Observation of iron silicide formation by plan-view transmission electron microscopy

The formation and the phase transitions of iron silicide by solid-phase epitaxy have been investigated by means of plan-view transmission electron microscopy, which enables us to observe a clean interface between Fe and Si. Layers of Fe were deposited on Si (100) at room temperature in an ultrahigh vacuum chamber. The sample was annealed in the electron microscope at a temperature between 673 and 1073 K. After annealing at 673 K, FeSi crystallites were formed with various orientations. When the annealing temperature was increased to 973 K, we found that the crystallites suddenly started to coalesce into grains of several hundreds of nanometers in size and polycrystalline beta-FeSi2 was formed. These phase transitions were also confirmed with electron energy-loss spectroscopy.     

A general steady state mathematical model for fin-and-tube heat exchanger based on graph theory

Fin-and-tube heat exchangers are widely used in air conditioners, chillers, etc. A lot of factors, including arrangement of refrigerant circuits, configure specification of fins and tubes, and operating conditions, have significant influence on the performance of fin-and-tube heat exchangers. For the purpose of fast design of high performance heat exchangers, a simulator reflecting the influence of these factors is necessary. In this paper, a general steady state mathematic model based on the graph theory is presented. With the help of the directed graph and graph-based traversal methods (Breadth-first search and Depth-first search), this model is capable to describe any flexible refrigerant circuit arrangement, and quantify the refrigerant distribution in the refrigerant circuit and heat conduction through fins. An alternative iteration method is also developed to solve the conservation equations, which can shorten the simulating time effectively. The model is verified with the experimental results, and the maximum error is within ±10.0%. A simulator based on this model has been used for designing practical fin-and-tube heat exchangers.     

Fabrication of low-loss and wide-bandwidth v.a.d. optical fibres at 1.3 ?m wavelength

A low-loss and wide-bandwidth optical fibre in the long-wavelength region has been fabricated by the v.a.d. method. Loss at 1.3 ?m is 0.98 dB/km and 6 dB down bandwidth is 1600 MHz km at 1.26 ?m.     

Fuzzy conditional inference under max-⊙ composition

This paper shows that the majority of fuzzy inference methods for a fuzzy conditional proposition “If x is A then y is B,” with A and B fuzzy concepts, can infer very reasonable consequences which fit our intuition with respect to several criteria such as modus ponens and modus tollens, if a new composition called “max-⊙ composition” is used in the compositional rule of inference, though reasonable consequences cannot always be obtained when using the max-min composition, which is used usually in the compositional rule of inference. Furthermore, it is shown that a syllogism holds for the majority of the methods under the max-⊙ composition, though they do not always satisfy the syllogism under the max-min composition.     

Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation of Helically Propagating Combustion Waves

In the present paper, by using a mathematical model for self-propagating high-temperature synthesis, we reveal the three-dimensional structure of so-called spin combustion wave on the inside of cylindrical sample. It is shown that an isothermal surface of regular spin combustion wave has some wings of which number is the same as that of reaction spots on the cylindrical surface and that the isothermal surface with helical wings rotates down with time. Because of this propagating pattern, in this paper, we adopt the more suitable term helical wave. We also obtain the following existence conditions of a helical wave: If physical parameters are set so that a pulsating wave exists stably for the one-dimensional problem, then a helical wave takes the place of a pulsating wave when the radius of cylindrical sample becomes large.     

Anisotropic proton-conducting membranes prepared from swift heavy ion-beam irradiated ETFE films

Poly(ethylene-co-tetrafluoroethylene) (ETFE) films were irradiated by swift heavy ion-beams of ¹²⁹Xe²³⁺ with fluences of 0, 3 × 10⁶, 3 × 10⁷, 3 × 10⁸ and 3 × 10⁹ ions/cm², followed by γ-ray pre-irradiation for radiation grafting of styrene onto the ETFE films and sulfonation of the grafted ETFE films to prepare highly anisotropic proton-conducting membranes. The fluence of Xe ions and the addition of water in the grafting solvent were examined to determine their effect on the proton conductivity of the resultant membranes. It was found that the polymer electrolyte membrane prepared by grafting the styrene monomer in a mixture of 67% isopropanol and 33% water to the ETFE film with an ion-beam irradiation fluence of 3.0 × 10⁶ ions/cm² was a highly anisotropic proton-conducting material, as the proton conductivity was three or more times higher in the thickness direction than in the surface direction of the membrane.     

Review of pulmonary toxicity of indium compounds to animals and humans

Due to the increased production of ITO, the potential health hazards arising from occupational exposure to this material have attracted much attention. This review consists of three parts: 1) toxic effects of indium compounds on animals, 2) toxic effects of indium compounds on humans, and 3) recommendations for preventing exposure to indium compounds in the workplace.Available data have indicated that insoluble form of indium compounds, such as ITO, indium arsenide (InAs) and indium phosphide (InP), can be toxic to animals. Furthermore, InP has demonstrated clear evidence of carcinogenic potential in long-term inhalation studies using experimental animals. As for the dangers to humans, some data are available concerning adverse health effects to workers who have been exposed to indium-containing particles. The Japan Society for Occupational Health recommended the value of 3 μg/L of indium in serum as the occupational exposure limit based on biological monitoring to preventing adverse health effects in workers resulting from occupational exposure to indium compounds. Accordingly, it is essential that much greater attention is focused on human exposure to indium compounds, and precautions against possible exposure to indium compounds are most important with regard to health management among indium-handling workers.     

Fabrication and Mechanical Properties of Continuously Graded MoSi2–ZrO2(2Y) Materials Using Wet-Molding

Continuously graded MoSi₂-ZrO₂(2Y) materials with high density (97.5% of theoretical) have been fabricated by uniaxial wet-molding, followed by hot pressing (1000°C/1 h/30 MPa) and hot isostatic pressing (1400°C/2 h/196 MPa). Their composition profiles are greatly influenced by the viscosity of mixed solutions of glycerin and ethanol used as a dispersion medium; a linear compositional gradient from MoSi₂/ZrO₂(2Y) 70/30 to 20/80 mol% is obtained from the solution (50/50 vol%) with a viscosity of 20 mPa s. Vickers hardness (Hv) and fracture toughness (KIC) increase from 9.7 to 12.4 GPa and from 5.1 to 12.5 MPa m1/2, respectively, with increasing ZrO₂(2Y) composition.     

Immunochemical and Immunohistochemical Identification of a Minor Collagen in Raw Muscles of Decapod Mollusks

ABSTRACT: Approximately 10% of total muscle collagen in 6 decapod molluskan species was recovered as minor collagenous fractions by limited pepsin digestion and differential salt precipitation. The main alpha components (α1) in these fractions showed similar peptide maps of V-8 protease and lysyl endopeptidase digests to each other and had reactivity to the antiserum against the al component of the minor collagen (named Type SQ-II) from Todarodes pacificus muscle in immunoblot analysis. These results suggested that the minor molecular species of collagen corresponding to Type SQ-II of Todarodes pacificus was widely distributed in the mantle muscle of decapod mollusks. In addition, immunohistochemical experiments revealed that Type SQ-II collagen distributed mainly in intramuscular thin connective tissue (endomysium), suggesting the functional importance of this molecule to the development of meat texture of decapod mollusks.