365 research outputs found
Thermal-barrier-coated turbine blade study
The effects of coating TBC on a CF6-50 stage 2 high-pressure turbine blade were analyzed with respect to changes in the mean bulk temperature, cooling air requirements, and high-cycle fatigue. Localized spallation was found to have a possible deleterious effect on low-cycle fatigue life. New blade design concepts were developed to take optimum advantage of TBCs. Process and material development work and rig evaluations were undertaken which identified the most promising combination as ZrO2 containing 8 w/o Y2O3 applied by air plasma spray onto a Ni22Cr-10Al-1Y bond layer. The bond layer was applied by a low-pressure, high-velocity plasma spray process onto the base alloy. During the initial startup cycles the blades experienced localized leading edge spallation caused by foreign objects
Solid solution decomposition and Guinier-Preston zone formation in Al-Cu alloys: A kinetic theory with anisotropic interactions
Using methods of statistical kinetic theory parametrized with
first-principles interatomic interactions that include chemical and strain
contributions, we investigated the kinetics of decomposition and microstructure
formation in Al-Cu alloys as a function of temperature and alloy concentration.
We show that the decomposition of the solid solution forming platelets of
copper, known as Guinier-Preston (GP) zones, includes several stages and that
the transition from GP1 to GP2 zones is determined mainly by kinetic factors.
With increasing temperature, the model predicts a gradual transition from
platelet-like precipitates to equiaxial ones and at intermediate temperatures
both precipitate morphologies may coexist.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Shear melting and high temperature embrittlement:theory and application to machining titanium
We describe a dynamical phase transition occurring within a shear band at
high temperature and under extremely high shear rates. With increasing
temperature, dislocation deformation and grain boundary sliding is supplanted
by amorphization in a highly localized nanoscale band, which allows massive
strain and fracture. The mechanism is similar to shear melting and leads to
liquid metal embrittlement at high temperature. From simulation, we find that
the necessary conditions are, lack of dislocation slip systems, low thermal
conduction and temperature near the melting point. The first two are exhibited
by bcc titanium alloys, and we show that the final one can be achieved
experimentally by adding low-melting point elements: specifically we use
insoluble rare earth metals (REMs). Under high shear, the REM becomes mixed
with the titanium, lowering the melting point within the shear band and
triggering the shear-melting transition. This in turn generates heat which
remains localized in the shear band due to poor heat conduction. The material
fractures along the shear band. We show how to utilize this transition in the
creation of new titanium-based alloys with improved machinability.Comment: Accepted for PR
Innate recognition of water bodies in echolocating bats
In the course of their lives, most animals must find different specific habitat and microhabitat types for survival and reproduction. Yet, in vertebrates, little is known about the sensory cues that mediate habitat recognition. In free flying bats the echolocation of insect-sized point targets is well understood, whereas how they recognize and classify spatially extended echo targets is currently unknown. In this study, we show how echolocating bats recognize ponds or other water bodies that are crucial for foraging, drinking and orientation. With wild bats of 15 different species (seven genera from three phylogenetically distant, large bat families), we found that bats perceived any extended, echo-acoustically smooth surface to be water, even in the presence of conflicting information from other sensory modalities. In addition, naive juvenile bats that had never before encountered a water body showed spontaneous drinking responses from smooth plates. This provides the first evidence for innate recognition of a habitat cue in a mammal
High temperature oxidation resistance in titanium-niobium alloys
Titanium alloys are ideally suited for use as lightweight structural materials, but their use at high temperature is severely restricted by oxidation. Niobium is known to confer oxidation-resistance, and here we disprove the normal explanation, that Nb5+ ions trap oxygen vacancies. Using density functional theory calculation, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) we show that Nb is insoluble in TiO2. In fact, the Ti–Nb surface has three-layer structure: the oxide itself, an additional Nb-depleted zone below the oxide and a deeper sublayer of enhanced Nb. Microfocussed X-ray diffraction also demonstrates recrystallization in the Nb-depleted zone. We interpret this using a dynamical model: slow Nb-diffusion leads to the build up of a Nb-rich sublayer, which in turn blocks oxygen diffusion. Nb effects contrast with vanadium, where faster diffusion prevents the build up of equivalent structures
Polycrystalline Yttrium Aluminum Garnet Fibers from Colloidal Sols
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66320/1/j.1151-2916.1995.tb08626.x.pd
Did tool-use evolve with enhanced physical cognitive abilities?
The use and manufacture of tools have been considered to be cognitively demanding and thus a possible driving factor in the evolution of intelligence. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that enhanced physical cognitive abilities evolved in conjunction with the use of tools, by comparing the performance of naturally tool-using and non-tool-using species in a suite of physical and general learning tasks. We predicted that the habitually tool-using species, New Caledonian crows and Galápagos woodpecker finches, should outperform their non-tool-using relatives, the small tree finches and the carrion crows in a physical problem but not in general learning tasks. We only found a divergence in the predicted direction for corvids. That only one of our comparisons supports the predictions under this hypothesis might be attributable to different complexities of tool-use in the two tool-using species. A critical evaluation is offered of the conceptual and methodological problems inherent in comparative studies on tool-related cognitive abilities
Ground state laser cooling using electromagnetically induced transparency
A laser cooling method for trapped atoms is described which achieves ground
state cooling by exploiting quantum interference in a driven Lambda-shaped
arrangement of atomic levels. The scheme is technically simpler than existing
methods of sideband cooling, yet it can be significantly more efficient, in
particular when several motional modes are involved, and it does not impose
restrictions on the transition linewidth. We study the full quantum mechanical
model of the cooling process for one motional degree of freedom and show that a
rate equation provides a good approximation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; v2: minor modifications to abstract, text and
figure captions; v3: few references added and rearranged; v4: One part
significantly changed, 1 figure removed, new equations; v5: typos corrected,
to appear in PR
Ti alloy with enhanced machinability in UAT turning
Metastable β-titanium alloys such as Ti 15V 3Al 3Cr 3Sn are of great technological interest thanks to their high fatigue strength-to-density ratio. However, their high hardness and poor machinability increase machining costs. Additionally, formation of undesirable long chips increases the machining time. To address those issues, a metastable β-titanium alloy (Ti 15V 3Al 3Cr 2Zr 0.9La) with enhanced machinability was developed to produce short chips even at low cutting speeds. A hybrid ultrasonically assisted machining technique, known to reduce cutting forces, was employed in this study. Cutting force components and surface quality of the finished work-pieces were analyzed for a range of cutting speeds in comparison with those for more traditional Ti 15V 3Al 3Cr 3Sn. The novel alloy demonstrated slightly improved machining characteristics at higher cutting speeds and is now ready for industrial applications
Fabrication and heating rate study of microscopic surface electrode ion traps
We report heating rate measurements in a microfabricated gold-on-sapphire
surface electrode ion trap with trapping height of approximately 240 micron.
Using the Doppler recooling method, we characterize the trap heating rates over
an extended region of the trap. The noise spectral density of the trap falls in
the range of noise spectra reported in ion traps at room temperature. We find
that during the first months of operation the heating rates increase by
approximately one order of magnitude. The increase in heating rates is largest
in the ion loading region of the trap, providing a strong hint that surface
contamination plays a major role for excessive heating rates. We discuss data
found in the literature and possible relation of anomalous heating to sources
of noise and dissipation in other systems, namely impurity atoms adsorbed on
metal surfaces and amorphous dielectrics.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
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