Heat conduction in multifunctional nanotrusses studied using Boltzmann transport equation

Materials that possess low density, low thermal conductivity, and high stiffness are desirable for engineering applications, but most materials cannot realize these properties simultaneously due to the coupling between them. Nanotrusses, which consist of hollow nanoscale beams architected into a periodic truss structure, can potentially break these couplings due to their lattice architecture and nanoscale features. In this work, we study heat conduction in the exact nanotruss geometry by solving the frequency-dependent Boltzmann transport equation using a variance-reduced Monte Carlo algorithm. We show that their thermal conductivity can be described with only two parameters, solid fraction and wall thickness. Our simulations predict that nanotrusses can realize unique combinations of mechanical and thermal properties that are challenging to achieve in typical materials

Breathers and kinks in a simulated crystal experiment

We develop a simple 1D model for the scattering of an incoming particle hitting the surface of mica crystal, the transmission of energy through the crystal by a localized mode, and the ejection of atom(s) at the incident or distant face. This is the first attempt to model the experiment described in Russell and Eilbeck in 2007 (EPL, v. 78, 10004). Although very basic, the model shows many interesting features, for example a complicated energy dependent transition between breather modes and a kink mode, and multiple ejections at both incoming and distant surfaces. In addition, the effect of a heavier surface layer is modelled, which can lead to internal reflections of breathers or kinks at the crystal surface.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, based on a talk given at the conference "Localized Excitations in Nonlinear Complex Systems (LENCOS)", Sevilla (Spain) July 14-17, 200

Effect of carbon nanotube doping on critical current density of MgB2 superconductor

The effect of doping MgB2 with carbon nanotubes on transition temperature, lattice parameters, critical current density and flux pinning was studied for MgB2-xCx with x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3. The carbon substitution for B was found to enhance Jc in magnetic fields but depress Tc. The depression of Tc, which is caused by the carbon substitution for B, increases with increasing doping level, sintering temperature and duration. By controlling the extent of the substitution and addition of carbon nanotubes we can achieve the optimal improvement on critical current density and flux pinning in magnetic fields while maintaining the minimum reduction in Tc. Under these conditions, Jc was enhanced by two orders of magnitude at 8T and 5K and 7T and 10K. Jc was more than 10,000A/cm2 at 20K and 4T and 5K and 8.5T, respectively

Improvement of critical current in MgB2/Fe wires by a ferromagnetic sheath

Transport critical current (Ic) was measured for Fe-sheathed MgB2 round wires. A critical current density of 5.3 x 10^4 A/cm^2 was obtained at 32K. Strong magnetic shielding by the iron sheath was observed, resulting in a decrease in Ic by only 15% in a field of 0.6T at 32K. In addition to shielding, interaction between the iron sheath and the superconductor resulted in a constant Ic between 0.2 and 0.6T. This was well beyond the maximum field for effective shielding of 0.2T. This effect can be used to substantially improve the field performance of MgB2/Fe wires at fields at least 3 times higher than the range allowed by mere magnetic shielding by the iron sheath. The dependence of Ic on the angle between field and current showed that the transport current does not flow straight across the wire, but meanders between the grains

The qq-log-convexity of Domb's polynomials

In this paper, we prove the $q$-log-convexity of Domb's polynomials, which was conjectured by Sun in the study of Ramanujan-Sato type series for powers of $\pi$. As a result, we obtain the log-convexity of Domb's numbers. Our proof is based on the $q$-log-convexity of Narayana polynomials of type $B$ and a criterion for determining $q$-log-convexity of self-reciprocal polynomials.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1308.273

On the qq-log-convexity conjecture of Sun

In his study of Ramanujan-Sato type series for $1/\pi$, Sun introduced a sequence of polynomials $S_n(q)$ as given by $$S_n(q)=\sum\limits_{k=0}^n{n\choose k}{2k\choose k}{2(n-k)\choose n-k}q^k,$$ and he conjectured that the polynomials $S_n(q)$ are $q$-log-convex. By imitating a result of Liu and Wang on generating new $q$-log-convex sequences of polynomials from old ones, we obtain a sufficient condition for determining the $q$-log-convexity of self-reciprocal polynomials. Based on this criterion, we then give an affirmative answer to Sun's conjecture