Incommensurate phase transition of cholesteryl 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoropropionate (CTFP)

This paper describes a paraelectric-incommensurate phase transition of cholesteryl 2,2,3,3-tetrafluoropropionate(CTFP) found at about -94°C by means of X-ray diffraction and dielectric constant studies performed with the single crystal.     

Lamb-wave device with three operation modes

A new type of Lamb-wave device with three operation modes is proposed and demonstrated. The transducers in the device consist of three electrode groups. One of the two combinations of the two interdigital electrode groups and the earth electrode is for a reference signal, whereas another combination is used to feed three kinds of input signal. This device has an efficient performance in three operation modes.     

Effect of grafted polymer species on particle monolayer structure at the air-water interface

We have studied poly(methyl methacrylate)-grafted(PMMA) particle monolayer systems at the air-water interface. In previous papers, we reported that PMMA chains grafted from particles (silica particle and polystyrene latex) were extended on water surfaces. Through observing deposited particle monolayers on substrates using SEM, we have confirmed that PMMA of large molecular weights were either dispersed or arrayed in structure with long inter-particle distances approximately 500 nm. In contrast, low molecular weight PMMA were observed to aggregate upon deposition. We speculated that the difference in morphology in deposited particle monolayers would be attributed to the affinity between the grafted polymer and the substrate. To examine the effect of this affinity three new polymer-grafted silica particles were synthesized with a fairly high graft density of about 0.14 approximately 0.43 nm(-2). As well as PMMA-grafted silica particles (SiO2-PMMA), poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) and poly(t-butyl methacrylate)--grafted silica particles (SiO2-PHEMA and SiO2-PtBuMA) were also prepared and subjected to pi-A isotherm measurements and SEM observations. These pi-A isotherms indicated that polymer-grafted silica formed monolayer at the air-water interface, and the onset area of increasing surface pressure suggests that the polymer chains are extended on a water surface. However, the morphology of the deposited monolayer is highly dependent on polymer species: SiO2-PHEMA showed that the dispersed particle monolayer structure was independent of grafted molecular weight while SiO2-tBuMA showed an aggregated structure that was also independent of grafted moleculer weight. SiO2-PMMA showed intermediate tendencies: dispersed structure was observed with high grafted molecular weight and aggregated structure was observed with low grafted molecule weight. The morphology on glass substrate would be explaiened by hydrophilic interaction between grafted polymer and hydrophilic glass substrate.     

Vacuum effects on fatigue crack growth in submicrometre‐thick freestanding copper films

To clarify vacuum effects on fatigue crack growth in freestanding metallic thin films, experiments were conducted on approximately 500‐nm‐thick copper films inside a field emission scanning electron microscope. Fatigue crack growth accompanied by intrusion/extrusion formation occurred in vacuum, and da/dN was smaller than in air in the middle‐ΔK region (ΔK ≈ 1.7‐3.1 MPam^1/2). Conversely, in the low‐ΔK region (ΔK ? 1.7 MPam^1/2), da/dN was larger in vacuum than in air. Further, fatigue crack growth in vacuum occurred below the fatigue threshold in air (ΔK_th,air). A nonpropagating crack after reaching ΔK_th,air continued to propagate in vacuum when the environment changed from air to vacuum. This indicates that fatigue crack growth resistance is smaller in vacuum than in air under the same effective driving force. The fatigue damage area near the crack paths in vacuum in the low‐ΔK region became wider, suggesting that the nucleation of fatigue damage was enhanced in vacuum.     

Robust Digital Control of a Broadband PWM Power Amplifier

Lately, it is required that the bandwidth of PWM （pulse width modulation） power amplifier is extended. For example, it is in application of the testing power supply of a low frequency immunity examination, or a class-D amplifier. In this paper, the authors show that the bandwidth of PWM power amplifier can be controller. This controller is implemented on a DSP （digital can be made wider with this controller. extended by using an approximate 2DOF （2-degree-of-freedom） digital signal processor）. It is demonstrated from experiments that the bandwidth