Deformation and spallation of shocked Cu bicrystals with Σ3 coherent and symmetric incoherent twin boundaries

We perform molecular dynamics simulations of Cu bicrystals with two important grain boundaries (GBs), Σ3 coherent twin boundaries (CTB), and symmetric incoherent twin boundaries (SITB) under planar shock wave loading. It is revealed that the shock response (deformation and spallation) of the Cu bicrystals strongly depends on the GB characteristics. At the shock compression stage, elastic shock wave can readily trigger GB plasticity at SITB but not at CTB. The SITB can induce considerable wave attenuation such as the elastic precursor decay via activating GB dislocations. For example, our simulations of a Cu multilayer structure with 53 SITBs (∼1.5-μm thick) demonstrate a ∼80% elastic shock decay. At the tension stage, spallation tends to occur at CTB but not at SITB due to the high mobility of SITB. The SITB region transforms into a threefold twin via a sequential partial dislocation slip mechanism, while CTB preserves its integrity before spallation. In addition, deformation twinning is a mechanism for inducing surface step during shock tension stage. The drastically different shock response of CTB and SITB could in principle be exploited for, or benefit, interface engineering and materials design

Left-right loading dependence of shock response of (111)//(112) Cu bicrystals: Deformation and spallation

We investigate with molecular dynamics the dynamic response of Cu bicrystals with a special asymmetric grain boundary (GB), (111)//(112)〈110〉, and its dependence on the loading directions. Shock loading is applied along the GB normal either from the left or right to the GB. Due to the structure asymmetry, the bicrystals demonstrate overall strong left-right loading dependence of its shock response, including compression wave features, compression and tensile plasticity, damage characteristics (e.g., spall strength), effective wave speeds and structure changes, except that spallation remains dominated by the GB damage regardless of the loading directions. The presence or absence of transient microtwinning also depends on the loading directions

Control of fine-structure splitting and excitonic binding energies in selected individual InAs/GaAs quantum dots

A systematic study of the impact of annealing on the electronic properties of single InAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) is presented. Single QD cathodoluminescence spectra are recorded to trace the evolution of one and the same QD over several steps of annealing. A substantial reduction of the excitonic fine-structure splitting upon annealing is observed. In addition, the binding energies of different excitonic complexes change dramatically. The results are compared to model calculations within eight-band k.p theory and the configuration interaction method, suggesting a change of electron and hole wave function shape and relative position.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Shock compression and spallation of single crystal tantalum

We present molecular dynamics simulations of shock-induced plasticity and spall damage in single crystal Ta described by a recently developed embedded-atom-method (EAM) potential and a volumedependent qEAM potential. We use impact or Hugoniotstat simulations to investigate the Hugoniots, deformation and spallation. Both EAM and qEAM are accurate in predicting, e.g., the Hugoniots and γ - surfaces. Deformation and spall damage are anisotropic for Ta single crystals. Our preliminary results show that twinning is dominant for [100] and [110] shock loading, and dislocation, for [111]. Spallation initiates with void nucleation at defective sites from remnant compressional deformation or tensile plasticity. Spall strength decreases with increasing shock strength, while its rate dependence remains to be explored

A Spectral Analysis of the Massalia Asteroid Family to Evaluate the L-Chondrite Source Hypothesis

A major research objective within asteroid science is to identify the source bodies of the meteorites. So far, possible or probable parent bodies have only been identified for a few meteorite types. These meteorite types include the H-type ordinary chon-drites [1,2], HEDs [3,4], pallasites [3], and mesosider-ites [5]. Identifying the parent bodies of meteorites helps to determine the location within the solar nebula where the geochemical processes, recorded in meteorites, took place. This has significantly increased our understanding of the evolution of the solar nebula and the early so-lar system [6]. Among the many meteorite types whose parent bodies are unknown are the L-chondrites. L-chondrites exhibit evidence of a shock event that occurred around 470 Ma, which implies that the L-chondrites resulted from an impact event which may have disrupted the L-chondrite parent body. This evidence is corroborated by fossil L-chondrite meteorites found in Ordovician sedimentary rocks dating to the same time period [7-12]. This suggests that if the source outcrop of the L-chondrites stills exists today, it is within an asteroid family. The Massalia asteroid family has been suggested to be a possible source of the L-chondrites [13]. We are currently testing this hypothesis. So far, we have observed fourteen Massalia family asteroids, analyzed their spectra, and interpreted their spectra to determine their meteorite analogues in an effort to see whether or not the analogues support our hypothesis. This abstract reports the initial results for seven of these bodies

Epithelial toll-like receptor 9 signaling in colorectal inflammation and cancer: Clinico-pathogenic aspects.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize specific motifs which are frequently present in bacteria, fungi, prokaryotes and viruses. Amongst TLRs, TLR9 can be activated by such bacterial or viral DNA fragments, immunoglobulin-DNA complexes or synthetic oligonucleotides, which all contain unmethylated cytosine-guanine nucleotide sequences (CpGs). Emerging data indicate that TLR9 signaling has a role in, and may influence, colorectal carcinogenesis and colonic inflammation. CpGs are classified into three groups according to their influence on both the antigen-specific humoral- and cellular immunity, and the production of type 1 interferons and proinflammatory cytokines. TLR9 activation via CpGs may serve as a new therapeutic target for several cancerous and various inflammatory conditions. Due to its probable anti-cancer effects, the application possibilities of TLR9-signaling modulation may be extremely diverse even in colorectal tumors. In this review we aimed to summarize the current knowledge about TLR-signaling in the pathogenesis and therapy of inflammatory bowel diseases and colorectal cancer. Due to the species-specific differences in TLR9 expression, however, one must be careful in translating the animal model data into the human system, because of the differences between CpG-oligodeoxynucleotide-responsive cells. TLR9 agonist DNA-based immunomodulatory sequences could also represent a promising therapeutic alternative in systemic inflammatory conditions and chronic colonic inflammations as their side effects are not significant

Fatigue analysis-based numerical design of stamping tools made of cast iron

This work concerns stress and fatigue analysis of stamping tools made of cast iron with an essentially pearlitic matrix and containing foundry defects. Our approach consists at first, in coupling the stamping numerical processing simulations and structure analysis in order to improve the tool stiffness geometry for minimizing the stress state and optimizing their fatigue lifetime. The method consists in simulating the stamping process by considering the tool as a perfect rigid body. The estimated contact pressure is then used as boundary condition for FEM structure loading analysis of the tool. The result of this analysis is compared with the critical stress limit depending on the automotive model. The acceptance of this test allows calculating the fatigue lifetime of the critical zone by using the S–N curve of corresponding load ratio. If the prescribed tool life requirements are not satisfied, then the critical region of the tool is redesigned and the whole simulation procedures are reactivated. This method is applied for a cast iron EN-GJS-600-3. The stress-failure (S–N) curves for this material is determined at room temperature under push pull loading with different load ratios R0σmin/σmax0−2, R0−1 and R00.1. The effects of the foundry defects are determined by SEM observations of crack initiation sites. Their presence in tested specimens is associated with a reduction of fatigue lifetime by a factor of 2. However, the effect of the load ratio is more important

Accelerating the dynamics of infrequent events: Combining hyperdynamics and parallel replica dynamics to treat epitaxial layer growth

During the growth of a surface, morphology-controlling diffusion events occur over time scales that far exceed those accessible to molecular dynamics (MD) simulation. Kinetic Monte Carlo offers a way to reach much longer times, but suffers from the fact that the dynamics are correct only if all possible diffusion events are specified in advance. This is difficult due to the concerted nature of many of the recently discovered surface diffusion mechanisms and the complex configurations that arise during real growth. Here the authors describe two new approaches for this type of problem. The first, hyperdynamics, is an accelerated MD method, in which the trajectory is run on a modified potential energy surface and time is accumulated as a statistical property. Relative to regular MD, hyperdynamics can give computational gains of more than 10{sup 2}. The second method offers a way to parallelize the dynamics efficiently for systems too small for conventional parallel MD algorithms. Both methods exploit the infrequent-event nature of the diffusion process. After an introductory description of these methods, the authors present preliminary results from simulations combining the two approaches to reach near-millisecond time scales on systems relevant to epitaxial metal growth