Radial furnace shows promise for growing straight boron carbide whiskers

Radial furnace, with a long graphite vaporization tube, maintains a uniform thermal gradient, favoring the growth of straight boron carbide whiskers. This concept seems to offer potential for both the quality and yield of whiskers

Deformations and dilations of chaotic billiards, dissipation rate, and quasi-orthogonality of the boundary wavefunctions

We consider chaotic billiards in d dimensions, and study the matrix elements M_{nm} corresponding to general deformations of the boundary. We analyze the dependence of |M_{nm}|^2 on \omega = (E_n-E_m)/\hbar using semiclassical considerations. This relates to an estimate of the energy dissipation rate when the deformation is periodic at frequency \omega. We show that for dilations and translations of the boundary, |M_{nm}|^2 vanishes like \omega^4 as \omega -> 0, for rotations like \omega^2, whereas for generic deformations it goes to a constant. Such special cases lead to quasi-orthogonality of the eigenstates on the boundary.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

The synthesis of boron carbide filaments final report

Synthesis, strength, crystal structure, and composite material formation of boron carbide whisker

Transformation toughened ceramics for the heavy duty diesel engine technology program

The objective of this program is to develop an advanced high temperature oxide structural ceramic for application to the heavy duty diesel engine. The approach is to employ transformation toughening by additions of ZrO.5HfO.5O2 solid solution to the oxide ceramics, mullite (2Al2O3S2SiO2) and alumina (Al2O3). The study is planned for three phases, each 12 months in duration. This report covers Phase 1. During this period, processing techniques were developed to incorporate the ZrO.5HfO.5O2 solid solution in the matrices while retaining the necessary metastable tetragonal phase. Modulus of rupture and of elasticity, coefficient of thermal expansion, fracture toughness by indent technique and thermal diffusivity of representative specimens were measured. In Phase 2, the process will be improved to provide higher mechanical strength and to define the techniques for scale up to component size. In Phase 3, full scale component prototypes will be fabri-]cated

Investigation of the reinforcement of ductile metals with strong, high modulus discontinuous brittle fibers Quarterly report

Factors affecting reinforcement of aluminum with boron carbide whisker

Study of the growth parameters involved in synthesizing boron carbide filaments Second quarterly report

Growth parameters in synthesis of boron carbide whisker

Parametric Evolution for a Deformed Cavity

We consider a classically chaotic system that is described by a Hamiltonian H(Q,P;x), where (Q,P) describes a particle moving inside a cavity, and x controls a deformation of the boundary. The quantum-eigenstates of the system are |n(x)>. We describe how the parametric kernel P(n|m) = , also known as the local density of states, evolves as a function of x-x0. We illuminate the non-unitary nature of this parametric evolution, the emergence of non-perturbative features, the final non-universal saturation, and the limitations of random-wave considerations. The parametric evolution is demonstrated numerically for two distinct representative deformation processes.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, improved introduction, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Statistical Properties of Random Banded Matrices with Strongly Fluctuating Diagonal Elements

The random banded matrices (RBM) whose diagonal elements fluctuate much stronger than the off-diagonal ones were introduced recently by Shepelyansky as a convenient model for coherent propagation of two interacting particles in a random potential. We treat the problem analytically by using the mapping onto the same supersymmetric nonlinear $\sigma-$model that appeared earlier in consideration of the standard RBM ensemble, but with renormalized parameters. A Lorentzian form of the local density of states and a two-scale spatial structure of the eigenfunctions revealed recently by Jacquod and Shepelyansky are confirmed by direct calculation of the distribution of eigenfunction components.Comment: 7 pages,RevTex, no figures Submitted to Phys.Rev.