Effects of lattice mismatch on interfacial structures of liquid and solidified Al in contact with hetero-phase substrates: MD simulations

Published under licence in IOP Conference Series: Material Science and Engineering by IOP Publishing Ltd. Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.In this study, the effects of the misfit on in-plane structures of liquid Al and interfacial structure of solidified Al in contact with the heterophase substrates have been investigated, using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The MD simulations were conducted for Al/fcc (111) substrates with varied misfits. The order parameter and atomic arrangement indicated that the in-plane ordering of the liquid at the interface decreases significantly with an increase of the misfit, i.e., solid-like for small misfit and liquid-like for large misfit. Further, our MD simulation results revealed that a perfect orientation relationship forms at the interface between the substrate and the solidified Al for a misfit of less than -3% and the boundary is coherent. With an increase in the misfit, Shockley partial and extended dislocations form at the interface, and the boundary becomes a semi-coherent or low-angle twist boundary.EPSR

Biodegradation and growth characteristics of a toluene-degrading strain

A toluene-degrading strain was isolated from active sludge in this study. Both growth characteristic and the performance to degrade toluene by the strain in batch culture mode were evaluated. Results showed that the isolated strain presented a good ability to remove toluene with the maximum removal efficiency of 93.8%. Growth and toluene degradation occurred at 20 to 50°C but the optimum was found to be 30°C for both. The optimal pH for growth and toluene degradation was 6.5. Lower toluene concentrations (1.19 to 2.45 mg/l) promoted faster growth rates than higher concentrations (3.28 to 6.17 mg/l) during the first 20 h; this could be probably due to the substrate inhibition effects. The removal efficiencies of toluene (90 to 95%) were almost the same within the concentrations ranges (1.19 to 6.17 mg/l). Kinetic analysis results indicated that the biodegradation of toluene followed first-order kinetics, and the removal rate constant (k) was 0.0385. Finally, the isolated strain was identified as Pseudomonas sp. using 16S rDNA sequencing.Keywords: Biodegradation, growth characteristic, toluene, Pseudomonas

Kombi-Verdampferanlage zur Ausbildung von Chemiker/-innen und Ingenieur/-innen an der Ingenieurschule beider Basel

A pilot evaporation plant designed and built to train future chemists and process engineers at the Basle State Institute of Technology, Switzerland, is presented and first experiences from running it are discussed

Self-organized nanoscale pattern formation on vicinal Si(111) surfaces via a two-stage faceting transition

Journal ArticleWe demonstrate a self-organized pattern formation on vicinal Si(111) surfaces that are miscut toward the [211] direction. All the patterns, consisting of a periodic array of alternating (7 X 7) reconstructed terraces and step-bunched facets, have the same periodicity and facet structure, independent of the miscut angle, while the width of the facets increases linearly with miscut angle. We attribute such unique pattern formation to a surface faceting transition that involves two transition stages: the first stage forms a stress-domain structure defining the universal periodicity; the second stage forms the low-energy facets controlling the facet width

Praxisnahe Ausbildung in Technik und Betrieb an der Abteilung Chemie der Ingenieurschule beider Basel

Practice-oriented training in technical theory and operational procedures in the Chemisty Department of the Basle State Institute of Technology, Switzerland. The process technology center is presented

Evidence for Universal Earthquake Rupture Initiation Behavior

Earthquake onsets provide a unique opportunity to study physical rupture processes because they are more easily observable than later rupture stages. Despite this relative simplicity, the observational basis for rupture onsets is unclear. Numerous reports of evidence for magnitude-dependent rupture onsets (which imply deterministic rupture behavior, e.g. Colombelli et al., 2014) stand in contradiction to a large body of physics-based rupture modeling efforts, which are mostly based on inherently non-deterministic principles (e.g. Rice, 1993). Here we make use of the abundance of short-distance recordings available today; a magnitude-dependency of onsets should appear most prominently in such recordings. We use a simple method to demonstrate that all ruptures in the studied magnitude range (4 < M < 8) share a universal initial rupture behavior and discuss ensuing implications for physical rupture processes and earthquake early warning

Resonant Charge Transfer In Symmetric Alkali-ion Alkali-atom Collisions

Resonant charge transfer in alkali-ion alkali-atom collisions is investigated by using the molecular-orbital expansion method incorporating the use of electron translation factors. Molecular wave functions and eigen energies are obtained by the pseudopotential method. Molecular properties, Re, De, and e, obtained in the present calculation are in good accord with other recent theoretical results, as well as spectroscopic measurements. Three-state close-coupling calculations reproduce the positions of the maxima and minima in the oscillatory structure seen experimentally in the resonant-charge-transfer cross sections for the Li2 + and Cs2 + systems. The magnitude of the total cross sections and their velocity dependence are in agreement with experimental measurements. © 1986 The American Physical Society