Preparation of spinel-type ferrite thin films by the dip-coating process and their magnetic properties

Films of spinel-type ferrite, MFe₂O₄ (M=Ni, Co, Mg, Li_0.5Fe_0.5) have been prepared by a dip-coating method from the sol-gel process. Ferric nitrate, nickel nitrate, cobalt nitrate and lithium nitrate were used as raw materials, and glycerol and formamide were used as solvents. A film was prepared by dipping a silica glass plate. The spinel-type ferrite was obtained by heat-treatment at 700–900°C for 2 h in air. The film thickness was about 0.8 m. The saturation magnetization, _r, of the film and powder with composition 50NiO·50Fe₂O₃ was 196 emu cm^–3 and 29.1 emu g^–1, respectively, and the coercive force,H _c, was 140 and 95 Oe, respectively, after heat-treatment at 800°C for 2 h. In particular, the films were shown to have a much largerH _c than the powder. The grain growth of spinel ferrite may be subject to restriction because it is in progress above an amorphous base-plate. The crystals are therefore aligned with the base-plate and have uniaxial anisotropy.     

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Micro Mechanisms in Slip Deformation Theory of Crystals

Based on the discussion that there should be a micromechanism that causes a macroscopic slip of mono-crystal copper, molecular dynamics simulations with the analytical displacement feld around a crack tip have been carried out. The result of the simulation shows that macroscopic shear slip in an f.c.c. mono-crystal copper occurs as discrete time events. This is because cross-slips occur in many places in a material such that a macroscopic shear slip is blocked until some critical state of deformation. A macroscopic shear slip then occurs suddenly at the critical state in which the area of disordered atomic arrangement has stretched from one end of a crystal to the other end. The reason why macroscopic shear slips occur in the directions of the slip planes of a crystal is attributed to the fact that the areas of disordered atomic arrangement develop only along those directions.     

Organic–silicate hybrid catalysts based on various defined structures for Knoevenagel condensation

Two types of organic–inorganic hybrid base catalysts are prepared. Organic-functionalized molecular sieves (OFMSs), particularly “amine-immobilized porous silicates”, are designed based on common idea to immobilize catalytic active sites on silicate surface. Silicate–organic composite materials (SOCMs), such as “ordered porous silicate–quaternary ammonium composite materials”, are the precursors of ordered porous silicates obtained during the synthesis. Both the OFMS and the SOCM are used as the catalysts for Knoevenagel condensation. Among the OFMSs, there is clear tendency that the use of molecular sieve with larger pore volume and/or surface area gives the product in higher yield. Aminopropylsilyl (AP)-functionalized mesoporous silicates such as AP-MCM-41 gives the product in high yield under mild conditions. No loss of activity is observed after repeated use for three times. The SOCMs are also active for the same reaction. The precursors of the mesoporous silicates are more active than those of microporous silicates. This material can be repeatedly used without significant loss of activity. High activity is not due to the leached species. The active sites of the SOCM catalysts are considered to be SiO⁻ moieties located on the pore-mouth. Activity of the SOCM increases when the reaction is carried out without solvent, whereas decrease in activity of the OFMS is observed in the solvent-free system.     

Hot isostatic pressing of tetragonal ZrO2 solid-solution powders prepared from acetylacetonates in the system ZrO2-Y2O3-Al2O3

In compositions having ZrO₂/Y₂O₃=(74.25–71.25)/(0.75–3.75) (mol% ratio) with 25 mol% Al₂O₃, metastable t-ZrO₂ solid solutions crystallize at 780° to 860°C from amorphous materials prepared by the simultaneous hydrolysis of zirconium, yttrium and aluminium acetylacetonates. Hot isostatic pressing has been performed for 1 h at 1130 and 1230°C under 196 MPa using their powders. Two kinds of material are fabricated: (i) perfect ZrO₂ solid-solution ceramics and (ii) composites of ZrO₂ solid solution and -Al₂O₃. Their mechanical properties are examined, in connection with microstructures and t/m ZrO₂ ratios. Composites with a homogeneous dispersed -Al₂O₃ derived from solid-solution ceramics result in a remarkable increase of strength.     

Formation of Zirconia Solid Solutions Containing Alumina Prepared by New Preparation Method

In the system ZrO₂–Al₂O₃, a new method for preparing ZrO₂ solid solutions from ZrCl₄ and AlCl₃ using hydrazine monohydrate is investigated. c -ZrO₂ solid solutions containing up to ∼40 mol% Al₂O₃ crystallize at low temperatures from amorphous materials. The formation mechanism is discussed from IR spectral data. The values of the lattice parameter α increase linearly from 0.5072 to 0.5105 nm with increasing Al₂O₃ content. At higher temperatures, transformation of the solid solutions proceeds as follows: c ( SS ) → t ( ss ) → t ( ss ) +α-Al₂O₃→ m +α-Al₂O₃. m -ZrO₂–α-Al₂O₃ composite ceramics are fabricated by hot isostatic pressing for 2 h at 1250°C and 196 MPa. Microstructures and mechanical properties are examined, in connection with increasing Al₂O₃ content.     

Super‐resolution of the undersampled and subpixel shifted image sequence by a neural network

Numerous approaches to super‐resolution (SR) of sequentially observed images (image sequence) of low resolution (LR) have been presented in the past two decades. However, neural network methods are almost ignored for solving SR problems. This is because the SR problem traditionally has been regarded as the optimization of an ill‐posed large set of linear equations. A designed neural network based on this has a large number of neurons, thereby requiring a long learning time. Also, the deduced cost function is overly complex. These defects limit applications of a neural network to an SR problem. We think that the underlying meaning of the SR problem should refer to super‐resolving an imaging system by image sequence observation, instead of merely improving the image sequence itself. SR can be regarded as a pattern mapping from LR to SR images. The parameters of the pattern mapping can be learned from the imaging process of the image sequence. This article presents a neural network for SR based on learning from the imaging process of the image sequence. In order to speed up the convergence, we employ vector mapping to train the neural network. A mapping vector is composed of some neighbor subpixels. Such a well‐trained neural network has powerful generalization ability so that it can be used directly to estimate the SR image of the other image sequences without learning again. Our simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed neural network. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol 14, 8–15, 2004; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ima.20001     

Numerical simulation on the behavior of a liquid jet into an air flow

A numerical simulation has been performed to clarify the effects of turbulence in a liquid on the deformation of the liquid jet surface into an air flow. The turbulences in the liquid jet were simulated by the Rankin vortices, and the liquid jet surface was tracked numerically by the volume of fluid method. By numerical simulations, the onset of the protrusions on the liquid jet surface is caused by the vortices in the liquid, and the surrounding air flow plays an important role in the amplification of the protrusions. The amplification rate of the trough displacement is proportional to the air‐to‐liquid velocity ratio. At large imposed vortex intensities, the trough displacement increases with the vortex intensity. On the other hand, at small imposed vortex intensities, the amplification of the trough displacement is also affected by factors other than vortex intensity. © 2001 Scripta Technica, Heat Trans Asian Res, 30(6): 473–484, 2001     

Numerical simulation on liquid jet behavior issued into still air

Numerical simulations have been conducted to clarify the effects of turbulence, in the onset of protrusions on liquid jet surfaces. The turbulences in the liquid jet were simulated by the Rankin vortices. The liquid jet surface was tracked numerically by the VOF method. From numerical simulations, the protrusions on the liquid jet surface are induced by the vortices in the liquid, whose rotational direction decelerates the jet surface. Despite the distance between vortices, the displacement of the liquid jet surface from the initial surface location increases linearly, in time, at almost the same growth rate. In the initial region, the growth rate of the displacement increases as the major semiaxis‐to‐minor semiaxis ratio of the ellipsoidal vortex increases. The initial growth rate of displacement is almost proportional to the vortex intensity. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 32(2): 141–152, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.10078