Alloy design of a cost-effective and castable heat-resistant iron alloy

A new heat-resistant Fe-based cast alloy has been designed making the best use of the CALPHAD method. The objective was to replace the material for precision cast products made from Ni-based superalloys with improved Fe-based alloys originally developed for lower temperature applications.The key to the design is to balance the amount of strengthening ${\gamma }^{\prime }$- Ni₃(Ti,Al) precipitates and brittle $\sigma$ phase, and to simultaneously decrease as-cast microsegregation. Contours of the equal phase fraction were calculated over the isothermal diagrams of the Fe–Ni–Cr–Ti–Al–Nb system, and provided useful guidelines for compositional modifications. The microsegregation was also evaluated by Scheil-type simulation in order to reduce micropores caused by oxidation of the solidifying front.The developed cast Fe-based alloy showed desirable strength at the envisioned service temperatures and filled the open range of heat resistance between Ni-based superalloys and the original alloy.     

Static fatigue in ceramic materials: influences of an intergranular glassy phase and fracture toughness

Static fatigue behaviour in various kinds of non-transforming ceramics has been investigated. It was found that static fatigue is closely related to the presence of a glassy phase between adjacent grains, as well as fracture toughness. Non-oxide ceramics, such as reaction-bonded silicon nitride which scarcely contains the glassy phase (group I), are insensitive to static fatigue, whereas non-transformation oxide ceramics, like alumina and non-oxide ceramics such as silicon nitride which contains the glassy phase (group II), are sensitive to static fatigue. However, static fatigue behaviour in the materials of group II also depends strongly on fracture toughness. K _IC. Namely, fatigue parameter n increases linearly as K _IC increases. From such a dependence the life time relation in the materials of group II is proposed as in terms of applied stress _S and K _IC.     

A knowledge assimilation method for logic databases

In this paper we consider a deductive question-answering system for relational databases as a logic database system, and propose a knowledge assimilation method suitable for such a system. The concept of knowledge assimilation for deductive logic is constructed in an implementable form based on the notion of amalgamating object language and metalanguage. This concept calls for checks to be conducted on four subconcepts, provability, contradiction, redundancy, independency, and their corresponding internal database updates. We have implemented this logic database knowledge assimilation program in PROLOG, a logic programming language, and have found PROLOG suitable for knowledge assimilation implementation.     

Study on high performance ice slurry formed by cooling emulsion in ice storage (discussion on adaptability of emulsion to thermal storage material)

This study focuses on an emulsion as a new thermal storage material for ice storage. Two types of emulsions were formed using an oil–water mixture with a small amount of additive. A silicone, light and lump oils were used. The water contents of the emulsions were 70, 80 and 90%. The additive was an amino group modified silicone oil. No depression of freezing point was observed for the emulsions because of their hydrophobic properties. In order to determine the structure of the emulsions, their electrical resistances were measured. Moreover, components of the liquids separating from the emulsions were analyzed. The results indicated that one emulsion was a W/O type emulsion, while the other was an O/W type. Finally, adaptability of the two emulsions to ice storage was discussed, it was concluded that a high performance ice slurry could be formed by the W/O type emulsion.     

Dominant stress region for crack initiation at interface edge of microdot on a substrate

In order to examine the mechanics of crack initiation at the free interface edge of a microcomponent on a substrate, delamination tests are carried out for two specimen shapes of Cr microdots on a SiO₂ substrate. The microdots of the first specimen are shaped like the frustum of a round cone. The Cr microdots are successfully delaminated from the SiO₂ substrate in a brittle manner and the critical load is measured by atomic force microscopy (AFM) with a lateral loading apparatus. Stress analysis reveals that a singular stress field exists near the interface edge and the strength for the crack initiation is governed by the intensified normal stress field. The critical stress intensity parameter is evaluated as K_σC ≈ 0.24 MPa m^0.39. Similar delamination tests are conducted for microdots shaped like the frustum of an oval cone. The stress distributions at the crack initiation of this specimen shape show a higher normal stress than the first specimen shape in the region near the interface edge of about x < 40 nm, while it is lower in the region of about x > 50 nm (x: distance from the edge). This suggests a limitation of conventional fracture mechanics: namely, the crack initiation in these specimens is not uniquely governed by the intensity of the singular field. It is found that the delamination crack is initiated when the averaged stress σ_ya in the region of 90-130 nm reaches 190-270 MPa, regardless of the specimen shape. This indicates that the dominant stress region of crack initiation is roughly estimated as 90-130 nm and the criterion is given in terms of the averaged stress in the region.     

Analysis and experimental validation of force bandwidth for force control

Controlling robots in contact with the environment is an important problem in industry applications. In the conventional force control, much research has paid attention to develop novel force control systems and implemented force sensors to detect external force. This paper shows that narrow bandwidth of force sensor has a big influence on the force control system. Generally, to solve the instability in force control, the velocity feedback gain is enlarged. The system becomes unstable with small velocity feedback gain, and robot's response becomes slow with large one. Inasmuch as there is a tradeoff between the stability and the response, it is considered that force control by robots is difficult. This paper proposes a force control system with disturbance observer. It is possible to obtain the force information with wide bandwidth by using the disturbance observer. This paper shows that bandwidth of force sensing is very important for contact motion control. By using the wide bandwidth of force sensing, both stability and response are improved. Furthermore, force control is attainable by the construction of the easiest force control architecture. Therefore, the ideal zero-stiffness-force control is attained. The numerical and experimental results show viability of the proposed method.     

Study on Pb-Bi natural circulation phenomena

For the development of 45w%Pb-55w%Bi cooled direct contact boiling water small fast reactor (PBWFR), experimental study on Pb-Bi-water direct contact boiling two-phase flow has been performed using Pb-Bi-water direct contact boiling two-phase flow loop. For stable start-up of the boiling flow operation, Pb-Bi single-phase natural circulation must be realized in a Pb-Bi flow system of the loop before water injection into Pb-Bi. The Pb-Bi flow system consists of a four-heater-pin bundle, a chimney, an upper plenum, a level meter tank, a cooler, and an electromagnetic flow meter. A stable Pb-Bi single-phase natural circulation was realized in the range of flow rate from 1.5 l/min to 4.8 l/min by heating Pb-Bi in the heater-pin bundle with a power up to 7.7 kW. The inlet and outlet temperatures of the heater bundle were in the ranges from 243°C to 278°C, and from 251°C to 278°C, respectively. The natural circulation flow was simulated analytically using one-dimensional flow model including frictional, form and drag forces. Total hydraulic head through the loop were calculated from Pb-Bi densities at measured Pb-Bi temperatures in the loop. It was found that the calculated flow rate agreed well with the measured ones, which indicated the validity of the analytical models.     

Comparative study of (Ba,Sr)TiO3 films prepared by electron cyclotron resonance plasma sputtering and metal-organic decomposition

(Ba,Sr)TiO₃ films were prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates by mirror-confinement-type electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma sputtering as well as by metal-organic decomposition (MOD). The films prepared by ECR plasma sputtering were crystallized at lower temperatures with better crystallinity and a denser structure than those by MOD. As for dielectric constant, films prepared by ECR plasma sputtering exhibited a relatively high value over 500 at a low annealing temperature of 873 K, whereas films by MOD exhibited approximately 350. This is attributed to the better crystallinity and the denser structure of the films by ECR plasma sputtering. The leakage current density of the films was found to be similar in both processes.     

High Temperature Schottky Barrier on n-Type SrTiO3 and Its Sensitivity to Ambient Gases

Metal or oxide electrodes (Pt, Au, Ag, (La, Sr)CoO₃) were deposited on single crystals of 0.02 mol% Nb doped SrTiO₃ by pulsed laser deposition. Current-voltage and capacitance-voltage responses were measured using three-terminal electrode configuration. Under high oxygen partial pressures, clear rectification behaviors were observed. Diffusion model well explained the current vs. voltage relationship with ideality factors close to unity. The barrier height varied reversibly with oxygen partial pressure, and was almost independent of the electrode materials, which suggested that the Fermi level at the interface was pinned by the surface states. The origin of the surface states was discussed in terms of oxygen adsorption or oxidative formation of metal vacancies around the surface. Chemical interaction between the surface and oxygen and resulting cation rearrangement was concluded to play an important role from the long stabilization time on oxygen partial pressure change. The water vapor pressure dependence of the barrier height was also explained by competitive adsorption of oxygen and water.     

Linear bipolar OTAs employing exponential‐law circuits

This paper presents design of linear bipolar OTAs, which are composed of two function blocks; one is an exponential‐law circuit and the other is a core cell. Multi‐tanh cells are employed as the core cell. This kind of OTA has lower power dissipation relatively to the conventional multi‐tanh cell. According as the order of the multi‐tanh core cell becomes higher, the number of circuit realization for the core cell increases. For example, we have two OTAs for the core circuit of an emitter‐coupled pair and four OTAs for the doublet core cell. Thus, we consider the generalized OTAs for an arbitrary order n of the core cell and obtain a formula to give the realization number of the linear OTAs for n. According to the formula, there must be eight OTAs in the case of n=3. All of the eight OTAs are examined. Analysis and simulation results show that the OTAs have advantage in their characteristics, such as linear input range, power dissipation, noise, and frequency response. Copyright 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.