Generation of powerful microwave voltage oscillations in a diffused silicon diode

The mechanism of the generation of powerful microwave voltage oscillations in a diffused silicon diode is studied. A reverse current 2 kA in amplitude is passed through a 0.5-cm2 diode with a structure thickness of 320 μm, a p-n junction depth of 220 μm. At an average diode voltage of ∼300 V and a microwave pulse duration of ∼200 ns, the maximum voltage swing reaches 480 V. The oscillation frequency lies in the range 5 to 7 GHz; the power of the microwave pulse component is ∼300 kW. A theoretical consideration shows that voltage oscillations are caused by periodically repeating processes of breakdown and structure filling with plasma followed by its removal by the reverse current. The frequency and voltage swing are controlled by the current density and dopant-concentration gradient in the vicinity of the p-n junction. © 2013 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

Estimating degradation of strength of neat PEEK and PEEK-CF laminates under cyclic loading by mechanical hysteresis loops

A method for assessing the degradation of mechanical properties of neat polyetheretherketone and its laminated composite reinforced with unidirectional carbon fibers is proposed. It is based on the calculation of the maximum and minimum strains in a cycle, as well as both dynamic and secant moduli estimated from mechanical hysteresis loops. These parameters reflect the material damage degree, enabling to predict its current mechanical state

Automatic selection of a subset size at vector fields construction

An algorithm for selection of the size of a correlation kernel at displacement vector field construction by the method of digital image correlation has been proposed. The algorithm has been tested on simulated and experimental optical images having different texture. The influence of the correlation kernel size and image texture on nose immunity at determining displacements has been studied. It is shown that the proposed algorithm allows to find this size providing the minimum error when determination of displacements and estimation of deformation

The algorithm of crack and crack tip coordinates detection in optical images during fatigue test

An algorithm of crack detection during fatigue testing of materials, designed to automate the process of cyclic loading and tracking the crack tip, is proposed and tested. The ultimate goal of the study is aimed at controlling the displacements of the optical system with regard to the specimen under fatigue loading to ensure observation of the 'area of interest'. It is shown that the image region that contains the crack may be detected and positioned with an average error of 1.93%. In terms of determining the crack tip position, the algorithm provides the accuracy of its localization with the average error value of 56 pixels

Lamb wave ultrasonic evaluation of welded AA2024 specimens at tensile static and fatigue testing

The paper deals with the investigation of Lamb waves ultrasonic testing technique applied for evaluation of different stress-strain and damaged state of aluminum specimens at static and fatigue loading in order to develop a Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) approach. The experimental results of tensile testing of AA2024T3 specimens with welded joints are presented. Piezoelectric transducers used as actuators and sensors were adhesively bonded to the specimen's surface using two component epoxy. The set of static and cyclic tensile tests with two frequencies of acoustic testing (50 kHz and 335 kHz) were performed. The recorded signals were processed to calculate the maximum envelope in order to evaluate the changes of the stress-strain state of the specimen and its microstructure during static tension. The registered data are analyzed and discussed in terms of signal attenuation due to the formation of fatigue defects during cyclic loading. Understanding the relations between acoustic signal features and fatigue damages will provide us the ability to determine the damage state of the structure and its residual lifetime in order to design a robust SHM system

Application of Lucas-Kanade algorithm with weight coefficient bilateral filtration for the digital image correlation method

Application of bilateral filer weight coefficients for computing the weight function in Lucas-Kanade algorithm for optical flow determination is proposed. The obtained results based on processing different image types demonstrate the error reduction in optical flow determination. The approach to weight function parameters selection for bilateral filter is proposed and investigated

Application of a Lamb waves based technique for structural health monitoring of GFRP undercyclic loading

A Lamb wave based ultrasonic technique as well as optical image characterization was utilized to estimate a current mechanical state of glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) under cyclic tension. The ultrasonic acoustic method was applied in a 'pitch-catch' mode using piezoelectric transducers adhesively bonded onto a specimen surface. Numerical evaluation of acoustic data was performed by calculating two informative parameters: maximum of amplitude of the received signal and variance of signal envelopes. Optical images were registered and then analysed by calculating Shannon entropy that makes it possible to characterize changing of GFRP specimen translucency. The obtained results were treated in order to find out the relation between the current mechanical state of a specimen and informative parameter values being computed from the acoustic and optical signals