Synthesis and characterization of silicon nitride whiskers

Silicon nitride whiskers were synthesized by the carbothermal reduction of silica under nitrogen gas flow. The formation of silicon nitride whiskers occurs through a gas-phase reaction, 3SiO(g)+3CO(g)+2N₂(g)=Si₃N₄()+3CO₂(g), and the VS mechanism. The generation of SiO gas was enhanced by the application of a halide bath. Various nitrogen flow rates resulted in different whisker yields and morphologies. A suitable gas composition range of N₂, SiO and O₂ is necessary to make silicon nitride stable and grow in a whisker form. The oxygen partial pressure of the gas phase was measured by an oxygen sensor and the gas phase was analysed for CO/CO₂ by gas chromatography. Silicon nitride was first formed as a granule, typically a polycrystalline, and then grown as a single crystal whisker from the {1 0 0} plane of the granule along the 210 direction. The whiskers were identified as-sialon with Z value ranging from 0.8 to 1.1, determined by lattice parameter measurements.     

How to Prove Impossibility Under Global Fairness: On Space Complexity of Self-Stabilizing Leader Election on a Population Protocol Model

A population protocol is one of distributed computing models for passively-mobile systems, where a number of agents change their states by pairwise interactions between two agents. In this paper, we investigate the solvability of the self-stabilizing leader election in population protocols without any kind of oracles. We identify the necessary and sufficient conditions to solve the self-stabilizing leader election in population protocols from the aspects of local memory complexity and fairness assumptions. This paper shows that under the assumption of global fairness, no protocol using only n−1 states can solve the self-stabilizing leader election in complete interaction graphs, where n is the number of agents in the system. To prove this impossibility, we introduce a novel proof technique, called closed-set argument. In addition, we propose a self-stabilizing leader election protocol using n states that works even under the unfairness assumption. This protocol requires the exact knowledge about the number of agents in the system. We also show that such knowledge is necessary to construct any self-stabilizing leader election protocol.     

Band Gap Modification of Diamond Photonic Crystals by Changing the Volume Fraction of the Dielectric Lattice

Photonic crystals with a diamond structure of epoxy lattices in which TiO₂-based ceramic particles are dispersed were fabricated by stereolithography. The periodicity of the lattice was designed to reflect electromagnetic waves in the gigahertz range. The volume fraction (β) of the dielectric lattice medium was modified from 14% to 33% by changing the rod diameter of the lattice. The photonic band gap was observed along Γ-L 〈111〉, Γ-X 〈100〉, and Γ-K 〈110〉 directions and the complete photonic band gap was formed at over β= 20%. The width of the forbidden gap increased gradually when the β increased over 14%, and reached 2.4 GHz at β= 33%. These results agreed with the band calculation using the plane wave expansion method.     

Polymerization of epoxide with aluminum complex/silanol catalyst. VII. Thermal and electrical properties of epoxy resin cured with the new catalyst

Curing catalyst for epoxy resins was newly found. The catalyst consists of aluminum complex and silanol. Lack of one component of the pair does not cure epoxy resins. The epoxy resins cured with the catalyst are characterized by excellent electrical properties, especially at high temperature, due to the absence of strong acid species in the cured epoxy resin matrix. Heat-resistant property of the resin was also excellent. These properties were compared with those of epoxy resin cured with commonly used BF₃ complex.     

Hydrolysis of human horny cells by alkaline protease: Morphological observation of the process

The interaction of highly purified alkaline protease fromBacillus sp. KSM-K16 with the horny cells of human skin contained in skin grime was directly visualized by electron microscopy. It became clear that the protease first penetrates the horny cells and then adsorbs, mainly onto the internal structure of the cells at the initial stage of hydrolysis, and directly hydrolyzes the keratin filaments, though the marginal band surrounding them retains its original shape. Then, hydrolysate produced from the keratin filaments flows out of the cell, and early in the hydrolysis process keratin filaments decrease and then disappear, leaving a marginal band, i.e., the cell turns to a hollow state. As a result, the remaining marginal band loses support from inside the cell, thus promoting cleavage and dispersion. Until this stage in the protease reaction, the remarkable liberation of hydrolysis products as water-soluble protein does not occur.     

Formation of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones in high-density polyethylene film irradiated with ultraviolet light

Polyethylene films were irradiated in air by ultraviolet light. 2,4-Dinitrophenylhydrazine was reacted on the irradiated films. The changes in amounts of carbonyl groups and 2,4-dinitrophenynlhydrazones formed in the films were inferred by comparing their absorptions in the infrared and ultraviolet spectra, respectively. It seems that the contents of carbonyl groups formed in the amorphous regions in the high-density polyethylene films by the irradiation were larger than the contents of carbonyl groups formed in the amorphous regions in the low-density polyethylene films. The decreases in contact angles of water on the high-density polyethylene films by the irradiation were larger than the decreases in the contact angles on the low-density polyethylene films. The amounts of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones formed in the irradiated high-density polyethylene films were less than the amounts of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones formed in the irradiated low-density polyethylene films.     

Intrinsic Elastic, Dielectric, and Piezoelectric Losses in Lead Zirconate Titanate Ceramics Determined by an Immittance-Fitting Method

The material coefficients of "soft" and "hard" lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramics were determined as complex values by the nonlinear least-squares-fitting of immittance data measured for length-extensional bar resonators. The piezoelectric d -constant should be a complex value to obtain a best fitting between observed and calculated results. Because the elastic, dielectric, and piezoelectric losses determined in this process were not "intrinsic" losses, a calculation process to evaluate the "intrinsic" losses was proposed. It was confirmed that the intrinsic losses were smaller than the corresponding extrinsic losses. The intrinsic piezoelectric loss existed in both soft and hard PZTs; ∼50% of the loss of piezoelectric d -constant was derived from the elastic and dielectric losses. The most notable difference between the soft and hard PZTs was observed in their elastic losses.     

Change of polypropylene film surface by chromic acid mixture treatment

Polypropylene films were treated with chromic acid mixture. The change in the treated films was investigated by comparing change in amount of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones formed in the treated films with their change in wettability with water. Oxidation of the film surface zone, partial breakdown of polymer in the film surface zone, and oxidation of surface zone bared from the film inner zone seemed to occur with increase in treatment time or with increase in treatment temperature.     

Microstructure and Thermal Shock Resistance of Molten Glass-Coated Carbon Materials Fabricated by Interfacial Control

Carbon substrates were coated completely with a molten silicate glass, where the wettability of carbon to glass was improved by infiltration and pyrolysis of perhydropolysilazane. Microstructures of the carbon–glass interface were dependent on P n ₂ during coating. Coating at lower P n ₂ induced the formation of cristobalite at the carbon–glass interface. When the coating was performed at higher P n ₂, the glass and carbon were strongly adhered, without the formation of cristobalite. Coating at higher P n ₂ improved the thermal shock resistance of the glass layer, because crack initiation was not induced by the phase transformation of cristobalite during the cooling process. In the case of coating at higher P n ₂, an oxynitride glass layer was formed at the glass subsurface by dissolution of N₂. A porous glass subsurface layer with uniform spherical micro-pores could be produced by soaking near the glass transition temperature in a steam environment. The porous layer with fine and homogeneous microstructure acts as a thermal shock absorbing layer, so that glass-coated carbon with a porous glass layer has excellent thermal shock resistance in addition to steam oxidation resistance.