Effect of Ce on microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-Zn-Ce magnesium alloys

The Mg-6Zn alloy with different contents of Ce was prepared by the gravity casting method,and then the Mg-6Zn-xCe(x=0,0.5,1.0,1.5,wt.%)alloys were extruded at 300℃and 350℃ after solution treatment.The phase constitution and microstructure evolution of Mg-Zn-xCe alloys were analyzed by X-ray diffraction(XRD),scanning electron microscopy(SEM),energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS)and electron backscattering diffraction(EBSD).Meanwhile,the mechanical properties of the alloy were tested at room temperature.For as-cast alloys,the results show that the main compound in Mg-6Zn alloy is Mg4Zn7 phase,and the main compound is T-(MgZn)12Ce phase after the addition of different amounts of Ce.The microstructure and distribution of second phases are greatly improved after extrusion at 300℃and 350℃.Compared with initial mechanical properties,the strength and elongation increase obviously by means of extrusion at different temperatures.In addition,the microstructure after extrusion at 350℃is further analyzed according to EBSD data.The results show that rare earth element Ce probably promotes the activation of non-basal slip during the deformation process with the increase of Ce,which reduces the strength of basal texture and thus improves the plasticity of the alloy.Meanwhile,the increase of grain boundary migration ability leads to the gradual increase of recrystallization grain size and decreases the strength.

An efficient method for mapping the 12C+12C molecular resonances at low energies

The 12C+12C fusion reaction is famous because of its complication of molecular resonances,and it plays an important role in both nuclear structural research and astrophysics. It is extremely difficult to measure the cross sections of 12C+12C fusions at energies of astrophysical relevance because of the very low reaction yields. To measure the complicated resonant structure that exists in this important reaction, an efficient thick target method has been developed and applied for the first time at energies Ec.m.<5.3 MeV. A scan of the cross sections over a relatively wide range of energies can be carried out using only a single beam energy. The result of measurement at Ec.m.=4.1 MeV is compared with results from previous work.This method will be useful for searching for potentially existing resonances of 12C+12C in the energy range 1 MeV<Ec.m.<3 MeV.

Toward real-time digital pulse process algorithms for CsI(Tl)detector array at external target facility in HIRFL-CSR

A fully digital data acquisition system based on a field-programmable gate array(FPGA) was developed for a CsI(Tl) array at the external target facility(ETF) in the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou(HIRFL). To process the CsI(Tl) signals generated by γ-rays and light-charged ions, a scheme for digital pulse processing algorithms is proposed. Every step in the algorithms was benchmarked using standard γ and α sources. The scheme, which included a moving average filter, baseline restoration, leading-edge discrimination, moving window deconvolution, and digital charge comparison, was subsequently implemented on the FPGA. A good energy resolution of 5.7% for 1.33-MeV γ-rays and excellent α-γ identification using the digital charge comparison method were achieved, which satisfies CsI(Tl) array performance requirements.

Effect of Zn addition on microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-3Y-2Nd-0.5Zr alloy

The effect of 0.5wt.%Zn addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-3Y-2Nd-0.5Zr(WE32)alloy was investigated.The results indicate that WE32-0.5Zn alloy takes 48 h to reach peak hardness after solid solution treatment at 525℃and aging at 200℃,10 h earlier than WE32 alloy,which implies an accelerated aging precipitation kinetics owing to the addition of 0.5wt.%Zn.A large quantity of finerod and rectangular block-like Zn-Zr precipitates in theα-Mg matrix are formed in the WE32-0.5Zn alloy,and numerous needle-likeβ1phases are distributed at both ends of the Zn-Zr precipitates at peak-aged condition.In peak-aged condition,the ultimate tensile strength considerably increases from 263.2 MPa(WE32)to 309.6 MPa(WE32-0.5Zn),and the elongation dramatically increases from 4.3%(WE32)to 8.9%(WE32-0.5Zn).Theβ’andβ1phases are the main precipitates of the WE32-0.5Zn alloy peak-aged at 200℃.Theβ’andβ1phases easily nucleate at the Zn-Zr precipitates,and theβ1phases are particularly likely to nucleate and grow at the interface between the two ends of the Zn-Zr precipitates,which accelerates aging precipitation kinetics and leads to a shorter time to achieve peak aging.

Stellar reaction rate of 55Ni（p,γ）56Cu in Type I X-ray bursts

^56Cu is close to the waiting-point nucleus ^56Ni and lies on the rapid proton capture (rp) process path in Type I X-ray bursts (XRBs). In this work, we obtained a revised thermonuclear reaction rate of ^55Niep;cT56Cu in the temperature region relevant to XRBs. This rate was recalculated based on the recent experimental level structure in ^56Cu, the recently measured proton separation energy of Sp = 579.8(7.1) keV, together with shell-model calculation, and the mirror nuclear structure in ^56Co. The associated uncertainties in the rates were estimated by a Monte Carlo method. Our revised rate is significantly different from the recent results, which were partially based on experimental results;in addition, we found that a result in a previous work was incorrect. We recommend our revised rate to be incorporated in the future astrophysical network calculations.

A new seamoth species of Pegasus(Syngnathiformes:Pegasidae)from the East China Sea

DEAR EDITOR,The Pegasidae family,which includes seven species of seamoths,is widely distributed in the temperate and tropical waters of the Indo-Pacific,ranging from South Africa to Hawaii.In this study,we describe a new species of seamoth,Pegasus sinensis sp.nov.,based on morphological and molecular characterization of 14 specimens collected from the surrounding waters of Xiamen City,Fujian Province,China.The new species differs from closely related P.volitans in both the density and color of spots present on the dorsal and lateral body surfaces.

Fragmentation of stable and neutron-rich ^(12-16)C into boron fragments at approximately 240 MeV/nucleon

The elemental fragmentation cross sections of boron fragments produced by stable and neutron-rich^(12-16)C beams with a carbon target were systematically measured at an incident beam energy of approximately 240 MeV/nucleon.The measured cross sections were found to increase as the projectile mass number increases.The observed feature is explained qualitatively based on the abrasion-ablation two-stage reaction model and is compared quantitatively with predictions from various reaction models,including empirical and statistical models.All models agree with the measured cross sections within a factor of 2.

Opportunities for production and property research of neutron-rich nuclei around N=126 at HIAF

The study of nuclide production and its properties in the N=126 neutron-rich region is prevalent in nuclear physics and astrophysics research.The upcoming High-energy FRagment Separator(HFRS)at the High-Intensity heavy-ion Accelerator Facility(HIAF),an in-flight separator at relativistic energies,is characterized by high beam intensity,large ion-optical acceptance,high magnetic rigidity,and high momentum resolution power.This provides an opportunity to study the production and properties of neutron-rich nuclei around N=126.In this paper,an experimental scheme is proposed to produce neutron-rich nuclei around N=126 and simultaneously measure their mass and lifetime based on the HFRS separator;the feasibility of this scheme is evaluated through simulations.The results show that under the high-resolution optical mode,many new neutron-rich nuclei approaching the r-process abundance peak around A=195 can be produced for the first time,and many nuclei with unknown masses and lifetimes can be produced with high statistics.Using the time-of-flight corrected by the measured dispersive position and energy loss information,the cocktails produced from 208 Pb fragmentation can be unambiguously identified.Moreover,the masses of some neutron-rich nuclei near N=126 can be measured with high precision using the time-of-flight magnetic rigidity technique.This indicates that the HIAF-HFRS facility has the potential for the production and property research of neutron-rich nuclei around N=126,which is of great significance for expanding the chart of nuclides,developing nuclear theories,and understanding the origin of heavy elements in the universe.

Measurement of the^2H(^7Be,^6Li)^3He reaction rate and its contribution to the primordial lithium abundance

In the standard Big Bang nucleosynthesis （SBBN） model, the lithium puzzle has attracted intense interest over the past few decades, but still has not been solved. Conventionally, the approach is to include more reactions flowing into or out of lithium, and study the potential effects of those reactions which were not previously considered. 7Be（d, 3He）6Li is a reaction that not only produces 6Li but also destroys 7Be, which decays to 7Li, thereby affecting 7Li indirectly. Therefore, this reaction could alleviate the lithium discrepancy if its reaction rate is sufficiently high. However, there is not much information available about the 7Be（d, 3He）6Li reaction rate. In this work, the angular distributions of the 7Be（d, 3He）6Li reaction are measured at the center of mass energies Ecm=4.0 MeV and 6.7 MeV with secondary 7Be beams for the first time. The excitation function of the 7Be（d, 3He）6Li reaction is first calculated with the computer code TALYS and then normalized to the experimental data, then its reaction rate is deduced. A SBBN network calculation is performed to investigate its influence on the 6Li and 7Li abundances. The results show that the 7Be（d, 3He）6Li reaction has a minimal effect on 6Li and 7Li because of its small reaction rate. Therefore, the 7Be（d, 3He）6Li reaction is ruled out by this experiment as a means of alleviating the lithium discrepancy.