TAILORED MICROSTRUCTURE OF CERAMICS BY USING ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS

The mechanical and functional properties of ceramics can be improved by designing their microstructures, such as grain size, grain geometry, crystallographic orientation, second phase and so on. Tailoring the crystallographic orientation in ceramics is one of effective ways for improving their properties. Layered structure with different crystalline orientation layer by layer has been proposed as an alternative for the design of structural ceramics. Grain sliding during the high temperature deformation depends on the grain boundary structure and misorientation angle between grains. The energy release mechanisms during the crack propagation such as crack deflection and crack bifurcation can improve the crack growth resistance in the laminar ceramics. The residual stress generated in each layer during cooling down from the sintering temperature has an influence on the crack deflection and crack bifurcation, hence the control of the residual stress is important for the crack growth resistance in order to improve the mechanical properties. There are some reports about the laminate composite materials with different components for controlling the thermal expansion coefficients in order to generate the residual stress. Our concept is that the crystalline axis depending on the thermal expansion coefficients aligns for controlling the residual stress in the monolithic ceramics. We controlled the layered structure in the monolithic ceramics, such as alumina and silicon carbide for control the crack deflection. The starting materials were spherical a-Al2O3 powder and a-SiC powder with trigonal and hexagonal crystal structure, respectively. These powders were dispersed in ethanol using an ultrasonic homogenizer and a magnetic stirrer. The suspension was placed in a superconducting magnet with a room temperature bore of 100mm, and then a strong magnetic field of 12T was applied to the suspension to rotate each particle due to the magnetic torque. The magnetic field was maintained in the suspension during the electrophoretic deposition (EPD) at room temperature. The crystalline-oriented laminate ceramics were produced by alternately changing the angle between the vectors E and B, jB-E, layer by layer during EPD in the 12 T magnetic field. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

FABRICATION OF POROUS, CRYSTALLINE-ORIENTED TITANIA LAYER ON TRANSPARENT ELECTRODE BY MAGNETIC FIELD-ASSISTED EPD

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are the most extensively investigated systems for the conversion of solar energy into electricity, since it can convert light at longer wavelengths into electricity and can be manufactured using less energy compared to the bulk semiconductor-type cells with a p-n junction. Despite these advantages, DSSC commercialization is still limited because of its low conversion efficiency and low reliability of the liquid electrolyte. The low conversion efficiency is due to the non-uniformity of the electrode components with respect to the packing density of TiO2 particles and film thickness of the electrode. Therefore the research on DSSC in general has been directed toward improving the photo-current and photo-potential. In order to significantly enhance the cell performance, it is important to optimize the photo-anode structure of the DSSC on the basis of its fundamental properties. In this study, crystalline-oriented porous TiO2 thin films were fabricated on indium-tin oxide (ITO) or fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) glass substrates by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) in a superconducting magnet. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Bending strength of multi‐layered alumina with controlled residual stress

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Investigation of affecting parameters of Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) method in (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3-Hexagonal BaTiO3 and their properties

Nowadays, eco-friendly materials have been attracting attention worldwide since the legislation of RoHS/WEEE directives in Europe. (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3-BaTiO3 (BNT-BT) systems are well known candidate of lead-free piezoelectric materials. However, BNT-BT systems have relatively low piezoelectric constant (d33 ~ 140 pC/N) which is difficult to apply in commercial products. In spite of this problem, BNT-BT systems have good potential because it is easy to apply mass production. Electrophoretic deposition method (EPD) has good advantage in mass production because size and shape of green ceramics is easily controlled by control of electrode. Moreover, it is reported that EPD method can be fabricated textured ceramics using high magnetic field and texture technique is important in enhancing piezoelectric properties. Our final goal is making [111] oriented BNT-BT ceramics which have enhanced piezoelectric properties and appreciate for mass production. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Effective colloidal processing for densification before SPS

In conventional dry processing, fine particles tend to agglomerate spontaneously due to Van der Waals attractive forces. Since the agglomeration of particles forms large residual pores in green bodies, elevated temperatures are necessary for densification. Colloidal processing is a very effective technique for controlling the pore size distribution in green compacts before sintering. The green compacts having small residual pores with a narrow size distribution is expected to enhance the densification at low sintering temperature during SPS. We already reported that colloidal processing for controlling the packing structure in green compact is effective for densification in SPS in the case of SiC. A commercially available SiC (6H) powder with the average particle size of 0.55 mm was used as the starting materials. When using the dry processing for consolidation, the density of the sample sintered by SPS in a vacuum atmosphere at 1950°C was 92% of the theoretical value. Aqueous suspensions with dispersed particles were prepared by adjusting pH and consolidated by slip casting to prepare the dense green compacts. The relative density of SiC prepared by SPS was increased with increasing temperature and reached more than 97% at 1950°C as shown in Fig. 1. In this presentation, this processing was applied to fabrication of transparent alumina. Commercially available Al2O3 powder with the average particle size of 0.4 mm was used as the starting materials. Suspensions with 30 vol% solid were consolidated by slip casting. The green compacts before sintering were further densified by cold isostatic pressing at 392 MPa for 10 min and calcined at 500°C for 1 h in air in order to burn off the dispersant. Final sintering was carried out at 1150°C under a uniaxial pressure of 100 MPa using an SPS. After rapid heating to 600°C, the temperature was raised from 600°C to 1150°C using a heating rate of 5°C/min. After holding samples at the sintering temperature for 10 min and then subsequently annealing them at 1000°C for 10 min, we obtained a sintered disk with a diameter of 25 mm and a thickness of 2 mm. Fig. 2(a) shows the photograph of the sample from the green compact prepared by slip casting, Fig2(b) is the sample densified by SPS from the as-received powder directly. The transparency of the sample prepared by slip casting is clearer than that of the sample by SPS from the as-received powder directly. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Diffusion of electrons in two-dimensional disordered symplectic systems

Diffusion of electrons in two-dimensional disordered systems with spin-orbit interactions is investigated numerically. Asymptotic behaviors of the second moment of the wave packet and of the temporal auto-correlation function are examined. At the critical point, the auto-correlation function exhibits the power-law decay with a non-conventional exponent $\alpha$ which is related to the fractal structure in the energy spectrum and in the wave functions. In the metallic regime, the present results imply that transport properties can be described by the diffusion equation for normal metals.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX. Figures are available on request either via fax or e-mail. To be published in Phys. Rev.

A Comprehensive Study of Short Bursts from SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14 Detected by HETE-2

We present the results of temporal and spectral studies of the short burst (less than a few hundred milliseconds) from the soft gamma repeaters (SGRs) 1806-20 and 1900+14 using the HETE-2 samples. In five years from 2001 to 2005, HETE-2 detected 50 bursts which were localized to SGR 1806-20 and 5 bursts which were localized to SGR 1900+14. Especially SGR 1806-20 was active in 2004, and HETE-2 localized 33 bursts in that year. The cumulative number-intensity distribution of SGR 1806-20 in 2004 is well described by a power law model with an index of -1.1+/-0.6. It is consistent with previous studies but burst data taken in other years clearly give a steeper distribution. This may suggest that more energetic bursts could occur more frequently in periods of greater activity. A power law cumulative number-intensity distribution is also known for earthquakes and solar flares. It may imply analogous triggering mechanisms. Although spectral evolution during bursts with a time scale of > 20 ms is not common in the HETE-2 sample, spectral softening due to the very rapid (< a few milliseconds) energy reinjection and cooling may not be excluded. The spectra of all short bursts are well reproduced by a two blackbody function (2BB) with temperatures ~4 and ~11 keV. From the timing analysis of the SGR 1806-20 data, a time lag of 2.2+/-0.4 ms is found between the 30-100 keV and 2-10 keV radiation bands. This may imply (1) a very rapid spectral softening and energy reinjection, (2) diffused (elongated) emission plasma along the magnetic field lines in pseudo equilibrium with multi-temperatures, or (3) a separate (located at < 700 km) emission region of softer component (say, ~4 keV) which could be reprocessed X-rays by higher energy (> 11 keV) photons from an emission region near the stellar surface.Comment: 50 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Dynamic Expression of Cadherins Regulates Vocal Development in a Songbird

BACKGROUND: Since, similarly to humans, songbirds learn their vocalization through imitation during their juvenile stage, they have often been used as model animals to study the mechanisms of human verbal learning. Numerous anatomical and physiological studies have suggested that songbirds have a neural network called 'song system' specialized for vocal learning and production in their brain. However, it still remains unknown what molecular mechanisms regulate their vocal development. It has been suggested that type-II cadherins are involved in synapse formation and function. Previously, we found that type-II cadherin expressions are switched in the robust nucleus of arcopallium from cadherin-7-positive to cadherin-6B-positive during the phase from sensory to sensorimotor learning stage in a songbird, the Bengalese finch. Furthermore, in vitro analysis using cultured rat hippocampal neurons revealed that cadherin-6B enhanced and cadherin-7 suppressed the frequency of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents via regulating dendritic spine morphology. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To explore the role of cadherins in vocal development, we performed an in vivo behavioral analysis of cadherin function with lentiviral vectors. Overexpression of cadherin-7 in the juvenile and the adult stages resulted in severe defects in vocal production. In both cases, harmonic sounds typically seen in the adult Bengalese finch songs were particularly affected. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggest that cadherins control vocal production, particularly harmonic sounds, probably by modulating neuronal morphology of the RA nucleus. It appears that the switching of cadherin expressions from sensory to sensorimotor learning stage enhances vocal production ability to make various types of vocalization that is essential for sensorimotor learning in a trial and error manner

Mutual Exclusion Statistics in Exactly Solvable Models in One and Higher Dimensions at Low Temperatures

We study statistical characterization of the many-body states in exactly solvable models with internal degrees of freedom. The models under consideration include the isotropic and anisotropic Heisenberg spin chain, the Hubbard chain, and a model in higher dimensions which exhibits the Mott metal-insulator transition. It is shown that the ground state of these systems is all described by that of a generalized ideal gas of particles (called exclusons) which have mutual exclusion statistics, either between different rapidities or between different species. For the Bethe ansatz solvable models, the low temperature properties are well described by the excluson description if the degeneracies due to string solutions with complex rapidities are taken into account correctly. {For} the Hubbard chain with strong but finite coupling, charge-spin separation is shown for thermodynamics at low temperatures. Moreover, we present an exactly solvable model in arbitrary dimensions which, in addition to giving a perspective view of spin-charge separation, constitutes an explicit example of mutual exclusion statistics in more than two dimensions

Identification of 45 New Neutron-Rich Isotopes Produced by In-Flight Fission of a 238U Beam at 345 MeV/nucleon

A search for new isotopes using in-flight fission of a 345 MeV/nucleon 238U beam has been carried out at the RI Beam Factory at the RIKEN Nishina Center. Fission fragments were analyzed and identified by using the superconducting in-flight separator BigRIPS. We observed 45 new neutron-rich isotopes: 71Mn, 73,74Fe, 76Co, 79Ni, 81,82Cu, 84,85Zn, 87Ga, 90Ge, 95Se, 98Br, 101Kr, 103Rb, 106,107Sr, 108,109Y, 111,112Zr, 114,115Nb, 115,116,117Mo, 119,120Tc, 121,122,123,124Ru, 123,124,125,126Rh, 127,128Pd, 133Cd, 138Sn, 140Sb, 143Te, 145I, 148Xe, and 152Ba