Orientation preference and fractal character of short fatigue cracks in a weld metal

Short fatigue crack behaviour in a weld metal has been further investigated. The Schmid factor and the fractal dimension of short cracks on iso-stress specimens subjected to reversed bending have been determined and then applied to account for the distribution and orientation characteristics of short fatigue cracks. The result indicates that the orientation preference of short cracks is attributed to the large values of Schmid factor at relevant grains. The Schmid factors of most slip systems, which produced short cracks, are less than or equal to 0.4. Crack length measurements reveal that short crack path, compared to that of long crack, possesses a more stable and relatively larger value of fractal dimension. This is regarded as one of the typical features of short cracks.

Effect of grain size on slow fatigue crack propagation and plastic deformation near crack tip

Fatigue crack growth and its threshold are investigated at a stress ratio of 0.5 for the three-point bend specimen made of Austenitic stainless steel. The effect of grain size on the crack tip plastic deformation is investigated. The results show that the threshold value Δkth increases linearly with the square root of grain size d and the growth rate is slower for materials with larger grain size. The plastic zone size and ratio for different grain sizes are different at the threshold. The maximum stress intensity factor is kmax and σys is the yield strength. At the same time, the characteristics of the plastic deformation development is discontinuous and anti-symmetric as the growth rate is increased from 2·10—8 to 10−7 mm/cycle.

高压扭转铜试样的微观组织与压缩性能

通过高压扭转对铜试样施加不同程度的变形，研究了样品扭转面（ND面）和纵截面（TD面）上微观组织特征．对ND面，在较小的剪应变下，原始晶粒形貌模糊，晶粒内部形成等轴状的位错胞及亚晶结构；随变形量的增大，亚晶间取向差及亚晶内部的位错密度增大，最后形成亚微米尺度的等轴晶粒．对TD面，变形初期原始晶粒被拉长，晶粒内部为位错墙分割成的层状结构，层内为拉长的位错胞；随变形程度的增大，拉长晶粒的宽度减小，与剪切方向的夹角减小，晶内层状组织间距减小，并逐渐演化成拉长的亚晶组织；进一步增大变形，晶粒拉长痕迹消失，变形组织与ND面相似，为等轴状亚微米晶粒．压缩实验表明，经16圈扭转后，整个试样上的压缩性能基本均匀，σ0．2达到385MPa，应变率敏感性指数增大至0．021．

Influence of Wind and Grain Size on Migration of Asymmetric Sand Waves

Large parts of shallow seas are covered by regular seabed patterns and sand wave is one kind of these patterns. The instability of the sedimentary structures may hazard pipelines and the foundations of offshore structures. In the last decade or so, it's a focus for engineers to investigate the movement mechanism of sand waves. Previous theoretical studies of the subject have developed a general model to predict the growth and migration of sand waves, which is based on the two-dimensional vertical shallow water equations and the bed-form deformation equations. Although the relation between wave-current flow and sand bed deformation has been established, the topographic influence has not been considered in the model. In this paper some special patterns, which are asymmetric and close to the reality, are represent as the perturbed seabed and the evolution of sand waves is calculated. The combination of a steady flow induced by wind and a sinusoidal tidal flow is considered as the basic flow. Finally the relations of some parameters (grain size, etc.) and sand waves' growth and migration are discussed, and the growth rate and migration speeds of asymmetric sand waves are carried out.

Dislocations and twins in nanocrystalline Ni after severe plastic deformation: the effects of grain size

Deformation microstructures have been investigated in nanocrystalline (nc) Ni with grain sizes in the 50-100 nm range. It was found that deformation twinning started to occur in grains of similar to 90 nm, and its propensity increased with decreasing grain size. In most of the nc grains dislocations were observed as well, in the form of individual dislocations and dipoles. It is concluded that dislocation-mediated plasticity dominates for grain sizes in the upper half, i.e. 50-100 nm, of the nanocrystalline regime. (C) 2007 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Piezoelectricity of ZnO films prepared by sol-gel method

ZnO piezoelectric thin films were prepared on crystal substrate Si(111) by sol-gel technology, then characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The ZnO films characterized by X-ray diffraction are highly oriented in (002) direction with the growing of the film thickness. The morphologies, roughness and grain size of ZnO film investigated by AFM show that roughness and grain size of ZnO piezoelectric films decrease with the increase of the film thickness. The roughness dimension is 2.188-0.914 nm. The piezoelectric coefficient d(33) was investigated with a piezo-response force microscope (PFM). The results show that the piezoelectric coefficient increases with the increase of thickness and (002) orientation. When the force reference is close to surface roughness of the films, the piezoelectric coefficient measured is inaccurate and fluctuates in a large range, but when the force reference is big, the piezoelectric coefficient d(33) changes little and ultimately keeps constant at a low frequency.

Orientation-Dependent Adhesion Strength Of A Rigid Cylinder In Non-Slipping Contact With A Transversely Isotropic Half-Space

Recently, Chen and Gao [Chen, S., Gao, H., 2007. Bio-inspired mechanics of reversible adhesion: orientation-dependent adhesion strength for non-slipping adhesive contact with transversely isotropic elastic materials. J. Mech. Phys. solids 55, 1001-1015] studied the problem of a rigid cylinder in non-slipping adhesive contact with a transversely isotropic solid subjected to an inclined pulling force. An implicit assumption made in their study was that the contact region remains symmetric with respect to the center of the cylinder. This assumption is, however, not self-consistent because the resulting energy release rates at two contact edges, which are supposed to be identical, actually differ from each other. Here we revisit the original problem of Chen and Gao and derive the correct solution by removing this problematic assumption. The corrected solution provides a proper insight into the concept of orientation-dependent adhesion strength in anisotropic elastic solids. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Twinning partial multiplication at grain boundary in nanocrystalline fcc metals

Most deformation twins in nanocrystalline face-centered cubic fcc metals have been observed to form from grain boundaries. The growth of such twins requires the emission of Shockley partials from the grain boundary on successive slip planes. However, it is statistically improbable for a partial to exist on every slip plane. Here we propose a dislocation reaction and cross-slip mechanism on the grain boundary that would supply a partial on every successive slip plane for twin growth.This mechanism can also produce a twin with macrostrain smaller than that caused by a conventional twin.

The Effects of Grain Size Distribution and Structure on Mechanical Behavior of Silt

Abstract: In order to investigate the effects of the grain size distribution and the micro-structure of soils on the mechani- cal characteristics, some static triaxial compression tests were carried out, and then the relationship of stress-strain and the strength behavior of silty sand were compared among undisturbed samples with different grain size distribution, undis- turbed and remolded samples with the same grain size distribution, and reconstituted samples (or called mixed samples) with different grain size distribution. The effects of grain size distribution and structure on the mechanic behavior of silty sands were mainly analyzed. It is shown that the obvious differences of the mechanical characteristics between undis- turbed soils and remolded soils are caused by the differences of soil structures. Although the grain size distribution are different between two soil samples, their mechanical characteristics may be close to each other, or may have obvious differences because of the effects of micro-structure.

Orientation-controllable self-organized microgratings induced in the bulk SrTiO3 crystal by a single femtosecond laser beam

Self-organized microgratings were induced in the bulk SrTiO3 crystal by readily scanning the laser focus in the direction perpendicular to the laser propagation axis. The groove orientations of those gratings could be controlled by changing the irradiation pulse number per unit scanning length, which could be implemented either through adjusting the scanning velocity at a fixed pulse repetition rate or through varying the pulse repetition rate at a fixed scanning velocity. This high-speed method for fabrication of microgratings will have many potential applications in the integration of micro-optical elements. The possible formation mechanism of the self-organized microgratings is also discussed. (C) 2007 Optical Society of America.

Double refraction and reflection of sequential crystal interfaces with arbitrary orientation of the optic axis and application to optimum design

The general formulation of double refraction or internal double reflection for any directions of incidence and arbitrary orientation of the optic axis in a uniaxial crystal is analysed in terms of Huygens' principle. Then double refraction and double reflection along the sequential interfaces in a crystal are discussed. On this basis, if the parameters of the interface are chosen appropriately, the range of angular separation between the ordinary ray and extraordinary ray can be much greater, It is useful for crystal element design. Finally, as an example, an optimum design of the Output end interface for a 2 x 2 electro-optic switch is given.

Annealing effect on properties of ZnO thin films grown on LiNbO3 substrates by MOCVD

ZnO films were grown on (0 0 0 1) LiNbO3 substrates by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Annealing of ZnO films was performed in air for I h at 800 degrees C. The effects of annealing on the structural and optical properties of ZnO thin films on LiNbO3 substrates were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and photoluminescence (PL) measurements. XRD patterns and AFM showed that the as-grown and the annealed ZnO films grown on LiNbO3 substrates had c-axis preferential orientation, the crystallinity of the ZnO films grown on LiNbO3 Substrates was improved, and the grain size increased by annealing. The PL spectra showed that the intensity of the UV near-band-edge peak was increased after annealing, while the intensity of visible peak (deep-level emission) decreased. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Structural, morphological and optical properties of ZnO thin films grown on gamma-LiAlO2 substrate by pulsed laser deposition

ZnO thin films were deposited on the substrates of (100) gamma-LiAlO2 at 400, 550 and 700 degrees C using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) with the fixed oxygen pressure of 20 Pa, respectively. When the substrate temperature is 400 degrees C, the grain size of the film is less than 1 mu m observed by Leitz microscope and measured by X-ray diffraction (XRD). As the substrate temperature increases to 550 degrees C, highly-preferred c-orientation and high-quality ZnO film can be attained. While the substrate temperature rises to 700 degrees C, more defects appears on the surface of film and the ZnO films become polycrystalline again possibly because more Li of the substrate diffused into the ZnO film at high substrate temperature. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of ZnO films at room temperature show the blue emission peaks centered at 430 nm. We suggest that the blue emission corresponds to the electron transition from the level of interstitial Zn to the valence band. Meanwhile, the films grown on gamma-LiAlO2 (LAO) exhibit green emission centered at 540 nm, which seemed to be ascribed to excess zinc and/or oxygen vacancy in the ZnO films caused by diffusion of Li. from the substrates into the films during the deposition.

The growth of gamma-LiAlO2 layer with a highly-preferred orientation on (0001) sapphire

Using vapor transport equilibration (VTE) technique we succeeded in the fabrication of single-phase gamma-LiAlO2 layer on (0001) sapphire substrate. X-ray diffraction indicated that the as-fabricated layer was highly textured with [100] orientation at proper VTE treatment temperature range from 1050 degrees C to 1100 degrees C. The main factors affecting the quality of the gamma-LiAlO2 layer were investigated by SEM and transmission spectra. These results reveal the possibility of fabricating gamma-LiAlO2 (100)//sapphire (0001) composite substrate for GaN-based epitaxial film by VTE.

Structure and UV emission of nanocrystal ZnO films by thermal oxidation of ZnS films

ZnO films prepared by the thermal oxidation of the ZnS films through thermal evaporation are reported. The as-deposited ZnS films have transformed to ZnO films completely at 400 degrees C. The 400-700 degrees C annealed films with a preferential c-axis (002) orientation have a hexagonal wurtzite structure. The band gap of ZnO films shifts towards longer wavelength with the increase of the annealing temperature. The relationship between the band gap energy of ZnO films and the grain size is discussed. The shift of the band gap energy can be ascribed to the quantum confinement effect in nanocrystal ZnO films. The photoluminescence spectra of ZnO films show a dominant ultraviolet emission and no deep level or trap state defect emission in the green region. It confirms the absence of interstitial zinc or oxygen vacancies in ZnO films. These results indicate that ZnO film prepared by this simple thermal oxidation method is a promising candidate for optoelectronic devices and UV laser. (c) 2005 Elsevier BN. All rights reserved.