Effects of cascade-induced dislocation structures on the long-term microstructural evolution in tungsten

In recent years, a number of systematic investigations of high-energy collision cascades in tungsten employing advanced defect analysis tools have shown that interstitial clusters can form complex non-planar dislocation structures. These structures are sessile in nature and may potentially have a strong impact on the long-term evolution of the radiation microstructure. To clarify this aspect, we selected several representative primary damage states of cascades debris and performed annealing simulations using molecular dynamics (MD). We found that immobile complexes of non-planar dislocation structures (CDS) evolve into glissile and planar shaped 1/2 loops with an activation energy of similar to 1.5 eV. The CDS objects were implemented in an object kinetic Monte Carlo (OKMC) model accounting for the event of transformation into 1-D migrating loops, following the MD data. OKMC was then used to investigate the impact of the transformation event (and the associated activation energy) on the evolution of the microstructure.Peer reviewe

Factors of Non-Specific Protection of Oral Fluid in High School Children with Dental Anomalies

The article presents a comparative analysis of the factors of non-specific protection of oral fluid in children of high school age. The author determined the percentage of lymphocytes, monocytes, rod - and segmented neutrophils. These indicators were closely interrelated with the parameters of the oral microbiocenosis of sick children with dental anomalies

Bulk, surface and corner free energy series for the chromatic polynomial on the square and triangular lattices

We present an efficient algorithm for computing the partition function of the q-colouring problem (chromatic polynomial) on regular two-dimensional lattice strips. Our construction involves writing the transfer matrix as a product of sparse matrices, each of dimension ~ 3^m, where m is the number of lattice spacings across the strip. As a specific application, we obtain the large-q series of the bulk, surface and corner free energies of the chromatic polynomial. This extends the existing series for the square lattice by 32 terms, to order q^{-79}. On the triangular lattice, we verify Baxter's analytical expression for the bulk free energy (to order q^{-40}), and we are able to conjecture exact product formulae for the surface and corner free energies.Comment: 17 pages. Version 2: added 4 further term to the serie

The level of compliance of Russian and European rails standards on groups of indicators: the design and dimensions of rails

It is proved that the level of compliance of national and international standards determines the competitiveness of products. GOST R 51685–2013 «Railway rails. General technical conditions» is a new stage in the struggle for the competitiveness of domestic rails. The level of compliance of requirements imposed on the rails in the national standard GOST R 51685–2013 and the European Standard EN 13674–1–2011on the group of indicators: design and dimensions of the rails on the four-point of scale comparison is comparedДоказывется, что уровень соответствия требований национальных и международных стандартов определяет конкурентоспособность продукции. Утверждается, что ГОСТ Р 51685–2013 «Рельсы железнодорожные. Общие технические условия» – новая ступень в борьбе за конкурентоспособность отечественных рельсов. Сравнивается уровень соответствия требований, предъявляемых к рельсам, в национальном стандарте ГОСТ Р 51685–2013 и европейском стандарте EN 13674–1–2011, по группе показателей: конструкция и размеры рельсов по четырехбалльной шкале сравнени

The influence of carbon impurities on the formation of loops in tungsten irradiated with self-ions

The microstructure changes taking place in W under irradiation are governed by many factors, amongst which C impurities and their interactions with self-interstitial atoms (SIA). In this work, we specifically study this effect by conducting a dedicated 2-MeV self-ions irradiation experiment, at room temperature. Samples were irradiated up to 0.02, 0.15 and 1.2 dpa. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) expectedly revealed a large density of SIA loops at all these doses. Surprisingly, however, the loop number density increased in a non-monotonous manner with the received dose. Performing chemical analysis with secondary ion spectroscopy measurements (SIMS), we find that our samples were likely contaminated by C injection during the irradiation. Employing an object kinetic Monte Carlo (OKMC) model for microstructure evolution, we demonstrate that the C injection is the likely factor explaining the evolution of loops number density. Our findings highlight the importance of the well-known issue of C injection during ion irradiation experiments, and demonstrate how OKMC models can help to rationalize this effect.Peer reviewe

On the onset of void swelling in pure tungsten under neutron irradiation : An object kinetic Monte Carlo approach

We propose an object kinetic Monte Carlo (OKMC) model for describing the microstructural evolution in pure tungsten under neutron irradiation. We here focus on low doses ( under 1 dpa), and we neglect transmutation in first approximation. The emphasis is mainly centred on an adequate description of neutron irradiation, the subsequent introduction of primary defects, and their thermal diffusion properties. Besides grain boundaries and the dislocation network, our model includes the contribution of carbon impurities, which are shown to have a strong influence on the onset of void swelling. Our parametric study analyses the quality of our model in detail, and confronts its predictions with experimental microstructural observations with satisfactory agreement. We highlight the importance for an accurate determination of the dissolved carbon content in the tungsten matrix, and we advocate for an accurate description of atomic collision cascades, in light of the sensitivity of our results with respect to correlated recombination. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Galerkin and Runge–Kutta methods: unified formulation, a posteriori error estimates and nodal superconvergence

Abstract. We unify the formulation and analysis of Galerkin and Runge–Kutta methods for the time discretization of parabolic equations. This, together with the concept of reconstruction of the approximate solutions, allows us to establish a posteriori superconvergence estimates for the error at the nodes for all methods. 1

Field-induced Ordering in Critical Antiferromagnets

Transfer-matrix scaling methods have been used to study critical properties of field-induced phase transitions of two distinct two-dimensional antiferromagnets with discrete-symmetry order parameters: triangular-lattice Ising systems (TIAF) and the square-lattice three-state Potts model (SPAF-3). Our main findings are summarised as follows. For TIAF, we have shown that the critical line leaves the zero-temperature, zero -field fixed point at a finite angle. Our best estimate of the slope at the origin is $(dT_c/dH)_{T=H=0} = 4.74 \pm 0.15$. For SPAF-3 we provided evidence that the zero-field correlation length diverges as $\xi(T \to 0, H=0) \simeq \exp (a/T^{x})$, with $x=1.08 \pm 0.13$, through analysis of the critical curve at $H \neq 0$ plus crossover arguments. For SPAF-3 we have also ascertained that the conformal anomaly and decay-of-correlations exponent behave as: (a) H=0: $c=1, \eta=1/3$; (b) $H \neq 0: c=1/2, \eta=1/4$.Comment: RevTex, 7 pages, 4 eps figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.