Tensile creep behavior of 3-D woven Si-Ti-C-O fiber/SiC-based matrix composite with glass sealant

The present work investigates the tensile creep behavior (deformation and rupture) at 1100–1300°C in air of a 3-D woven Si-Ti-C-O (Tyranno) fiber/SiC-based matrix composite with and without glass sealant. The composite contained Si-Ti-C-O fibers with an additional surface modification in order to improve interface properties. Although a significant decrease in tensile strength was observed in the unsealed composite beyond 1000°C in air (and attributed to oxidation of the fiber/matrix interface), the composite with glass sealant possessed excellent mechanical properties for short-term (<1 hr.) exposure in air. In this study, tensile creep testing was conducted at 1100–1300°C in air and the effect of glass sealant on medium- and long-term strength was investigated. In addition, chemical stability of the glass sealant was evaluated by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS). The creep rupture behavior of the composite with glass sealant under long-term exposure is suggested to depend on several factors including decomposition, evaporation, and crystallization of the glass sealant material, in addition to the applied stress.     

Switching Phenomena between Laminar and Turbulent Flows of Superfluid 4He Generated by a Vibrating Wire

We have investigated the turbulence transition of the superfluid ⁴He flow generated by a vibrating wire. For a 1.2-kHz vibrating wire, we observed intermittent switchings between laminar and turbulent flows. The switching rate decreases with increasing temperature above 100 mK, until no occurrence of the switchings at 350 mK. For a 2.4-kHz vibrating wire, we find that the switching rate is much lower than that of the 1.2-kHz vibrating wire even at low temperatures. This result indicates that a mechanism causing the switchings is influenced by the temperature and the oscillation frequency of the superfluid flow.     

The effects of a convex rear-view mirror on ocular accommodative responses

Convex mirrors are universally used as rear-view mirrors in automobiles. However, the ocular accommodative responses during the use of these mirrors have not yet been examined. This study investigated the effects of a convex mirror on the ocular accommodative systems. Seven young adults with normal visual functions were ordered to binocularly watch an object in a convex or plane mirror. The accommodative responses were measured with an infrared optometer. The average of the accommodation of all subjects while viewing the object in the convex mirror were significantly nearer than in the plane mirror, although all subjects perceived the position of the object in the convex mirror as being farther away. Moreover, the fluctuations of accommodation were significantly larger for the convex mirror. The convex mirror caused the 'false recognition of distance', which induced the large accommodative fluctuations and blurred vision. Manufactures should consider the ocular accommodative responses as a new indicator for increasing automotive safety.     

Nonlinear effects on spin waves in3He-4He dilute solutions

Spin dynamics of³He-⁴He dilute solution have been studied in the collisionless regime by NMR methods. In cw NMR experiments, we observed spin waves in a magnetic field gradient. The frequency difference between the first mode and the others obeyed a two-thirds power law in the strength of the field gradient. By using a pulsed NMR method, nonlinear spin dynamics were studied. We observed the large amplitude spin waves after an rf pulse. The frequency of each spin-wave mode depended on the tipping angle. By using the parameter determined in the present experiment, the numerical calculated results based on Leggett-Rice theory are in good agreement with the results of the pulsed NMR experiments.     

Implicit integration and consistent tangent modulus of a time‐dependent non‐unified constitutive model

This paper describes the implicit integration and consistent tangent modulus of an inelastic constitutive model with transient and steady strain rates, both of which are time‐ and temperature‐dependent; the transient rate is influenced by the evolution of back stress decomposed into parts, while the steady rate depends only on applied stress and temperature. Such a non‐unified model is useful for high‐temperature structural analysis and is practical owing to the ease in determining material constants. The implicit integration is shown to result in two scalar‐valued coupled equations, and the consistent tangent modulus is derived in a quite versatile form by introducing a set of fourth‐rank constitutive parameters into the discretized evolution rule of back stress. The constitutive model is, then, implemented in a finite element program and applied to a lead‐free solder joint analysis. It is demonstrated that the implicit integration is very accurate if the multilinear kinematic hardening model of Ohno and Wang is employed, and that the consistent tangent modulus certainly affords quadratic convergence to the Newton–Raphson iteration in solving nodal force equilibrium equations. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dynamic compensation by fusing a high-speed actuator and high-speed visual feedback with its application to fast peg-and-hole alignment

This paper presents a dynamic compensation concept to grapple with the dynamic defects of a traditional robot arm, especially while performing high-speed endpoint regulations. The proposed high-speed dynamic compensation concept offers a new point of view for cooperating with a traditional manipulator to realize highly dexterous performance of manipulations. The concept is realized through adoption of a high-speed light-weight actuator as well as endpoint closed loop configured high-speed cameras. The dynamic compensation is analyzed experimentally with 1000 Hz visual feedback and a high-speed finger for a robot arm in the case of one degree of freedom. The advantage of the proposed approach is that the modeling for the robot system’s dynamics is not needed, whereas it is necessary and trivial in order to realize high-speed regulations by traditional approaches. Thus, the control issue becomes easier with the proposed approach. As an application for this concept, fast peg-and-hole alignment with large position and attitude uncertainty is studied. The alignment algorithm is based on a visual compliance strategy. Alignment experiments show that with the proposed concept of dynamic compensation as well as visual compliant motion control, robust and fast convergence was realized for most cases.     

Abnormal metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids and phospholipids in diabetic glomeruli

Studies were done on changes in phospholipid content and fatty acid composition of phospholipids and on the role of the acylation pathway in synthesis of phospholipids in the development of abnormal fatty acid composition in the glomeruli of rats 2 and 10 mo after induction of diabetes with streptozotocin. The proportions of individual phospholipids in the glomeruli of rats were not changed 2 mo after induction of diabetes, but the proportion of phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) decreased and that of sphingomyelin increased 10 mo after induction of diabetes. In contrast, in liver the proportion of PE was increased and that of phosphatidylcholine was decreased. These results showed that changes of individual phospholipids in glomeruli were time-dependent and tissue-specific. Two mo after induction of diabetes, the main change in the phospholipid fatty acid composition of diabetic glomeruli was a decrease in arachidonic acid (AA); the main change in serum free fatty acids (FFA) was an increase in linoleic acid (LA) and a decrease in AA. Ten mo after induction of diabetes, the main changes in the phospholipid fatty acid composition of glomeruli were an increase in LA and a decrease in AA; the main change of the serum FFA composition was a decrease in AA. Thus, the fatty acid composition of glomerular phospholipids was not directly correlated to that of the serum in diabetic rats. Acyl-CoA synthetase and acyltransferase activities increased in diabetic glomeruli with either AA or LA as substrate, but activity toward LA increased more at 2 mo after induction of diabetes. Acyl-CoA synthetase activity increased in diabetic glomeruli with LA as substrate, but that did not change with AA as substrate at 10 mo after induction of diabetes. Furthermore, acyltransferase activity decreased in diabetic glomeruli with AA as substrate, although that did not change with LA as substrate at 10 mo after induction of diabetes.