Nanomodification of Glass Using fs Laser

We review the interaction of glass with intense ultrashort laser pulses revealing new phenomena and recent demonstrations of rewritable 5D optical memory and polarization imaging filter mediated by the self-organization of nanostructure. Particularly, we experimentally verify linearly polarized intense ultrashort pulses can control the direction of local optical anisotropy in homogeneous medium based on the interference between photon and electron plasma. These so-called “nanogratings” composed of the photoinduced oxygen defects emerge in the course of multiple laser pulses and are oriented perpendicularly to the laser polarization direction. The nanograting structures, which exhibit form birefringence, have evolved from residual birefringence along with lowering threshold for defect formation into self-assembly of oxygen defects.     

A critical condition for the formation of a coarse columnar γ grain structure in a peritectic solidified carbon steel

The formation of a coarse columnar austenite grain (CCG) structure is a serious problem in continuous casting processes of peritectic solidified carbon steels. In this study, a guiding principle for the avoidance of CCG formation is developed. The critical condition for CCG formation recently put forward based on phase-field simulations, which is given by a balance between the cooling condition and the growth rate of the CCG, is first re-examined and modified by considering the effect of a liquid phase during the CCG formation. The validity of this critical condition is then investigated by three different casting experiments combined with heat conduction analyses. From a comparison between the cooling conditions and the resulting microstructural changes, the validity of the critical condition is successfully demonstrated.     

Systematic Control of Structural Changes in GeO2 Glass Induced by Femtosecond Laser Direct Writing

We report the structural changes inside germania glass induced by femtosecond laser pulses. Inspection by polarization microscopy and secondary electron microscopy indicate that the periodic nanostructures consist of oxygen defects such as ODCs (oxygen deficient centers) and NBOHCs (nonbridging oxygen hole centers) for laser pulse energy less than 0.2 μJ. However, the glass network was dissociated and O₂ molecules were generated for laser pulse energy greater than 0.4 μJ. Two different structural changes, form‐birefringence and dissociation, were induced in GeO₂ glass, depending on the laser pulse energy. The form‐birefringence exhibited by the nanogratings in GeO₂ glass is larger than that in SiO₂ glass for pulse energy less than 0.2 μJ, as the density of nanovoids enclosed by ODCs in GeO₂ glass is higher than that in SiO₂ glass. Arrhenius plots of the phase retardation caused by the nanogratings in GeO₂ and SiO₂ indicate that the oxygen defects are relaxed at a temperature 100°C above the glass‐transition temperature.     

Effect of the ethylene content of poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) on the formation of microporous membranes via thermally induced phase separation

Porous poly(ethylene-co-vinyl alcohol) (EVOH) membranes were prepared via thermally induced phase separation. The effect of the EVOH ethylene content on the membrane morphology and solute rejection property was investigated. For EVOHs with ethylene contents of 27–44 mol %, polymer crystallization (solid–liquid phase separation) occurred, and the membrane morphology was the particulate structure. However, the liquid–liquid phase separation occurred before crystallization for EVOH with a 60 mol % ethylene content. Cellular pores were formed in this membrane. For the particulate membranes, higher solute rejection and lower water permeance were obtained for EVOH with a lower ethylene content. The membrane formed by the liquid–liquid phase separation showed a sharper solute rejection change with a change in the solute radius than the particulate membranes did. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 82: 2583–2589, 2001     

Structures and Binary Mixing Characteristics of Enantiomers of 1-Oleoyl-2,3-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycerol (S-OPP) and 1,2-Dipalmitoyl-3-oleoyl-sn-glycerol (R-PPO)

We performed differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction (SR-XRD) experiments of polymorphic structures and binary mixing characteristics of the enantiomers of 1-oleoyl-2,3-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycerol (S-OPP) and 1,2-dipalmitoyl-3-oleoyl-sn-glycerol (R-PPO). In the two enantiomers, oleic and palmitic acid moieties are asymmetrically connected at the sn-1 and sn-3 positions of the glycerol groups, with palmitic acid moiety at the sn-2 position. Pure enantiomer samples (>99 %) were synthesized and employed throughout this study. The following results were obtained. (1) A basic feature of the mixture systems of S-OPP and R-PPO is of a eutectic nature due to different polymorphic structures of two enantiomers and the racemic compound of PPO (rac-PPO). (2) Polymorphic behavior of S-OPP and R-PPO was quite similar, both having α-2 and β′-3, whereas rac-PPO contained α _rac-3, β′_rac-2, and β′_rac-3. The DSC measurements showed that the melting points of β′-3 (S-OPP = 35.3 °C and R-PPO = 34.9 °C) were higher than that of β′_rac-3 (31.0 °C). β was not crystallized in the pure enantiomers, and rac-PPO. (3) α_rac-3 was crystallized at low cooling rates (~2 °C/min), whereas α-2 of the two enantiomers was crystallized only with very rapid cooling (~10 °C/min). (4) Triple-chain-length structures were formed in α_rac-3, β′_S-3 (=β′_R-3), and β′_rac-3; α-2 with a double-chain-length structure was formed in both enantiomers. These results indicate the importance of the relationship between subcell packing and glycerol conformation in the polymorphism and mixing characteristics of asymmetric unsaturated–saturated-saturated mixed-acid triacylglycerols.     

Evaluation of mechanical properties of adjacent flow weldline

Weldlines occur at the interface of two adjacent flows of material behind an obstructive pin in a cavity in injection molding (meldline or hot weldline). Tensile strength of such “adjacent flow weldline” in injection molded polystyrene plates was evaluated by a mechanical step‐by‐step milling technique. The strength when the milling depth was 1/5 of the thickness from each surface was about the same and independent of the distance from the pin. In contrast, the strength without milling decreased once and then increased along the flow direction. This demonstrates that the strength of a weldline is predominantly dependent on the properties of the surface layer of the weldline. The depth of the surface layer was defined as the depth of the weld, D_w. D_w reduced monotonously along the flow direction and faded away with the V‐notch, resulting in an increase of strength along the direction. On the other hand, it was considered that the farther from the pin, the flow‐induced molecular orientation in the surface layer is greater. It caused a decrease of the strength along the flow direction. The sequence of decrease and increase in tensile strength of adjacent flow weldline is due to the complex effect of these two contradictory factors. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 45:1180–1186, 2005. © 2005 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Neural network based expectation learning in perception control: learning and control with unreliable sensory system

In this article, we investigate the viability of our proposed neural network-based extension of the perception control concept introduced by Randløv and Alstrøm. In their work, each of the expectation elements is linearly acquired such that the expectation gives only the dominant information of the recent past. This handicap could become a serious problem when the perception process is applied to real physical systems. Such an approach has no capability to sense the trend or the dynamics in the information. Here, we introduce an extension of the perception control process by using a radial basis function feedforward neural network to learn the trend and the dynamics in the information queue. Through our simulations, we show that our neural network-based method is better than the conventional method.This work was presented, in part, at the 8th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 24–26, 2003     

A Real-Time Kinematics on the Translational Crawl Motion of a Quadruped Robot

It is known that the kinematics of a quadruped robot is complex due to its topology and the redundant actuation in the robot. However, it is fundamental to compute the inverse and direct kinematics for the sophisticated control of the robot in real-time. In this paper, the translational crawl gait of a quadruped robot is introduced and the approach to find the solution of the kinematics for such a crawl motion is proposed. Since the resulting kinematics is simplified, the formulation can be used for the real-time control of the robot. The results of simulation and experiment shows that the present method is feasible and efficient.