A new large radius imaging plate camera for high-resolution and high-throughput synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction by multiexposure method

A new large radius imaging plate diffraction camera for high-resolution and high-throughput synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction by means of multiple exposures has been developed for an insertion device beamline of SPring-8, Japan. The new imaging plate camera consists of a large radius cylindrical shape imaging plate cassette that is 400 mm in length and 954.9 mm in cylinder radius. The cassette is designed to be mounted on the 2 theta arm of the diffractometer of BL15XU in SPring-8. One imaging plate covers 24 degrees and several times of exposure changing the 2 theta-setting angle is necessary to obtain whole powder diffraction data up to a high angle region. One pixel of the imaging plate corresponds to 0.003 degrees in 2 theta when the readout pixel size is 50 microm squares. Separately collected data are translated to 2 theta-intensity format and are connected by comparing the peak and background intensity included in the overlapped area. The exposure time is less than 120 s for most samples and the readout time is about 3 min; thus, the total measurement time for one powder diffraction pattern is less than 20 min. The measurement time is the same order as the continuous 2 theta-scanning method of the third generation synchrotron powder diffractometer. The angular resolution of the new imaging plate camera was evaluated by comparing the full width at half maximum of the 111 reflection of NBS-Si. The observed angular resolution is not so high as a powder diffractometer with a Si or a Ge analyzer monochromator in the third generation synchrotron facility but higher than a powder diffractometer with a Ge analyzer monochromator at a bending magnet beamline of the second generation synchrotron. The Rietveld analysis of NBS-CeO2 was successfully carried out with the data taken by the new imaging plate camera.     

The design of a NURBS pre-interpolator for five-axis machining

A non-uniform, rational B-spline (NURBS) interpolator has great advantages for free-form surface machining compared to the conventional linear/circular interpolator. However, the existing NURBS interpolators can only handle the NURBS trajectory given in a customized NURBS G code. Also, it is limited to three-axis applications. In this paper, a NURBS pre-interpolator with three function options is proposed for a computer numerical control (CNC) system so that the NURBS interpolator can be thoroughly applied for five-axis machining. The first function is called the NURBS converter function, which is used to convert a series of linear/circular segments exactly into a NURBS curve. The second function is the NURBS smoother function, by which, a series of linear segments are fitted to a NURBS curve. The third option provides two kinds of NURBS G codes definition, by which, the NURBS trajectory with five axes can be represented directly. Upon using the three options of the NURBS pre-interpolator, a unified NURBS curve can be obtained for further interpolation. Two actual machining cases are conducted to evaluate the feasibility of the proposed pre-interpolator.     

An integrated numerical simulator for thermal performance assessments of firefighters’ protective clothing

Research and development of firefighters’ protective clothing relies on a large number of fire disaster experiments in order to assess the thermal performance. It would be substantially advantageous to substitute a virtual numerical experiment for a real one in terms of time, cost and safety. The present article reports the development of an integrated numerical simulator that makes possible the estimation of burn injuries originating from fire disasters. In the simulator, a general-purpose computational fluid dynamics program computes the fluid flow and heat transfer in an in situ fire event, while a one-dimensional program calculates the radiative–conductive heat transfer through the clothing and human skin. A data interface combines the two simulations by loose coupling so as to give the real-time burn injury progress output. The predicted surface heat fluxes and burn degrees agree with experimental measurements reasonably well. Possible numerical error sources are discussed that call for potential improvements in the future.     

日本建筑用密封材料的现状和发展趋势

对日本建筑用密封材料的发展趋势、应用领域、材料标准以及设计施工规范等内容进行了阐述。     

Simulation of ultrasonic-vibration drawing using the finite element method (FEM)

In ultrasonic-vibration drawing, wires are drawn while ultrasonic vibration is applied to a drawing die. Prior studies provide experimental proof that ultrasonic-vibration drawing reduces drawing resistance, improves lubrication and prevents wire breakage. In the future, ultrasonic-vibration drawing is expected to contribute to the drawing of difficult-to-draw materials and operations, such as shaped wires, ultrafine wires, and the wire drawing operation in semidry or dry condition. However, a detailed analysis and understanding of the mechanism of improvement is not possible on the basis of conventional experimental observations because the ultrasonic-vibration processing phenomenon occurs at high speed. Therefore, we attempted to understand the processing mechanism of ultrasonic-vibration drawing using the finite element method (FEM). ABAQUS was used for the FEM. Drawing force and stress–strain distributions in drawn wires were analyzed. From these studies, we quantitatively clarified the mechanism of improved drawing characteristics, such as decreased drawing force.     

Performance analysis on the liquid-ice thermal storage system for optimum operation

For the purpose of determining the optimum operation condition of liquid-ice thermal storage system, the performance analysis has been carried out. The target system was consisted of refrigerator, its auxiliary devices, liquid-ice production device, piping system, and thermal load section. The system performances were widely investigated analytically for the variety of operation conditions including the cycle performance of a refrigerator. The optimum operation condition of the liquid-ice thermal storage system from the viewpoint of coefficient of performance and the performance of heat release were discussed.     

Electronic structure of the buried interface between an organic semiconductor, N,N'-bis(3-methylphenyl)-N,N'-diphenylbenzidine (TPD), and metal surfaces

The electronic structures of buried interfaces between an organic semiconductor, N,N'-bis(3-methylphenyl)-N,N'-diphenylbenzidine (TPD) and metal surfaces of Au, Ag, Al and Ca were examined by the new experimental method that we have developed recently. In this method the energy levels at the organic/metal interface can be examined without changing the film thickness and related physical parameters e.g., the vacuum levels of the sample in contrast to the widely-used thickness-dependent photoemission experiments. The results were discussed in view of large interfacial dipole moment of the TPD and metal (Au and Ag) contacts.     

Advances in nature-guided materials processing

The center of excellence (COE) titled ‘The Creation of Nature-Guided Materials Processing’ has been established in Nagoya University as the 21st Century COE Program supported by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. In the Nature COE, various activities on the education and research are being performed through learning the laws of nature, namely, methods of attaining ‘appearance of the maximum function under the minimum substance and energy consumption’, which the nature and living organisms have acquired through their evolution in long period. Together with such educational programs for PhD students as research incentive, oversea training, and external evaluation programs, an ‘Open-Cluster Program’ was originated for promoting researches proposed by research groups consisting of young researchers in and out of the university and also for fostering them.

The researches are being advanced on materials used for living bodies, mimicking structures which nature or living bodies are forming, and producing materials by mimicking processes to form the structures observed in the nature or the living bodies. In this COE, these researches are conducted by four groups to extend the processes observed in the natural world to a new type of processing, that is, thoroughly examined and rationalized by plunging a scalpel of engineering and to establish a new academic field of materials science and engineering.     

Rapid erasing of wettability patterns based on TiO2-PDMS composite films

TiO₂-polydimethylsiloxane (TiO₂-PDMS) composite films are prepared using the sol–gel method from a Ti(OBu)₄–benzoylacetone solution containing PDMS. The prepared films are cured by irradiation with ultraviolet (UV) light. Structural changes in the films after UV irradiation are confirmed by UV–vis absorption experiments, which show that an absorption band characteristic of the benzoylacetonate chelate rings disappears. This finding is ascribed to structural changes associated with the dissociation of the chelate rings. The IR spectra of the thin films exhibit a broad absorption band after UV irradiation, indicating that a Ti–O–Ti network forms in the thin film. Contact angles are measured for the TiO₂-PDMS thin films, showing wettability conversion from hydrophobic to superhydrophilic states by irradiation with oxygen plasma for 1 s. This phenomenon is explained by XPS experiments which reveal that the number of carbon atoms decreases, whereas the number of oxygen atoms increases on the surface of the TiO₂-PDMS composite films. Finally, hydrophobic–superhydrophilic patterns are fabricated based on a patterned TiO₂-PDMS composite film. The film displays a rapid change to superhydrophilicity over the whole film surface upon plasma irradiation for 1 s, which means that the wettability patterns are rapidly erasable.