Corrosion and tribological performance of quasi-stoichiometric titanium containing carbo-nitride coatings

Zr, Nb and Si doped TiCN coatings, with (C+N)/(metal + Si) ratios of approximately 1, were deposited on stainless steel and Si wafer substrates using a cathodic arc technique in a mixture of N2 and CH4 gases. The coatings were comparatively analysed for elemental and phase composition, adhesion, anticorrosive properties and tribological performance at ambient and 250 °C. Zr, Nb and Si alloying contents in the coatings were in the range 2.9–9.6 at.%. All the coatings exhibited f.c.c. solid solution structures and had a 〈111〉 preferred orientation. In the adhesion tests conducted, critical loads ranged from 20 to 30 N, indicative of a good adhesion to substrate materials. The Ti based coatings with Nb or Si alloying elements proved to be resistant to corrosive attack in 3.5% NaCl and of these coatings the TiNbCN was found to have the best corrosion resistance. TiCN exhibited the best tribological performance at 250 °C, while at ambient temperatures it was TiNbCN. Abrasive and oxidative wear was found to be the main wear mechanism for all of the coatings. Of the tested coatings, TiNbCN coatings would be the most suitable candidate for severe service (high temperature, corrosive, etc.) applications

The dynamic range of the upgraded surface-detector stations of AugerPrime

The detection of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays by means of giant detector arrays is often limited by the saturation of the recorded signals near the impact point of the shower core at the ground, where the particle density dramatically increases. The saturation affects in particular the highest energy events, worsening the systematic uncertainties in the reconstruction of the shower characteristics. The upgrade of the Pierre Auger Observatory, called AugerPrime, includes the installation of an 1-inch Small PhotoMultiplier Tube (SPMT) inside each water-Cherenkov station (WCD) of the surface detector array. The SPMT allows an unambiguous measurement of signals down to about 250m from the shower core, thus reducing the number of events featuring a saturated station to a negligible level. In addition, a 3.8m2 plastic scintillator (Scintillator Surface Detector, SSD) is installed on top of each WCD. The SSD is designed to match the WCD (with SPMT) dynamic range, providing a complementary measurement of the shower components up to the highest energies. In this work, the design and performances of the upgraded AugerPrime surface-detector stations in the extended dynamic range are described, highlighting the accuracy of the measurements. A first analysis employing the unsaturated signals in the event reconstruction is also presented

Combined fit to the spectrum and composition data measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory including magnetic horizon effects

The measurements by the Pierre Auger Observatory of the energy spectrum and mass composition of cosmic rays can be interpreted assuming the presence of two extragalactic source populations, one dominating the flux at energies above a few EeV and the other below. To fit the data ignoring magnetic field effects, the high-energy population needs to accelerate a mixture of nuclei with very hard spectra, at odds with the approximate E$^{-2}$ shape expected from diffusive shock acceleration. The presence of turbulent extragalactic magnetic fields in the region between the closest sources and the Earth can significantly modify the observed CR spectrum with respect to that emitted by the sources, reducing the flux of low-rigidity particles that reach the Earth. We here take into account this magnetic horizon effect in the combined fit of the spectrum and shower depth distributions, exploring the possibility that a spectrum for the high-energy population sources with a shape closer to E$^{-2}$ be able to explain the observations