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Gu, Chao

Publications and source records attributed to Gu, Chao.

9 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Formation of hierarchically structured martensites in pure iron with ultrahigh strength and stiffness

Strong steels are primarily fabricated by introducing spatial obstacles (e.g., stacking faults and precipitates) that inhibit dislocation slips under stress to achieve high strength. However, for most low-carbon steels, such obstacles are difficult to form mainly because the martensitic transition is kinetically unfavorable by conventional methods, which precludes the attainment of high-strength materials in these steels with low solute contents. Here, we report an innovative high-pressure preparation of martensitic pure Fe with involving nano-effect, which leads to the formation of ultrastrong bulk iron with exceptionally high yield strength, ultimate strength, and hardness of 2.9 GPa, 3.7 GPa, and 9.0 GPa, respectively, exceeding those of high-speed steels. Such extraordinary mechanical properties are closely attributed to its high-density martensites with unique multiscale hierarchical structures formed due to complex phase transitions under pressure.

Science & Technology - Other Topics↗
DOE OSTI2021

Crystal structures and formation mechanisms of boron-rich tungsten borides

Boron-rich tungsten borides tend to adopt mechanically unfavorable layered structures but experimentally exhibit excellent mechanical properties rivalling traditional superhard solids. Unravelling the contraindicated structure-property relationship, however, has been impeded by their structural ambiguities because of the difficulty in probing boron and atomic deficiency of these borides. Here, we study crystal structures of boron-rich tungsten borides WB 3+x and WB 2+x by neutron diffraction based on high-quality samples prepared by a high-pressure method, leading to definitive structural resolutions for both borides with unique compositions of WB 5.14 and WB 2.34 . Combined with theoretical calculations, their structural stability is revealed to be closely related to atomic deficiency, which is governed by the valence-band filling with an optimal valence-electron concentration of ~10 per cell. The presence of interstitial boron trimers at the vacant W : 2b sites in WB 5.14 alters the crystal symmetry, making the Wyckoff 2d site more favorably occupied by W, rather than the 2c site, as previously misassigned. Here, the staggered planar boron layers and wrinkled boron bonding in WB 2.34 are identified to be crucial for stabilizing its structure. These findings unveil the longstanding structural mysteries of boron-rich tungsten borides and offer powerful insights for rational design of borides by defect chemistry.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2017

TET1-GPER-PI3K/AKT pathway is involved in insulin-driven endometrial cancer cell proliferation

Large amount of clinical evidence has demonstrated that insulin resistance is closely related to oncogenesis of endometrial cancer (EC). Despite recent studies showed the up-regulatory role of insulin in G protein-coupled estrogen receptor (GPER/GPR30) expression, GPER expression was not decreased compared to control when insulin receptor was blocked even in insulin treatment. The purpose of this study was to explore the possible mechanism by which insulin up-regulates GPER that drives EC cell proliferation. For this purpose, we first investigated the GPER expression in tissues of endometrial lesions, further explored the effect of GPER on EC cell proliferation in insulin resistance context. Then we analyzed the role of Ten-Eleven Translocation 1 (TET1) in insulin-induced GEPR expression and EC cell proliferation. The results showed that GPER was highly expressed in endometrial atypical hyperplasia and EC tissues. Mechanistically, insulin up-regulated TET1 expression and the latter played an important role in up-regulating GPER expression and activating PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. TET1 mediated GPER up-regulation was another mechanism that insulin promotes EC cell proliferation. - Highlights: • GPER acts as an oncogene to drive EC cell growth in insulin resistance context. • TET1 is associated with insulin-induced GPER expression. • Insulin resistance contributed to EC through TET1-GPER-PI3K/AKT pathway.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2016

The Spin Structure of the Proton at Low $Q^2$: A Measurement of the Structure Function $g^2_p$

The spin structure of the nucleon has remained as one of the key points of interest in hadronic physics, which has attracted many efforts from both experimentalists and theorists. Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is the fundamental theory that describes the strong interaction. It has been verified in the asymptotically free region. However, the non-perturbative confinement of quarks within the nucleon is still not well understood within QCD. In the non-perturbative regime, low-energy effective field theories such as chiral perturbation theory (XPT) provide predictions for the spin structure functions. The neutron spin structure functions, gp1 and gp2 , and the proton spin structure function, gp1, have been measured over a wide kinematic range and compared with the theoretical predictions. However, the proton spin structure function, gp2, remains largely unmeasured. The E08-027 collaboration successfully performed the first measurement of the inclusive electron-proton scattering in the kinematic range 0.02 < Q2 < 0.2 GeV2. The experiment took place in experimental Hall A at Jefferson Lab in 2012. A longitudinally polarized electron beam with incident energies between 1.1 GeV and 3.3 GeV was scattered from a longitudinally or transversely polarized NH3 target. Asymmetries and polarized cross-section differences were measured in the resonance region to extract the proton spin structure functions g2. The results allow us to obtain the generalized spin polarizabilities γ0 and δLT and test the Burkhardtt-Cottingham (BC) sum rule. Chiral perturbation theory is expected to work in this kinematic range and this measurement of δLT will give a benchmark test to XPT calculations. This thesis will discuss preliminary results from the E08-027 data analysis.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Beam position reconstruction for the g2p experiment in Hall A at Jefferson Lab

Beam-line equipment was upgraded for experiment E08-027 (g2p) in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. Two beam position monitors (BPMs) were necessary to measure the beam position and angle at the target. A new BPM receiver was designed and built to handle the low beam currents (50-100 nA) used for this experiment. Two new super-harps were installed for calibrating the BPMs. In addition to the existing fast raster system, a slow raster system was installed. We found that before and during the experiment, these new devices were tested and debugged, and their performance was also evaluated. In order to achieve the required accuracy (1-2 mm in position and 1-2 mrad in angle at the target location), the data of the BPMs and harps were carefully analyzed, as well as reconstructing the beam position and angle event by event at the target location. Finally, the calculated beam position will be used in the data analysis to accurately determine the kinematics for each event.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Probing the Repulsive Core of the Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction via the 4 He(e,e`pN) Triple-Coincidence Reaction

We studied simultaneously the 4 He(e,e'p), 4 He(e,e'pp), and 4 He(e,e'pn) reactions at Q 2 =2 [GeV/c] 2 and x B >1, for a (e,e'p) missing-momentum range of 400 to 830 MeV/c. The knocked-out proton was detected in coincidence with a proton or neutron recoiling almost back to back to the missing momentum, leaving the residual A=2 system at low excitation energy. These data were used to identify two-nucleon short-range correlated pairs and to deduce their isospin structure as a function of missing momentum in a region where the nucleon-nucleon force is expected to change from predominantly tensor to repulsive. Neutron-proton pairs dominate the high-momentum tail of the nucleon momentum distributions, but their abundance is reduced as the nucleon momentum increases beyond ~500 MeV/c. The extracted fraction of proton-proton pairs is small and almost independent of the missing momentum in the range we studied. Our data are compared with ab-initio calculations of two-nucleon momentum distributions in 4 He.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

FLYSUB-Consortium Tracking and RICH Performance Evaluation

This is a technical scope of work (TSW) between the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) and the experiments of FLYSUB-Consortium who have committed to participate in beam tests to be carried out during the 2013-2014 Fermilab Test Beam Facility program. The ultimate goal of this test-beam effort is to test and verify the performance of the individual components according to their expectation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗