Sintering of hierarchically-structured boron carbide for toughening and multi- functionality

Boron carbide is light-weight, is thermally stable, has high hardness/stiffness, and is multi-functional (semiconducting, thermoelectric, and high neutron absorption cross-section). Boron carbide has been of interest for applications in extreme environments, including turbine engines, protection armor against impact, heat, and radiation, but such application is currently limited due to its brittleness and low sinterability. The toughening of ceramics has been investigated for many years as a light-weight, thermally/chemically stable alternative to structural materials. Among many methods, ceramic micro-fibers implementation has been effective, and further toughening is expected though engineering of matrices, specifically by implementing intentionally weak interphases to provide locally controlled deformation and thus energy dissipation within matrices. For example, in the past we experimentally studied the potentials of nano-porosity introduction into ceramics on deformation behaviors, by indenting on a model system of anodic aluminum oxide. Normally, porosity in ceramics is regarded as the defect, but we identified that, when pore size is below 100 nm, nanopores deform in a controlled manner (collapse or shear band, see Figure 1a), contributing to fracture toughness increase. Meanwhile, introduction of nano-porosity resulted in stiffness and hardness decrease. Please download the PDF file for full content

Antidiabetic activities of Cassia occidentalis

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the anti-diabetic activities of Cassia occidentalis (Seena, coffee weed), a well known medicinal plant commonly found in India and other tropical countries. Various medicinal properties have been attributed to this plant in the traditional system of Indian medicine. The aqueous and methanolic extracts of aerial parts, viz. leaves, stem and seeds of the plant, Cassia occidentalis possessed anti-hyperglycemic/ anti-diabetic activity against alloxan-induced animal model. All aqueous-treated rats showed no discernible behavioral changes up to 3000 mg/kg by oral route. No mortality was observed at this dose during 72 h observation period. Amongst all the extracts, potent anti-diabetic activity was observed in aqueous extracts of leaves of C. occidentalis followed by aqueous extracts of seeds and aqueous extracts of stem. In normal animals, significant (p<0.05) reduction in the blood glucose level was observed by the aqueous extracts as compared to the control and methanolic extracts. However, treatment of methanolic extracts of aerial parts of C. occidentalis could not bring back the sugar to normal levels. Acute and chronic treatment of the aqueous extract of aerial parts of C. occidentalis (3000 mg/kg) in alloxan-induced diabetic rats resulted in a significant (p<0.05) decrease in the elevated blood glucose levels as compared to the control, there was significant reduction in blood glucose level in the group treated with glibenclamide at 0.5 mg/kg. The results showed that blood glucose level gets decreased after varying the dose level. Thus the findings confirmed that level of blood glucose gets normal in dose-dependent manner

A 5\u27-uridine Amplifies miRNA/miRNA* Asymmetry in Drosophila by Promoting RNA-induced Silencing Complex Formation

BACKGROUND: MicroRNA (miRNA) are diverse in sequence and have a single known sequence bias: they tend to start with uridine (U). RESULTS: Our analyses of fly, worm and mouse miRNA sequence data reveal that the 5\u27-U is recognized after miRNA production. Only one of the two strands can be assembled into Argonaute protein from a single miRNA/miRNA* molecule: in fly embryo lysate, a 5\u27-U promotes miRNA loading while decreasing the loading of the miRNA*. CONCLUSION: We suggest that recognition of the 5\u27-U enhances Argonaute loading by a mechanism distinct from its contribution to weakening base pairing at the 5\u27-end of the prospective miRNA and, as recently proposed in Arabidopsis and in humans, that it improves miRNA precision by excluding incorrectly processed molecules bearing other 5\u27-nt

High Thermal Conductivity NARloy-Z-Diamond Composite Combustion Chamber Liner For Advanced Rocket Engines

Advanced high thermal conductivity materials research conducted at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) with state of the art combustion chamber liner material NARloy-Z showed that its thermal conductivity can be increased significantly by adding diamond particles and sintering it at high temperatures. For instance, NARloy-Z containing 40 vol. percent diamond particles, sintered at 975C to full density by using the Field assisted Sintering Technology (FAST) showed 69 percent higher thermal conductivity than baseline NARloy-Z. Furthermore, NARloy-Z-40vol. percent D is 30 percent lighter than NARloy-Z and hence the density normalized thermal conductivity is 140 percent better. These attributes will improve the performance and life of the advanced rocket engines significantly. By one estimate, increased thermal conductivity will directly translate into increased turbopump power up to 2X and increased chamber pressure for improved thrust and ISP, resulting in an expected 20 percent improvement in engine performance. Follow on research is now being conducted to demonstrate the benefits of this high thermal conductivity NARloy-Z-D composite for combustion chamber liner applications in advanced rocket engines. The work consists of a) Optimizing the chemistry and heat treatment for NARloy-Z-D composite, b) Developing design properties (thermal and mechanical) for the optimized NARloy-Z-D, c) Fabrication of net shape subscale combustion chamber liner, and d) Hot fire testing of the liner for performance. FAST is used for consolidating and sintering NARlo-Z-D. The subscale cylindrical liner with built in channels for coolant flow is also fabricated near net shape using the FAST process. The liner will be assembled into a test rig and hot fire tested in the MSFC test facility to determine performance. This paper describes the development of this novel high thermal conductivity NARloy-Z-D composite material, and the advanced net shape technology to fabricate the combustion chamber liner. Properties of optimized NARloy-Z-D composite material will also be presented

Test and characterization of a prototype silicon-tungsten electromagnetic calorimeter

New generation high-energy physics experiments demand high precision tracking and accurate measurements of a large number of particles produced in the collisions of lementary particles and heavy-ions. Silicon-tungsten (Si-W) calorimeters provide the most viable technological option to meet the requirements of particle detection in high multiplicity environments. We report a novel Si-W calorimeter design, which is optimized for $\gamma/\pi^0$ discrimination up to high momenta. In order to test the feasibility of the calorimeter, a prototype mini-tower was constructed using silicon pad detector arrays and tungsten layers. The performance of the mini-tower was tested using pion and electron beams at the CERN Proton Synchrotron (PS). The experimental results are compared with the results from a detailed GEANT-4 simulation. A linear relationship between the observed energy deposition and simulated response of the mini-tower has been obtained, in line with our expectations.Comment: 13 figures, represents test beam data with PS beam line at CER

Fabrication of High Thermal Conductivity NARloy-Z-Diamond Composite Combustion Chamber Liner for Advanced Rocket Engines

This paper describes the process development for fabricating a high thermal conductivity NARloy-Z-Diamond composite (NARloy-Z-D) combustion chamber liner for application in advanced rocket engines. The fabrication process is challenging and this paper presents some details of these challenges and approaches used to address them. Prior research conducted at NASA-MSFC and Penn State had shown that NARloy-Z-40%D composite material has significantly higher thermal conductivity than the state of the art NARloy-Z alloy. Furthermore, NARloy-Z-40 %D is much lighter than NARloy-Z. These attributes help to improve the performance of the advanced rocket engines. Increased thermal conductivity will directly translate into increased turbopump power, increased chamber pressure for improved thrust and specific impulse. Early work on NARloy-Z-D composites used the Field Assisted Sintering Technology (FAST, Ref. 1, 2) for fabricating discs. NARloy-Z-D composites containing 10, 20 and 40vol% of high thermal conductivity diamond powder were investigated. Thermal conductivity (TC) data. TC increased with increasing diamond content and showed 50% improvement over pure copper at 40vol% diamond. This composition was selected for fabricating the combustion chamber liner using the FAST technique

Fabrication of Lightweight Radiation Shielding Composite Materials by Field Assisted Sintering Technique (FAST)

Advances in radiation shielding technologies are needed to protect humans and electronic components from all threats of space radiation over long durations. In this paper, we report on the use of the innovative and novel fabrication technology known as Field Assisted Sintering Technology (FAST) to fabricate lightweight material with enhanced radiation shielding strength to safeguard humans and electronics suitable for next generation space exploration missions. The base materials we investigated were aluminum (Al), the current standard material for space hardware, and Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE), which has high hydrogen content and resistance to nuclear reaction from neutrons, making it a good shielding material for both gamma radiation and particles. UHMWPE also has high resistance to corrosive chemicals, extremely low moisture sensitivity, very low coefficient of friction, and high resistance to abrasion. We reinforced the base materials by adding high density (ie, high atomic weight) metallic material into the composite. These filler materials included: boron carbide (B4C), tungsten (W), tungsten carbide (WC) and gadolinium (Gd)