Far-infrared pump-probe measurement of the lifetime of the 2p−1 shallow donor level in n-GaAs

The low temperature lifetime of electrons excited in the 2p^?1 donor level of n-GaAs has been studied in a far-infrared pump-probe experiment. The measurement has been carried out using a pulsed far-infrared molecular gas laser working at a wavelength of 292µm, with the sample in a magnetic field of 5.1 T, resonant with the 1s_o?2p^?1 transition. Two FIR pulses are sliced from one FIR-laser pulse by means of optical switching techniques using two Q-switched Nd:YAG lasers. The first pulse is used to saturate the transition, while the second pulse probes the return of the population in the excited state towards thermal equilibrium as a function of the time delay after the excitation pulse. The value of 350±50 ns found for the lifetime falls in line with CW saturation results on materials with other doping concentrations.     

Damage and the nonlinear viscoelastic response of glassy polycarbonate and LaRC-TPI

In the bulk, the nonlinear viscoelastic response of glassy polymers is due to the irreversible work done on the body by the surroundings. The source of the irreversibility is plastic flow of material near distributed shear bands or microcracks in the polymer. Shear bands and microcracks also form new traction free boundaries in the body. The presence of these new boundaries diminish the load bearing capacity of the polymer. These changes in polymer lattice structure are a mechanism that promotes the release of stored strain energy. If the release of stored strain energy is stress controlled, then at sufficiently high levels of stress to cause a permanent structural arrangement of the polymer chains, polycarbonate and LaRC-TPI behave as nonlinear viscoelastic materials. If the current stress is less than the maximum stress the polymer has experienced, then the current energy release rate for the propagation of shear bands, crazes, etc., is less than the critical energy release rate. In this instance, damage production is a constant and the material can be modeled using linear viscoelasticity. It will be shown that the stress-induced nonlinear shift factors are a measure of the rate of damage production in glassy polycarbonate.     

Effects of forced power transfer on high speed generator-loadsystems

A computer-aided method for investigating disturbances due to the forced paralleling of out of phase high speed salient pole AC generator systems feeding isolated loads is presented. The method is used to predict the system performance including the reverse voltage across the rotating bridge rectifier of the field exciter. This paper presents the fundamentals and the modeling approach used in the development of this method. In addition, the results of using this approach to compute the machine parameters under different load conditions including saturation effects due to magnetic material nonlinearities and space harmonics effects due to machine geometry and winding layouts are presented. The computed parameters are validated by comparison to test data. These parameters form the main data for simulating the forced paralleling of out of phase high speed salient pole AC generator systems feeding isolated loads. Further, the results of using this modeling approach in a case study to predict the system performance due to forced power transfer are summarized and are shown to be in good agreement with test data     

A novel double-circuit-rotor balanced induction motor for improvedslip-energy recovery drive performance. I. Modeling and simulation

A new construction for the rotor windings of balanced wound-rotor induction motors employed in the slip energy recovery drives is proposed, in this paper, to reduce the time harmonics which are commonly generated in the machine. The proposed machine has a double-circuit in the rotor. One circuit is star connected while the other is delta connected. Each of these two circuits is connected to a diode-bridge rectifier to achieve a twelve-pulse operation characteristics. The main objective of this paper is to develop a new model which is capable of simulating the proposed machine, neglecting nonlinearities due to magnetic saturation, and its associated converters. Such a model is further complicated due to the presence of the two rotor circuits and their mutual interaction     

Mixed waste ferrite as a novel sorbent for carbon dioxide derived from flue gases

Ferrite is a potential sorbent for flue gases such as CO₂, H₂S and SO₂. This paper discusses the adsorption and decomposition of CO₂ into carbon by hydrogen-activated waste ferrites prepared from Berkeley Pit acid mine water (Butte, MT). The decomposition effectiveness of these waste ferrites was studied at 300 °C and compared with the synthetic magnetite obtained from ferrous sulfate solution in our laboratory. The decomposition was measured by two methods: indirectly by measuring the adsorption rate of CO₂ and directly by analysing the carbon deposited on the samples. The results indicated that the mixed waste ferrite had good affinity for the adsorption and decomposition. The CO₂ decomposition data of both sorbents fitted the first-order reaction kinetics. Even though the surface area of the magnetite was higher than that of waste ferrite, the CO₂ decomposition rate of the waste ferrite was estimated to be 2.5 times higher than that of magnetite under identical conditions. The carbon analysis deposited on the sample indicated that the CO₂ was 100% decomposed into carbon and other carbon/hydrogen compounds by the waste ferrite, whereas the conversion was 43% by the magnetite. In terms of specific adsorption of carbon, ferrite was three to five times more efficient than magnetite.     

Occupational stress, social support, and the costs of health care.

Relationships among health care costs, social support, and occupational stress are investigated. Health care cost data were collected over two years for 260 working individuals. Multiple regression analyses were used to control for initial health care costs, age, and gender in predicting later costs; independent variables were stress, strain, social support, and their interactions. Main effects and interactions each accounted for significant proportions of the variance in various health care costs.     

On basic definitions of unified fracture mechanics terminology

The adoption of unified fracture mechanics terminology (UFMT) will promote efficient communication between specialists in different fields of fracture research, harmonization of national and international standards relating to fracture mechanics, and last but not least improvement of the existing methodology for teaching and education in fatigue and fracture. In this paper the definitions of some basic and related terms included in different standards on fracture mechanics terminology are confronted with one another. Alternative definitions of the same terms are offered. By this strategy the author tries to show that the definitions of basic and related terms appropriate for the UFMT should emerge as a consequence of harmonizing a crack model with an actual crack and then both taken together with a fracture model, laboratory test methods, and failure assessment codes.Published in Problemy Prochonsti, No. 1, pp. 17–29, January, 1996.This paper is published as a matter of discussion.     

The effect of particle distribution on damage formation in particulate reinforced metal matrix composites deformed in compression

Image analysis results are reported on the generation of damage in particulate reinforced metal matrix composites during compressive deformation. The technique allows the automated collection of data on the incidence of particle fracture and void formation in the matrix as a function of important microstructural parameters such as local particle volume fraction and particle size. There is a strong relationship between damage and the local volume fraction of the reinforcement proving that damage formation is accentuated in regions of particle clustering. With the SiC reinforced materials examined, there was observed to be a change in dominance of damage mechanism from particle fracture at low local volume fractions to void formation in the matrix within strongly clustered regions. The results are compared with finite element (FE) modelling of the compressive deformation of clustered particles using a simple cluster of equi-spaced particles. The FE results suggest that plastic flow is generally inhibited in clustered regions. In certain highly clustered configurations shielding is such that flow does not occur in the heart of the cluster even at high levels of average plastic strain. The modelling suggests that the change in dominance of damage mechanism is related to the dramatic increase in tensile hydrostatic stresses in the matrix with higher levels of particle clustering.     

Film cracking and debonding in a coated fiber

A fracture mechanics based methodology for the determination of interface fracture toughness from crack spacing in a thin coated fiber is presented. The coating (film) may be regarded as the matrix material in typical experiments employing this configuration. Matrix crack spacing is considered to be the result of a competitive process between matrix segmentation and interface debonding which are assumed to be governed by critical energy release rate criteria. Matrix cracks are assumed to form by the process of channeling in the circumferential direction and steady state conditions are assumed at the matrix crack front in the channeling direction. Energy release rates are determined using domain integral procedures in conjunction with the finite element method. The minimum crack spacing is obtained as a function of applied stress for different values of interface fracture toughness. A methodology to relate the saturated crack spacing to interface fracture toughness is developed. Interfaces are classified into three categories: weak, intermediate and strong. It is shown that in experiments of this type, quantitative information about the interface fracture toughness can be obtained for intermediate interfaces while qualitative information may be obtained for weak and strong interfaces.