Engineering topics

Welch, David

Publications and source records attributed to Welch, David.

4 records

DOE OSTI2018

Thermoelasticity and anomalies in the pressure dependence of phonon velocities in niobium

Compressional and shear wave velocities of polycrystalline niobium have been measured at simultaneously high pressures and temperatures up to 5.8 GPa and 1073 K, respectively, using ultrasonic interferometry in conjunction with synchrotron x-ray techniques. An anomalous pressure-induced softening behavior in the phonon velocities, probably owing to the topological change in the Fermi surface, has been observed at ~4.8 GPa during cold compression, which is supported by the elasticity data from our first-principles calculations. In contrast, both the bulk (BS) and shear (G) moduli increase with pressures but decrease with temperatures upon compression at extreme P-T up to 5.8 GPa and 1073 K. Using finite strain equation-of-state approaches, the elasticity of bulk and shear moduli and their pressure and temperature dependences are derived from the directly measured velocities and densities, yielding B S0 = 174.9(3.2) GPa, G0 = 37.1(3) GPa, ∂B S /∂P = 3.97(9), ∂G/∂P = 0.83(5), ∂B S /∂T = -0.064(7) GPa/K, and ∂G/∂T = 0.012(3) GPa/K. On the basis of the current thermoelasticity data, Debye temperature and the high-pressure melting curve of Nb are derived. The origin of the anomalies in shear behavior at high pressure might be attributed to the progressive s-d electron-transfer-induced topological changes of the Fermi surface upon compression.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

DOE OSTI2016

Discovery of superconductivity in hard hexagonal ε-NbN

Since the discovery of superconductivity in boron-doped diamond with a critical temperature (T C ) near 4 K, great interest has been attracted in hard superconductors such as transition-metal nitrides and carbides. Here we report the new discovery of superconductivity in polycrystalline hexagonal ε-NbN synthesized at high pressure and high temperature. Direct magnetization and electrical resistivity measurements demonstrate that the superconductivity in bulk polycrystalline hexagonal ε-NbN is below ~11.6 K, which is significantly higher than that for boron-doped diamond. The nature of superconductivity in hexagonal ε-NbN and the physical mechanism for the relatively lower T C have been addressed by the weaker bonding in the Nb-N network, the co-planarity of Nb-N layer as well as its relatively weaker electron-phonon coupling, as compared with the cubic δ-NbN counterpart. Moreover, the newly discovered ε-NbN superconductor remains stable at pressures up to ~20 GPa and is significantly harder than cubic δ-NbN; it is as hard as sapphire, ultra-incompressible and has a high shear rigidity of 201 GPa to rival hard/superhard material γ-B (~227 GPa). Furthermore, this exploration opens a new class of highly desirable materials combining the outstanding mechanical/elastic properties with superconductivity, which may be particularly attractive for its technological and engineering applications in extreme environments.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

NASA NTRS2015

Gas Supersaturation May Reduce the Survival of Yearling Chinook Salmon in the Lower Columbia River and Ocean Plume

Unusually high flows in the Columbia River in 2011 raised total dissolved gas (TDG) levels in the river above the 120 percent legal limit imposed to prevent harmful impacts to aquatic organisms. This provided a unique opportunity to evaluate the effect on smolt survival. In-river (IR) migrating juvenile yearling Chinook released at Bonneville Dam with acoustic tags during periods when TDG exceeded 120 percent received estimated maximum exposures of 134 TDG. Subsequent daily survival rates in the lower river and plume were reduced by 0.06 per day (SE equals 0.01) and 0.15 per day (SE equals 0.05) relative to IR migrant fish released when TDG was less than 120 percent. Transported smolts (T) released 10-13 kilometers below Bonneville Dam had lower maximum exposure levels (126 percent) and experienced no difference in daily survival rates relative to unexposed smolts. River temperature levels and trends in turbidity and disease prevalence between releases of high and low exposure smolts were not consistent with the observed effects on survival rates. We conclude that smolts may suffer from chronic effects of elevated TDG exposure while migrating through the Columbia River and plume. Consideration should be given to measuring these survival losses in an explicit experimental framework that isolates possible confounding factors.

survival↗

DOE OSTI2015

Solid friction between soft filaments

Any macroscopic deformation of a filamentous bundle is necessarily accompanied by local sliding and/or stretching of the constituent filaments. Yet the nature of the sliding friction between two aligned filaments interacting through multiple contacts remains largely unexplored. Here, by directly measuring the sliding forces between two bundled F-actin filaments, we show that these frictional forces are unexpectedly large, scale logarithmically with sliding velocity as in solid-like friction, and exhibit complex dependence on the filaments’ overlap length. We also show that a reduction of the frictional force by orders of magnitude, associated with a transition from solid-like friction to Stokes’s drag, can be induced by coating F-actin with polymeric brushes. Furthermore, we observe similar transitions in filamentous microtubules and bacterial flagella. In conclusion, our findings demonstrate how altering a filament’s elasticity, structure and interactions can be used to engineer interfilament friction and thus tune the properties of fibrous composite materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗