BaZrO3–BaTiO3 ceramics exhibit a shift in transformation temperatures as revealed by dielectric and viscoelastic spectroscopy; a phase diagram has been established. Sigmoid anomalies in Poisson’s ratio and bulk modulus during the ferroelastic transitions were observed in doped materials, which are not predicted by standard theories for phase transformations. “Hashin–Shtrikman” composite model with negative stiffness heterogeneity can well explain this phenomenon. Negative stiffness heterogeneity is considered to be caused by the strained BaTiO3 unit cells in the vicinity of BaZrO3-rich zones under the perturbation of lattice reconstruction.

This article describes the natural history of a large colony of emperor penguins Aptenodytes for steri, its size, dispersal pattern of chicks, and associations with other bird and mammal species. A mid-season count of 19,364 chicks indicated that about 20–25,000 breeding pairs had been present in June and July. The colony was fragmented into several sub-groups which showed different mean sizes of chicks and survival to fledging. Other species observed included leopard seals Hydrurga leptonyx, the only major predators, which preyed heavily on both adults and fledging chicks. Fledgelings left the colony over a period of about 10 days; departure was an active process in which the chicks walked to the ice edge and dispersed in groups, swimming consistently southward. At this time they were still in about 60% down and weighed about 10 kg, having lost some 30% of the heaviest mass achieved during parental feeding.

The hardnesses of secondary cell wall laminae (SCWL) and compound corner middle lamellae (CCML) in wood were measured at indentation strain rates between approximately 7×10-4 s-1 and 20 s-1, using a new method called broadband nanoindentation creep. The wood was subsequently modified with ethylene glycol (EG) and the properties were re-measured. The SCWL and CCML responded differently to this modification: in the SCWL, hardness decreased uniformly by a factor of 3.7 ± 0.3 across all strain rates, whereas in CCML, the modification had a similar effect at low strain rates. However, at high strain rates, hardness was only lowered by a factor of 1.8. The EG modification also lowered elastic modulus of the SCWL and CCML, swelled the SCWL and CCML, and caused previously placed indents to disappear (CCML) or partly disappear (SCWL).

Increasingly, indentation creep experiments are being used to characterize rate-sensitive deformation in specimens that, due to small size or high hardness, are difficult to characterize by more conventional methods like uniaxial loading. In the present work we use finite element analysis to simulate indentation creep in a collection of materials whose properties vary across a wide range of hardness, strain rate sensitivities, and work hardening exponents. Our studies reveal that the commonly held assumption that the strain rate sensitivity of the hardness equals that of the flow stress is violated except for materials with low hardness/modulus ratios like soft metals. Another commonly held assumption is that the area of the indent increases with the square of depth during constant load creep. This latter assumption is used in an analysis where the experimenter estimates the increase in indent area (decrease in hardness) during creep based on the change in depth. This assumption is also strongly violated. Fortunately, both violations are easily explained by noting that the “constants” of proportionality relating 1) hardness to flow stress and 2) area to (depth)2 are actually functions of the hardness/modulus ratio. Based upon knowledge of these functions it is possible to accurately calculate 1) the strain rate sensitivity of the flow stress from a measurement of the strain rate sensitivity of the hardness and 2) the power law exponent relating area to depth during constant load creep.

We performed nanoindentation creep experiments on the bulk metallic glass Zr54Cu38Al8 in an effort to measure the scale of the individual deformation events responsible for plastic deformation. From a nanoindentation creep experiment, we can determine V*, the activation volume, which we interpret as the volume of a shear transformation zone (STZ) multiplied by the shear strain undergone by the STZ during thermal activation. For the as-cast alloy hardness, H, is 5.33 ± 0.06 GPa, and V* is 87 ± 5 Å3. The alloy was then annealed near Tg for 24 hr and retested. No crystallization occurred during annealing as verified by XRD and TEM. Following annealing H increased to 7.36 ± 0.08 GPa and V* increased to 160 ± 10 Å3. We interpret the change in V* as arising from an increase in the number of atoms involved in the STZ.

The current study aims to assess the vulnerability of photoreceptors in rat retina to variations in tissue oxygen levels. Young adult Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to air with the concentration of oxygen set at 10% (hypoxia), 21% (room air, normoxia), and four levels of hyperoxia (45%, 65%, 70%, and 75%), for up to 3 weeks. Their retinas were then examined for cell death, using the TUNEL technique. Hypoxia (10% oxygen) for 2 weeks caused a limited but significant rise in the frequency of TUNEL+ (dying) cells in the retina, the great majority (> 90%) being located in the outer nuclear layer (ONL). Hyperoxia also induced an increase in the frequency of TUNEL+ cells, again predominantly in the ONL. The increase rose with duration of exposure, up to 2 weeks. At 2 weeks exposure, the increase was limited yet significant at 45% oxygen, and maximal at 65%. Where the frequencies of TUNEL+ cells were high, it was evident that photoreceptor death was maximal in the midperipheral retina. The adult retina is vulnerable to maintained shifts in oxygen availability to the retina, both below and above normal. The vulnerability is specific to photoreceptors; other retinal neurons appeared resistant to the exposures tested. Shifts in retinal oxygen levels caused by variations in ambient light, by the persistence of light through the normally dark (night) half of the day–night cycle, or by depletion of the photoreceptor population, may contribute to photoreceptor death in the normal retina.

Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) has long been considered a viable material for templated growth of nanomaterials for electronic, magnetic and optical applications due to the ability to form self-organized, high aspect-ratio nanochannels. More recently these porous materials have been incorporated with silicon to create a template for nanostructured materials on a semiconducting substrate. However, there has been no investigation into how pore growth is affected by confining the pre-anodized aluminum dimensions to the nanometer scale. We have used electron beam lithography to pattern 200 nm thick aluminum structures on Si with lateral features ranging from 100 nm to several microns in size. Structures consisting of 1 – 10 individual pores 10 – 15 nm in diameter are routinely fabricated. Confinement effects in the narrowest features assist in pore ordering in the porous structures without the use of pre-patterning or a two step anodization.

In a continuation of prior work, a new group of Bragg bubble model experiments have been performed to explore the effects of nanoscale crack size and nanoscale structural geometry on atomically-sharp crack tip dislocation emission behavior. The experiments have been designed to correspond to the theoretical limits that bound the expected crack tip response. Continuum elasticity analyses of these situations have also been carried out, in which the leading-order terms in the Williams expansion (the K and T terms) are determined, and the predictions of these continuum analyses coupled with discrete dislocation theory are compared with the experimental results. The experiments exhibit fascinating changes in crack tip dislocation emission direction with changing crack and structural size, crack location and loading conditions, as well as substantial changes in the magnitude of the resolved shear stress that drives dislocation emission. These changes are predicted well by the continuum elasticity-discrete dislocation model down to extremely small dimensions, on the order of a few atomic spacings. Preliminary experiments were performed with layered and two-atom basis rafts to establish crucial comparisons between theory and experiment that validate the applicability of continuum elasticity theory to make predictions directly related to nanoscale fracture behavior.

Diffraction-contrast TEM, focused probe electron diffraction, and high-resolution X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the dislocation arrangements in a 16µm thick coalesced GaN film grown by MOVPE LEO. As is commonly observed, the threading dislocations that are duplicated from the template above the window bend toward (0001). At the coalescence plane they bend back to lie along [0001] and thread to the surface. In addition, three other sets of dislocations were observed. The first set consists of a wall of parallel dislocations lying in the coalescence plane and nearly parallel to the substrate, with Burgers vector (b) in the (0001) plane. The second set is comprised of rectangular loops with b = 1/3 [110] (perpendicular to the coalescence boundary) which originate in the coalescence boundary and extend laterally into the film on the (100). The third set of dislocations threads laterally through the film along the [100] bar axis with 1/3<110>-type Burgers vectors These sets result in a dislocation density of ∼109 cm−2. High resolution X-ray reciprocal space maps indicate wing tilt of ∼0.5º.

At the Savannah River Site (SRS) we are currently finalizing the design for a multi-system vitrification process that will be installed in the F-Canyon Multi-Purpose Process Facility (MPPF), an existing highly shielded, remotely operated facility. Authorization to proceed beyond the preliminary design based on the recommendation of a Formal Design Review Board was requested in May of 1999.

The Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) Process Development Group has been conducting research and developing a process to identify equipment design bases and process operating parameters since 1996. The goal of the project is to stabilize a tank of ∼11,000 liters of nitric acid solution containing valuable isotopes of americium (Am) and curium (Cm). Vitrification has been selected as the most attractive alternative for stabilization and provides the opportunity for recovery and eventual reuse of the actinides. The final glass form will be placed in interim storage awaiting a disposition by the Department of Energy. This paper presents a brief history of the stabilization program and an overview of the entire Am/Cm stabilization process. This paper also provides details of a specific processing issue related to drain tube pluggage (devitrification) that was encountered during the development of the baseline batch vitrification process, and the remedy employed to reduce the potential for further drain tube pluggage.

Diffraction-contrast TEM, focused probe electron diffraction, and high-resolution X-ray diffraction were used to characterize the dislocation arrangements in a 16[.proportional]m thick coalesced GaN film grown by MOVPE LEO. As is commonly observed, the threading dislocations that are duplicated from the template above the window bend toward (0001). At the coalescence plane they bend back to lie along [0001] and thread to the surface. In addition, three other sets of dislocations were observed. The first set consists of a wall of parallel dislocations lying in the coalescence plane and nearly parallel to the substrate, with Burgers vector (b) in the (0001) plane. The second set is comprised of rectangular loops with b = 1/3 [11 20] (perpendicular to the coalescence boundary) which originate in the coalescence boundary and extend laterally into the film on the (1 100). The third set of dislocations threads laterally through the film along the [1 100] bar axis with 1/3<11 20>-type Burgers vectors These sets result in a dislocation density of ∼109 cm−2. High resolution X-ray reciprocal space maps indicate wing tilt of ∼0.5°.

The ability to measure the temperature-dependence of the hardness of thin films is useful from both an applications and a scientific standpoint. For this reason, we have designed and constructed a load- and depth-sensing indentation tester combining sub-nanometer resolution with the ability to operate over a range of temperatures, currently 150K to 400K. This paper describes the new experimental apparatus and reports preliminary data on 440C stainless steel substrates with and without a 0.75 μm ZrN coating.

Room temperature deformation data of leadless solder joints are reported. The joints were sheared under cyclic, displacement controlled loading at frequencies between 0.001 and 0.01 Hz. A microplastic model was utilized to simulate the stress-strain loops, which demonstrated a pronounced Bauschinger effect. The implications of microplasticity on fatigue life of solder joints are discussed. This phenomenon must be taken into account in an accurate prediction of solder deformation at low strain ranges.