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Larson, B. C.

Publications and source records attributed to Larson, B. C..

12 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2019

Impact of anharmonicity on the vibrational entropy and specific heat of UO 2

The impact of anharmonicity on the vibrational entropy and heat capacity of UO 2 has been discovered from 10 to 1200 K using inelastic neutron-scattering measurements of the phonon density of states (PDOS). Small changes in the PDOS are observed from 10 to 295 K, with more noticeable changes appearing in the 750- and 1200-K data. The specific heat determined from the PDOS measurements is in agreement with macroscopic specific heat measurements, and the overall impact of nondilation anharmonicity on the specific heat has been shown to be less than 2%. An analysis of the phonon measurements shows that the softening of acoustic phonons with temperature is consistent with the quasiharmonic approximation. The optical phonons deviate from the quasiharmonic prediction, with the low-energy optical phonons between approximately 20 and 50 meV softening more than expected, while the higher-energy optical phonons between approximately 50 and 80 meV have no appreciable softening over the temperature range measured. The observation of a small anharmonic specific heat contribution has been demonstrated to be the result of relatively large energy-dependent anharmonic effects which have opposite sign, leading to a total contribution near zero.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

Dynamic Scaling and Island Growth Kinetics in Pulsed Laser Deposition of SrTiO 3

We use real-time diffuse surface x-ray diffraction to probe the evolution of island size distributions and its effects on surface smoothing in pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of SrTiO 3 . In this study, we show that the island size evolution obeys dynamic scaling and two distinct regimes of island growth kinetics. Our data show that PLD film growth can persist without roughening despite thermally driven Ostwald ripening, the main mechanism for surface smoothing, being shut down. The absence of roughening is concomitant with decreasing island density, contradicting the prevailing view that increasing island density is the key to surface smoothing in PLD. We also report a previously unobserved crossover from diffusion-limited to attachment-limited island growth that reveals the influence of nonequilibrium atomic level surface transport processes on the growth modes in PLD. We show by direct measurements that attachment-limited island growth is the dominant process in PLD that creates step flowlike behavior or quasistep flow as PLD “self-organizes” local step flow on a length scale consistent with the substrate temperature and PLD parameters.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Lattice Rotation Patterns and Strain Gradient Effects in Face-Centered-Cubic Single Crystals Under Spherical Indentation

Strain gradient effects are commonly modeled as the origin of the size dependence of material strength, such as the dependence of indentation hardness on contact depth and spherical indenter radius. However, studies on the microstructural comparisons of experiments and theories are limited. First, we have extended a strain gradient Mises-plasticity model to its crystal plasticity version and implemented a finite element method to simulate the load-displacement response and the lattice rotation field of Cu single crystals under spherical indentation. The strain gradient simulations demonstrate that the forming of distinct sectors of positive and negative angles in the lattice rotation field is governed primarily by the slip geometry and crystallographic orientations, depending only weakly on strain gradient effects, although hardness depends strongly on strain gradients. Second, the lattice rotation simulations are compared quantitatively with micron resolution, three-dimensional X-ray microscopy (3DXM) measurements of the lattice rotation fields under 100mN force, 100 mu m radius spherical indentations in < 111 >, < 110 >, and < 001 > oriented Cu single crystals. Third, noting the limitation of continuum strain gradient crystal plasticity models, two-dimensional discrete dislocation simulation results suggest that the hardness in the nanocontact regime is governed synergistically by a combination of strain gradients and source-limited plasticity. However, the lattice rotation field in the discrete dislocation simulations is found to be insensitive to these two factors but to depend critically on dislocation obstacle densities and strengths.

Gao, Y. F.↗