The Effects of Test Temperature, Temper, and Alloyed Copper on the Hydrogen-Controlled Crack Growth Rate of an Al-Zn-Mg-(Cu) Alloy

The hydrogen embrittlement controlled stage II crack growth rate of AA 7050 (6.09 wt.% Zn, 2.14 wt% Mg, 2.19 wt.% Cu) was investigated as a function of temper and alloyed copper level in a humid air environment at various temperatures. Three tempers representing the underaged, peak aged, and overaged conditions were tested in 90% relative humidity (RH) air at temperatures between 25 and 90 C. At all test temperatures, an increased degree of aging (from underaged to overaged) produced slower stage II crack growth rates. The stage II crack growth rate of each alloy and temper displayed Arrhenius-type temperature dependence with activation energies between 58 and 99 kJ/mol. For both the normal copper and low copper alloys, the fracture path was predominantly intergranular at all test temperatures (25-90 C) in each temper investigated. Comparison of the stage II crack growth rates for normal (2.19 wt.%) and low (0.06 wt.%) copper alloys in the peak aged and overaged tempers showed the beneficial effect of copper additions on stage II crack growth rate in humid air. In the 2.19 wt.% copper alloy, the significant decrease ({approx} 10 times at 25 C) in stage II crack growth rate upon overaging is attributed to an increase in the apparent activation energy for crack growth. IN the 0.06 wt.% copper alloy, overaging did not increase the activation energy for crack growth but did lower the pre-exponential factor, {nu}{sub 0}, resulting in a modest ({approx} 2.5 times at 25 C) decrease in crack growth rate. These results indicate that alloyed copper and thermal aging affect the kinetic factors that govern stage II crack growth rate. Overaged, copper bearing alloys are not intrinsically immune to hydrogen environment assisted cracking but are more resistant due to an increased apparent activation energy for stage II crack growth

From limit cycles to strange attractors

We define a quantitative notion of shear for limit cycles of flows. We prove that strange attractors and SRB measures emerge when systems exhibiting limit cycles with sufficient shear are subjected to periodic pulsatile drives. The strange attractors possess a number of precisely-defined dynamical properties that together imply chaos that is both sustained in time and physically observable.Comment: 27 page

Extreme Ultra-Violet Spectroscopy of the Lower Solar Atmosphere During Solar Flares

The extreme ultraviolet portion of the solar spectrum contains a wealth of diagnostic tools for probing the lower solar atmosphere in response to an injection of energy, particularly during the impulsive phase of solar flares. These include temperature and density sensitive line ratios, Doppler shifted emission lines and nonthermal broadening, abundance measurements, differential emission measure profiles, and continuum temperatures and energetics, among others. In this paper I shall review some of the advances made in recent years using these techniques, focusing primarily on studies that have utilized data from Hinode/EIS and SDO/EVE, while also providing some historical background and a summary of future spectroscopic instrumentation.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Solar Physics as part of the Topical Issue on Solar and Stellar Flare

Magnetic Interactions and Transport in (Ga,Cr)As

The magnetic, transport, and structural properties of (Ga,Cr)As are reported. Zincblende Ga$_{1-x}$Cr$_{x}$As was grown by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). At low concentrations, x$\sim$0.1, the materials exhibit unusual magnetic properties associated with the random magnetism of the alloy. At low temperatures the magnetization M(B) increases rapidly with increasing field due to the alignment of ferromagnetic units (polarons or clusters) having large dipole moments of order 10-10$^2$$\mu_B$. A standard model of superparamagnetism is inadequate for describing both the field and temperature dependence of the magnetization M(B,T). In order to explain M(B) at low temperatures we employ a distributed magnetic moment (DMM) model in which polarons or clusters of ions have a distribution of moments. It is also found that the magnetic susceptibility increases for decreasing temperature but saturates below T=4 K. The inverse susceptibility follows a linear-T Curie-Weiss law and extrapolates to a magnetic transition temperature $\theta$=10 K. In magnetotransport measurements, a room temperature resistivity of $\rho$=0.1 $\Omega$cm and a hole concentration of $\sim10^{20}$ cm$^{-3}$ are found, indicating that Cr can also act as a acceptor similar to Mn. The resistivity increases rapidly for decreasing temperature below room temperature, and becomes strongly insulating at low temperatures. The conductivity follows exp[-(T$_1$/T)$^{1/2}$] over a large range of conductivity, possible evidence of tunneling between polarons or clusters.Comment: To appear in PRB 15 Mar 200

Microstructural and Microchemical Characterization of Dual Step Aged Alloy X-750 and its Relationship to Environmentally Assisted Cracking

When exposed to deaerated high purity water, Alloy X-750 is susceptible to both high temperature (> 249 C) intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC) and intergranular low temperature (< 149 C) fracture (LTF). However, the microstructural and microchemical factors that govern environmentally assisted cracking (EAC) susceptibility are poorly understood. The present study seeks to characterize the grain boundary microstructure and microchemistry in order to gain a better mechanistic understanding of stress corrosion crack initiation, crack growth rate, and low temperature fracture. Light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, orientation imaging microscopy, scanning Auger microscopy, and thermal desorption spectroscopy were performed on selected heats of Alloy X-750 AH. These data were correlated to EAC tests performed in 338 C deaerated water. Results show that grain boundary MC-type [(Ti,Nb)C] carbides and increased levels of grain boundary phosphorus correlate with an increase in LTF susceptibility but have little effect on the number of initiation sites or the SCC crack growth rate. Thermal desorption data show that multiple hydrogen trapping states exist in Alloy X-750 condition AH. Moreover, it appears that exposure to high temperature (> 249 C), hydrogen deaerated water increases the hydrogen concentration in strong hydrogen trap states and degrades the resistance of the material to low temperature fracture. These findings are consistent with a hydrogen embrittlement based mechanism of LTF where intergranular fracture occurs ahead of a crack tip and is exacerbated by phosphorus segregation to grain boundaries and grain boundary hydrogen trap states

Prevention of childhood poisoning in the home: overview of systematic reviews and a systematic review of primary studies

Unintentional poisoning is a significant child public health problem. This systematic overview of reviews, supplemented with a systematic review of recently published primary studies synthesizes evidence on non-legislative interventions to reduce childhood poisonings in the home with particular reference to interventions that could be implemented by Children's Centres in England or community health or social care services in other high income countries. Thirteen systematic reviews, two meta-analyses and 47 primary studies were identified. The interventions most commonly comprised education, provision of cupboard/drawer locks, and poison control centre (PCC) number stickers. Meta-analyses and primary studies provided evidence that interventions improved poison prevention practices. Twenty eight per cent of studies reporting safe medicine storage (OR from meta-analysis 1.57, 95% CI 1.22–2.02), 23% reporting safe storage of other products (OR from meta-analysis 1.63, 95% CI 1.22–2.17) and 46% reporting availability of PCC numbers (OR from meta-analysis 3.67, 95% CI 1.84–7.33) demonstrated significant effects favouring the intervention group. There was a lack of evidence that interventions reduced poisoning rates. Parents should be provided with poison prevention education, cupboard/drawer locks and emergency contact numbers to use in the event of a poisoning. Further research is required to determine whether improving poison prevention practices reduces poisoning rates

EUV Spectra of the Full Solar Disk: Analysis and Results of the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS)

We analyze EUV spectra of the full solar disk from the Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer (CHIPS) spanning a period of two years. The observations were obtained via a fortuitous off-axis light path in the 140 -- 270 Angstrom passband. The general appearance of the spectra remained relatively stable over the two-year time period, but did show significant variations of up to 25% between two sets of Fe lines that show peak emission at 1 MK and 2 MK. The variations occur at a measured period of 27.2 days and are caused by regions of hotter and cooler plasma rotating into, and out of, the field of view. The CHIANTI spectral code is employed to determine plasma temperatures, densities, and emission measures. A set of five isothermal plasmas fit the full disk spectra well. A 1 -- 2 MK plasma of Fe contributes 85% of the total emission in the CHIPS passband. The standard Differential Emission Measures (DEMs) supplied with the CHIANTI package do not fit the CHIPS spectra well as they over-predict emission at temperatures below log(T) = 6.0 and above log(T) = 6.3. The results are important for cross-calibrating TIMED, SORCE, SOHO/EIT, and CDS/GIS, as well as the recently launched Solar Dynamics Observatory.Comment: 27 Pages, 13 Figure

Nature of Sonoluminescence: Noble Gas Radiation Excited by Hot Electrons in "Cold" Water

We show that strong electric fields occurring in water near the surface of collapsing gas bubbles because of the flexoelectric effect can provoke dynamic electric breakdown in a micron-size region near the bubble and consider the scenario of the SBSL. The scenario is: (i) at the last stage of incomplete collapse of the bubble the gradient of pressure in water near the bubble surface has such a value and sign that the electric field arising from the flexoelectric effect exceeds the threshold field of the dynamic electrical breakdown of water and is directed to the bubble center; (ii) mobile electrons are generated because of thermal ionization of water molecules near the bubble surface; (iii) these electrons are accelerated in ''cold'' water by the strong electric fields; (iv) these hot electrons transfer noble gas atoms dissolved in water to high-energy excited states and optical transitions between these states produce SBSL UV flashes in the trasparency window of water; (v) the breakdown can be repeated several times and the power and duration of the UV flash are determined by the multiplicity of the breakdowns. The SBSL spectrum is found to resemble a black-body spectrum where temperature is given by the effective temperature of the hot electrons. The pulse energy and some other characteristics of the SBSL are found to be in agreement with the experimental data when realistic estimations are made.Comment: 11 pages (RevTex), 1 figure (.ps