H2O-CH4 and H2S-CH4 complexes: a direct comparison through molecular beam experiments and ab initio calculations

New molecular beam scattering experiments have been performed to measure the total ( elastic plus inelastic) cross sections as a function of the velocity in collisions between water and hydrogen sulfide projectile molecules and the methane target. Measured data have been exploited to characterize the range and strength of the intermolecular interaction in such systems, which are of relevance as they drive the gas phase molecular dynamics and the clathrate formation. Complementary information has been obtained by rotational spectra, recorded for the hydrogen sulfide-methane complex, with a pulsed nozzle Fourier transform microwave spectrometer. Extensive ab initio calculations have been performed to rationalize all the experimental findings. The combination of experimental and theoretical information has established the ground for the understanding of the nature of the interaction and allows for its basic components to be modelled, including charge transfer, in these weakly bound systems. The intermolecular potential for H2S-CH4 is significantly less anisotropic than for H2O-CH4, although both of them have potential minima that can be characterized as `hydrogen bonded'.

Real-Time Stress Measurements in Germanium Thin Film Electrodes during Electrochemical Lithiation/Delithiation Cycling

An in situ study of stress evolution and mechanical behavior of germanium as a lithium-ion battery electrode material is presented. Thin films of germanium are cycled in a half-cell configuration with lithium metal foil as counter/reference electrode, with 1M LiPF6 in ethylene carbonate, diethyl carbonate, dimethyl carbonate solution (1:1:1, wt%) as electrolyte. Real-time stress evolution in the germanium thin-film electrodes during electrochemical lithiation/delithiation is measured by monitoring the substrate curvature using the multi-beam optical sensing method. Upon lithiation a-Ge undergoes extensive plastic deformation, with a peak compressive stress reaching as high as -0.76 +/- 0.05 GPa (mean +/- standard deviation). The compressive stress decreases with lithium concentration reaching a value of approximately -0.3 GPa at the end of lithiation. Upon delithiation the stress quickly became tensile and follows a trend that mirrors the behavior on compressive side; the average peak tensile stress of the lithiated Ge samples was approximately 0.83 GPa. The peak tensile stress data along with the SEM analysis was used to estimate a lower bound fracture resistance of lithiated Ge, which is approximately 5.3 J/m(2). It was also observed that the lithiated Ge is rate sensitive, i.e., stress depends on how fast or slow the charging is carried out. (C) The Author(s) 2015. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse of the work in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. All rights reserved.

Microstructure Formation in Dissimilar Metal Welds: Electron Beam Welding of Ti/Ni

We present results for electron beam welding of a binary Ti/Ni dissimilar metal couple. The difference in physical properties of the base metals and metallurgical features (thermodynamics and kinetics) of the system influence both macroscopic transport and microstructure development in the weld. Microstructures near the fusion interfaces are markedly different from those inside the weld region. At the Ti side, Ti2Ni dendrites are observed to grow toward the fusion interface, while in the Ni side, layered growth of gamma-Ni, Ni3Ti, and Ni3Ti + NiTi eutectic is observed. Different morphologies of the latter eutectic constitute the predominant microstructure inside the weld metal region. These results are compared and contrasted with those from laser welding of the same binary couple, and a scheme of solidification is proposed to explain the observations. This highlights notable departures from welding of similar and other dissimilar metals such as a significant asymmetry in heat transport that governs progress of solidification from each side of the couple, and a lack of unique liquidus isotherm characterizing the liquid-solid front.

Measurement of existing prestressing force in concrete structures through an embedded vibrating beam strain gauge

A steel frame is designed to measure the existing prestressing force in the concrete beams and slabs when embedded inside the concrete members. The steel frame is designed to work on the principles of a vibrating wire strain gauge and in the present study is referred to as a vibrating beam strain gauge (VBSG). The existing strain in the VBSG is evaluated using both frequency data on the stretched member and static strain corresponding to a fixed static load, measured using electrical strain gauges. The evaluated strain in the VBSG corresponds to the existing stain in the concrete surrounding the prestressing strands. The crack reopening load method is used to compute the existing prestressing force in the concrete members and is then compared with the existing prestressing force obtained from the VBSG at that section. Digital image correlation based surface deformation and change in neutral axis monitored by putting electrical strain gauges across the cross section, are used to compute the crack reopening load accurately. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An out-of-plane linear motion measurement system based on optical beam deflection

Measurement of out-of-plane linear motion with high precision and bandwidth is indispensable for development of precision motion stages and for dynamic characterization of mechanical structures. This paper presents an optical beam deflection (OBD) based system for measurement of out-of-plane linear motion for fully reflective samples. The system also achieves nearly zero cross-sensitivity to angular motion, and a large working distance. The sensitivities to linear and angular motion are analytically obtained and employed to optimize the system design. The optimal shot-noise limited resolution is shown to be less than one angstrom over a bandwidth in excess of 1 kHz. Subsequently, the system is experimentally realized and the sensitivities to out-of-plane motions are calibrated using a novel strategy. The linear sensitivity is found to be in agreement with theory. The angular sensitivity is shown to be over 7.5-times smaller than that of conventional OBD. Finally, the measurement system is employed to measure the transient response of a piezo-positioner, and, with the aid of an open-loop controller, reduce the settling time by about 90%. It is also employed to operate the positioner in closed-loop and demonstrate significant minimization of hysteresis and positioning error.

Electron Beam Surface Treatment. Part I: Surface Hardening of AISI D3 Tool Steel

The effects of electron beam surface hardening treatment on the microstructure and hardness of AISI D3 tool steel have been investigated in this paper. The results showed that the microstructure of the hardened layer consisted of martensite, a dispersion

Metallographic Sample Prepared by Ion Beam Etching

Ion beam etching technique was used to reveal the metallograhpic microstructure and interface morphology of electroplating chromium coating, in particular, whose substrate surface layer was treated in advance by laser quenching. Chemical etchings were, also conducted for comparison. The reveal microstructures were observed and analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. The results show that ion beam etching can reveal well the whole microstructures of composite coating-substrate materials.

A Study of Composite Beam with Shape Memory Alloy Arbitrarily Embedded under Thermal and Mechanical Loadings

The constitutive relations and kinematic assumptions on the composite beam with shape memory alloy (SMA) arbitrarily embedded are discussed and the results related to the different kinematic assumptions are compared. As the approach of mechanics of materials is to study the composite beam with the SMA layer embedded, the kinematic assumption is vital. In this paper, we systematically study the kinematic assumptions influence on the composite beam deflection and vibration characteristics. Based on the different kinematic assumptions, the equations of equilibrium/motion are different. Here three widely used kinematic assumptions are presented and the equations of equilibrium/motion are derived accordingly. As the three kinematic assumptions change from the simple to the complex one, the governing equations evolve from the linear to the nonlinear ones. For the nonlinear equations of equilibrium, the numerical solution is obtained by using Galerkin discretization method and Newton-Rhapson iteration method. The analysis on the numerical difficulty of using Galerkin method on the post-buckling analysis is presented. For the post-buckling analysis, finite element method is applied to avoid the difficulty due to the singularity occurred in Galerkin method. The natural frequencies of the composite beam with the nonlinear governing equation, which are obtained by directly linearizing the equations and locally linearizing the equations around each equilibrium, are compared. The influences of the SMA layer thickness and the shift from neutral axis on the deflection, buckling and post-buckling are also investigated. This paper presents a very general way to treat thermo-mechanical properties of the composite beam with SMA arbitrarily embedded. The governing equations for each kinematic assumption consist of a third order and a fourth order differential equation with a total of seven boundary conditions. Some previous studies on the SMA layer either ignore the thermal constraint effect or implicitly assume that the SMA is symmetrically embedded. The composite beam with the SMA layer asymmetrically embedded is studied here, in which symmetric embedding is a special case. Based on the different kinematic assumptions, the results are different depending on the deflection magnitude because of the nonlinear hardening effect due to the (large) deflection. And this difference is systematically compared for both the deflection and the natural frequencies. For simple kinematic assumption, the governing equations are linear and analytical solution is available. But as the deflection increases to the large magnitude, the simple kinematic assumption does not really reflect the structural deflection and the complex one must be used. During the systematic comparison of computational results due to the different kinematic assumptions, the application range of the simple kinematic assumption is also evaluated. Besides the equilibrium study of the composite laminate with SMA embedded, the buckling, post-buckling, free and forced vibrations of the composite beam with the different configurations are also studied and compared.

Gal(1-x)Mn(1-x)Sb Grown on GaSb with Mass-Analyzed Low-Energy Dual Ion Beam Deposition

The Ga1-xMnxSb samples were fabricated by the implantation of Mn ions into GaSb (1 0 0) substrate with mass-analyzed low-energy dual ion beam deposition system, and post-annealing. Auger electron spectroscopy depth profile of the Ga1-xMnxSb samples showed

Electron Beam Surface Remelting of AISI D2 Cold-Worked Die Steel

Electron beam surface remelting has been carried out on AISI D2 cold-worked die steel. The microstructure and hardening behavior of the electron beam surface remelted AISI D2 cold-worked die steel have been studied by means of optical microscopy and Vickers hardness testing. It was found that AISI D2 steel can be successfully surface hardened by electron beam surface remelting. This surface hardening effect can be attributed to microstructural refinement following electron beam surface remelting. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Cu原子簇触发形核下的深过冷Ag-Ge合金组织演变研究

采用玻璃包覆的方法获得具有较大过冷度的亚共晶、共晶以及过共晶Ag-Ge合金熔体,并通过高能离子束轰击Cu箔产生Cu原子团簇溅射到过冷合金熔体中来触发非均质形核过程.凝固后合金显微组织的分析结果表明:在深过冷合金熔体中引入Cu原子团簇,它对亚共晶、共晶以及过共晶Ag-Ge合金的显微组织演变有着不同的影响效果,分析了显微组织的演变规律与形成机制. The Ag-Ge alloy melts with deeply undercooled hypoeutectic, eutectic and hypereutectic were obtained via glass fluxing technique. The nucleation of the deeply undercooled alloy melts were triggered by atoms cluster sputtering on the surface of the melts. The atoms clusters were generated by an ion beam bombarding on the Cu foil fixed above the alloy melts. The resultant microstructure reveals that the induced atom clusters exert great influence on the microstructural evolution of the highly undercooled eutectic and hypereutectic Ag-Ge alloys, but no obvious influence on the highly undercooled hypoeutectic alloy. The microstructural evolution and formation mechanism were analyzed and discussed.