etodolac Inhibits TNFα-Induced Apoptosis in Isolated Rabbit Articular Chondrocytes

Chondrocyte apoptosis contributes to the disruption of cartilage integrity in osteoarthritis (OA). Recently, we reported that activation of volume-sensitive Cl⁻ current (I_Cl,vol) mediates cell shrinkage, triggering apoptosis in rabbit articular chondrocytes. A cyclooxygenase (COX) blocker is frequently used for the treatment of OA. In the present study, we examined in vitro effects of selective blockers of COX on the TNFα-induced activation of I_Cl,vol in rabbit chondrocytes using the patch-clamp technique. Exposure of isolated chondrocytes to TNFα resulted in an obvious increase in membrane Cl⁻ conductance. The TNFα-evoked Cl⁻ current exhibited electrophysiological and pharmacological properties similar to those of I_Cl,vol. Pretreatment of cells with selective COX-2 blocker etodolac markedly inhibited I_Cl,vol activation by TNFα as well as subsequent apoptotic events such as apoptotic cell volume decrease (AVD) and elevation of caspase-3/7 activity. In contrast, a COX-1 blocker had no effect on the decrease in cell volume or the increase in caspase-3/7 activity induced by TNFα. Thus, the COX-2-selective blocker had an inhibitory effect on TNFα-induced apoptotic events, which suggests that this drug would have efficacy for the treatment of OA.     

The Third International Intercomparison on EPR Tooth Dosimetry: part 2, final analysis

The objective of the Third International Intercomparison on EPR Tooth Dosimetry was to evaluate laboratories performing tooth enamel dosimetry <300 mGy. Final analysis of results included a correlation analysis between features of laboratory dose reconstruction protocols and dosimetry performance. Applicability of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) tooth dosimetry at low dose was shown at two applied dose levels of 79 and 176 mGy. Most (9 of 12) laboratories reported the dose to be within 50 mGy of the delivered dose of 79 mGy, and 10 of 12 laboratories reported the dose to be within 100 mGy of the delivered dose of 176 mGy. At the high-dose tested (704 mGy) agreement within 25% of the delivered dose was found in 10 laboratories. Features of EPR dose reconstruction protocols that affect dosimetry performance were found to be magnetic field modulation amplitude in EPR spectrum recording, EPR signal model in spectrum deconvolution and duration of latency period for tooth enamel samples after preparation.     

Spin-current-driven thermoelectric coating

Energy harvesting technologies, which generate electricity from environmental energy, have been attracting great interest because of their potential to power ubiquitously deployed sensor networks and mobile electronics. Of these technologies, thermoelectric (TE) conversion is a particularly promising candidate, because it can directly generate electricity from the thermal energy that is available in various places. Here we show a novel TE concept based on the spin Seebeck effect, called 'spin-thermoelectric (STE) coating', which is characterized by a simple film structure, convenient scaling capability, and easy fabrication. The STE coating, with a 60-nm-thick bismuth-substituted yttrium iron garnet (Bi:YIG) film, is applied by means of a highly efficient process on a non-magnetic substrate. Notably, spin-current-driven TE conversion is successfully demonstrated under a temperature gradient perpendicular to such an ultrathin STE-coating layer (amounting to only 0.01% of the total sample thickness). We also show that the STE coating is applicable even on glass surfaces with amorphous structures. Such a versatile implementation of the TE function may pave the way for novel applications making full use of omnipresent heat.     

First-principles calculations of electronic structure on (Ti,Co)O2 within self-interaction-corrected LDA

Electronic structure of TiO₂ (rutile) based dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS) are investigated within self-interaction-corrected local density approximation (SIC-LDA) from first-principles calculation. These results are compared with those calculated within standard LDA. It is found that the calculated band-gap energy in the host TiO₂ is different within the LDA and the SIC-LDA. We find that high-spin state is predicted within the SIC-LDA with oxygen vacancy. The calculated density of states within SIC-LDA is in good agreement with photoemission results.     

Effect of magnetic field strength and admixture gas on current interrupting capability of a CO2 rotary‐arc load‐break switch

First, current interrupting experiments were performed for a rotary‐arc type of load‐break switch filled with pure CO₂ at a total pressure of 0.1 MPa. Increase in the coil turns for generating magnetic field from 1 to 1.8, 2.5, and 3.6 (arbitrary unit) raised the current interrupting capability from 2.6 kA to 3.2, 3.5, and 4.1 kA. Second, experiments were performed for CO₂ gas mixture under the condition of 3.6 coil turns. Gases of He, O₂, N₂, and air were admixted to CO₂. Adding either He or O₂ to CO₂ at a concentration of 30% allows the switch to have higher interrupting capability than using pure CO₂. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 167(2): 21–27, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20742     

由柏木制备纳米孔结构炭材料Ⅰ.制备与孔结构

柏木条经过热蒸气处理,成功地制备了纳米孔炭,无需另行活化,比表面积就可达1000m^2/g以上。如果在800℃～870℃炭化,柏木炭外表面积可达400m^2/g以上,与同样温度在氩气中炭化得到的柏木炭相比,后者微孔面积仅为30m^2/g～40m^2/g。在900℃以上炭化得到的柏木炭,微孔表面积高达800m^2/g以上,外表面积约为150m^2/g。柏木炭的孔结构可以通过调节过热蒸气的温度得到控制。