Prediction of spiralling in BTA deep-­hole drilling - estimating the system's eigenfrequencies

One serious problem in deep­hole drilling is the formation of a dynamic disturbance called spiralling which causes holes with several lobes. Since such lobes are a severe impairment of the bore hole quality the forma­tion of spiralling has to be prevented. Gessesse et al. [2] explain spiralling by the coincidence of bending modes and multiples of the rotation frequency. They derive this from an elaborate finite elements model of the process. In online measurements we detected slowly changing frequency patterns sim­ilar to those calculated by Gessesse et al. We therefore propose a method to estimate the parameters determining the change of frequencies over time from spectrogram data. This significantly simplifies the explanation of spi­ralling for practical applications compared to finite elements models which have to be correctly modified for each machine and tool assembly. It turns out that this simpler model achieves to explain the observed frequency pat­terns quite well. We use this for estimating the variation of the frequencies as good as pos­sible. This opens up the opportunity to prevent spiralling by e.g. changing the rotary frequency

Modelling and understanding of chatter

Recent analysis in chatter modelling of BTA deep­hole drilling consisted in phenomenological modelisation of relationships between the ob­ served time series and appearance of chatter during the process. Using the newly developed MEWMA control chart [4, 5], it has even been possible to predict the occurence of chatter about 30 to 50 mm in advance (i.e. up to one minute before the chatter starts). Unfortunately, no relationships between the machine and model param­eters have been detected. Therefore, in this paper a physical model of the boring bar is taken into account. Simulation studies of the regenerative pro­cess are performed. These simulated time series show the same characteristics as the data recorded during the drilling process and thus support the validity of our model. By running such simulations, we intend to find strategies for chatter prevention in future work

Measurement of the branching ratio for beta-delayed alpha decay of 16N

While the 12C(a,g)16O reaction plays a central role in nuclear astrophysics, the cross section at energies relevant to hydrostatic helium burning is too small to be directly measured in the laboratory. The beta-delayed alpha spectrum of 16N can be used to constrain the extrapolation of the E1 component of the S-factor; however, with this approach the resulting S-factor becomes strongly correlated with the assumed beta-alpha branching ratio. We have remeasured the beta-alpha branching ratio by implanting 16N ions in a segmented Si detector and counting the number of beta-alpha decays relative to the number of implantations. Our result, 1.49(5)e-5, represents a 24% increase compared to the accepted value and implies an increase of 14% in the extrapolated S-factor

Chemical Partitioning at Crystalline Defects in PtAu as a Pathway to Stabilize Electrocatalysts

Dissolution of electrocatalysts during long-term and dynamic operation is a challenging problem in energy conversion and storage devices such as fuel cells and electrolyzers. To develop stable electrocatalysts, we adopt the design concept of segregation engineering, which uses solute segregation prone to electrochemical dissolution at internal defects, i.e., grain boundaries and dislocations. We showcase the feasibility of this approach by stabilizing a model Pt catalyst with an addition of more noble Au (approximately 5 atomic percent). We characterized the defects' nanoscale structure and chemistry, and monitored the electrochemical dissolution of Pt and PtAu alloys by online inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Once segregated to defects, Au atoms can stabilize and hence passivate the most vulnerable sites against electrochemical dissolution and improve the stability and longevity of the Pt electrocatalysts by more than an order of magnitude. This opens pathways to use solute segregation to defects for the development of more stable nanoscale electrocatalysts, a concept applicable for a wide range of catalytic systems

Beta-delayed deuteron emission from 11Li: decay of the halo

The deuteron-emission channel in the beta-decay of the halo-nucleus 11Li was measured at the ISAC facility at TRIUMF by implanting post-accelerated 11Li ions into a segmented silicon detector. The events of interest were identified by correlating the decays of 11Li with those of the daughter nuclei. This method allowed the energy spectrum of the emitted deuterons to be extracted, free from contributions from other channels, and a precise value for the branching ratio B_d = 1.30(13) x 10-4 to be deduced for E(c.m.) > 200 keV. The results provide the first unambiguous experimental evidence that the decay takes place essentially in the halo of 11Li, and that it proceeds mainly to the 9Li + d continuum, opening up a new means to study of the halo wave function of 11Li.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Study of bound states in 12Be through low-energy 11Be(d,p)-transfer reactions

The bound states of 12Be have been studied through a 11Be(d,p)12Be transfer reaction experiment in inverse kinematics. A 2.8 MeV/u beam of 11Be was produced using the REX-ISOLDE facility at CERN. The outgoing protons were detected with the T-REX silicon detector array. The MINIBALL germanium array was used to detect gamma rays from the excited states in 12Be. The gamma-ray detection enabled a clear identification of the four known bound states in 12Be, and each of the states has been studied individually. Differential cross sections over a large angular range have been extracted. Spectroscopic factors for each of the states have been determined from DWBA calculations and have been compared to previous experimental and theoretical results