A New Approach to Investigation of vdW Type of Equations of State

A new approach to the investigation of vdW type of equations of state (EOS) is developed by embedding a vapor pressure equation and a saturated liquid volume equation into vdW type EOS, which results in a new function AS(T). The AS(T) possesses the properties of an attractive parameter A(T), and if an EOS is accurate in the whole PVT space, then its numerical value equals A(T). As a useful tool for investigating EOS, the As(T) has been used to make comparisons among RKS, PRSVII, PT and ALS EOS, and to indicate where the shortcomings of the EOS are coming from. Based on the AS(T), a possible way to develop a real predictive equation of state is also suggested.

The dynamical evolution theory of the isolated oasis system

Assume that an oasis and its surrounding desert consist of an isolated system without mass and energy exchange with the outer environment.The characteristics of oasis evolution have been explored under the condition of system energy conservation.The results show that oasis evolves with two equilibrium states.The first equilibrium suggests a stable expansive and an unstable degraded oasis whereas the second equilibrium indicates a stable shrink and an unstable increase of the oasis area.If one equilibrium state is unstable,the components of the isolated system(oasis and desert) would tend to be no energy exchange and they each reach to energy balance respectively.Oasis would maintain its initial area in this case.Further analyses point out that the two equilibrium states have completely different characteristics.In the first equilibrium state,a higher vegetation albedo,lower soil albedo and larger canopy resistance,and direr soil both contribute to the oasis area expansion,accompanying an excessive large desert soil and vegetation canopy temperature difference(SCTD).In the second equilibrium state,however,a lower vegetation albedo,higher soil albedo and small canopy resistance,and wetter soil benefit the oasis area to stay near its initial value,following a moderate SCTD.The convergent trajectories of the initial values in phase space are influenced by the separatrices of the equilibrium points.Higher temperature is an advantage factor for initial values convergent to the oasis expansion solution.

Oxidation of a Zr_(46)Cu_(46)Al_(7)Gd_(1)bulk metallic glass detected via optical characterizations

Oxidation of metallic glasses has been shown to be different from crystalline alloys due to the disordered atomic structures and far-from-equilibrium state,and quick characterization is required to reveal their early stage oxidation.In this study,we investigated the oxidation behavior of a Zr_(46)Cu_(46)Al_(7)Gd_(1)bulk metallic glass by measuring the changes of optical constants via spectroscopic ellipsometry.Characterizations with X-ray diffraction,scanning electron microscopy,and thermogravimetric analyzer confirmed that the changes of pseudo-optical constants reflected not only the onset temperature at which the alloys underwent obvious oxidation,but also the subtle oxidation which was tedious to characterize.Our study suggests a more efficient and accurate approach to understand the oxidation of metallic glasses with temperature,time and compositions.