1,094 research outputs found
Electronic Selection Rules Controlling Dislocation Glide in bcc Metals
The validity of the structure-property relationships governing the
deformation behavior of bcc metals was brought into question with recent {\it
ab initio} density functional studies of isolated screw dislocations in Mo and
Ta. These existing relationships were semiclassical in nature, having grown
from atomistic investigations of the deformation properties of the groups V and
VI transition metals. We find that the correct form for these
structure-property relationships is fully quantum mechanical, involving the
coupling of electronic states with the strain field at the core of long
screw dislocations.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Dislocation Screening and the Brittle-to-Ductile Transition: A Kosterlitz-Thouless Type Instability
We propose a new model for the brittle-to-ductile transition based on the Kosterlitz-Thouless concept of dislocation screening. In this model, thermal fluctuations assisted by the applied stress drive the spontaneous generation of dislocations and the instability occurs well below the melting temperature. In the limit of zero stress, our model reduces to the Kosterlitz-Thouless theory of the melting transition, and, in the opposite limit of zero temperature, we obtain the Rice-Thomson result for the brittle-to-ductile transition
Dislocation/Twin/Interface Interactions during Deformation of PST TiAl Single Crystals, an AFM Study
PST TiAl crystals oriented such that the deformation axis lies in the (111) interfacial planes have been deformed in compression. This deformation produces so-called channeled flow in which the strain perpendicular to the (111) interfaces is zero, while the other two strains are equal and opposite in sign. Thus the sample simply shortens axially and spreads laterally in the channels defined by the (111) interfacial planes. We have examined the fine structure of deformation bands on the free surface of these deformed samples using AFM to see how the deformation processes interact with the boundaries. By measuring the offset angle at the surface we have been able to show that not only is the macroscopic displacement vector parallel to the lamellar boundaries, but the total shear vector in each layer is also parallel to the lamellar boundaries. However these deformation bands have very different characters, requiring complex deformation processes at the boundaries in order to satisfy this requirement. Some consist of either just super dislocations or just ordinary dislocations with Burgers vectors lying in the interface. But others consist of a special combination of twinning and ordinary dislocations in fixed ratio, such that the net shear vector also lies in the boundary, even though the individual twinning and dislocation shear directions are inclined to it. This results in deformation that is homogeneous and completely \u27channeled\u27 inside each lamella with no shear vector perpendicular to the lamellar boundaries. We have also shown that the cooperative twinning and slip is homogeneous on the nano-scale, i.e., the twinning and slip occurs in the same volume of material
Local Fluctuations and Ordering in Liquid and Amorphous Metals
A molecular-dynamics study of the structure and dynamics of monatomic liquids and glasses is presented. The local atomic structure and its development during the quenching process are analyzed in terms of fluctuations of atomic-level stresses and their correlations. This approach extends the basis for the description of the local structure from the usually employed scalar quantity, the local density fluctuation, to a tensorial quantity, the local stress fluctuation. It is shown here that the local stress fluctuations and their spatial and temporal correlations provide a detailed picture of the dynamics of the liquid and of the transition from an ideal fluid to a viscous liquid, and then to a glass. In particular, it is demonstrated that the shear stresses which are spatially uncorrelated at high temperatures become correlated below a temperature, Ts, which is about twice the glass transition temperature. At the same time the dynamic behavior of the liquid, characterized by the diffusivity, viscosity, and phonon states, changes sharply at this temperature. Implications of this apparent structural transition and its origin are then discussed
Strain-Rate Dependence of the Brittle-to-Ductile Transition Temperature in TiAl
The brittle-to-ductile transition (BDT) and the strain-rate dependence of the brittle-to-ductile transition temperature (BDTT) have been recently investigated in single crystals of TiAl [1]. It was found that the activation energy associated with the BDTT is 1.4 eV when the slip is dominated by ordinary dislocations and 4.9 eV when it is dominated by superdislocations. Despite this difference in the activation energies, the BDTT, while varying with the strain-rate, remains in the same temperature range, viz., between 516-750C and 635-685C for ordinary and superdislocations, respectively. In this paper, we examine how the activation energy of the BDTT can vary with the type of dislocation activity and explain why it can attain values which are clearly much larger than the activation energy for dislocation motion. We describe a strain-rate dependent mechanism of cooperative dislocation generation in loaded solids above a critical temperature and use it to explain the characteristics of the BDT in TiAl. We show that the activation energy associated with the BDTT is a composite value determined by two or more inter-dependent thermally activated processes and its magnitude can be much larger than the activation energy for dislocation motion in certain materials. The predictions of the model are in good agreement with observations in TiAl
The Isolation of Ecdysterone Inducible Genes by Hybridization Subtraction Chromatography
We have developed a procedure for selectively enriching a mRNA population for inducible sequences. Other than the induced mRNA species, the population of mRNA in control cells is approximately the same as the mRNA population in induced cells. Cytoplasmic mRNA from control cells is bound to oligo (dT)-cellulose and used as a template for reverse transcriptase, the oligo (dT) serving as a primer. After removing the template mRNAs, the cDNA-cellulose column is used to hybridize a population of mRNAs from induced cells. The non-hybridized poly A + RNAs are greatly enriched in the inducible sequences. We have used this technique of hybridization subtraction chromotography to select a mRNA population enriched for the mRNAs inducible by ecdysterone in Schneider\u27s Line 2 Drosophila cells. This population of RNAs was used to screen a recombinant library. Preliminary results indicate that approximately 10% of the RNA in the probe population represents ecdysterone inducible sequences. Methods are described for optimizing the cDNA synthesis reaction (we obtain ≥ 30% efficiency) and hybridizing RNA to the cDNA-cellulose resin. This method can be used to select induced mRNAs regardless of the way in which the induction is brought about
Apolipoprotein Mimetic Peptides: A New Approach for the Treatment of Asthma
New treatments are needed for severe asthmatics to improve disease control and avoid severe toxicities associated with oral corticosteroids. We have used a murine model of house dust mite (HDM)-induced asthma to identify steroid-unresponsive genes that might represent targets for new therapeutic approaches for severe asthma. This strategy identified apolipoprotein E as a steroid-unresponsive gene with increased mRNA expression in the lungs of HDM-challenged mice. Furthermore, apolipoprotein E functioned as an endogenous negative regulator of airway hyperreactivity and goblet cell hyperplasia in experimental HDM-induced asthma. The ability of apolipoprotein E, which is expressed by lung macrophages, to attenuate AHR, and goblet cell hyperplasia is mediated by low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors expressed by airway epithelial cells. Consistent with this, administration of an apolipoprotein E mimetic peptide, corresponding to amino acids 130–149 of the LDL receptor-binding domain of the holo-apoE protein, significantly reduced AHR and goblet cell hyperplasia in HDM-challenged apoE−/− mice. These findings identified the apolipoprotein E – LDL receptor pathway as a new druggable target for asthma that can be activated by administration of apoE-mimetic peptides. Similarly, apolipoprotein A-I may have therapeutic potential in asthma based upon its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, and anti-fibrotic properties. Furthermore, administration of apolipoprotein A-I mimetic peptides has attenuated airway inflammation, airway remodeling, and airway hyperreactivity in murine models of experimental asthma. Thus, site-directed delivery of inhaled apolipoprotein E or apolipoprotein A-I mimetic peptides may represent novel treatment approaches that can be developed for asthma, including severe disease
Generalized stacking fault energy surfaces and dislocation properties of aluminum
We have employed the semidiscrete variational generalized Peierls-Nabarro
model to study the dislocation core properties of aluminum. The generalized
stacking fault energy surfaces entering the model are calculated by using
first-principles Density Functional Theory (DFT) with pseudopotentials and the
embedded atom method (EAM). Various core properties, including the core width,
splitting behavior, energetics and Peierls stress for different dislocations
have been investigated. The correlation between the core energetics and
dislocation character has been explored. Our results reveal a simple
relationship between the Peierls stress and the ratio between the core width
and atomic spacing. The dependence of the core properties on the two methods
for calculating the total energy (DFT vs. EAM) has been examined. The EAM can
give gross trends for various dislocation properties but fails to predict the
finer core structures, which in turn can affect the Peierls stress
significantly (about one order of magnitude).Comment: 25 pages, 12 figure
Dislocation core field. II. Screw dislocation in iron
The dislocation core field, which comes in addition to the Volterra elastic
field, is studied for the screw dislocation in alpha-iron. This core
field, evidenced and characterized using ab initio calculations, corresponds to
a biaxial dilatation, which we modeled within the anisotropic linear
elasticity. We show that this core field needs to be considered when extracting
quantitative information from atomistic simulations, such as dislocation core
energies. Finally, we look at how dislocation properties are modified by this
core field, by studying the interaction between two dislocations composing a
dipole, as well as the interaction of a screw dislocation with a carbon atom
Screw dislocation in zirconium: An ab initio study
Plasticity in zirconium is controlled by 1/3 screw dislocations
gliding in the prism planes of the hexagonal close-packed structure. This
prismatic and not basal glide is observed for a given set of transition metals
like zirconium and is known to be related to the number of valence electrons in
the d band. We use ab initio calculations based on the density functional
theory to study the core structure of screw dislocations in zirconium.
Dislocations are found to dissociate in the prism plane in two partial
dislocations, each with a pure screw character. Ab initio calculations also
show that the dissociation in the basal plane is unstable. We calculate then
the Peierls barrier for a screw dislocation gliding in the prism plane and
obtain a small barrier. The Peierls stress deduced from this barrier is lower
than 21 MPa, which is in agreement with experimental data. The ability of an
empirical potential relying on the embedded atom method (EAM) to model
dislocations in zirconium is also tested against these ab initio calculations
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