Investigation of interfacial strength in nacre-mimicking tungsten heavy alloys for nuclear fusion applications.

Tungsten heavy alloys have been proposed as plasma facing material components in nuclear fusion reactors and require experimental investigation in their confirmation. For this purpose, a 90W-7Ni-3Fe alloy has been selected and microstructurally manipulated to present a multiphase brick-and-mortar structure of W-phase 'bricks' surrounded by a ductile 'mortar'. This work draws inspiration from nature to artificially imitate the extraordinary combination of strength and stiffness exhibited by mollusks and produce a nacre-mimicking metal matrix composite capable of withstanding the extremely hostile environment of the reactor interior and maintaining structural integrity.

Communication: First-principles evaluation of alkali ion adsorption and ion exchange in pure silica LTA zeolite.

Using first-principles calculations, we studied the adsorption of alkali ions in pure silica Linde Type A (LTA) zeolite. The probability of adsorbing alkali ions from solution and the driving force for ion exchange between Na and other alkali ions at the different adsorption sites were analyzed. From the calculated ion exchange isotherms, we show that it is possible to exchange Na with K and Rb in water, but that is not the case for systems in a vacuum.

Tuning piezoelectric properties through epitaxy of LaTiO and related thin films.

Current piezoelectric sensors and actuators are limited to operating temperatures less than ~200 °C due to the low Curie temperature of the piezoelectric material. Strengthening the piezoelectric coupling of high-temperature piezoelectric materials, such as LaTiO (LTO), would allow sensors to operate across a broad temperature range. The crystalline orientation and piezoelectric coupling direction of LTO thin films can be controlled by epitaxial matching to SrTiO(001), SrTiO(110), and rutile TiO(110) substrates via pulsed laser deposition.

Multifaceted Modularity: A Key for Stepwise Building of Hierarchical Complexity in Actinide Metal-Organic Frameworks.

Growing necessity for efficient nuclear waste management is a driving force for development of alternative architectures toward fundamental understanding of mechanisms involved in actinide (An) integration inside extended structures. In this manuscript, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) were investigated as a model system for engineering radionuclide containing materials through utilization of unprecedented MOF modularity, which cannot be replicated in any other type of materials. Through the implementation of recent synthetic advances in the MOF field, hierarchical complexity of An-materials was built stepwise, which was only feasible due to preparation of the first examples of actinide-based frameworks with "unsaturated" metal nodes.

Thermal conductivities of thin, sputtered optical films.

The normal component of thin-film thermal conductivity has been measured for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, for several advanced sputtered optical materials. Included are data for single layers of boron nitride, silicon aluminum nitride, silicon aluminum oxynitride, silicon carbide, and for dielectricenhanced metal reflectors of the form Al(SiO(2)/Si(3)N(4))(n) and Al(Al(2)O(3)/AlN)(n). Sputtered films of more conventional materials such as SiO(2), Al(2)O(3), Ta(2)O(5), Ti, and Si have also been measured.