Microstructure and mechanical property of laser melting deposition (LMD) Ti/TiAl structural gradient material

This article presents fabrication, microstructure and mechanical properties study of Ti/TiAl functional gradient material. Ti–47Al–2.5V–Cr/Ti–6Al–2Zr–Mo–V gradient material was successfully fabricated by the laser melting deposition (LMD) manufacturing process. Microstructure and chemical composition was characterized by OM, SEM, TEM and EPMA. The Vickers hardness and room-temperature tensile property was evaluated on longitudinal direction. Results showed that fully lamellar (FL) microstructure consisted of γ-TiAl and α₂-Ti₃Al was formed on the Ti–47Al–2.5V–Cr side, while coarse basket weave microstructure was formed on the Ti–6Al–2Zr–1Mo–1V side. No cracking was found in the gradient zone after aging at 800 °C for 48 h. The room-temperature tensile strength of the as-deposited specimen is up to approximately 1198.8 MPa in the longitudinal direction, while the tensile elongation is approximately 0.4%, indicating a typical brittle fracture.     

Analysis of the drude model in metallic films

A method, believed to be new, to simulate Drude parameters for collective oscillation of the free carriers in metallic films is proposed. Plasma resonance frequency and relaxation were simulated simultaneously from both the real and the imaginary parts of the dielectric function of a metallic film after consideration of their correlation in the Drude model. As examples, the contributions of the electrons in Ag films and of the free carriers in metallic silicide, NbSi(2) and TaSi(2), films have been studied.     

Torsion sensor based on two cascaded long period fiber gratings fabricated by CO2 laser pulse irradiation and HF etching technique respectively

A novel torsion sensor is proposed, which is composed of one long period fibre grating and one asymmetrically corrugated long period fibre grating based on the high-frequency CO₂ laser pulses technology and burning fibre coating and etching cladding technology, respectively. By combing the advantages of the two aforementioned elements, a sensitivity of 331.7 and 310.3 pm/(rad/m) towards clockwise and anticlockwise direction, respectively, is reached in the experiments.     

高强聚烯烃静态断裂过程银纹区的性能1.HDPE

为了观察分析高密度聚乙烯(HDPE)的银纹区性能,对两种HDPE全切痕试样分别进行了速率为0.1 mm/min,0.5 mm/min,1 mm/min,5 mm/min,20 mm/min和50 mm/min的拉伸测试。基于对静态断裂过程应力-位移数据的分析处理,结果表明,HDPE的屈服应力随着拉伸速率增大;高应力时两种HDPE均存在常临界位移控制其银纹断裂;HDPE2480银纹微纤的稳定性较大,材料韧性较好。HDPE静态拉伸断面显微结构显示,HDPE2480的银纹微纤尺寸大于HDPE4801,导致两者断面弧形巢尺寸和弧形巢内粗糙度的不同。     

Extension of the applicable range of the implicit curve-fitting method for refrigerant thermodynamic properties to critical pressure

The method of implicit curve-fitting and explicit-calculation has been used for fast and stable calculations of thermodynamic properties of subcritical refrigerants. In order to extend that method to the critical pressure, a method of sectional implicit curve-fitting and explicit-calculation for refrigerant thermodynamic properties is introduced in this paper. The whole data range is divided into several subsections. The requirements on the continuity of thermodynamic properties and the first order derivative of thermodynamic properties in the intersection points of subsections are indicated, and the methods to meet the requirements are presented. Quadric equations are constructed instead of curve-fitting when no data can be given. With the source data obtained from REFPROP 7.1, explicit fast calculation formulae for thermodynamic properties of R410A, covering the saturated temperature of 213.15–344.51 K and superheat of 0–65 K, are given as an example. The calculation speeds of the formulae of R410A are more than 7000 times faster than those of REFPROP 7.1 while the total mean relative deviation of the fast calculation formulae from REFPROP 7.1 is only 0.04%.     

Transparent, conductive graphene electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells

Transparent, conductive, and ultrathin graphene films, as an alternative to the ubiquitously employed metal oxides window electrodes for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells, are demonstrated. These graphene films are fabricated from exfoliated graphite oxide, followed by thermal reduction. The obtained films exhibit a high conductivity of 550 S/cm and a transparency of more than 70% over 1000-3000 nm. Furthermore, they show high chemical and thermal stabilities as well as an ultrasmooth surface with tunable wettability.     

Fast electrical lysis of cells for capillary electrophoresis

In the past decade, capillary electrophoresis has demonstrated increasing utility for the quantitative analysis of single cells. New applications for the analysis of dynamic cellular properties demand sampling methods with sufficient temporal resolution to accurately measure these processes. In particular, intracellular signaling pathways involving many enzymes can be modulated on subsecond time scales. We have developed a technique to rapidly lyse an adherent mammalian cell using a single electrical pulse followed by efficient loading of the cellular contents into a capillary. Microfabricated electrodes were designed to create a maximum voltage drop across the flattened cell's plasma membrane at a minimum interelectrode voltage. The influence of the interelectrode distance, pulse duration, and pulse strength on the rate of cell lysis was determined. The ability to rapidly lyse a cell and collect and separate the cellular contents was demonstrated by loading cells with Oregon Green and two isomers of carboxyfluorescein. All three fluorophores were detected with a separation efficiency comparable to that of standards. Parallel comparison of electrical lysis to that produced by a laser-based lysis system revealed that the sampling efficiencies of the two techniques were comparable. Rapid cell lysis by an electrical pulse may increase the application of capillary electrophoresis to the study of cellular dynamics requiring fast sampling times.     

Investigation of Eu-doped mesoporous titania phosphor with enhanced luminescence

A novel mesoporous TiO2 phosphor doped with Eu was synthesized through a facile hydrothermal synthesis method using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as structure template reagent. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption-desorption, scanning electron microscope, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, ultraviolet visible diffuse reflectance, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and three dimensional Photoluminescence. The X-ray diffraction results demonstrated that the products were anatase type with polycrystalline. N2 adsorption-desorption analysis showed that the samples were of high ordered double mesoporous structures. Eu-doped mesoporous TiO2 indicated the typical fluorescent spectra of Eu3+ ion occurred: the excited-states at 5L6 (394 nm), 5D2 (465 nm) and 5D1 (535 nm); the main emission peaks at 592 and 617 nm, corresponding with the transitions 5D0 --> 7F1 and 5D0 --> 7F2, respectively. Meanwhile, the phenomena of Eu(3+)-doped mesoporous TiO2 phosphor with efficient nonradiative energy transfer from the mesoporous TiO2 host to the activator Eu3+ ions was observed and possible emission mechanism was proposed. High dispersion of Eu in mesoporous TiO2 matrix was responsible for enhanced luminescence.     

Sphingolipids at Plasmodesmata: Structural Components and Functional Modulators

Plasmodesmata (PD) are plant-specific channels connecting adjacent cells to mediate intercellular communication of molecules essential for plant development and defense. The typical PD are organized by the close apposition of the plasma membrane (PM), the desmotubule derived from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), and spoke-like elements linking the two membranes. The plasmodesmal PM (PD-PM) is characterized by the formation of unique microdomains enriched with sphingolipids, sterols, and specific proteins, identified by lipidomics and proteomics. These components modulate PD to adapt to the dynamic changes of developmental processes and environmental stimuli. In this review, we focus on highlighting the functions of sphingolipid species in plasmodesmata, including membrane microdomain organization, architecture transformation, callose deposition and permeability control, and signaling regulation. We also briefly discuss the difference between sphingolipids and sterols, and we propose potential unresolved questions that are of help for further understanding the correspondence between plasmodesmal structure and function.