Thermophysical properties of americium-containing barium plutonate

Polycrystalline specimens of americium-containing barium plutonate have been prepared by mixing the appropriate amounts of (Pu_0.91Am_0.09)O₂ and BaCO₃ powders followed by reacting and sintering at 1600 K under the flowing gas atmosphere of dry-air. The sintered specimens had a single phase of orthorhombic perovskite structure and were crack-free. Elastic moduli were determined from longitudinal and shear sound velocities. Debye temperature was also determined from sound velocities and lattice parameter measurements. Thermal conductivity was calculated from measured density at room temperature, literature values of heat capacity and thermal diffusivity measured by laser flash method in vacuum. Thermal conductivity of americium-containing barium plutonate was roughly independent of temperature and registered almost the same magnitude as that of BaPuO₃ and BaUO₃.     

Use of structure-controlled polymers as high performance powder dispersants in the silicone oil phase

A novel polymer dispersant with a tri-block structure was designed. The tri-block polymer was composed of polyglycerin (PGL) with two dimethylpolysiloxane chains (DMPS) at both ends of the molecular structure. The high dispersibility of the dispersant was confirmed in both a model silica system and a sunscreen formulation. The apparent silica particle size was employed as an index for the dispensability for the dispersants. The novel dispersant showed 5 times more effective than conventional one. The flow properties of a sunscreen formulation containing titanium dioxide with the novel dispersant was Newtonian, indicating that the dispersibility of the dispersant was excellent. On the other hand, the formulation with conventional dispersant showed shear-thinning flow due to aggregation of the powder. These results mean that such a tri-block copolymer would make it possible to develop consumer demanded sunscreens.     

Fluorescent SiC and its application to white light-emitting diodes

Fluorescent-SiC (f-SiC), which contains donor and acceptor impurities with optimum concentrations, has high conversion efficiency from NUV to visible light caused by donor-acceptor-pair (DAP) recombination. This material can be used as a substrate for a near UV light-emitting diode (LED) stack, and leads to monolithic white LED device with suitable spectral property for general lighting applications. In this paper, we describe basic technologies of the white LED, such as optical properties of f-SiC substrate, and epitaxial growth of NUV stack on the f-SiC substrate.     

Heat and mass transfer coefficients of falling-film absorption process

This paper deals with the method to calculate heat and mass transfer coefficients of falling film absorption process over vertical tube or plate type surface employed in absorption refrigeration system. The conventional log mean temperature/concentration difference method is criticized for lack of physical rationality, and for incorrect results from the calculation. A new method based on a simplified model is proposed and demonstrated by numerical simulations and comparison analysis.     

UV laser diode with 350.9-nm-lasing wavelength grown by hetero-epitaxial-lateral overgrowth technology

We have demonstrated a UV-laser diode with a lasing wavelength of 350.9 nm, which has a GaN-AlGaN multiquantum-well (MQW) active layer and was grown on low-dislocation-density Al/sub 0.18/Ga/sub 0.82/N template. The Al/sub 0.18/Ga/sub 0.82/N template was produced by the hetero-epitaxial lateral overgrowth technology on the low-cost sapphire substrate, and has partially low-dislocation density of approximately 2/spl times/10/sup 7/ cm/sup -2/. The lasing operation under pulsed current injection was achieved with the threshold current density of 7.3 kA/cm/sup 2/ and the operating voltage of 10.4 V.