Design of Progressively Folding Thin-Walled Tubular Components Using Compliant Mechanism Synthesis

This work introduces a design method for the progressive collapse of thin-walled tubular components under axial and oblique impacts. The proposed design method follows the principles of topometry optimization for compliant mechanism design in which the output port location and direction determine the folding (collapse) mode. In this work, the output ports are located near the impact end with a direction that is perpendicular to the component's longitudinal axis. The topometry optimization is achieved with the use of hybrid cellular automata for thin-wall structures. The result is a complex enforced buckle zone design that acts as a triggering mechanism to (a) initiate a specific collapse mode from the impact end, (b) stabilize the collapse process, and (c) reduce the peak force. The enforced buckle zone in the end portion of the tube also helps to avoid or delay the onset of global bending during an oblique impact with load angles higher than a critical value, which otherwise adversely affects the structure's capacity for load-carrying and energy absorption. The proposed design method has the potential to dramatically improve thin-walled component crashworthiness

Electron paramagnetic resonance studies of the insulating ferromagnetic manganite Nd_0.8Pb_0.2MnO_3 above the transition temperature

Single crystals of Nd_{1-x}Pb_{x}MnO_{3} with x=0.2 are grown by high temperature solution growth technique using PbO-PbF_{2} flux. Magnetization studies on the samples show a transition to a ferromagnetic state below T_c ~ 125 K and the resistivity measurements show it to be an insulator throughout the temperature range 50 - 300 K. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance studies have been performed for T > T_{C} with a view to comparing the results with those on metallic ferromagnetic manganites. The temperature dependence of various parameters like g-value, linewidth and intensity has been studied in the temperature range 150 - 300 K. It is found that they behave in a manner similar to that exhibited by metallic ferromagnetic manganites.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Overcharging: The Crucial Role of Excluded Volume

In this Letter we investigate the mechanism for overcharging of a single spherical colloid in the presence of aqueous salts within the framework of the primitive model by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations as well as integral-equation theory. We find that the occurrence and strength of overcharging strongly depends on the salt-ion size, and the available volume in the fluid. To understand the role of the excluded volume of the microions, we first consider an uncharged system. For a fixed bulk concentration we find that upon increasing the fluid particle size one strongly increases the local concentration nearby the colloidal surface and that the particles become laterally ordered. For a charged system the first surface layer is built up predominantly by strongly correlated counterions. We argue that this a key mechanism to produce overcharging with a low electrostatic coupling, and as a more practical consequence, to account for charge inversion with monovalent aqueous salt ions.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figs (4 EPS files). To appear in Europhysics Letter

The Transversarium-Bifurcatus Zone boundary at Rocha (Peral area, East-Central Algarve, Portugal)

This paper represents the first detailed study of the Transversarium-Bifurcatus Zone boundary in the Algarve. The boundary studied in the Peral area is associated with a stratigraphic discontinuity, whose hiatus partially affects the Transversarium-Bifurcatus Zones. A discontinuity was also recognized in the Bifurcatus-Birnammatum Zone boundary, which can be correlated with the traces of a Type II unconformity, which separates cycles 4.3-4.4 in HAQ et al. (1987), present on the South Iberian palaeomargin. An analysis was made of the ecostratigraphic evolution in the interval between the uppermost Transversarium Zone and the lower part of the Bimammatum Zone on the basis of the faunal spectra obtained. We conclude that ammonites are the most tolerant cephalopods to the ecological stress caused by the increase of inflows and the decrease of the shelf's ecospace. Benthic fauna decreased considerably in these conditions. A relatively abundant and diversified fauna ofDichotomoceras is noteworthy among the ammonites collected, as this genus was previously little known in the Algarve

Competing Jahn Teller distortions and ferrimagnetic ordering in the geometrically frustrated system Ni1 xCuxCr2O4

Competing Jahn Teller distortions combined with geometrical frustration give rise to a rich phase diagram as a function of x Cu and temperature in the spinel system Ni1 xCuxCr2O4. The Jahn Teller distortion of the end members acts in opposite ways, with an elongation of the NiO4 tetrahedra resulting in a structural transition at TS1 317K in NiCr2O4, but a flattening in the CuO4 tetrahedra at TS1 846K in CuCr2O4. In both cases the symmetry is lowered from cubic Fd 3m to tetragonal I41 amd on cooling. In order to follow the influence of Jahn Teller active Ni2 and Cu2 ions on the structural and magnetic properties of chromium spinels, we have investigated a series of samples of Ni1 xCuxCr2O4 by x ray and neutron powder diffraction. In the critical range 0.10 lt; x Cu lt; 0.20, strong orthorhombic distortions were observed, where competing Jahn Teller activities between the Cu2 and Ni2 ions result in distortions along both the a and c axes. For Ni0.85Cu0.15Cr2O4, the orthorhombic structure Fddd is stabilized up to TS2 368 2 K, close to the first structural phase transition at TS1 374 2 K. A ferrimagnetic spin alignment of the Ni Cu and chromium atoms sets in at much lower temperature TC 95K in this compound. The end members NiCr2O4 and CuCr2O4 undergo this ferrimagnetic transition at TC 74 and 135 K, respectively. These transitions are accompanied by the structural change to the orthorhombic symmetry which relieves the frustration. NiCr2O4 and Ni0.85Cu0.15Cr2O4 undergo a second magnetic transition at TM2 24 and 67K due to a superimposed antiferromagnetic ordering of the Cr moments resulting in a noncollinear magnetic structure. In the system Ni1 xCuxCr2O4, the magnetic transitions TC and TM2 merge with increasing copper content up to x Cu similar to 0.5. For the Ni rich chromites, geometrical frustration causes a strong reduction of the chromium moments, where magnetic long range order coexists with a disordered spin liquid like or a reentrant spin glass like state. This paper provides insight into the interplay between the Jahn Teller effect, geometrical frustration, and long range magnetic order in these complex system