Advanced Alumina Composites Reinforced with Titanium-Based Alloys

New (inter)metallic-ceramic composites for high-temperature structural and functional applications are prepared via high-energy ball milling. During compaction by pressureless sintering, dense Al₂O₃/Ti-based alloy composites are formed that consist of inter-connected networks of the ceramic and the (inter)metallic phases. Ti-Al-V/Al₂O₃ and Ti-Al-Nb/Al₂O₃ composites show enhanced damage tolerance over monolithic Al₂O₃, i.e ., fracture toughnesses up to 5.6 MPa·m^0.5 and bending strengths up to 527 MPa. The resistance against abrasive wear is almost doubled with respect to monolithic Al₂O₃ ceramic. Electrical resistivity scales with the ceramic volume fraction and ranges between 0.3 mΩ·cm and 55.1 mΩ·cm, with only a weak temperature dependence ≤700°C.     

Raman investigation of single oxidized carbon nanotubes

The oxidation process of single-walled carbon nanotubes via nitric acid treatment was followed by IR-, UV-Vis-NIR, and single bundle Raman spectroscopy. The introduction of functional, oxygen-containing groups is revealed by an additional absorption band at 1725 cm⁻¹, characteristic of carbonyl stretch vibrations. No significant shift of the optical absorption bands could be detected after oxidation. The combination of atomic force microscopy and confocal scanning resonance-enhanced Raman microscopy was used to investigate thin bundles and, eventually, individual nanotubes in detail. These experiments enabled determination of the dependence of the Raman intensity of the G-line (around 1590 cm⁻¹) on the bundle height for both non-oxidized and oxidized tubes. The Raman cross-section of the oxidized tubes was found to be reduced by a factor of ˜4, compared to the pristine tubes. This observation is ascribed to all tubes within a bundle that are oxidized to the same degree.     

An Improved Method for Solution of the Linear Diffusion Equation

Abstract

The diffusion equation is often solved numerically, using finite-difference techniques. The linear one-dimensional diffusion equation may also be solved by the method of variation of parameters, which yields a solution in the form of an infinite series of products of eigenfunctions and time-varying coefficients. The series form of solution has advantages over finite-difference techniques, but the rate of convergence is often not sufficient to yield useful results. This paper presents an alternative form of the series solution for one-dimensional, Cartesian, homogeneous, and temperature-independent property conditions. The methodology, which exhibits excellent convergence, is applicable to several related problems.     

Thermodynamic Measurements in a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas

Strongly interacting Fermi gases provide a clean and controllable laboratory system for modeling strong interparticle interactions between fermions in nature, from high temperature superconductors to neutron matter and quark-gluon plasmas. Model-independent thermodynamic measurements, which do not require theoretical models for calibrations, are very important for exploring this important system experimentally, as they enable direct tests of predictions based on the best current non-perturbative many-body theories. At Duke University, we use all-optical methods to produce a strongly interacting Fermi gas of spin-1/2-up and spin-1/2-down ⁶Li atoms that is magnetically tuned near a collisional (Feshbach) resonance. We conduct a series of measurements on the thermodynamic properties of this unique quantum gas, including the energy E, entropy S, and sound velocity  c. Our model-independent measurements of E and S enable a precision study of the finite temperature thermodynamics. The E(S) data are directly compared to several recent predictions. The temperature in both the superfluid and normal fluid regime is obtained from the fundamental thermodynamic relation T=? E/? S by parameterizing the E(S) data using two different power laws that are joined with continuous E and T at a certain entropy S _c, where the fit is optimized. We observe a significant change in the scaling of E with S above and below S _c. Taking the fitted value of S _c as an estimate of the critical entropy for a superfluid-normal fluid phase transition in the strongly interacting Fermi gas, we estimate the critical parameters. Our E(S) data are also used to experimentally calibrate the endpoint temperatures obtained for adiabatic sweeps of the magnetic field between the ideal and strongly interacting regimes. This enables the first experimental calibration of the temperature scale used in experiments on fermionic pair condensation, where the ideal Fermi gas temperature is measured before sweeping the magnetic field to the strongly interacting regime. Our calibration shows that the ideal gas temperature measured for the onset of pair condensation corresponds closely to the critical temperature T _c estimated in the strongly interacting regime from the fits to our E(S) data. We also calibrate the empirical temperature employed in studies of the heat capacity and obtain nearly the same T _c. We determine the ground state energy by three different methods, using sound velocity measurements, by extrapolating E(S) to S=0 and by measuring the ratio of the cloud sizes in the strongly and weakly interacting regimes. The results are in very good agreement with recent predictions. Finally, using universal thermodynamic relations, we estimate the chemical potential and heat capacity of the trapped gas from the E(S) data.     

Friction Properties of Fluorinated Carbon Nanodiscs and Nanocones

The tribologic properties of carbon nanodiscs and nanocones and their fluorinated derivatives are investigated and correlated to their structure and chemical composition (atomic fluorine/carbon ratio). Two families of products are studied obtained by fluorination of ill ordered and highly graphitized carbon nanodiscs and nanocones. The studies clearly point out that friction properties of the nanoparticles are strongly dependent on the structure of the initial carbonaceous compounds. Better tribologic behaviour is obtained when the initial nanoparticles structure is highly ordered (graphitized particles). In that case, an optimum of fluorination rate is put in evidence.     

The world is not flat: Can people reorient using slope?

Studies of spatial representation generally focus on flat environments and visual input. However, the world is not flat, and slopes are part of most natural environments. In a series of 4 experiments, we examined whether humans can use a slope as a source of allocentric, directional information for reorientation. A target was hidden in a corner of a square, featureless enclosure tilted at a 5° angle. Finding it required using the vestibular, kinesthetic, and visual cues associated with the slope gradient. In Experiment 1, the overall sample performed above chance, showing that slope is sufficient for reorientation in a real environment. However, a sex difference emerged; men outperformed women by 1.4 SDs because they were more likely to use a slope-based strategy. In Experiment 2, attention was drawn to the slope, and participants were prompted to rely on it to solve the task; however, men still outperformed women, indicating a greater ability to use slope. In Experiment 3, we excluded the possibility that women's disadvantage was due to wearing heeled footwear. In Experiment 4, women required more time than men to identify the uphill direction of the slope gradient; this suggests that, in a bottom-up fashion, a perceptual or attentional difficulty underlies women's disadvantage in the ability to use slope and their decreased reliance on this cue. Overall, a bi-coordinate representation was used to find the goal: The target was encoded primarily with respect to the vertical axis and secondarily with respect to the orthogonal axis of the slope. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multicomponent gas diffusion in nonuniform tubes

In many technical processes gas, multicomponent diffusion takes place in confinements that are rarely uniform in direction of their long axis (e.g., catalysts pores). Here, we show that in conical tubes multicomponent diffusion is hindered. This effect increases with ratio of inlet to outlet cone radius Λ, indifferent of the orientation of the tube. Based on the Maxwell–Stefan equations, predictive analytical solution for ideal multicomponent diffusion in slightly tapered ducts is developed. In two‐bulb diffusion experiments on a uniform tube, the results of Duncan and Toor (1962) were reproduced. Comparison of model and experiment shows that the solution presented here provides a reliable quantitative prediction of the temporal change of H₂, N₂, and CO₂‐concentration for both tube geometries, uniform and slightly conical. In the demonstrated case (Λ = 3.16), mass diffusion is 68% delayed. Thus, for gaseous diffusion in “real,” typically tapered pores the transport limitation is more serious than considered so far. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 1404–1412, 2015     

NMR imaging of low pressure,gas‐phase transport in packed beds using hyperpolarized xenon‐129

Gas‐phase magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used to investigate heterogeneity in mass transport in a packed bed of commercial, alumina, catalyst supports. Hyperpolarized ¹²⁹Xe MRI enables study of transient diffusion for microscopic porous systems using xenon chemical shift to selectively image gas within the pores, and, thence, permits study of low‐density, gas‐phase mass‐transport, such that diffusion can be studied in the Knudsen regime, and not just the molecular regime, which is the limitation with other current techniques. Knudsen‐regime diffusion is common in many industrial, catalytic processes. Significantly, larger spatial variability in mass transport rates across the packed bed was found compared to techniques using only molecular diffusion. It has thus been found that that these heterogeneities arise over length‐scales much larger than ～100 µm. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 4013–4019, 2015