Flux creep and fishtail in melt-textured and single-crystalline YBa2Cu3O7

Time-dependent decay of the magnetic moment and magnetization measurements were used to study pinning and flux creep in two samples with and without aj(B) maximum in nonzero field (fishtail effect). From both measurements theE(j) relation was reconstructed forBc and the characteristic current exponent was obtained. At highj and lowB values are between 1 and 4; with increasingB passes a maximum and approaches negative values. At lowj is below 0.5 and not dependent onB orj. This behavior, which is qualitatively the same in both samples, is compared with proposed phase diagrams of the vortex lattice. Large values are correlated with the plateau of the normalized creep rateS 0.025; both observations indicate low relaxation and are found in that lowB region for whichj(B) has its minimum. This observation rejects a dominating influence of relaxation on the fishtail effect.     

Fabrication of silicon membrane using fusion bonding and two-step electrochemical etch-stopping

A new type of silicon membrane structure was fabricated using wafer fusion bonding and two-step electrochemical etch-stopping methods. An active wafer of p-type epi/n-type epi/p-type substrate was first elctrochemically etched to form a shallow cavity on the p-type epitaxial layer. Then, the cavity-formed side was fusionally bonded with p-type silicon working wafer and, afterwards, the p-type substrate of the active wafer part was removed by a second electrochemical etch-stopping leaving only the n-type membrane on the shallow cavity. Using the new membrane structure in mechanical sensors, more precise control of cavity depth and membrane thickness was achievable and the influence of crystalline imperfections on the sensing circuits located near the bonding seam was avoidable.     

Solvent effect on ageing of silica gels

The structure of silica gels derived from tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) with molar compositions of TEOSH₂OHNO₃=1100.4 and then aged in various solvents, was studied. The effect of various solvents having different physical properties on the gel structure, as well as the relationship between the solvent properties and the dried gel structure, were investigated. The density, surface area and pore-size distribution were measured. The results of the pore structure and SEM showed the aged gels to have a slit-shaped micropore, narrow pore-size distribution, and homogeneous microstructure. The density, surface area, pore size and pore volume of dried gels changed as the gels were subjected to ageing in various solvents. The surface area could be related to the polarity parameter of the ageing solvent.     

New features of the Mott-Hubbard insulator gap of parent HTS compounds found by resonance Raman scattering and UV-excited ordinary Raman scattering

Optical absorption at the insulating gap in the parent phase of cuprate superconductors shows a broad exciton-like peak near 1.7 eV, followed by a gradual decrease in absorption persisting 1 eV above the gap. By using ultraviolet laser lines to excite Raman spectra, we have found a Raman peak 0.2 eV below the first absorption peak in insulating cuprates. The Raman peak is much narrower than the absorption peak and hasA _2g symmetry. We assign it to an exciton consisting of a hole transition from Cu to a linear combination of Cud _xy and nearest neighbor Op orbitals. We have also studied the resonance Raman profile for two-magnon Raman scattering in the same samples. We find a sharp resonance feature at about 2.7 eV, and little Raman intensity for photon energies at the 1.7 eV absorption peak. The state created at the peak must therefore be an inappropriate intermediate state for the double spin-flip Raman process.     

Impact properties of carbon fiber reinforced linear and short-chain branched polyethylenes

Summary An investigation of the influence of short-chain branched length on impact behavior of linear high density polyethylene (HDPE), short-chain branched polyethylenes (SBPEs) and their fiber reinforced samples is reported. The result shows that the total impact energies (E_t) increased with increasing branch length at any given temperature used in this study. Similar trend was found for their fiber reinforced samples. For a given polyethylene resin, E_t increased with fiber content up to 5%, and then decreased consistently with further increase of fiber content. The amount of E_t improved due to the presence of 5% carbon fibers increased significantly with the branch length at temperatures higher than 25°C. In addition, the fracture surface morphology indicated that the adhesion between carbon fibers and PE resins increased with the branch length. However, the adhesion and the amount of E_t improved due to the presence of 5% carbon fibers reduced significantly with decreasing temperature. Finally, it was found that E_t decreased slightly with rising temperature until the temperature reached around 40°C, and then increased sharply with increasing temperature. It is suggested that this transition behavior is related to the molecular motion accounting for the transition of PE resins.     

Liquid crystal polyarylates containing 2,6-naphthalene dicarbonyl group (I): Effects of kinky monomers on thermal and anisotropic behaviors

A series of copolyarylates primarily based upon 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid, hydroxybenzoic acid and 4,4-biphenol were prepared by slurry-melt polymerization with Santotherm 66 as a heat exchange medium. The frequently used kinky monomer, resorcinol or isophthalic acid, was introduced into these copolyarylates to modify the chemical strcture. The relationship of the thermal behavior and the crystalline structures for these copolymers was studied by means of DSC and wide angle X-rays diffraction. The amount of mcorporated kinky modifier was found to produce a significant effect on the liquid crystalline phase and the melting temperature of the copolyarylates. All of these liquid crystal polymers exhibited nematic textures; shreaded and/or Schlieren type, depending upon the incorporated kinky monomer. The liquid crystal polymers modified by isophthalic acid (up to 40 mole % of 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylic acid replaced by isophthalic acid) possessed shreaded texture however high the temperatures of the polymer melts were. The liquid crystal polymers modified by resorcinol (60 to 100 mole % of 4, 4-biphenol replaced by resorcinol), however, would have two types of nematic textures: the shreaded texture occurred when the temperature of the polymer melt was between the melting temperature and the anisotropic transition temperature; the Schlieren texture existed when the temperature of the polymer melt was high above the anisotropic transition temperature. The Schlieren texture formed only when a liquid crystal polymer revealed good flowability and lower rigidity. The polydomain concepts could be utilized to explain the observed textures of these copolyarylates clearly.     

Mindlin plate finite elements by a modified transverse displacement

The formulation of 4-node plate bending elements to eliminate the shear locking is presented. The kinematic variables in the Mindlin plate are related through the equilibrium equations; and then the transverse displacement, rotations, and shear strain are expressed in terms of the curvature sum. The elements are formulated by using the modified transverse displacement defined as the transverse displacement subtracted by the curvature sum times the ratio of flexural to shear rigidity. It is shown that the elements describe plate behavior quite correctly without any locking and also that they are applicable to the analysis of both thin and thick plates.     

Friction and adhesion of silica fibres

Sliding friction between orthogonally crossed silica monofilaments was measured as a function of applied normal load using an electronic microbalance. In the adhesion model of friction, the friction is interpreted in terms of shearing the junction. With the assumption that the ploughing term of friction can be ignored, the shear strength can simply be represented by =F/A whereF is frictional force,A is the real area of contact, and is the interfacial shear strength. Assuming a single point contact between two fibres, the estimation of the real area of contact was made from Hertzian analysis by taking the normal load as a sum of the applied force and independently determined adhesional force. The results showed that the shear strength of freshly drawn silica fibre increases linearly with the contact pressure.     

Effect of deposition temperature on dielectric properties of PECVD Ta2O5 thin film

Tantalum oxide film formation by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) using TaCl₅ as a source material was examined. The effects of deposition temperature on the formation, structure and electric properties of the Ta₂O₅ film were investigated for Al/Ta₂O₅/ p-Si (MTS) capacitors. The deposition rate and refractive index increased with increasing deposition temperature. It was found that the structure of Ta₂O₅ deposited by PECVD was amorphous as-deposited. However, crystalline -Ta₂O₅ of hexagonal structure was formed by a 700 °C, 1 h heat treatment in argon. Capacitance and relative dielectric constant of the PECVD Ta₂O₅ were found to be 2.54 fF m^–2 and 23.5, respectively. The PECVD films obtained in this study have higher dielectric constants and remarkably better general film characteristics than those obtained by other deposition methods.     

Intelligent judge neural network for speech recognition

An intelligent judge neural network (IJNN) is developed to make decisions out of contradictory arguments, which may come from different classifiers with different characteristics and/or input features. For speech recognition applications a multi-layer perceptron classifies the word as a spectro-temporal pattern, while a neural prediction model or hidden-control neural network relies on dynamic nature of the speech signal. The judge≓ accepts input values from the lower-level neural network classifiers and provides ruling verdicts. Two intelligent judges have been investigated. The neuro-judge≓ rules by extracting decision rules from training data, i.e. disputes between the two classifiers, while the fuzzy-judge≓ just utilizes min-max operations. The IJNN demonstrates better recognition rates. More importantly its performance is much less sensitive to the choice of training data.