Prospect of Making Ceramic Shell Mold by Ceramic Laser Fusion

Manufacturing prototypical castings by conventional investment casting not only takes several weeks, but also is prohibitively expensive. Z Corporation in USA, EOS GmbH and IPT in Germany employ the techniques of 3DP and SLS respectively to make directly ceramic shell molds for metal castings. Although those techniques dramatically reduce time expenditure and production cost, each layer cannot be thinner than 50 µm because of using powder to pave layers. The dimensional accuracy and roughness of the castings still cannot meet the specification of precision casting. Therefore, in this paper the ceramic laser fusion (CLF) was used to pave layers. Each layer can be thinner than 25 µm, so that the step effect can be diminished and the workpiece surface can be smoother; drying time will be shortened dramatically. Moreover, the inherent solid-state support formed by green portion has the capability of preventing upward and downward deformation of the scanned cross sections. In order to make shell mold which meets the roughness requirement (Rq=3.048µm) of the precision casting, following issues have to be further studied: (1) design a proper ceramic shell mold structure, (2) design a paving chamber for paving a complete green layer which can be easily collapsed, (3) cut down drying time, (4) optimize laser scanning process parameters with the smallest distortion, (5) eliminate sunken area, (6) reduce layer thickness to less than13µm, (7) control power to guarantee the energy uniformly absorbed by workpiece, and (8) develop a method which can directly clean green portion in cavity from gate.Mechanical Engineerin

Gate voltage controlled electronic transport through a ferromagnet/normal/ferromagnet junction on the surface of a topological insulator

We investigate the electronic transport properties of a ferromagnet/normal/ferromagnet junction on the surface of a topological insulator with a gate voltage exerted on the normal segment. It is found that the conductance oscillates with the width of normal segment and gate voltage, and the maximum of conductance gradually decreases while the minimum of conductance approaches zero as the width increases. The conductance can be controlled by tuning the gate voltage like a spin field-effect transistor. It is found that the magnetoresistance ratio can be very large, and can also be negative owing to the anomalous transport. In addition, when there exists a magnetization component in the surface plane, it is shown that only the component parallel to the junction interface has an influence on the conductance.Comment: 7 pages,8 figure

A general multiblock Euler code for propulsion integration. Volume 3: User guide for the Euler code

This manual explains the procedures for using the general multiblock Euler (GMBE) code developed under NASA contract NAS1-18703. The code was developed for the aerodynamic analysis of geometrically complex configurations in either free air or wind tunnel environments (vol. 1). The complete flow field is divided into a number of topologically simple blocks within each of which surface fitted grids and efficient flow solution algorithms can easily be constructed. The multiblock field grid is generated with the BCON procedure described in volume 2. The GMBE utilizes a finite volume formulation with an explicit time stepping scheme to solve the Euler equations. A multiblock version of the multigrid method was developed to accelerate the convergence of the calculations. This user guide provides information on the GMBE code, including input data preparations with sample input files and a sample Unix script for program execution in the UNICOS environment

A general multiblock Euler code for propulsion integration. Volume 1: Theory document

A general multiblock Euler solver was developed for the analysis of flow fields over geometrically complex configurations either in free air or in a wind tunnel. In this approach, the external space around a complex configuration was divided into a number of topologically simple blocks, so that surface-fitted grids and an efficient flow solution algorithm could be easily applied in each block. The computational grid in each block is generated using a combination of algebraic and elliptic methods. A grid generation/flow solver interface program was developed to facilitate the establishment of block-to-block relations and the boundary conditions for each block. The flow solver utilizes a finite volume formulation and an explicit time stepping scheme to solve the Euler equations. A multiblock version of the multigrid method was developed to accelerate the convergence of the calculations. The generality of the method was demonstrated through the analysis of two complex configurations at various flow conditions. Results were compared to available test data. Two accompanying volumes, user manuals for the preparation of multi-block grids (vol. 2) and for the Euler flow solver (vol. 3), provide information on input data format and program execution

Dirac-Schr\"odinger equation for quark-antiquark bound states and derivation of its interaction kerne

The four-dimensional Dirac-Schr\"odinger equation satisfied by quark-antiquark bound states is derived from Quantum Chromodynamics. Different from the Bethe-Salpeter equation, the equation derived is a kind of first-order differential equations of Schr\"odinger-type in the position space. Especially, the interaction kernel in the equation is given by two different closed expressions. One expression which contains only a few types of Green's functions is derived with the aid of the equations of motion satisfied by some kinds of Green's functions. Another expression which is represented in terms of the quark, antiquark and gluon propagators and some kinds of proper vertices is derived by means of the technique of irreducible decomposition of Green's functions. The kernel derived not only can easily be calculated by the perturbation method, but also provides a suitable basis for nonperturbative investigations. Furthermore, it is shown that the four-dimensinal Dirac-Schr\"odinger equation and its kernel can directly be reduced to rigorous three-dimensional forms in the equal-time Lorentz frame and the Dirac-Schr\"odinger equation can be reduced to an equivalent Pauli-Schr\"odinger equation which is represented in the Pauli spinor space. To show the applicability of the closed expressions derived and to demonstrate the equivalence between the two different expressions of the kernel, the t-channel and s-channel one gluon exchange kernels are chosen as an example to show how they are derived from the closed expressions. In addition, the connection of the Dirac-Schr\"odinger equation with the Bethe-Salpeter equation is discussed

Jet array impingement flow distributions and heat transfer characteristics. Effects of initial crossflow and nonuniform array geometry

Two-dimensional arrays of circular air jets impinging on a heat transfer surface parallel to the jet orifice plate are considered. The jet flow, after impingement, is constrained to exit in a single direction along the channel formed by the jet orifice plate and the heat transfer surface. The configurations considered are intended to model those of interest in current and contemplated gas turbine airfoil midchord cooling applications. The effects of an initial crossflow which approaches the array through an upstream extension of the channel are considered. Flow distributions as well as heat transfer coefficients and adiabatic wall temperatures resolved to one streamwise hole spacing were measured as a function of the initial crossflow rate and temperature relative to the jet flow rate and temperature. Both Nusselt number profiles and dimensionless adiabatic wall temperature (effectiveness) profiles are presented and discussed. Special test results which show a significant reduction of jet orifice discharge coefficients owing to the effect of a confined crossflow are also presented, along with a flow distribution model which incorporates those effects. A nonuniform array flow distribution model is developed and validated

Non-volatile resistive switching in dielectric superconductor YBCO

We report on the reversible, nonvolatile and polarity dependent resistive switching between superconductor and insulator states at the interfaces of a Au/YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$ (YBCO)/Au system. We show that the superconducting state of YBCO in regions near the electrodes can be reversibly removed and restored. The possible origin of the switching effect may be the migration of oxygen or metallic ions along the grain boundaries that control the intergrain superconducting coupling. Four-wire bulk resistance measurements reveal that the migration is not restricted to interfaces and produce significant bulk effects.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, corresponding author: C. Acha ([email protected]

Duration distributions for different softness groups of gamma-ray bursts

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are divided into two classes according to their durations. We investigate if the softness of bursts plays a role in the conventional classification of the objects. We employ the BATSE (Burst and Transient Source Experiment) catalog and analyze the duration distributions of different groups of GRBs associated with distinct softness. Our analysis reveals that the conventional classification of GRBs with the duration of bursts is influenced by the softness of the objects. There exits a bimodality in the duration distribution of GRBs for each group of bursts and the time position of the dip in the bimodality histogram shifts with the softness parameter. Our findings suggest that the conventional classification scheme should be modified by separating the two well-known populations in different softness groups, which would be more reasonable than doing so with a single sample. According to the relation between the dip position and the softness parameter, we get an empirical function that can roughly set apart the short-hard and long-soft bursts: $SP = (0.100 \pm 0.028) T_{90}^{-(0.85 \pm 0.18)}$, where $SP$ is the softness parameter adopted in this paper.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure