Effects of surface chemistry on hot corrosion life

Hot corrosion life prediction methodology based on a combination of laboratory test data and field service turbine components, which show evidence of hot corrosion, were examined. Components were evaluated by optical metallography, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and electron micropulse (EMP) examination

Implications of binary black hole detections on the merger rates of double neutron stars and neutron star-black holes

We show that the inferred merger rate and chirp masses of binary black holes (BBHs) detected by advanced LIGO (aLIGO) can be used to constrain the rate of double neutron star (DNS) and neutron star - black hole (NSBH) mergers in the universe. We explicitly demonstrate this by considering a set of publicly available population synthesis models of \citet{Dominik:2012kk} and show that if all the BBH mergers, GW150914, LVT151012, GW151226, and GW170104, observed by aLIGO arise from isolated binary evolution, the predicted DNS merger rate may be constrained to be $2.3-471.0$~\rate~ and that of NSBH mergers will be constrained to $0.2-48.5$~\rate. The DNS merger rates are not constrained much but the NSBH rates are tightened by a factor of $\sim 4$ as compared to their previous rates. Note that these constrained DNS and NSBH rates are extremely model dependent and are compared to the unconstrained values $2.3-472.5$ \rate~ and $0.2-218$ \rate, respectively, using the same models of \citet{Dominik:2012kk}. These rate estimates may have implications for short Gamma Ray Burst progenitor models assuming they are powered (solely) by DNS or NSBH mergers. While these results are based on a set of open access population synthesis models which may not necessarily be the representative ones, the proposed method is very general and can be applied to any number of models thereby yielding more realistic constraints on the DNS and NSBH merger rates from the inferred BBH merger rate and chirp mass.Comment: 5 pages, no figures, 4 tables, v2: matches published versio

Where we stand on structure dependence of ISGMR in the Zr-Mo region: Implications on K_\infty

Isoscalar giant resonances, being the archetypal forms of collective nuclear behavior, have been studied extensively for decades with the goal of constraining bulk nuclear properties of the equation of state, as well as for modeling dynamical behaviors within stellar environments. An important such mode is the isoscalar electric giant monopole resonance (ISGMR) that can be understood as a radially symmetric density vibration within the saturated nuclear volume. The field has a few key open questions, which have been proposed and remain unresolved. One of the more provocative questions is the extra high-energy strength in the $A\approx 90$ region, which manifested in large percentages of the $E0$ sum rule in $^{92}$Zr and $^{92}$Mo above the main ISGMR peak. The purpose of this article is to introduce these questions within the context of experimental investigations into the phenomena in the zirconium and molybdenum isotopic chains, and to address, via a discussion of previously published and preliminary results, the implications of recent experimental efforts on extraction of the nuclear incompressibility from this data.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, invited to be submitted to a special issue of EPJA honoring Prof. P. F. Bortigno

On the kinetics of pack aluminization

A theory of pack aluminization has been formulated by combining gaseous and solid-state diffusion rates. This theory relates the surface composition of the coating and therefore, in principle, the phase morphology and the growth rate of the coating, to pack operating parameters such as pack aluminum density, type of activator, temperature and others. Experimental data on the aluminization of unalloyed nickel in pure aluminum packs obtained to date are in good agreement with the predictions of the theory

One-parameter scaling theory for DNA extension in a nanochannel

Experiments measuring DNA extension in nanochannels are at odds with even the most basic predictions of current scaling arguments for the conformations of confined semiflexible polymers such as DNA. We show that a theory based on a weakly self-avoiding, one-dimensional "telegraph" process collapses experimental data and simulation results onto a single master curve throughout the experimentally relevant region of parameter space and explains the mechanisms at play.Comment: Revised version. 5 pages, 4 figures, revised version, supplementary informatio