980 research outputs found
Crumpling of a stiff tethered membrane
first-principles numerical simulation model for crumpling of a stiff tethered
membrane is introduced. In our model membranes, wrinkles, ridge formation,
ridge collapse, as well as the initiation of stiffness divergence, are
observed. The ratio of the amplitude and wave length of the wrinkles, and the
scaling exponent of the stiffness divergence, are consistent with both theory
and experiment. We observe that close to the stiffness divergence there appears
a crossover beyond which the elastic behavior of a tethered membrane becomes
similar to that of dry granular media. This suggests that ridge formation in
membranes and force-chain network formation in granular packings are different
manifestations of a single phenomenon.Comment: For full resolution figures, please send us an emai
Roughening of a propagating planar crack front
A numerical model of the front of a planar crack propagating between two connected elastic plates is investigated. The plates are modeled as square lattices of elastic beams. The plates are connected by similar but breakable beams with a randomly varying stiffness. The crack is driven by pulling both plates at one end in Mode I at a constant rate. We find ζ=1/3, z=4/3, and β=1/4 for the roughness, dynamical, and growth exponents, respectively, that describe the front behavior. This is similar to continuum limit analyses based on a perturbative stress-intensity treatment of the front [H. Gao and J. R. Rice, J. Appl. Mech. 56, 828 (1989)]. We discuss the differences to recent experiments.Peer reviewe
Synthesis and Theoretical Studies of Aromatic Azaborines
Organoboron compounds are well known for their use as synthetic building blocks in several significant reactions, e.g., palladium-catalyzed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling. As an element, boron is fascinating; as part of a molecule it structurally resembles a three-valent atom, but if there is a lone pair of electrons nearby, the boron atom’s empty p-orbital may capture the lone pair and form a covalent bond. This is the main aspect that is challenging chemistry during the synthesis of boron containing molecules and may lead into unexpected reactions and products. To study this, we synthesized and studied novel aromatic azaborines for better understanding of their structures and reactions. Here, we report a one-pot method for the synthesis of substituted aromatic azaborines and computational studies of their structure to explain their observed chemical properties.Peer reviewe
Magnetic nanocomposites at microwave frequencies
Most conventional magnetic materials used in the electronic devices are
ferrites, which are composed of micrometer-size grains. But ferrites have small
saturation magnetization, therefore the performance at GHz frequencies is
rather poor. That is why functionalized nanocomposites comprising magnetic
nanoparticles (e.g. Fe, Co) with dimensions ranging from a few nm to 100 nm,
and embedded in dielectric matrices (e.g. silicon oxide, aluminium oxide) have
a significant potential for the electronics industry. When the size of the
nanoparticles is smaller than the critical size for multidomain formation,
these nanocomposites can be regarded as an ensemble of particles in
single-domain states and the losses (due for example to eddy currents) are
expected to be relatively small. Here we review the theory of magnetism in such
materials, and we present a novel measurement method used for the
characterization of the electromagnetic properties of composites with
nanomagnetic insertions. We also present a few experimental results obtained on
composites consisting of iron nanoparticles in a dielectric matrix.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures, 5 table
Developing LCA-based benchmarks for sustainable consumption - for and with users
This article presents the development process of a consumer-oriented, illustrative benchmarking tool enabling consumers to use the results of environmental life cycle assessment (LCA) to make informed decisions. Active and environmentally conscious consumers and environmental communicators were identified as key target groups for this type of information. A brochure presenting the benchmarking tool was developed as an participatory, iterative process involving consumer focus groups, stakeholder workshops and questionnaire-based feedback. In addition to learning what works and what does not, detailed suggestions on improved wording and figures were obtained, as well as a wealth of ideas for future applications
3-(3-Bromophenyl)-7-acetoxycoumarin
In natural product synthesis, the procurement of easily accessible starting materials is crucial. Chromenones and their subclass, coumarins, are a wide family of small, oxygen-containing aromatic heterocycles. Phenylcoumarins offer a particularly excellent starting point for a diverse chemical space of natural products, and thus are excellent staring materials for more complex natural products. Herein, we report an efficient synthesis of an easily accessible 3-phenylcoumarin bearing two orthogonally substitutable groups, bromine, and an acetyl-protected phenylic hydroxyl group
Ferromagnetic resonance in -Co magnetic composites
We investigate the electromagnetic properties of assemblies of nanoscale
-cobalt crystals with size range between 5 nm to 35 nm, embedded in a
polystyrene (PS) matrix, at microwave (1-12 GHz) frequencies. We investigate
the samples by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging, demonstrating
that the particles aggregate and form chains and clusters. By using a broadband
coaxial-line method, we extract the magnetic permeability in the frequency
range from 1 to 12 GHz, and we study the shift of the ferromagnetic resonance
with respect to an externally applied magnetic field. We find that the
zero-magnetic field ferromagnetic resonant peak shifts towards higher
frequencies at finite magnetic fields, and the magnitude of complex
permeability is reduced. At fields larger than 2.5 kOe the resonant frequency
changes linearly with the applied magnetic field, demonstrating the transition
to a state in which the nanoparticles become dynamically decoupled. In this
regime, the particles inside clusters can be treated as non-interacting, and
the peak position can be predicted from Kittel's ferromagnetic resonance theory
for non-interacting uniaxial spherical particles combined with the
Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation. In contrast, at low magnetic fields
this magnetic order breaks down and the resonant frequency in zero magnetic
field reaches a saturation value reflecting the interparticle interactions as
resulting from aggregation. Our results show that the electromagnetic
properties of these composite materials can be tuned by external magnetic
fields and by changes in the aggregation structure.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure
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