Surface structure of silver thin films on In2O3:Sn and Al2O 3 †

Surface structure of thin silver films (200 Å) on two technologically important films, indium tin oxide (ITO) and aluminium oxide, has been studied using scanning tunneling microscope. ITO films were prepared by reactive electron beam evaporation. Aluminium oxide films were prepared by oxidizing 2000 Å thick aluminium films evaporated on to H₂ terminated single crystal silicon substrates. The surface structure of silver on ITO and aluminium oxide appeared to be same and was characteristic of Stranski-Krastanov type. The observed asymmetry in the island shape was attributed to the anisotropic nature of the strain fields surrounding the nucleation centres.     

Kinetics and mechanism of oligomerization of cardanol using acid catalysts

The kinetics and mechanism of oligomerization of cardanol over acid catalysts were studied. GPC results showed the formation of a mixture of oligomers such as dimer, trimer, tetramer, etc. IR spectra of the products of oligomerization showed a decrease in the intensity of the double bond absorption band at 1630 cm^?1 and the disappearance of terminal vinyl bands at 895 cm^?1 and 907 cm^?1. ¹H NMR spectra showed drastic changes in the unsaturated proton resonance signals at 5.5δ with respect to saturated protons at 0.2–2.5δ. The ratio of resonance integrals of unsaturated to saturated protons decreased from 1 : 6.5 to 1 : 20 after oligomerization. GPC studies showed that the rate of formation of the dimer, trimer, tetramer, etc. follow an identical path and that the individual oligomers are formed in the same weight percentage at any time during the reaction. A kinetic scheme is proposed to explain this phenomenon. Kinetic studies showed that the oligomerization reaction follows first order kinetics with respect to the monomer concentration and the rate constant is K = 6.6 × 10^?5s^?1. A probable mechanism for the oligomerization of cardanol is proposed.     

A finite range failure model

In the present article the characterstics of a finite range failure time distribution, that includes the rectangular distribution as a particular case, are studied. When shape parameter surpass unity then the distribution is IFR otherwise it always remains IFRA. A graphic shape of the distribution is also formed for certain admissible values of the constants.     

Experience with Applying Formal Methods to Protocol Specification and System Architecture

In the last three years or so we at Enterprise Platforms Group at Intel Corporation have been applying formal methods to various problems that arose during the process of defining platform architectures for Intel's processor families. In this paper we give an overview of some of the problems we have worked on, the results we have obtained, and the lessons we have learned. The last topic is addressed mainly from the perspective of platform architects.     

Thermal stability in bulk cryomilled ultrafine-grained 5083 Al alloy

Thermal stability in bulk ultrafine-grained (UFG) 5083 Al that was processed by gas atomization followed by cryomilling, consolidation, and extrusion, and that exhibited an average grain size of 305 nm, was investigated in the temperature range of 473 to 673 K (0.55 to 0.79 T _m , where T _m is the melting temperature of the material) for different annealing times. Appreciable grain growth was observed at temperatures > 573 K, whereas there was limited grain growth at temperatures < 573 K even after long annealing times. The values of the grain growth exponent, n, deduced from the grain growth data were higher than the value of 2 predicted from elementary grain growth theories. The discrepancy was attributed to the operation of strong pinning forces on boundaries during the annealing treatment. An examination of the microstructure of the alloy suggests that the origin of the pinning forces is most likely related to the presence of dispersion particles, which are mostly introduced during cryomilling. Two-grain growth regimes were identified: the low-temperature region (<573 K) and the high-temperature region (>573 K). For temperatures lower than 573 K, the activation energy of 25 ± 5 kJ/mol was determined. It is suggested that this low activation energy represents the energy for the reordering of grain boundaries in the UFG material. For temperatures higher than 573 K, an activation energy of 124 ± 5 kJ/mol was measured. This value of activation energy, 124 ± 5 kJ/mol, lies between that for grain boundary diffusion and lattice diffusion in analogous aluminum polycrystalline systems. The results show that the strength and ductility of bulk UFG 5083 Al, as obtained from tensile tests, correlate well with substructural changes introduced in the alloy by the annealing treatment.     

On the improvement of detection characteristics of trans-stilbene crystals by improving crystal perfection

Organic molecular scintillating crystals are noted for their good timing and particle discrimination process. Trans-stilbene is one such candidate noted for its good particle detection characteristics for the past five decades. Progressive strengthening of detection characteristics of trans-stilbene has been attempted by improving crystal perfection. A series of timing resolution studies have been carried out for the Bridgman grown trans-stilbene crystals under different experimental conditions. The results were compared with the previously reported values. Pulse shape discrimination process has been carried out for ²⁴¹Am and ²⁵²Cf sources and good discrimination has been obtained for gamma-alpha and gamma-neutron sources from the grown organic phosphor crystal. Electronic Publication