Thermal stability of a laser-clad NiCrBSi coating hardened by frictional finishing

Frictional treatment decreases surface roughness of a NiCrBSi laser coating and increases its microhardness and abrasive wear resistance. Even after softening annealing at 900 °C, the coating subjected to frictional treatment preserves its advantage in hardness and wear resistance over the original clad coating. Annealing at 1000 °C after frictional treatment ensures less effective growth of the hardness and wear resistance of the coating as compared to annealing of the undeformed coating due to the limited precipitation of large Cr23C6 carbides on the deformed surface, which form a wear-resistant framework. © 2017 Author(s).Russian Foundation for Basic Research, RFBR: 16-38-00452-mol-a01201375904108692015Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations: 01201463331Federal Agency for Scientific OrganizationsUral Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, UB RAS: 15-9-12-45The study was financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR), grant No. 16-38-00452-mol-a, by the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises (FASIE), project UMNIK No. 108692015; the work was done within the Complex Program of UB RAS, project No. 15-9-12-45, within the state order for IES UB RAS, No. 01201375904 and within the state order of The Federal Agency for Scientific Organizations (FASO Russia) on the subject “Structure”, No. 01201463331. The experimental research was done on the equipment installed at the Plastometriya Collective Use Center of IES UB RAS

High--Dimensional Brain in a High-Dimensional World: Blessing of Dimensionality

High-dimensional data and high-dimensional representations of reality are inherent features of modern Artificial Intelligence systems and applications of machine learning. The well-known phenomenon of the "curse of dimensionality" states: many problems become exponentially difficult in high dimensions. Recently, the other side of the coin, the "blessing of dimensionality", has attracted much attention. It turns out that generic high-dimensional datasets exhibit fairly simple geometric properties. Thus, there is a fundamental tradeoff between complexity and simplicity in high dimensional spaces. Here we present a brief explanatory review of recent ideas, results and hypotheses about the blessing of dimensionality and related simplifying effects relevant to machine learning and neuroscience.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Conductance and localization in disordered wires: role of evanescent states

This paper extends an earlier analytical scattering matrix treatment of conductance and localization in coupled two- and three Anderson chain systems for weak disorder when evanescent states are present at the Fermi level. Such states exist typically when the interchain coupling exceeds the width of propagating energy bands associated with the various transverse eigenvalues of the coupled tight-binding systems. We calculate reflection- and transmission coefficients in cases where, besides propagating states, one or two evanescent states are available at the Fermi level for elastic scattering of electrons by the disordered systems. We observe important qualitative changes in these coefficients and in the related localization lengths due to ineffectiveness of the evanescent modes for transmission and reflection in the various scattering channels. In particular, the localization lengths are generally significantly larger than the values obtained when evanescent modes are absent. Effects associated with disorder mediated coupling between propagating and evanescent modes are shown to be suppressed by quantum interference effects, in lowest order for weak disorder

Increasing the resistance of a NiCrBSi coating to heat wear by means of combined laser heat treatment

Testing of NiCrBSi coatings formed by gas-powder laser cladding and combined laser heat treatment, including laser cladding and high-temperature annealing, were conducted under conditions of sliding friction on the Kh12M steel according to the pin-on-disk scheme. The combined processing resulting in the formation of large carbides and chromium borides in the coatings is shown to increase their wear resistance by a factor of 1.8 at sliding velocities of 6.1 and 9.3 m/s, when there is significant frictional heating of the friction surfaces. © 2018 Author(s)

Hacking commercial quantum cryptography systems by tailored bright illumination

The peculiar properties of quantum mechanics allow two remote parties to communicate a private, secret key, which is protected from eavesdropping by the laws of physics. So-called quantum key distribution (QKD) implementations always rely on detectors to measure the relevant quantum property of single photons. Here we demonstrate experimentally that the detectors in two commercially available QKD systems can be fully remote-controlled using specially tailored bright illumination. This makes it possible to tracelessly acquire the full secret key; we propose an eavesdropping apparatus built of off-the-shelf components. The loophole is likely to be present in most QKD systems using avalanche photodiodes to detect single photons. We believe that our findings are crucial for strengthening the security of practical QKD, by identifying and patching technological deficiencies.Comment: Revised version, rewritten for clarity. 5 pages, 5 figures. To download the Supplementary information (which is in open access), go to the journal web site at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2010.21

Effect of frictional treatment on the microstructure and surface properties of low-carbon steel

The microstructure of annealed low-carbon (0.17 wt% C) steel subjected to frictional treatment with a sliding hard-alloy indenter is studied by EBSD analysis, as well as its micromechanical characteristics. It has been found that frictional treatment results in high dispersity of the structure in the steel surface, down to the submicro- and nanocrystalline state. Instrumented microindentation has revealed that, under all the loads, the values of the contact elastic modulus E ∗ of low-carbon (0.17 wt% C) steel after frictional treatment are lower than those in the initial annealed state. Particularly, the mean value of E ∗ decreases from 208 to 168 GPa under a load of 1 gf on the indenter, from 213 to 176 GPa under a load of 25 gf and from 204 to 155 GPa under a load of 200 gf. It is for the first time that the effect of a decrease in the elastic modulus is observed for a carbon steel subjected to frictional treatment. It also follows from the microindentation data that frictional treatment increases the capability of the surface of annealed low-carbon (0.17 wt% C) steel to withstand higher contact loads prior to plastic deformation. © 2018 Author(s)

The summertime 12-h wind oscillation with zonal wavenumber <i>s</i> = 1 in the lower thermosphere over the South Pole

International audienceMeteor radar measurements of winds near 95 km in four azimuth directions from the geographic South Pole are analyzed to reveal characteristics of the 12-h oscillation with zonal wavenumber one (s=1). The wind measurements are confined to the periods from 19 January 1995 through 26 January 1996 and from 21 November 1996 through 27 January 1997. The 12-h s=1 oscillation is found to be a predominantly summertime phenomenon, and is replaced in winter by a spectrum of oscillations with periods between 6 and 11.5 h. Both summers are characterized by minimum amplitudes (5?10 ms?1) during early January and maxima (15?20 ms?1) in November and late January. For 10-day means of the 12-h oscillation, smooth evolutions of phase of order 4?6 h occur during the course of the summer. In addition, there is considerable day-to-day variability (±5?10 ms?1 in amplitude) with distinct periods (i.e., ~5 days and ~8 days) which suggests modulation by planetary-scale disturbances. A comparison of climatological data from Scott Base, Molodezhnaya, and Mawson stations suggests that the 12-h oscillation near 78°S is s=1, but that at 68°S there is probably a mixture between s=1 and other zonal wavenumber oscillations (most probably s=2). The mechanism responsible for the existence of the 12-h s=1 oscillation has not yet been identified. Possible origins discussed herein include in situ excitation, nonlinear interaction between the migrating semidiurnal tide and a stationary s=1 feature, and thermal excitation in the troposphere