Breakdown characteristics of oil and paper insulation for a very fast transient voltage

This paper describes the dielectric breakdown characteristics of oil and oil‐impregnated paper for very fast transient (VFT) voltages. Blumlein circuits generate VFT voltages of 60 and 300 ns in a pulse width that simulates disconnecting switching surges in gas‐insulated switch gears. We measured the breakdown voltages of needle‐to‐plane, plane‐to‐plane oil gaps and several pieces of paper between plane electrodes for VFT and lightning impulse voltages. The measured data were formulated in V‐t characteristics and Weibull probability distributions. The inclination n of V‐t characteristics of insulating paper is 150, which is less than n = 13.7 of the plane‐to‐plane oil gap in the VFT time range. The shape parameters of Weibull distribution obtained in this study show that the scattering of breakdown voltages of paper is much less than that of oil. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 141(4): 16–24, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10043     

Polarity control of GaN epilayers grown on ZnO templates

We report the successful growth of Ga-polar GaN epilayers on O-polar ZnO templates pre-deposited on c-sapphire. Prior to GaN growth, NH₃ is exposed onto the ZnO template. The polarity of the GaN layers is confirmed by etching of the surface and by conversion beam electron diffraction (CBED), while the O-polar ZnO is confirmed by CBED. It is suggested that the NH₃ pre-exposure helps form a Zn₃N₂ layer, which possesses inversion symmetry and inverts the crystal from anion polar to cation polar.     

Nonlinear load-deflection relation of toroidal shells subjected to axisymmetric compression between rigid plates

Utility of toroidal shells as shock absorbers for radioactive materials' shipping casks is discussed by carrying out numerical and experimental analyses. The static load-deflection relations under axisymmetric compression between rigid plates are presented.A simple elastic-plastic analytical method is first developed on the basis of an incremental Rayleigh-Ritz method by taking account of the large deflections and the continuous change of contact points. Meridional compression is neglected and the meridional curvature distribution is approximated by a trigonometric series. Strain-hardening material properties and axisymmetric deformation are also assumed. In order to provide data for comparison purposes, static compression tests were performed using six models of different shapes and dimensions made of 304-type stainless steel. Finally, the applicability of the numerical method developed in this paper is discussed.The mechanical behavior of toroidal shells is also discussed.     

Deposition rate dependence of coercivity in vaccum evaporated CoCr films

Deposition rate dependence of perpendicular coercivity Hcl in Cocr evaporated films at the deposition rate ranging from 0.4nm/s to 400nm/s is studied. Hcl increases with decreasing deposition rate as well as with increasing substrate temperature. A High Hcl over 500 Oe, which has ever been obtained only at a substrate temperature over 250°C when deposition rate is high(400nm/s), is obtained at a substrate temperature of 150°C under deposition rate of 2nm/s. "Shoulder" in the hysteresis loop disappears as Hcl exceeds 400 Oe. Therefore to decrease the deposition rate and to increase the substrate temperature have the same effect on Hcl. Saturation magnetization of the films with the same Cr concentration increases with decreasing deposition rate, and it is suggested that the degree of Cr segregation increases with decreasing deposition rate. Hcl is independent of the background pressure when the relative pressure, the quotient of (background pressure/deposition rate), is between 2×10^-8and 5×10^-6torr/(nm/s). From the results above, it is clarified that the difference of deposition rate between vacuum evaporation and sputtering is one of the major reasons for the difference of Hcl between the two.     

Identification of creep damage variable from A-parameter by a stochastic analysis

Identification of creep damage variable D of continuum damage theory from the metallographic A-parameter is discussed. By performing a stochastic analysis, A-parameter, defined as the observed fraction of cavitated grain boundaries on the observation plane, was first related to the cavity area fraction on the grain boundary facet planes. Based on the results of this analysis, the cavitation damage states of some engineering alloys were estimated by use of the data of the measured A-parameter. Finally, according to the usual interpretation of the damage variable D, specific D-A relations were derived. The validity and the utility of the proposed D-A relations, based on the test results of an engineering alloy, are discussed.     

New polylactide/layered silicate nanocomposites. 5. Designing of materials with desired properties

Understanding the structure/property relationship in polymer/layered silicate nanocomposites is of great importance in designing materials with desired properties. In order to understand these relations, a series of polylactide (PLA)/organically modified layered silicate (OMLS) nanocomposites have been prepared using a simple melt extrusion technique. Four different types of OMLS have been used for the preparation of nanocomposites, three were modified with functionalized ammonium salts while fourth one was a phosphonium salt modified OMLS. The structure of the nanocomposites in the nanometer scale was characterized by using wide-angle X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopic observations. Using four different types of layered silicates modified with four different types of surfactants, the effect of OMLS in nanocomposites was investigated by focusing on four major aspects: structural analysis, thermal properties and spherulite morphology, materials properties, and biodegradability. Finally, we draw conclusions about the structure/property relationship in the case of PLA/OMLS nanocomposites.     

Structural development in cycloolefin copolymers under uniaxial elongational flow

Development of structures in new cycloolefin copolymers (COCs) of ethylene–norbornene (E–NB) and ethylene–tetracyclododecene (E–TD) of different NB/TD compositions were investigated under uniaxial elongational flow. For E–NB copolymer, which has multiblock sequences, a shoulder in WAXD at 0.76 nm was evident besides its amorphous halo, and the relative intensity of the peak increased with increasing comonomer content (NB). The appearance of a new peak for E–TD copolymer, and a relatively higher intense peak for E–NB copolymer at the same position of 0.76 nm, indicated that local ordering of the segments occurred when the COC was subjected to uniaxial flow. A lower comonomer composition of elongated COC, at a constant Hencky strain rate, exhibited two T_g values, whereas a higher composition showed a single T_g. Both local ordering and segmentization occurred in low comonomer content COCs but only local ordering occurred in higher comonomer content COCs. Both the shear viscosity and roll processing experiments exhibited similar phenomena of segregation. A model is proposed to illustrate the structure of COC after uniaxial elongation/deformation. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 91: 3421–3427, 2004     

Multi-step precipitation separation system using mixture of thermosensitive polymers

Summary Multi-step precipitation separation system was developed by using aqueous mixtures of some thermosensitive polymers. The following three polymers were used here; poly(N-n-propylacrylamide), poly(N-isopropylacrylamide), and poly(N-isopropylmethacrylamide). A mixture of the three polymers showed three endothermic peaks, and the peak top temperatures were almost consistent with that of the each polymer solution. The polymers were purified by thermal precipitation to obtain fractions which can respond in narrow temperature ranges prior to use. In the case of the precipitation separation of two polymers mixtures, purities of the obtained precipitate and supernatant fractions became high comparing with the case in which the unpurified polymers were used. Parts of the polymers which were not the precipitation targets were also precipitated by the separation procedures. This was caused not only by insolubilization of the non-targeted polymers due to their phase transitions but also by their non-specific entanglement with the targeted polymers. The purities of the fractions also improved when the difference of the phase transition temperature between two polymers was large enough to avoid the coprecipitation. In the case of the precipitation separation of mixtures of the three polymers, purities of each fraction also improved when the purified polymers were used.