The effect of Ti and Zr content on the structure,mechanics and energy-release characteristics of Ti—Zr—Ta alloys

Energetic structural materials(ESMs)are a new type of structural materials with bearing and damage characteristics.In this work the microstructure,mechanical properties and energy release characteristics of multi-element Ti-Zr-Ta alloys with good casting performance were studied.The microstructure of the Ti_(x)ZrTa alloys gradually change from BCC+HCP to single BCC structure with the increase of Ti.While the Ti_(2)Zr_(y)Ta alloys was still uniform and single BCC structure with the increase of Zr.The evolution of microstructure and composition then greatly affect the mechanical properties and energy-release characteristics of Ti-Zr-Ta alloys.The synergistic effect of dual phase structure increases the fracture strain of Ti_(x)ZrTa(x=0.2,0.5)with the Ti content decreases,while the fracture strain of Ti_(x)ZrTa(x=2.0,3.0,4.0)gradually increase with the Ti content increases caused by the annihilation of the obstacles for dislocation movement.And as Zr content increases,the fracture strain of Ti_(2)Zr_(y)Ta alloys decrease,then the oxidation reaction rate and fragmentation degree gradually increase.The higher oxidation rate and the lager exposed oxidation area jointly leads the higher releasing energy efficiency of Ti_(x)ZrTa alloys with low Ti content and Ti_(2)Zr_(y)Ta alloys with high Zr content.

Effects of anode material on the evolution of anode plasma and characteristics of intense electron beam diode

In this paper,three kinds of materials including graphite,titanium(Ti)and molybdenum(Mo)are used as anodes to figure out the influence factors of anode material on the characteristics of the intense electron beam diode.The results show that the characteristics of diode are mainly determined by the cathode plasma motion under a 15 mm diode gap,in which the typical electron beam parameters are 280 kV,3.5 kA.When the diode gap is reduced to 5 mm,the voltage of the electron beam reduces to about 200 kV,and its current increases to more than 8.2 kA.It is calculated that the surface temperatures of Ti and Mo anodes are higher than their melting points.The diode plasma luminescence images show that Ti and Mo anodes produce plasmas soon after the bombardment of electron beams.Ti and Mo lines are respectively found in the plasma composition of Ti and Mo anode diodes.Surface melting traces are also observed on Ti and Mo anodes by comparing the micromorphologies before and after bombardment of the electron beam.These results suggest that the time of anode plasma generation is closely related to the anode material.Compared with graphite,metal Ti and Mo anodes are more likely to produce large amounts of plasma due to their more significant temperature rise effect.According to the moment that anode plasma begins to generate,the average expansion velocities of cathode and anode plasma are estimated by fitting the improved space-charge limited flow model.This reveals that generation and motion of the anode plasma significantly affect the characteristics of intense electron beam diode.

Resistance of grid steel-tube-confined concrete targets against projectile impact: Experimental investigation and analytical engineering model

Steel-tube-confined concrete(STCC) targets are provided with excellent anti-penetration performance over semi-infinite concrete(SIC) targets since the steel tube imposes passive restraint on the in-filled concrete during the penetration process. Grid STCC system with square steel tubes is a potential solution to protective structures. In this paper, experiments of 9-cell grid STCC targets penetrated by 12.7 mm Armor Piercing Projectile(APP) were performed. The influence of side length and thickness of steel tube,steel ratio and impact velocity on anti-penetration performance were taken into account. Additionally,single-cell square STCC targets were also designed and tested for comparison with the 9-cell grid STCC targets. Damage modes and parameters of the tested targets were measured and discussed. Moreover,the stiffness of radial confinement of grid STCC targets is achieved according to the elastic solution of infinite cylindrical shell in Winkler medium. Furthermore, the penetration resistance and depth of penetration(DOP) for grid STCC targets are obtained on the basis of the dynamic finite spherical cavityexpansion(FSCE) models including radial confinement effect. It is shown that the 9-cell grid STCC targets with optimal dimension match of thickness and side length of steel tube can reduce the DOP by about17 % and 23 % in comparison with the SIC targets and single-cell square STCC targets, respectively, due to both the confinement of square steel tube to concrete in the impacted cell and the additional confinement of the surrounding cells to the impacted cell;the penetration resistance and DOP of the grid and cellular STCC targets with similar steel ratio is close, and thus the grid STCC targets with simpler manufacturing process and excellent in-plane expandability are preferred in engineering practice;moreover, the predicted results of DOP model based on the FSCE models agree well with the tested results with the maximum disparity less than 12 % and the proposed model is more applicable to the grid and cellular STCC targets with high radial confinement.

Numerical simulation and performance analysis of the radiofrequency inductive cathode

The radiofrequency(RF) inductive cathode has great prospects in space missions with long mission cycles, large speed increments, and rapid response requirements as the main electron source and neutralizer in Hall thrusters and ion thrusters. This paper proposes a comprehensive multi-physics RF inductive cathode model in which the RF electromagnetic field, electrostatic field for extracting electrons, flow field, plasma transport and electrochemical reaction process are all accounted for. Each physical field mentioned above can form a closed partial differential equation. The two-dimensional finite element code COMSOL is used to solve the multi-physics model. With this model, the formation process of the anode spot is exhibited and demonstrates the non-bipolar flow theory in practice. The simulation results demonstrate that the current jump in the RF inductive cathode is caused by the anode spot. Furthermore, the influences of preset discharge parameters such as RF power, bias voltage and actuating gas flow as well as structural parameters like the coil structure, discharge chamber size and ion collector area, emission hole size, distance between the anode target and the emission hole etc on the cathode performance are investigated, and some important optimal parameters are proposed.

Extrusion 3D printing of carbon nanotube-assembled carbon aerogel nanocomposites with high electrical conductivity

Carbon nanotubes(CNTs)with high aspect ratio and excellent electrical conduction offer huge functional improvements for current carbon aerogels.However,there remains a major challenge for achieving the on-demand shaping of carbon aerogels with tailored micro-nano structural textures and geometric features.Herein,a facile extrusion 3D printing strategy has been proposed for fabricating CNT-assembled carbon(CNT/C)aerogel nanocomposites through the extrusion printing of pseudoplastic carbomer-based inks,in which the stable dispersion of CNT nanofibers has been achieved relying on the high viscosity of carbomer microgels.After extrusion printing,the chemical solidification through polymerizing RF sols enables 3D-printed aerogel nanocomposites to display high shape fidelity in macroscopic geometries.Benefiting from the micro-nano scale assembly of CNT nanofiber networks and carbon nanoparticle networks in composite phases,3D-printed CNT/C aerogels exhibit enhanced mechanical strength(fracture strength,0.79 MPa)and typical porous structure characteristics,including low density(0.220 g cm^(-3)),high surface area(298.4 m^(2)g^(-1)),and concentrated pore diameter distribution(~32.8nm).More importantly,CNT nanofibers provide an efficient electron transport pathway,imparting 3D-printed CNT/C aerogel composites with a high electrical conductivity of 1.49 S cm^(-1).Our work would offer feasible guidelines for the design and fabrication of shape-dominated functional materials by additive manufacturing.

Multi-Material Topology Optimization of 2D Structures Using Convolutional Neural Networks

In recent years,there has been significant research on the application of deep learning(DL)in topology optimization(TO)to accelerate structural design.However,these methods have primarily focused on solving binary TO problems,and effective solutions for multi-material topology optimization(MMTO)which requires a lot of computing resources are still lacking.Therefore,this paper proposes the framework of multiphase topology optimization using deep learning to accelerate MMTO design.The framework employs convolutional neural network(CNN)to construct a surrogate model for solving MMTO,and the obtained surrogate model can rapidly generate multi-material structure topologies in negligible time without any iterations.The performance evaluation results show that the proposed method not only outputs multi-material topologies with clear material boundary but also reduces the calculation cost with high prediction accuracy.Additionally,in order to find a more reasonable modeling method for MMTO,this paper studies the characteristics of surrogate modeling as regression task and classification task.Through the training of 297 models,our findings show that the regression task yields slightly better results than the classification task in most cases.Furthermore,The results indicate that the prediction accuracy is primarily influenced by factors such as the TO problem,material category,and data scale.Conversely,factors such as the domain size and the material property have minimal impact on the accuracy.

Fast solution to the free return orbit's reachable domain of the manned lunar mission by deep neural network

It is important to calculate the reachable domain(RD)of the manned lunar mission to evaluate whether a lunar landing site could be reached by the spacecraft. In this paper, the RD of free return orbits is quickly evaluated and calculated via the classification and regression neural networks. An efficient databasegeneration method is developed for obtaining eight types of free return orbits and then the RD is defined by the orbit’s inclination and right ascension of ascending node(RAAN) at the perilune. A classify neural network and a regression network are trained respectively. The former is built for classifying the type of the RD, and the latter is built for calculating the inclination and RAAN of the RD. The simulation results show that two neural networks are well trained. The classification model has an accuracy of more than 99% and the mean square error of the regression model is less than 0.01°on the test set. Moreover, a serial strategy is proposed to combine the two surrogate models and a recognition tool is built to evaluate whether a lunar site could be reached. The proposed deep learning method shows the superiority in computation efficiency compared with the traditional double two-body model.

Automatic detection of breast lesions in automated 3D breast ultrasound with cross-organ transfer learning

Background Deep convolutional neural networks have garnered considerable attention in numerous machine learning applications,particularly in visual recognition tasks such as image and video analyses.There is a growing interest in applying this technology to diverse applications in medical image analysis.Automated three dimensional Breast Ultrasound is a vital tool for detecting breast cancer,and computer-assisted diagnosis software,developed based on deep learning,can effectively assist radiologists in diagnosis.However,the network model is prone to overfitting during training,owing to challenges such as insufficient training data.This study attempts to solve the problem caused by small datasets and improve model detection performance.Methods We propose a breast cancer detection framework based on deep learning(a transfer learning method based on cross-organ cancer detection)and a contrastive learning method based on breast imaging reporting and data systems(BI-RADS).Results When using cross organ transfer learning and BIRADS based contrastive learning,the average sensitivity of the model increased by a maximum of 16.05%.Conclusion Our experiments have demonstrated that the parameters and experiences of cross-organ cancer detection can be mutually referenced,and contrastive learning method based on BI-RADS can improve the detection performance of the model.

Shock wave and bubble characteristics of underwater array explosion of charges

In this study, we focused on the effect of the underwater explosion parameters of multi-point array explosion. The shock wave and bubble parameters of aggregate charge, two charges, and four charges were measured through an underwater explosion test, and their influence on the explosion power field of charge quantity and array distance was analyzed. Results show that the multi-shock wave collision of array explosion can be approximated to a linear superposition, and the interaction of delayed shock wave can be deemed as the increase of the shock wave baseline. Shock wave focusing and delayed superposition increase the shock wave peak pressure. Compared with the aggregate charge, the greater the number of array explosion points is, the higher the impulse and the gain of the bubble peak pressure are. At the same array distance, the smaller the charge quantity is, the higher the bubble impulse will be. At the same charge quantity, the smaller the array distance is, the higher the bubble impulse will be. The bubble period decreases gradually with the increase of the charge quantity, but the test orientation has little effect on the bubble period.

Use of a plane jet for flow-induced noise reduction of tandem rods

Unsteady wake from upstream components of landing gear impinging on downstream components could be a strong noise source.The use of a plane jet is proposed to reduce this flow-induced noise.Tandem rods with different gap widths were utilized as the test body.Both acoustic and aerodynamic tests were conducted in order to validate this technique.Acoustic test results proved that overall noise emission from tandem rods could be lowered and tonal noise could be removed with use of the plane jet.However,when the plane jet was turned on,in some frequency range it could be the subsequent main contributor instead of tandem rods to total noise emission whilst in some frequency range rods could still be the main contributor.Moreover,aerodynamic tests fundamentally studied explanations for the noise reduction.Specifically,not only impinging speed to rods but speed and turbulence level to the top edge of the rear rod could be diminished by the upstream plane jet.Consequently,the vortex shedding induced by the rear rod was reduced,which was confirmed by the speed,Reynolds stress as well as the velocity fluctuation spectral measured in its wake.This study confirmed the potential use of a plane jet towards landing gear noise reduction.

Effect of Sintering Additives on Properties of Si_3N_4BN Composites Fabricated via Die Pressing and Precursor Infiltration and Pyrolysis Route

The Si3N4-BN composites have been prepared via die pressing and precursor infiltration and pyrolysis route using borazine as precursor, and the effect of sintering additives on properties of the composites has been investigated. After sintering additives are adopted, the a to β phase transition of Si3N4 and the mechanical properties of the composites at both room temperature and high temperature are all increased with small extent. When using Y2O3＋Al2O3 as additives, the phase transition of Si3N4 and the mechanical properties of the composites have better results. The β-Si3N4 content is 17.47%. The flexural strength, elastic modulus and fracture toughness of the composites are 188.74 MPa, 84.34 GPa and 2.96 MPa.m1/2, respectively. After exposed at 1 000 ℃ in the air for 15 min, the flexural strength of the composites is 154.62 MPa with a residual ratio of 81.92%. The elongated β-Si3N4 grains appear in all composites with different sintering additives. Relatively more rod like β-Si3N4 grains can be observed in composites with Y2O3＋Al2O3 as additives, making it to possess better mechanical properties.

Hover performance estimation and validation of battery powered vertical takeoff and landing aircraft

Battery powered vertical takeoff and landing(VTOL) aircraft attracts more and more interests from public, while limited hover endurance hinders many prospective applications. Based on the weight models of battery, motor and electronic speed controller, the power consumption model of propeller and the constant power discharge model of battery, an efficient method to estimate the hover endurance of battery powered VTOL aircraft was presented. In order to understand the mechanism of performance improvement, the impacts of propulsion system parameters on hover endurance were analyzed by simulations, including the motor power density, the battery capacity, specific energy and Peukert coefficient. Ground experiment platform was established and validation experiments were carried out, the results of which showed a well agreement with the simulations. The estimation method and the analysis results could be used for optimization design and hover performance evaluation of battery powered VTOL aircraft.

Nonlinear control of spacecraft formation flying with disturbance rejection and collision avoidance

A nonlinear controller for disturbances rejection and collision avoidance is proposed for spacecraft formation flying.The formation flying is described by a nonlinear model with the J2 perturbation and atmospheric drag. Based on the theory of the state-dependent Riccati equation（SDRE）, a finite time nonlinear control law is developed for the nonlinear dynamics involved in formation flying. Then, a compensative internal mode（IM） control law is added to eliminate disturbances.These two control laws compose a finite time nonlinear tracking controller with disturbances rejection. Moreover, taking safety requirements into account, the repulsive control law is incorporated in the composite controller to perform collision avoidance manoeuvres. A numerical simulation is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.Compared to the conventional control method, the proposed method provides better performance in the presence of the obstacles and external disturbances.

Ignition characteristics and combustion performances of a LO_2/GCH_4 small thrust rocket engine

A 500 N model engine filled with LO2/GCH4 was designed and manufactured.A series of ignition attempts were performed in it by both head spark plug and body spark plug.Results show that the engine can be ignited but the combustion cannot be sustained when head spark plug applied as the plug tip was set in the gaseous low-velocity zone with thin spray.This is mainly because flame from this zone cannot supply enough ignition energy for the whole chamber.However,reliable ignition and stable combustion can be achieved by body spark plug.As the O/F ratio increases from 2.61 to 3.49,chamber pressure increases from 0.474 to 0.925 MPa and combustion efficiency increases from 57.8%to 95.1%.This is determined by the injector configuration,which cannot produce the sufficiently breakup of the liquid oxygen on the low flow rate case.

Space range estimate for battery-powered vertical take-off and landing aircraft

A novel method for estimating the space range of battery-powered vertical take-off and landing(VTOL) aircraft is presented. The method is based on flight parameter optimization and numerical iteration. Subsystem models including required thrust, required power and battery discharge models are presented. The problem to be optimized is formulated, and then case study simulation is conducted using the established method for quantitative analysis. Simulation results show that the space range of battery-powered VTOL aircraft in a vertical plane is an oblate curve, which appears horizontally long but vertically short, and the peak point is not located on the vertical climb path. The method and results are confirmed by parameter analysis and validations.

Experimental studies on flow visualization and velocity field of compression ramp with different incoming boundary layers

Experimental studies which focus on flow visualization and the velocity field of a supersonic laminar/turbulent flow over a compression ramp were carried out in a Mach 3.0 wind tunnel. Fine flow structures and velocity field structures were obtained via NPLS （nanoparticle-tracer planar laser scattering） and PIV （particle image velocimetry） techniques, time- averaged flow structures were researched, and spatiotemporal evolutions of transient flow structures were analyzed. The flow visualization results indicated that when the ramp angles were 25~, a typical separation occurred in the laminar flow, some typical flow structures such as shock induced by the boundary layer, separation shock, reversed flow and reattachment shock were visible clearly. While a certain extent separation occurred in turbulent flow, the separation region was much smaller. When the ramp angles were 28~, laminar flow separated further, and the separation region expanded evidently, flow structures in the separation region were complex. While a typical separation occurred in turbulent flow, reversed flow structures were significant, flow structures in the separation region were relatively simple. The experimental results of velocity field were corresponding to flow visualization, and the velocity field structures of both compression ramp flows agreed with the flow structures well. There were three layered structures in the U component velocity, and the V component velocity appeared like an oblique ＂v＂. Some differences between these two compression ramp flows can be observed in the velocity profiles of the shear layer and the shearing intensity.

Blast and tensile properties of tantalum/niobium lined SiC/SiC composite tubes for nuclear cladding

The mechanical performances such as tensile strength and blast property of metal lined SiC/SiC composite cladding tubes were investigated. Nb or Ta was selected as liner material, and the SiC/SiC composite layer was fabricated by winding and different precursor impregnation and pyrolysis(PIP) processes. The tensile strengths of different tube samples were measured at room temperature(RT) and 1200 °C, respectively. The blast property was investigated through the maximum water pressure of tubes. And the fracture microstructures were observed by SEM.The highest tensile strength at RT was 150.7 MPa. The blast strength was enhanced with the PIP process increasing from 1 to 4 cycles and the tube of 4 PIP cycles had the highest water pressure of 34.7 MPa. Compared with the metal tubes, the multi-layer structure improved tensile and blast properties significantly. The different processes such as PIP cycles and pyrolytic carbon(PyC) coating were important factors to enhance the mechanical performances of SiC/SiC-based tubes. However, the retention rate of tensile strength was only 18.5% at 1200 °C.

Dynamics and nonlinear control of space electromagnetic docking

Space electromagnetic docking technology, free of propellant and plume contamination, offers continuous, reversible and synchronous controllability, which is widely applied in the future routine on-orbit servicing missions. Due to the inherent nonlinearities, couplings and uncertainties of an electromagnetic force model, the dynamics and control problems of them are difficult. A new modeling approach for relative motion dynamics with intersatellite force is proposed. To resolve these control problems better, a novel nonlinear control method for soft space electro-magnetic docking is proposed, which combines merits of artificial potential function method, Lyapunov theory and extended state observer. In addition, the angular momentum management problem of space electromagnetic docking and approaches of handling it by exploiting the Earth＇s magnetic torque are investigated. Finally, nonlinear simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of the dynamic model and the novel nonlinear control method.

Micromorphology and texture of niobium coating electrodeposited in NaCl−KCl−CsCl molten salt system

A low-toxicity and environment-friendly NaCl−KCl−CsCl−K_(2)NbF_(7) system was used to prepare Nb coatings on Mo substrates.The effects of temperature,current density and electrodeposition time on the micromorphologies and textures of the electrodeposited Nb coatings were studied.The results showed that Nb coatings obtained at 30−70 mA/cm^(2) in the temperature range of 700−750℃ were continuous and compact,with a hardness range of 2.16−2.45 GPa.As the columnar crystals grew with time,the preferential growth orientations of the Nb coatings changed from<200>to<211>and then became disordered.With increasing polarization,the morphologies of the Nb coatings changed from hexagonal star-like surface to conical or pyramid-like surface.

Fabrication and characterization of high density LaB_(6) polycrystalline with(100) preferred orientation

High density lanthanum hexaboride(LaB_(6))polycrystalline with(100)preferred orientation was prepared by spark plasma sintering(SPS)using LaB_(6) nanocubes as raw materials in this work.Microstructure and thermionic electron emission property of LaB_(6) polycrystalline were investigated detailedly.The results show that the LaB_(6) polycrystalline had a relative density of 95.8%,and there was a(100)preferred orientation on its surface normal to SPS pressing direction.The work function of LaB_(6) polycrystalline normal surface was only 2.73 eV,which was almost close to the theoretical work function of LaB_(6)(100)single crystal surface.The reasons for preferential orientation of LaB_(6) polycrystalline were analyzed.