Cyclic Fatigue-Crack Propagation in Magnesia-Partially-Stabilized Zirconia Ceramics

The subcritical growth of fatigue cracks under (tension-tension) cyclic loading is demonstrated for ceramic materials, based on experiments using compact C(T) specimens of a MgO-partially-stabilized zirconia (PSZ), heat-treated to vary the fracture toughness K _c from ∼3 to 16 MPa·m^1/2 and tested in inert and moist environments. Analogous to behavior in metals, cyclic fatigue-crack rates (over the range 10⁻¹¹ to 10⁻⁵ m/cycle) are found to be a function of the stress-intensity range, environment, fracture toughness, and load ratio, and to show evidence of fatigue crack closure. Unlike toughness behavior, growth rates are not dependent on through0-thickness constraint. Under variable-amplitude cyclic loading, crack-growth rates show transient accelerations following low-high block overloads and transient retardations following high-low block overloads or single tensile overloads, again analogous to behavior commonly observed in ductile metals. Cyclic crack-growth rates are observed at stress intensities as low as 50% of K _c , and are typically some 7 orders of magnitude faster than corresponding stress-corrosion crack-growth rates under sustained-loading conditions. Possible mechanisms for cyclic crack advance in ceramic materials are examined, and the practical implications of such "ceramic fatigue" are briefly discussed.     

Selective formation of 2-methyl-2-butene and 2-methyl-1-butene: Operating conditions and kinetic analysis

The effect of linear gas velocity, catalyst particle size, reaction temperature, space time, etc. on the dehydration of amyl alcohols (from fusel oil) was studied, using as catalyst a pre-treated bentonite. The analysis of the kinetic data, using Hougen-Watson type models, gives as the best model one in which amyl alcohol is absorbed on two active sites, the reaction rate being determined by the surface reaction of absorbed species.     

Chromium diffusion in gallium arsenide

Chromium diffusion in GaAs was studied by measuring the thickness of high-resistivity layers formed during diffusion of chromium (a deep acceptor) in n-GaAs. The dependence of the chromium diffusivity in GaAs on the temperature, arsenic-vapor pressure, conductivity type, and carrier density was determined. The temperature dependence of the diffusivity is described by the Arrhenius equation with the parameters D₀=8×10⁹ cm²/s and E=4.9 eV. The dependence of the diffusivity on the arsenic-vapor pressure is described by the expression \(D \propto P_{As_4 }^{ - m} \), where m≈0.4. The experimental data obtained are interpreted in terms of the concept of the dissociative mechanism of migration of Cr atoms in GaAs.     

Dual-band infrared detectors made on high-quality HgCdTe epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on CdZnTe or CdTe/Ge substrates

In this paper, we present all the successive steps for realizing dual-band infrared detectors operating in the mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) band. High crystalline quality HgCdTe multilayer stacks have been grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on CdZnTe and CdTe/Ge substrates. Material characterization in the light of high-resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) results and dislocation density measurements are exposed in detail. These characterizations show some striking differences between structures grown on the two kinds of substrates. Device processing and readout circuit for 128×128 focal-plane array (FPA) fabrication are described. The electro-optical characteristics of the devices show that devices grown on Ge match those grown on CdZnTe substrates in terms of responsivity, noise measurements, and operability.     

50 Jahre Kybernetik in Österreich

The term “cybernetics” is very old, but in the middle of the last century it gained new importance as steering brought new aspects to the area of information technology. This paper deals with the general history of cybernetics and then describes the beginning of this field at Vienna University of Technology. In this context it was an important step, when the book “Cybernetics” by Norbert Wiener first came to Vienna; thus the interest in cybernetic models evolved. Originating from the interest in cybernetic models, three models were recreated (and refined):

1. the model of the conditioned reflex (artificial tortoise),
2. the model of orientation in a maze (mouse), and
3. the model of homeostasis (homeostat).

The third and final part of this paper illustrates the gradual transition to artificial intelligence (AI). Hopes that were tied up with this term are discussed. Apart from that the question of how much has been left of cybernetics and artificial intelligence today is raised. The mouse in the maze is very closely connected to our Emeritus: He built the Viennese version of it as part of his diploma thesis.     

An efficient algorithm for the global modeling of RF and microwave circuits using a reduced nonlinear lumped network (RNL/sup 2/N)-FDTD approach

In this letter, we present an efficient and simple reduced nonlinear lumped network (RNL/sup 2/N)-FDTD method for the global modeling of RF and microwave circuits. This method is a simplified version of the original nonlinear lumped network (NL/sup 2/N)-FDTD approach, which does not require a complicated precalculation and a huge back-storage compared to the former version.     

Piecewise-linear approximation of nonlinear dynamical systems

The piecewise-linear (PWL) approximation technique developed by Julia/spl acute/n et al. in the past few years is applied to find approximate models of dynamical systems dependent on given numbers of state variables and parameters. Referring to some significant examples, i.e., topological normal forms, it is shown that a PWL dynamical system approximating a given smooth system can preserve its main features. In particular, if the approximation accuracy increases, the equivalence between approximating and approximated systems shifts from qualitative to quantitative. The validity of the proposed approach is eventually tested by use of a severe nonlinear example, i.e., the Rosenzweig-MacArthur system, which describes the population dynamics in a tritrophic food chain model.     

Method based on physical optics for the computation of the radar cross section including diffraction and double effects of metallic and absorbing bodies modeled with parametric surfaces

A method to compute the monostatic radar cross section (RCS) of complex bodies modeled by nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS) surfaces is presented. The bodies can be covered by any kind of radar absorbing material (RAM) with electric and/or magnetic losses. Physical optics (PO) is used to obtain the scattered field of each surface. Fresnel coefficients are included in the stationary phase method (SPM) in order to take into account the effect of the RAM material. The contribution of diffraction by edges and double effects is also considered, improving the results of the PO approach. The diffraction is computed by the equivalent current method (ECM). A combination of geometrical optics (GO) with PO and ECM is used for the double reflection and double interaction between edges and surfaces respectively. Some simple cases are shown to validate the proposed method. The reliability of the method to analyzing the effect of covering a realistic target with RAM is also illustrated.     

Printed compact dual band antenna for 2.4 and 5 GHz ISM band applications

A printed compact dipole antenna for dual ISM band (2.44 and 5 GHz) is presented. The proposed antenna fed by using a 50 /spl Omega/ coaxial line occupies a volume of 15/spl times/40/spl times/1 mm/sup 3/ (FR-4, permittivity 4.6). The impedance bandwidth for 10 dB return loss is about 400 MHz (from 2170 to 2570 MHz) at 2.4 GHz band and over 2300 MHz (from 4690 to beyond 7000 MHz) at 5 GHz band. The measured radiation gains range from 1.20 to 1.41 dBi at 2.4 GHz band and from 2.25 to 3.44 dBi at 5 GHz band, respectively.