Auto Sizing of CANDU Nuclear Reactor Fuel Channel Flaws from UT Scans.

The inspection of nuclear power plants is an essential process that occurs during plant outages. During this process, various systems are inspected, including the reactor's fuel channels to ensure that they are safe and reliable for the plant's operation. The inspection of Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactor pressure tubes, which are the core component of the fuel channels and house the reactor fuel bundles, is performed using Ultrasonic Testing (UT).

Reversible Thermal Stiffening in Polymer Nanocomposites.

Miscible polymer blends with different glass transition temperatures (Tg) are known to create confined interphases between glassy and mobile chains. Here, we show that nanoparticles adsorbed with a high-Tg polymer, poly(methyl methacrylate), and dispersed in a low-Tg matrix polymer, poly(ethylene oxide), exhibit a liquid-to-solid transition at temperatures above Tg's of both polymers. The mechanical adaptivity of nanocomposites to temperature underlies the existence of dynamically asymmetric bound layers on nanoparticles and more importantly reveals their impact on macroscopic mechanical response of composites.