Short Fatigue Crack Growth at Different Maintenance Times for LZ50 Steel

Based on the average fatigue life of LZ50 axle steel specimens without surface rolling, five maintenance times were determined. Accordingly, five groups of specimens were turned and rolled at above maintenance times and were fatigued using a replica technique. The results show that the crack growth rate is much lower than that before rolling at a given dominant short crack size. The effective short crack density of all specimens decreases significantly after maintenance. However, with the postponement of surface maintenance, the highest effective short crack density for the five studied groups of specimens increases continuously, while the average fatigue life decreases gradually. A maintenance time effect function is presented to refine a short crack growth model described previously. The revifined model can include a significant effect of the maintenance time on short crack growth and predict its patterns at different maintenance times with exiting test results for LZ50 axle steel.На основании средней усталостной долговечности образцов осевой стали LZ50, не подвергавшихся поверхностной обкатке роликами, были определены пять модельных межремонтных циклов. Соответственно пять групп образцов были обточены и обкатаны роликами при вышеуказанных межремонтных циклах и подвергнуты испытанию на усталость по методу реплик. Результаты показывают, что скорость роста трещин гораздо ниже таковой до обкатки роликами при заданном преобладающем размере коротких трещин. Эффективная плотность коротких трещин для всех образцов значительно уменьшается после обработки. Однако если поверхностную обработку вовремя не выполняют, наибольшая эффективная плотность коротких трещин для пяти исследуемых групп образцов непрерывно возрастает, тогда как средняя усталостная долговечность постепенно снижается. Приведена функция, описывающая эффект межремонтных циклов, для уточнения предложенной ранее модели роста коротких трещин. Уточненная модель может учитывать существенное влияние межремонтного цикла на рост коротких трещин и прогнозировать характер их роста при различных межремонтных циклах на основании полученных результатов испытаний осевой стали LZ50

Multi-terminal Electron Transport Through Single Phenalenyl Molecule: A Theoretical Study

We do parametric calculations to elucidate multi-terminal electron transport properties through a molecular system where a single phenalenyl molecule is attached to semi-infinite one-dimensional metallic leads. A formalism based on the Green's function technique is used for the calculations while the model is described by tight-binding Hamiltonian. We explore the transport properties in terms of conductance, reflection probability as well as current-voltage characteristic. The most significant feature we articulate is that all these characteristics are very sensitive to the locations where the leads are connected and also the molecule-to-lead coupling strengths. The presence of other leads also has a remarkable effect on these transport properties. We study these phenomena for two-, three- and four-terminal molecular systems. Our numerical study may be utilized in designing tailor-made molecular electronic devices.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figure

A Probabilistic Model for Describing Short Fatigue Crack Growth Behavior of LZ50 Steel

Fatigue damage process of metal components and structures with smooth surface belongs primarily to stage of short fatigue crack. To characterize the random growth behavior of short fatigue crack and to apply the crack growth rate model for engineering safety assessment, a probabilistic model is proposed with consideration of the test data scattering regularity. This probabilistic model is based on the multi-microstructural barriers model and can describe the deceleration behavior of growth rate during the whole short fatigue crack propagation process. To take the statistical characteristics of whole test data into account, the idea from the general maximum likelihood method which is widely used in parameters estimation of fatigue S-N curves and ε-N curves is inherited. While estimating the parameters of the probabilistic model, conventional correlation coefficient optimization method is extended for calculating the parameters of both the mean curve and the standard deviation curve. Analysis on the test data of LZ50 steel indicates the reasonability and availability of present model

Structural and dielectric properties of Sr2_{2}TiO4_{4} from first principles

We have investigated the structural and dielectric properties of Sr$_{2}$TiO$_{4}$,the first member of the Sr$_{n+1}$Ti$_{n}$O$_{3n+1}$ Ruddlesden-Popper series, within density functional theory. Motivated by recent work in which thin films of Sr$_{2}$TiO$_{4}$ were grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) on SrTiO$_{3}$ substrates, the in-plane lattice parameter was fixed to the theoretically optimized lattice constant of cubic SrTiO$_{3}$ (n=$\infty$), while the out-of-plane lattice parameter and the internal structural parameters were relaxed. The fully relaxed structure was also investigated. Density functional perturbation theory was used to calculate the zone-center phonon frequencies, Born effective charges, and the electronic dielectric permittivity tensor. A detailed study of the contribution of individual infrared-active modes to the static dielectric permittivity tensor was performed. The calculated Raman and infrared phonon frequencies were found to be in agreement with experiment where available. Comparisons of the calculated static dielectric permittivity with experiments on both ceramic powders and epitaxial thin films are discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, 8 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Electrical transport and magnetic properties of nanostructured La0.67Ca0.33MnO3

Nanostructured La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 (NS-LCMO) was formed by pulsed-laser deposition on the surface of porous Al2O3. The resistance peak temperature (Tp) of the NS-LCMO increases with increasing average thickness of the films, while their Curie temperatures (Tc) remain unchanged. The coercive field of the samples increases with decreasing film thickness and its temperature dependence can be well described by Hc(T) = Hc(0)[1-(T/TB)1/2]. A large magnetoresistance and strong memory effect were observed for the NS-LCMO. The results are discussed in terms of the size effect, Coulomb blockade and magnetic tunneling effect. This work also demonstrates a new way to get nanostructured manganites

Critical exponents and equation of state of the three-dimensional Heisenberg universality class

We improve the theoretical estimates of the critical exponents for the three-dimensional Heisenberg universality class. We find gamma=1.3960(9), nu=0.7112(5), eta=0.0375(5), alpha=-0.1336(15), beta=0.3689(3), and delta=4.783(3). We consider an improved lattice phi^4 Hamiltonian with suppressed leading scaling corrections. Our results are obtained by combining Monte Carlo simulations based on finite-size scaling methods and high-temperature expansions. The critical exponents are computed from high-temperature expansions specialized to the phi^4 improved model. By the same technique we determine the coefficients of the small-magnetization expansion of the equation of state. This expansion is extended analytically by means of approximate parametric representations, obtaining the equation of state in the whole critical region. We also determine a number of universal amplitude ratios.Comment: 40 pages, final version. In publication in Phys. Rev.

Identification of a Robust Methylation Classifier for Cutaneous Melanoma Diagnosis

Early diagnosis improves melanoma survival, yet the histopathological diagnosis of cutaneous primary melanoma can be challenging, even for expert dermatopathologists. Analysis of epigenetic alterations, such as DNA methylation, that occur in melanoma can aid in its early diagnosis. Using a genome-wide methylation screening, we assessed CpG methylation in a diverse set of 89 primary invasive melanomas, 73 nevi, and 41 melanocytic proliferations of uncertain malignant potential, classified based on interobserver review by dermatopathologists. Melanomas and nevi were split into training and validation sets. Predictive modeling in the training set using ElasticNet identified a 40-CpG classifier distinguishing 60 melanomas from 48 nevi. High diagnostic accuracy (area under the receiver operator characteristic curve = 0.996, sensitivity = 96.6%, and specificity = 100.0%)was independently confirmed in the validation set (29 melanomas, 25 nevi)and other published sample sets. The 40-CpG melanoma classifier included homeobox transcription factors and genes with roles in stem cell pluripotency or the nervous system. Application of the 40-CpG melanoma classifier to the diagnostically uncertain samples assigned melanoma or nevus status, potentially offering a diagnostic tool to assist dermatopathologists. In summary, the robust, accurate 40-CpG melanoma classifier offers a promising assay for improving primary melanoma diagnosis

Stability and collapse of localized solutions of the controlled three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation

On the basis of recent investigations, a newly developed analytical procedure is used for constructing a wide class of localized solutions of the controlled three-dimensional (3D) Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) that governs the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). The controlled 3D GPE is decomposed into a two-dimensional (2D) linear Schr\"{o}dinger equation and a one-dimensional (1D) nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation, constrained by a variational condition for the controlling potential. Then, the above class of localized solutions are constructed as the product of the solutions of the transverse and longitudinal equations. On the basis of these exact 3D analytical solutions, a stability analysis is carried out, focusing our attention on the physical conditions for having collapsing or non-collapsing solutions.Comment: 21 pages, 14 figure