PIII treatment of Ti alloys and NiTi for medical applications

PIII is a powerful method to obtain hard and wear resistant surface on Ti alloys and NiTi by oxygen or nitrogen implantation. By adjusting the temperature, treatment time and heating regime, different phase compositions and layer thickness can be obtained. Depending on the specific system, a strong influence of the resulting microstructure on the wear and fatigue properties was observed. By considering these restrictions, successful animal tests can be designed and executed, as shown in this review article.     

Behavior of residual carbon in Sm(Co, Fe, Cu, Zr)z permanent magnets

When sintered Sm(Co, Fe, Cu, Zr)_z permanent magnets are prepared by metal injection molding, some organic binders are added in alloy powder, which leads to much residual carbon in the magnets. The residual carbon decreases magnetic properties and destroys the microstructure of the magnets. In this paper, the behavior of carbon in Sm(Co, Fe, Cu, Zr)_z permanent magnets has been studied. The results indicate that Sm(Co, Fe, Cu, Zr)_z magnets can keep excellent magnetic properties when the carbon content is below 0.1 wt.%: Br ≥ 10 kGs, H_cj ≥ 22 kOe, BH_max ≥ 25 MGOe. When the carbon content is above 0.1 wt.%, Br, H_cj and BH_max decrease with increasing carbon content evidently. Carbon consumes Zr content and forms ZrC, which reduces the volume fraction of the lamella and Sm(Co, Cu)₅ phases. Thus, the cell size increases and the cellular microstructure deteriorates. When the carbon content reaches 0.43 wt.%, there is not enough Sm(Co, Cu)₅ phase to form a uniform cellular microstructure. Br, H_cj and BH_max are approximate to zero. Since carbon has little influence on the content of Sm₂(Co, Fe)₁₇ phase, Ms can keep a high value (≥100 emu/g). ZrC has high melting point (3420 °C) and acts as dispersion particle in the magnets, which prevents the grains of SEM structure growing and reduces the liquid content of green compacts during sintering. Therefore, the density of the magnets decreases.     

Maple procedures for the coupling of angular momenta. An up-date of the Racah module

An up-date of the Racah module is presented, adopted to Maple 11 and 12, which supports both, algebraic manipulations of expressions from Racah's algebra as well as numerical computations of many functions and symbols from the theory of angular momentum. The functions that are known to the program include the Wigner rotation matrices and n-j symbols, Clebsch-Gordan and Gaunt coefficients, spherical harmonics of various kinds as well as several others.

Program summary

Program title:RacahCatalogue identifier: ADFV_v10_0Program summary URL:http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/summaries/ADFV_v10_0.htmlProgram obtainable from: CPC Program Library, Queen's University, Belfast, N. IrelandLicensing provisions: Standard CPC licence, http://cpc.cs.qub.ac.uk/licence/licence.htmlNo. of lines in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 30 436No. of bytes in distributed program, including test data, etc.: 544 866Distribution format: tar.gzProgramming language: Maple 11 and 12Computer: All computers with a license for the computer algebra package Maple [1]Operating system: Suse Linux 10.2+ and Ubuntu 8.10Classification: 4.1, 5Catalogue identifier of previous version: ADFV_v9_0Journal reference of previous version: Comput. Phys. Comm. 174 (2006) 616Does the new version supersede the previous version?: YesNature of problem: The theories of angular momentum and spherical tensor operators, sometimes known also as Racah's algebra, provide a powerful calculus for studying spin networks and (quantum) many-particle systems. For an efficient use of these theories, however, one requires not only a reliable handling of a large number of algebraic transformations and rules but, more often than not, also a fast access to their standard quantities, such as the Wigner n-j symbols, Clebsch-Gordan coefficients, spherical harmonics of various kinds, the rotation matrices, and many others.Solution method: A set of Maple procedures has been developed and maintained during the last decade which supports both, algebraic manipulations as well as fast computations of the standard expressions and symbols from the theory of angular momentum [2,3]. These procedures are based on a sizeable set of group-theoretical (and often rather sophisticated) relations which has been discussed and proven in the literature; see the monograph by Varshalovich et al. [4] for a comprehensive compilation. In particular the algebraic manipulation of complex (Racah) expressions may result in considerable simplifications, thus reducing the ‘numerical costs’, and often help obtain further insight into the behaviour of physical systems.Reasons for new version: A revision of the Racah module became necessary for mainly three reasons: (i) Since the last extension of the Racah procedures [5], which was developed within the framework of Maple 8, several updates of Maple were distributed by the vendors (currently Maple 13) and required a number of adaptations to the source code; (ii) the increasing size and program structure of the Racah module made it advisible to separate the (procedures for the treatment of the) atomic shell model from the manipulation and computation of Racah expressions. Therefore, the computation of angular coefficients for different coupling schemes, (grand) coefficients of fractional parentage as well as the matrix elements (of various irreducible tensors from the shell model) is to be maintained from now on independently within the Jucys module; (iii) a number of bugs and inconsistencies have been reported to us and corrected in the present version.Summary of revisions: In more detail, the following changes have been made:

1.

Since recent versions of Maple now support the automatic type checking of all incoming arguments and the definition of user-defined types; we have adapted most of the code to take advantage of these features, and especially those commands that are accessible by the user.

2.

In the computation of the Wigner n-j symbols and Clebsch-Gordan coefficients, we now return a ‘0’ in all cases in which the triangular rules are not fulfilled, for example, if δ(a,b,c)=0 for or . This change in the program saves the user making these tests on the quantum numbers explicitly everytime (in the summation over more complex expressions) that such a symbol or coefficient is invoked. The program still terminates with an error message if the (half-integer and integer) angular momentum quantum numbers appear in an inproper combination.

3.

While a recursive generation of the Wigner 3-j and 6-j symbols [6] may reduce the costs of some computations (and has thus been utilized in the past), it also makes the program rather sophisticated, especially if an algebraic evaluation or computations with a high number of Digits need to be supported by the same generic commands. The following procedures are therefore no longer supported by the Racah module:Racah_compute_w3j_jrange(), Racah_compute_w3j_mrange(),Racah_compute_w3j_recursive(), Racah_compute_w6j_range(), andRacah_compute_w6j_recursive().On most PCs, a sequential computation of all requested symbols is carried out within the same time basically.

4.

Because the module Jucys has grown to a size of about 35,000 lines of code and data, it appears helpful and necessary to maintain it independently. The procedures from the Jucys modules were designed to facilitate the computation of matrix elements of the unit tensors, the coefficients of fractional parentage (of various types) as well as transformation matrices between different coupling schemes [7] and are, thus, independent of the Racah module (although they typically require that the Racah code is available). The Jucys module is no longer distributed together with the present code.

5.

Apart from the Wigner n-j symbols (see above), some minor bugs have been reported and corrected in Racah_expand() and Racah_set().

6.

To facilitate the test of the installation and as a first tutorial on the module, we now provide the Maple worksheet Racah-tests-2009-maple12.mw in the Racah2009 root directory. This worksheet contains the examples and test cases from the previous versions. For the test of the installation, it is recommended that a ‘copy’ of this worksheet is saved and compared to the results from the re-run. It can be used also as a helpful source to define new examples in interactive work with the Racah module.

The Racah module is distributed in a tar file ADFV_v10_0.tar.gz from which the RACAH2009 root directory is (re-)generated by the command tar -zxvf ADFV_v10_0.tar.gz. This directory contains the source code libraries (tested for Maple 11 and 12), a Read.me for the installation of the program, the worksheet Racah-tests-2009-maple12.mw as well as the document Racah-commands-2009.pdf. This .pdf document serves as a Short Reference Manual and provides the definition of all the data structures of the Racah program together with an alphabetic list of all user relevant (and exported) commands. Although emphasis was placed on preserving the compatibility of the program with earlier releases of Maple, this cannot always be guaranteed due to changes in the Maple syntax. The Racah2009 root also contains an example of a .mapleinit file that can be modified and incorporated into the user's home directory to make the Racah module accessible like any other module of Maple. As mentioned above, the worksheet Racah-tests-2009-maple12.mw, help test the installation and may serve as a first tutorial.Restrictions: The (Racah) program is based on the concept of Racah expressions [cf. Fig. 1 in Ref. [4]] which, in principle, may contain any number of Wigner n-j symbols (n?9), Clebsch-Gordan coefficients, spherical harmonics and/or rotation matrices. In practise, of course, the required time and the success of an evaluation procedure depends on the complexity of the expressions and on the storage available, sometimes also on Maple's internal garbage treatment. In some cases, it is advisable to attempt first a simplification of the magnetic quantum numbers for a given expression before the summation over further 6-j and 9-j symbols should be taken into account. For all other quantities (that are compiled in Ref. [8], Tables 1 and 2, and explained in more detail in the Short Reference Manual, Racah-commands-2009.pdf), we currently just facilitate fast numerical computations by exploiting, as far as possible, Maple's hardware floating-point model. The program also supports simplifications on the Wigner rotation matrices. In integrals over the rotation matrices, products of up to three Wigner D-functions or reduced matrices (with the same angular arguments) are recognized; for the integration over a solid angle, however, the domain of integration must be specified explicitly for the Euler angles α and γ in order to force Maple to generate a constant of integration. In the course of the evaluation of Racah expressions, it is, in practice, often difficult to check internally whether all substructures of an expression are defined properly. Therefore, the user must ensure that all angular momenta (if given explicitly) must finally evaluate to integer and half-integer values and that they satisfy proper coupling conditions.Unusual features: The Racah program is designed for interactive use and for providing a quick and algebraic evaluation of (complex) expressions from Racah's algebra. In the evaluation, it exploits a large set of sum rules which are known from Racah's algebra and which may include (multiple) summations over dummy indices; see Varshalovich et al. [5] for a more detailed account of the theory. One strength of the program is that it recognizes automatically the symmetries of the symbols and functions, and that it applies also (some of) the graphical rules due to Yutsis and coworkers [9]. As before, the result of the evaluation process will be provided as Racah expressions, if a further simplification could be achieved, and may hence be used for further derivations and calculations within the given framework. In dealing with recoupling coefficients, these coefficients can be entered simply as a string of angular momenta (variables), separated by commas, and very similar to how they appear in mathematical texts. This is a crucial advantage of the program, compared with previous developments, for which the angular momenta and coupling coefficients had often to be given in a very detailed format. A Short Reference Manual to all procedures of the Racah program is provided by this distribution; it also contains the worksheet Racah-tests-2009-maple12.mw that contains the examples from all previous versions and may help test the installation. This worksheet can serve as a first tutorial to the Racah procedures. In the past, the Racah program has been utilized extensively in a number of applications including angular and polarization studies of heavy ions [10], angular distributions and correlation functions following photon-induced excitation processes [11], entanglement studies [12], in application of point-group symmetries and several others.Running time: The worksheet supplied with the distribution takes about 1 minute to run.References:

[1] Maple is a registered trademark of Waterloo Maple Inc.

[2] S. Fritzsche, Comp. Phys. Commun. 103 (1997) 51.

[3] S. Fritzsche, S. Varga, D. Geschke, B. Fricke, Comp. Phys. Commun. 111 (1998) 167;

T. Ingho, S. Fritzsche, B. Fricke, Comp. Phys. Commun. 139 (2001) 297;

S. Fritzsche, T. Ingho, T. Bastug, M. Tomaselli, Comp. Phys. Commun. 139 (2001) 314.

[4] D.A. Varshalovich, A.N. Moskalev, V.K. Khersonskii, Quantum Theory of Angular Momentum, World Scientific, Singapore a.o., 1988.

[5] J. Pagaran, S. Fritzsche, G. Gaigalas, Comp. Phys. Commun. 174 (2006) 616.

[6] K. Schulten, R.G. Gordon, Comp. Phys. Commun. 11 (1976) 269.

[7] G. Gaigalas, S. Fritzsche, B. Fricke, Comp. Phys. Commun. 135 (2001) 219;

G. Gaigalas, S. Fritzsche, Comp. Phys. Commun. 149 (2002) 39;

G. Gaigalas, O. Scharf, S. Fritzsche, Comp. Phys. Commun. 166 (2005) 141.

[8] S. Fritzsche, T. Ingho, M. Tomaselli, Comp. Phys. Commun. 153 (2003) 424.

[9] A.P. Yutsis, I.B. Levinson, V.V. Vanagas, The Theory of Angular Momentum, Israel Program for Scientific Translation, Jerusalem, 1962.

[10] S. Fritzsche, P. Indelicato, T. Stöhlker, J. Phys. B 38 (2005) S707.

[11] M. Kitajima, M. Okamoto, M. Hoshino, et al., J. Phys. B 35 (2002) 3327;

N.M. Kabachnik, S. Fritzsche, A.N. Grum-Grzhimailo, et al., Phys. Reports 451 (2007) 155;

S. Fritzsche, A.N. Grum-Grzhimailo, E.V. Gryzlova, N.M. Kabachnik, J. Phys. B 41 (2008) 165601;

T. Radtke, et al., Phys. Rev. A 77 (2008) 022507.

[12] T. Radtke, S. Fritzsche, Comp. Phys. Commun. 175 (2006) 145.

     

Solid state reaction in sandwich-type Al/Cu thin films

Al/Cu/Al and Cu/Al/Cu triple layers with approximately 10 nm single layer thickness deposited on tungsten substrates were analyzed in the early stages of reactive interdiffusion by means of atom probe tomography. The first reaction product is found after 5 min thermal treatment at 110 degrees C and identified by direct chemical analysis to be Al2Cu. Surprisingly, we found a significant asymmetry in the reaction rate of the new phase with the stacking sequence: the thickness of the product grown at the interfaces, at which Cu is deposited on top of the Al layer, is approximately 1.5-2 times thicker than the other one at the interfaces at which Al is deposited onto a Cu layer. On the other hand, at both interfaces the thickness of the product layer depends parabolically on time. No precursory interdiffusion and no distinct nucleation process of the product are observed.     

Work function variations of incandescent filaments during self-cooling in vacuum

A novel method of dynamic measurement of work function (WF) variations of hot metal filaments is described. It is essential in this method that electron emission current (I_e) is recorded during filament self-cooling when no heating power is supplied, thereby I_e is not disturbed by the potential gradient along the filament. WF shift due to the presence of a low-pressure gas, where the main active compounds are O₂ and H₂O, is calculated from an equation derived on the basis of the Richardson formula. The relative increase of WF found by this method was 5 times larger for tungsten than that for tantalum over the entire temperature range from 900 to 1800 K. Our method may be used in research studies of adsorption-related phenomena on metallic surfaces at high temperatures.     

用Chirp—z变换获得雷达目标回波波形特征

探讨了高分辨率雷达视频回波波形特征．提出对回波信号作Ｃｈｉｒｐ－ｚ变换，以提高频谱的分辨率．还对两类实测毫米波高分辨率雷达目标回波波形进行了Ｃｈｉｒｐ－ｚ变换及Ｆｏｕｒｉｅｒ变换，并对两类结果进行了比较，结果证明对雷达回波波形作Ｃｈｉｒｐ－ｚ变换获得的视频波形特征既满足同一目标特征稳定性，又容易区分两类不同目标．     

Microbial biofilm growth on irradiated, spent nuclear fuel cladding

A fundamental criticism regarding the potential for microbial influenced corrosion in spent nuclear fuel cladding or storage containers concerns whether the required microorganisms can, in fact, survive radiation fields inherent in these materials. This study was performed to unequivocally answer this critique by addressing the potential for biofilm formation, the precursor to microbial-influenced corrosion, in radiation fields representative of spent nuclear fuel storage environments. This study involved the formation of a microbial biofilm on irradiated spent nuclear fuel cladding within a hot cell environment. This was accomplished by introducing 22 species of bacteria, in nutrient-rich media, to test vessels containing irradiated cladding sections and that was then surrounded by radioactive source material. The overall dose rate exceeded 2 Gy/h gamma/beta radiation with the total dose received by some of the bacteria reaching 5 × 10³ Gy. This study provides evidence for the formation of biofilms on spent-fuel materials, and the implication of microbial influenced corrosion in the storage and permanent deposition of spent nuclear fuel in repository environments.     

Effect of thermo-mechanical processing on microstructure and creep properties of the foils of alloy 617

The effect of rolling and annealing on the microstructure and high temperature creep properties of alloy 617 were investigated. Two types of foil specimens with different thickness reductions were prepared by thermo-mechanical processing. Recrystallization and grain growth were readily observed at specimens annealed at 950 and 1100 °C. The uniform coarse grains increase resistance against creep deformation. The grain size effect in creep deformation was dominant up to 900 °C, while dynamic recrystallization effect became dominant at 1000 °C. Dynamic recrystallization was observed in all the creep deformed foils, even though some specimens had already been (statically) recrystallized during annealing. Steady state creep rates decreased with increasing annealing temperature in the less rolled foils. The apparent activation energy Q_app for the creep deformation increased from 271 to 361 kJ/mol as the annealing temperature increased from 950 to 1100 °C.     

Middle-frequency magnetron sputtering for GaN growth

A middle-frequency magnetron sputtering system was designed and constructed for GaN growth, in which a pair of back cooled pool-shaped twin magnetrons were used for Ga metal targets. GaN films were prepared using this system under various gas pressure (0.5-3.0 Pa) in a mixture of N₂ and Ar with N₂/Ar ratio of 6:1. X-ray diffraction showed that the GaN films had a strong (0 0 0 2) orientation, and the film deposited at 1.5 Pa had two more weak peaks attributed to and . The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the (0 0 0 2) peak for the GaN film deposited at 1.5 Pa and 0.5 Pa is ∼721 and ∼986 arcsec, respectively. The deposition rate was in the range of 43.5-87.8 nm/min and was mainly influenced by the deposition pressure. The films deposited at higher pressures are columnar in structure. A root-mean-square roughness of 4.4 nm was obtained from the atomic force microscopy (AFM) surface morphology of the film deposited at 0.5 Pa.     

On the recovery of the time average of continuous and discrete time functions from their Laplace and z‐transforms

The determination of the time averages of continuous functions or discrete time sequences is important for various problems in physics and engineering, and the generalized final‐value theorems of the Laplace and z‐transforms, relevant to functions and sequences not having a limit at infinity, but having a well‐defined average, can be very helpful in this determination. In the present contribution, we complete the proofs of these theorems and extend them to more general time functions and sequences. Besides formal proofs, some simple examples and heuristic and pedagogical comments on the physical nature of the limiting processes defining the averaging are given. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.