Novel Near-Infrared Luminescent Hybrid Materials Covalently Linking with Lanthanide [Nd(III), Er(III), Yb(III), and Sm(III)] Complexes via a Primary beta-Diketone Ligand: Synthesis and Photophysical Studies

A series of novel, colorless, and transparent sot-gel derived hybrid materials Ln-DBM-Si covalently grafted with Ln(DBM-OH)(3)center dot 2H(2)O (where DBM-OH = o-hydroxydibenzoylmethane, Ln = Nd, Er, Yb, and Sin) were prepared through the primary beta-diketone ligand DBM-OH. The structures and optical properties of Ln-DBM-Si were studied in detail. The investigation results revealed that the lanthanide complexes were successfully in situ grafted into the corresponding hybrids Ln-DBM-Si. Upon excitation at the maximum absorption of ligands, the resultant materials displayed excellent near-infrared luminescence.

一种基于可靠性的软件构架描述视图

　提出一种针对软件可靠性估算的描述软件构架的方法构件状态转移概率视图.该方法可以描述出使用基于构架的软件可靠性模型估算构架可靠性所需要的大量信息.在估算构架可靠性的过程中使用该方法可以大大简化工作量,而又可保持原有精度.

Investigation on nonradiative decay of the (Er3+I13/2)-I-4 -> I-4(15/2) transition in different tellurite glass matrix

Three kinds of Er3+-doped tellurite glasses with different hydroxyl groups are prepared by the conventional melt-quenching method. Infrared spectra are measured to estimate the exact content of OH- groups in samples. The maximum phonon energy in glasses are obtained by measuring the Raman scattering spectra. The strength parameters Omega(t) (t = 2, 4, 6) for all the samples are calculated and compared. The nonradiative decay rate of the Er3+ I-4(13/2) -> I-4(15/2) transition are calculated for the glass samples with different phonon energy and OH- group contents. Finally, the effect of OH- groups on fluorescence decay rate of Er3+ is analysed, the constant KOH-Er Of TWN, TZPL and TZL glasses are calculated to be 9.2 x 10(-19) cm(4)s(-1), 5.9 x 10(-19) cm(4)s(-1), and 3.5 x 10(-19) cm(4)s(-1), respectively.

Brittle-ductile transition of particle toughened polymers: influence of the matrix properties

It was theoretically pointed out that the product of the yield stress and yield strain of matrix polymer that determined the brittle-ductile transition (BDT) of particle toughened polymers. For given particle and test condition, the higher the product of the yield stress and the yield strain of the matrix polymer, the smaller the critical interparticle distance (IDc) of the blends was. This was why the IDc (0.15 mum) of the polypropylene (PP)/rubber blends was smaller than that (0.30 mum) of the nylon 66/rubber blends, and the IDc of the nylon 66/rubber blends was smaller than that (0.60 mum) of the high density polyethylene (HDPE)/rubber blends.

Formation, Thermal Stability and Deformation Behavior of Graphite-Flakes Reinforced Cu-based Bulk Metallic Glass Matrix Composites

Graphite-flake reinforced Cu47Ti34Zr11 Ni-8 bulk metallic glass matrix composite was fabricated by water-cooled copper mould cast. Most of the graphite flakes still keep unreacted and distribute uniformly in the amorphous matrix except that some reactive wetting occurs by the formation of TiC particles around the flakes. It reveals that the presence of graphite flakes does not affect the onset of the glass transition temperature, crystallization reaction and liquidus of the metallic glass. The resulting material shows obvious serrated flow and higher fracture strength under room temperature compressive load, comparing with the monolithic bulk metallic glass (BMG). Three types of interaction between the shear bands and graphite flakes, namely, shear band termination, shear bands branching and new shear bands formation near the graphite flakes can be observed by quasi-static uniaxial compression test and bonded interface technique through Vickers indentation.

Kinetics of Glass Transition and Crystallization in Carbon Nanotube Reinforced Mg-Cu-Gd Bulk Metallic Glass

Mg65 Cu25 Gdlo bulk metallic glass and its carbon nanotube reinforced composite were prepared. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) was used to investigate the kinetics of glass transition and crystallization processes. The influence of CNTs addition to the glass matrix on the glass transition and crystallization kinetics was studied. It is shown that the kinetic effect on glass transition and crystallization are preserved for both the monothetic glass and its glass composite. Adding CNTs in to the glass matrix reduces the influence of the heating rate on the crystallization process. In addition, the CNTs increase the energetic barrier for the glass transition. This results in the decrease of GFA . The mechanism of the GFA decrease was also discussed.

Stabilizing to disruptive transition of focal adhesion response to mechanical forces

Strong mechanical forces can, obviously, disrupt cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesions, e.g., cyclic uniaxial stretch induces instability of cell adhesion, which then causes the reorientation of cells away from the stretching direction. However, recent experiments also demonstrated the existence of force dependent adhesion growth (rather than dissociation). To provide a quantitative explanation for the two seemingly contradictory phenomena, a microscopic model that includes both integrin-integrin interaction and integrin-ligand interaction is developed at molecular level by treating the focal adhesion as an adhesion cluster. The integrin clustering dynamics and integrin-ligand binding dynamics are then simulated within one unified theoretical frame with Monte Carlo simulation. We find that the focal adhesion will grow when the traction force is higher than a relative small threshold value, and the growth is dominated by the reduction of local chemical potential energy by the traction force. In contrast, the focal adhesion will rupture when the traction force exceeds a second threshold value, and the rupture is dominated by the breaking of integrin-ligand bonds. Consistent with the experiments, these results suggest a force map for various responses of cell adhesion to different scales of mechanical force. PMID: 20542514

Influence factors on wear resistance of two alumina matrix composites

We measured the wear resistances of alumina, alumina/silicon carbide composite and alumina/mullite composite by abrasive wear. And we studied the influence of fracture mode and worn surface pullout on wear resistance. The results are as follows: the main wear mechanisms of alumina and alumina/silicon carbide were fracture wear and plastic wear respectively, and for alumina/mullite composite, fracture wear and plastic wear mechanisms worked together. The wear resistance of the alumina/silicon carbide composite and the alumina/mullite composite was better by a factor of 1 similar to 3 than that of the monolithic alumina. There were two main reasons for the better wear resistance, i.e., the improved mechanical properties and the more smooth worn surfaces. However, The primary reason was the reduction of area fraction of pullout on the worn surfaces induced by fracture mode transition. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Origin and evolution of photoluminescence from Si nanocrystals embedded in a SiO2 matrix

A detailed analysis of the photoluminescence (PL) from Si nanocrystals (NCs) embedded in a silicon-rich SiO2 matrix is reported. The PL spectra consist of three Gaussian bands (peaks A,B, and C), originated from the quantum confinement effect of Si NCs, the interface state effect between a Si NC and a SiO2 matrix, and the localized state transitions of amorphous Si clusters, respectively. The size and the surface chemistry of Si NCs are two major factors affecting the transition of the dominant PL origin from the quantum confinement effect to the interface state recombination. The larger the size of Si NCs and the higher the interface state density (in particular, Si = O bonds), the more beneficial for the interface state recombination process to surpass the quantum confinement process, in good agreement with Qin's prediction in Qin and Li [Phys. Rev. B 68, 85309 (2003)]. The realistic model of Si NCs embedded in a SiO2 matrix provides a firm theoretical support to explain the transition trend.

A transfer matrix approach to conductance in quantum waveguides

A transfer matrix approach is presented for the study of electron conduction in an arbitrarily shaped cavity structure embedded in a quantum wire. Using the boundary conditions for wave functions, the transfer matrix at an interface with a discontinuous potential boundary is obtained for the first time. The total transfer matrix is calculated by multiplication of the transfer matrix for each segment of the structure as well as numerical integration of coupled second-order differential equations. The proposed method is applied to the evaluation of the conductance and the electron probability density in several typical cavity structures. The effect of the geometrical features on the electron transmission is discussed in detail. In the numerical calculations, the method is found to be more efficient than most of the other methods in the literature and the results are found to be in excellent agreement with those obtained by the recursive Green's function method.

The two- to three-dimensional growth transition of InAs/GaAs epitaxy layer studied by reflectance difference spectroscopy

In this work, we have adopted reflectance difference spectroscopy to study the evolution of InAs layer grown at different temperatures in GaAs matrix. Associated with the two- to three-dimensional growth transition of InAs layer, the transition energies and the in-plane optical anisotropy of InAs wetting layer exhibit abrupt changes. This provides a new way to decide the critical thickness h(c) for the growth transition. The obtained h(c)s are compared with those determined by atomic force microscope measurement, and discrepancy is found at high temperatures. The origin of the difference is clarified and the variations in hc with temperature are further discussed. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3494043]

Critical behavior of brittle-ductile transition of polymers

We report that the brittle-ductile transition of polymers induced by temperature exhibits critical behavior. When t close to 0, the critical surface to surface interparticle distance (IDc) follows the scaling law: IDc proportional to t(-v) where t = 1 - T/T-BD(m) (T and T-BD(m) are the test temperature and brittle-ductile transition temperature of matrix polymer, respectively) and v = 2/D. It is clear that the scaling exponent v only depends on dimension (D). For 2, 3, and 4 dimension, v = 1, 2/3, and 1/2 respectively. The result indicates that the ID, follows the same scaling law as that of the correlation length (xi), when t approach to zero.

Brittle-ductile transition of polypropylene/ethyllene-propylene-diene monomer blends induced by size, temperature, and time

To study the brittle-ductile transition (BDT) of polypropylene (PP)/ethylene-propylene-diene monomer (EPDM) blends induced by size, temperature, and time, the toughness of the PP/EPDM blends was investigated over wide ranges of EPDM content, temperature, and strain rate. The toughness of the blends was determined from the tensile fracture energy of the side-edge notched samples. The concept of interparticle distance (ID) was introduced into this study to probe the size effect on the BDT of PP/EPDM blends, whereas the effect of time corresponded to that of strain rate. The BDT induced by size, temperature, and time was observed in the fracture energy versus ID, temperature, and strain rate. The critical BDT temperatures for various EPDM contents at different initial strain rates were obtained from these transitions. The critical interparticle distance (IDc) increased nonlinearly with increasing temperature, and when the initial strain rate was lower, the IDc was larger. Moreover, the variation of the reciprocal of the initial strain rate with the reciprocal of temperature followed different straight lines for various EPDM contents. These straight lines were with the same slope.

Transition from crazing to shear deformation in ABS/PVC blends

ABS/PVC blends were prepared over a range of compositions by mixing PVC, SAN, and PB-g-SAN. All samples were designed to have a constant rubber level of 12 wt % and the ratio of total-SAN to PVC in the matrix of the blends varied from 70.5/17.5 to 18/80. Transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscope have been used to study deformation mechanisms in the ABS/PVC blends. Several different types of microscopic deformation mechanisms, depending on the composition of blends, were observed for the ABS/PVC blends. When the blend is a SAN-rich system, the main deformation mechanisms were crazing of the matrix. When the blend is a PVC-rich system, crazing could no longer be detected, while shear yielding of the matrix and cavitation of the rubber particles were the main mechanisms of deformation. When the composition of blend is in the intermediate state, both crazing and shear yielding of matrix were observed. This suggests that there is a transition of deformation mechanism in ABS/PVC blends with the change in composition, which is from crazing to shear deformation.

Phase transition in polyamide-66/montmorillonite nanocomposites on annealing

The crystalline-phase transition in polyamide-66/montmorillonite nanocomposites before melting was investigated by in situ X-ray diffraction and is reported for the first time in this work. The phase-transition temperature in the nanocomposites was 170 degreesC, 20 degreesC lower than that in polyamide-66. The lower phase-transition temperature of the nanocomposites could be attributed to the gamma-phase-favorable environment caused by silicate layers. Meanwhile, the addition of silicate layers changed the crystal structure of the polyamide-66 matrix and influenced the phase-transition behavior.