Formation of Zirconia Solid Solutions Containing Alumina Prepared by New Preparation Method

In the system ZrO₂–Al₂O₃, a new method for preparing ZrO₂ solid solutions from ZrCl₄ and AlCl₃ using hydrazine monohydrate is investigated. c -ZrO₂ solid solutions containing up to ∼40 mol% Al₂O₃ crystallize at low temperatures from amorphous materials. The formation mechanism is discussed from IR spectral data. The values of the lattice parameter α increase linearly from 0.5072 to 0.5105 nm with increasing Al₂O₃ content. At higher temperatures, transformation of the solid solutions proceeds as follows: c ( SS ) → t ( ss ) → t ( ss ) +α-Al₂O₃→ m +α-Al₂O₃. m -ZrO₂–α-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics are fabricated by hot isostatic pressing for 2 h at 1250°C and 196 MPa. Microstructures and mechanical properties are examined, in connection with increasing Al₂O₃ content.     

Helium gas permeability of montmorillonite/epoxy nanocomposites

Helium gas permeability of silicate clay (montmorillonite) particles/epoxy nanocomposites was examined. The incorporation of increasing amounts of montmorillonite particles reduced the helium gas permeability. Based on Fick’s law, gas permeation behavior of the nanocomposite was evaluated. With the increase of montmorillonite loading, gas diffusivity decreased, while gas solubility increased. Helium diffusion behavior is in agreement to the numerical results based on the Hatta–Taya–Eshelby theory. It has been revealed that dispersion of nanoscale platelets in polymer is effective in improving gas barrier property.     

Tunable Optical Notch Filter Realized by Shifting the Photonic Bandgap in a Silicon Photonic Crystal Line-Defect Waveguide

A tunable optical notch filter was realized by thermally shifting the TM-like (the light's electric field perpendicular to the substrate) bandgap of a silicon photonic crystal slab W1 line-defect waveguide with silica cladding. This device is compact-its footprint is 340times16 mum², excluding the electrode pads. The 3-dB bandwidth of the device was about 5 nm, and the extinction ratio at the center wavelength was as high as 40 dB. A maximum center wavelength shift of 17.9 nm was attained at a heating power of 0.7W, with a tuning efficiency of 25.5 nm/W. The tuning response time was less than 100 mus     

Pressure wave propagation in air-water bubbly and slug flow

Related to nuclear reactor safety problems, such as the loss of coolant accident caused by some small crevasses in nuclear reactor, choked flows after postulated breaks of hot and cold legs of pressurized water reactors and the boiling flow instability in parallel channels, the characteristics of pressure wave propagation were investigated experimentally for the air-water bubbly and slug two-phase flow in a vertical pipe. Pressure wave was generated from the small pressure disturbance by the up-and-down movement of piston in the test section. Air void fraction was up to 0.7 and superficial liquid velocity was up to 1.5 m/s as experimental conditions. The experimental results show that the pressure wave propagation velocity in bubbly flow decreases acutely with the increase of air void fraction from 0 to 0.05. In slug flow, it is constant when the air void fraction is less than 0.5 but increases gradually when the void fraction increases beyond 0.5. The attenuation coefficient of pressure wave increases with the increase of air void fraction in bubbly flow. The dependency of pressure wave propagation velocity on angle frequency ω in air-water flow shows the dispersion characteristic. The propagation velocity and attenuation coefficient increases gradually with the increase of angle frequency. However, the increase vanishes slowly as the angle frequency reaches 250 Hz in bubbly flow. The propagation of pressure wave in bubbly flow is independent of the superficial velocity of fluids in the range of experiment.     

Experimental investigation and thermodynamic calculation of the phase equilibria in the Cu-Sn and Cu-Sn-Mn systems

The phase equilibria in the Cu-rich portion of the Cu-Sn binary and Cu-Sn-Mn ternary systems have been determined using the diffusion-couple method, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), high-temperature electron diffraction (HTED), and high-temperature X-ray diffraction (HTXRD) techniques. The present experimental results on the binary Cu-Sn system show the presence of the two-stage, second-order reaction A2 → B2 → D0₃ in the bcc-phase region, rather than a two-phase equilibrium between the disordered bcc (A2) and the ordered bcc (D0₃) phases, as reported before. Phase equilibria in the Cu-Sn-Mn ternary system in the composition range of 0 to 30 at. pct Sn and 0 to 30 at. pct Mn at 550 °C, 600 °C, 650 °C, and 700 °C have been determined, and a ternary compound (Cu₄MnSn) with a very small solubility has been detected. A thermodynamic analysis of the Cu-Sn-Mn ternary system including the Cu-Sn and Mn-Sn binary systems has also been carried out by the CALPHAD (Calculation of Phase Diagrams) method, in which the Gibbs energy of the bcc phase is described by the two-sublattice model in order to take into account the second-order A2/B2 ordering reaction. A consistent set of optimized thermodynamic parameters for the Cu-Sn-Mn system for describing the Gibbs energy of each phase results in a better fit between calculation and experiment.     

三水铝石的粉碎机械力化学效就与热特性

使用振动球磨机将三水铝石粉体进行干式微粉碎.粉碎实验条件为介质球/试样(质量比)=8.5.研究调查了不同粉碎时间处理粉碎试样的机械力化学效应(平均粒径、结晶无定形和加热特性).结果表明,长时间粉碎,达到粉碎平衡,平均粒径趋于极限值.粉碎过程中未脱水.由于粉碎,加热脱水温度、结晶相变温度降低.     

Effects of ship motions on natural circulation of deep sea research reactor DRX

DRX is a very small integral type PWR (750 kW_t) for a scientific deep-sea research bathyscaph. The core having a small amount of steam is cooled by natural circulation and pressurized by self-pressurization. During operation of the bathyscaph in a deep sea or near the water surface, a ship inclination or ship motions will affect the reactor behavior. This paper describes the effect of a heeling or a heaving on the thermal hydraulic behavior of reactor system, which is analyzed by improved so to simulate the effect of ship motions. The dynamics has a feature of nuclear power-natural circulation flow coupling under the condition of external forces. The analysis shows that ship inclination induces the core flow to decrease but reactor power recovers to the initial level without help of the reactor automatic control system. The heaving makes the core flow and the reactor power oscillate in phase with heaving, which are different from a density wave oscillation. Oscillation amplitudes of the flow and the power have peaks at the heaving period of 5 s. The peaks are due to resonance of the natural circulation flow and the heaving. An effective measure to suppress this oscillations due to heaving is to pressurize the primary loop by filling non-condensable gas. The density wave oscillation occurs when the reactor power increases over the rated power, and the boundary of its occurrence is analytically revealed. Under the condition of both density wave oscillation and heaving, the system shows to oscillate with the overlapped effect.     

Martensitic stabilization and defects induced by deformation in TiNi shape memory alloys

Martensitic stabilization caused by deformation in a TiNi shape memory alloy was studied.Special attention was paid to the deformed microstructures to identify the cause of martensitic stabilization.Martensitic stabilization was demonstrated by differential scanning calorimetry for the tensioned TiNi shape memory alloy.Transmission electron microscopy revealed that antiphase boundaries were formed because of the fourfold dissociation of[110]B19'super lattice dislocations and were preserved after reverse transformation due to the lattice correspondence.Martensitic stabilization was attributed to dislocations induced by deformation,which reduced the ordering degree of the microstructure,spoiled the reverse path from martensite to parent phase compared with thermoelastic transformation,and imposed resistance on phase transformation through the stress field.