Broad range observation of particle deposition on greased and non-greased impaction surfaces using a line-sensing optical microscope

A computer-automated optical microscope combined with a line-sensing camera was used to capture the entire range of a particle deposit downstream of an individual acceleration nozzle in a hi-volume Andersen sampler. To investigate the particle bounce and reentrainment, particles collected on collocated greased and non-greased Teflon plates on the inlet stage (d_a>7 μm) were observed by an automated particle counting, locating and sizing method. The result confirmed reproducible collection characteristics among nozzles even though application of the grease increased collection efficiency and altered the size distribution of collected particles to the larger side. In these experiments, assuming spherical particles with uniform density, approximately 65% of particle mass and 50% by number were lost from non-greased plates at 54% RH, while 45% by mass and 25% by number were underestimated at 84% RH. The spatial investigation showed that particles were densely deposited around the center of deposition on greased plates while on non-greased plates they were dispersedly distributed. Particle dispersions on the smooth impaction plate were due to bounce and/or reentrainment of small particles especially with d_PA<10 μm.     

Friction drive of an SAW motor. Part II: analyses

The mechanics of the friction drive of a surface acoustic wave motor were investigated by means of contact mechanics theory. As a means to control the contact condition, the motor's slider had projections on its frictional surface. Assuming the projection was a rigid circular punch and the slider body was an elastic half-space allowed application of contact mechanics formulae to the analyses of the friction drive. Because the projection contacted the Rayleigh wave vibration, the projection's responses were considered dynamic; thus, the dynamics were also analyzed in the same framework of contact mechanics formulae. Moreover, the analyses were applied to measurements of the projection's displacement to examine the detailed mechanics during the friction drive. We calculated the contact/frictional forces based on the measurement and indicated the necessity of further investigation of the surface acoustic wave motor's friction drive, because the usual friction law was unable to explain the measurement.     

Dose-dependent effects of Ni (II) ions on production of three inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and free radical NO by murine macrophage-like RAW264 cells with or without LPS-stimulation

The effect of Ni (II) ions on macrophages is not well understood. The purpose of this study was to examine the dose-dependent effects of Ni (II) ions up to 1,000 μmol/L on production of three inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and nitric oxide (NO) by murine macrophage-like RAW264 cells with (+) or without (−) lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -stimulation. Ni (II) ions caused LPS (−) RAW264 cells to slightly increase production of TNF-α and IL-6, proportionally to the Ni (II) ion concentration while IL-1β was not produced, and to slightly increase production of SOD and NO. It can be concluded that Ni (II) ions dose-dependently increased the inflammatory and oxidative stress conditions of LPS (−) RAW264 cells. LPS-stimulation caused RAW264 cells to produce in abundance the three inflammatory cytokines, SOD and NO. Ni (II) ions dose-dependently reduced the three cytokine quantities and NO amounts in LPS (+) RAW264 cells, while dose-independently increasing SOD amounts. It was noted that Ni (II) ions dose-dependently reduce the resistance power against bacteria of LPS (+) macrophages, because the production of volatile NO—bacteria killer is diminished proportionally to the Ni (II) ion concentration.     

Standardization of strength evaluation methods using critical distance stress

The stress and displacement fields near the bonding edge, sharp notch, and contact edge show singularity behaviors, so methods of evaluating the strength of these points using maximum stresses calculated by a numerical stress analysis, such as the finite element method, are generally not valid. We have previously presented a new method of evaluating the strength of these singular points using two stress singularity parameters H and λ. The difficulty with this method was in obtaining the critical value of the intensity of the stress singularity parameter H_c for each order of stress singularity λ. Then we have developed a method of formularizing critical value of stress singularity parameter H_c for each order of stress singularity λ by utilizing critical distance stress theory. Firstly we apply this method to the delamination strength evaluation. The estimated delamination criteria H_c(λ) agrees well with the experimental results. Then we apply this method to general sharp notch corner and contact edge fatigue problems. In these cases the fatigue-crack initiation criteria can be derived from two typical strength parameters, namely, fatigue limit σ_w0 and threshold stress intensity factor range ΔK_th. These estimated critical H_th(λ) value agrees well with the experimentally measured value. Using this simple critical distance stress approach we estimated the fretting fatigue-crack initiation criteria for any contact edge angle and optimized the contact edge geometry. Moreover, we can apply this new strength criterion to stress singularity fields for general stress-concentration structures.     

Degradation behavior of polymer blend of isotactic polypropylenes with and without unsaturated chain end group

In this work, the relationship between the unsaturated chain end group content and the thermal oxidative degradation rate was systematically studied with binary polymer blends of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) with and without the unsaturated chain end group. The iPPs with and without the unsaturated chain end group were synthesized by a metallocene catalyst in the absence of hydrogen and by a Ziegler catalyst in the presence of one, respectively. The thermal oxidative degradation rate of the binary iPP blends was estimated from the molecular weight and the apparent activation energy (ΔE), which were obtained through size exclusion chromatography (SEC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) measurements, respectively. These values exhibited a negative correlation against the mole content of the unsaturated chain end group. The thermal oxidative degradation rate apparently depends on the content of the unsaturated chain end group. This tendency suggests that the unsaturated chain end acts as a radical initiator of the iPP degradation reaction.     

Effects of various poisoning compounds on the activity and stereospecificity of heterogeneous Ziegler–Natta catalyst

A TiCl₄/ethylbenzoate/MgCl₂ Ziegler–Natta catalyst was pretreated with chemically different poisoning compounds to investigate their effects on the catalyst activity and stereospecificity for propylene polymerization. The poisoning power on the activity was in the order of methanol > acetone > ethyl acetate. A kinetic analysis using the stopped-flow method revealed that addition of the poisoning materials decreased the activity through the reduction of the number of active sites, whereas the catalyst isospecificity was hardly affected by these materials.     

Control of surface migration of gold particles on Si nanowires

On the surface of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) synthesized by gold (Au)-catalyzed chemical vapor deposition (CVD), Au particles 5-20 nm in diameter are formed if the growth conditions are within a specific range. We studied the mechanism of Au particle formation by growing SiNWs under different conditions, specifically by dynamically changing the growth parameters during the growth process. We show that insufficient supply of Si source to the Au-Si eutectic on top of the SiNWs enhances the migration of Au atoms on the surface of SiNWs in the form of Au-Si eutectic, which is precipitated on the surface as Au particles during cooling. We also show that using Au-Si eutectic on the surface of SiNWs as a catalyst enables one-step growth of branched SiNWs.     

Distribution of active impurities in single silicon nanowires

The distribution of electrically active B concentration in single SiNWs (nanowires) grown by a vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) process was studied by analyzing Fano resonance in Raman spectra. We found a gradient of active B concentration along the growth direction; the B concentration was the largest at the substrate side and the smallest at the catalyst side. The observed concentration gradient suggests the conformal growth of a high B concentration layer during a VLS process. To confirm this effect, we grew SiNWs with controlled impurity profiles, that is, p-type/intrinsic ( p-i) and intrinsic/ p-type ( i-p) SiNWs, by controlling the supply of B source during SiNWs growth. We found that p-i SiNWs can be grown by just stopping the supply of B source in the middle of the growth, while i-p SiNWs were not realized; that is, the whole region of nominal " i-p" SiNWs was B-doped even if we started the supply of B source in the middle of the growth. These results confirm the above doping model. We also found that the distribution of active B concentration was significantly modified by high temperature annealing. By annealing at 1100 degrees C for 1 min, B concentration became almost uniform along 10 mum long SiNWs irrespective of initial B profiles. This suggests very efficient diffusion of B atoms in a defective high B concentration surface layer of SiNWs.     

Design Estimation of the Hybrid Power Source Railway Vehicle based on the Multiobjective Optimization by the Dynamic Programming

The power source of hybrid railway vehicles consists of both generation and energy storage devices. The hybrid vehicles have a high degree of freedom in the system design because they have different power sources. Therefore, it is difficult to establish generalized design methods of the power system. Various patterns of device capacities of generation and energy storage equipments are available for the hybrid vehicle. And various types of power control strategies are also selectable. With this background, this paper proposes a globally searched design estimation method for hybrid vehicles, which is based on multiobjective optimization by dynamic programming. The proposed method enables us to globally clarify the optimal candidates in accordance with various railway lines from a wide search domain. This results in various design concepts of the hybrid vehicles. Then, this paper confirms that the proposed method provides effective design guidelines for the conceptual design of the hybrid vehicles. Therefore the proposed method is useful for the design problem of hybrid vehicles that have a higher degree of freedom compared to electric railway vehicles. Copyright © 2007 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Status of “TITAN” Task 1–3 “Flow Control and Thermofluid Modeling”

We review current accomplishments and ongoing work in Task 1–3 “Flow Control and Thermofluid Modeling” of the US-JAPAN “TITAN” Program. This encompasses construction of a new MHD lead–lithium loop at UCLA and planning, preparation and pre-experimental analysis for first experiments, including tests of high-temperature ultrasound Doppler velocimeter and studies of the behavior and electroinsulating properties of the foam-based silicon carbide flow channel insert in the flowing liquid metal in a magnetic field. First results of magnetohydrodynamic experiments on flow transitions from 3D to 2D are also presented and discussed.