Pd2 MnGa Metamagnetic Shape Memory Alloy with Small Energy Loss.

Metamagnetic shape memory alloys (MMSMAs) are attractive functional materials owing to their unique properties such as magnetostrain, magnetoresistance, and the magnetocaloric effect caused by magnetic-field-induced transitions. However, the energy loss during the martensitic transformation, that is, the dissipation energy, Edis , is sometimes large for these alloys, which limits their applications. In this paper, a new Pd2 MnGa Heusler-type MMSMA with an extremely small Edis and hysteresis is reported. The microstructures, crystal structures, magnetic properties, martensitic transformations, and magnetic-field-induced strain of aged Pd2 MnGa alloys are investigated. A martensitic transformation from L21 to 10M structures is seen at 127.4 K with a small thermal hysteresis of 1.3 K. The reverse martensitic transformation is induced by applying a magnetic field with a small Edis (= 0.3 J mol-1 only) and a small magnetic-field hysteresis (= 7 kOe) at 120 K. The low values of Edis and the hysteresis may be attributed to good lattice compatibility in the martensitic transformation. A large magnetic-field-induced strain of 0.26% is recorded, indicating the proposed MMSMA's potential as an actuator. The Pd2 MnGa alloy with low values of Edis and hysteresis may enable new possibilities for high-efficiency MMSMAs.

Reduction of trans fatty acids in hydrogenated soybean oil using Ni/TiO2 catalysts.

The effects of the support on the catalytic performance of supported Ni catalysts for the hydrogenation of soybean oil were examined. The turnover frequency (TOF) for Ni/TiO2 was greater than those for other Ni catalysts. Among the examined Ni catalysts, the Ni/TiO2 catalysts were effective for the reduction of trans fatty acid (TFA) levels (minimum 10.5%) in hydrogenated oils at an iodine value (IV) of 70, independent of the difference in the crystalline structure of TiO2. In addition, the oils hydrogenated by Ni/TiO2 had suitable properties for feedstock of margarine and vegetable shortening. The highly dispersed Ni nanoparticles formed by reduction of the NiO monolayer on the surface of TiO2 contribute to increasing the catalytic activity and to reducing the TFA levels.

Preparation of Crystallites for Oriented Poly(Lactic Acid) Films Using a Casting Method under a Magnetic Field.

Poly-l-lactic acid (PLLA) has biocompatibility and unique characteristics such as piezoelectric properties. This attracts attention not only in the environmental field but also in the biomedical and electronic materials fields. In recent years, the literature about orienting PLLA crystals has been promoting new applications for PLLA such as high strength fiberization and piezoelectric properties. This paper presents a new technique to orient the PLLA crystalline through casting under magnetic irradiation. The advantage of this technique is that it is possible to radiate the magnetic field to the PLLA crystalline in an extremely low viscosity environment. Moreover, the heat treatment condition was optimized in order to improve the low crystallinity of casting, and it succeeded in producing a PLLA film with a high degree of orientation and high crystallinity. Furthermore, PLLA/1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dibutylphosphate (bmimjdbp) composite films were prepared under the same conditions, and this also succeeded in the further improvement of crystallinity.

Chiral Symmetry Breaking in Magnetoelectrochemical Etching with Chloride Additives.

Magnetoelectrolysis (electrolysis under magnetic fields) produces chiral surfaces on metal thin films, which can recognize the enantiomers of amino acids. Here, the chiral surface formation on copper films is reported in magnetoelectrochemical etching (MEE) at 5T with chloride additives. In the absence of additives, the surface chirality signs of MEE films depended on the magnetic field polarity. On the contrary, the MEE films prepared with the additives exhibited only d-activity in both magnetic field polarities. This result implies that the specific adsorption of chloride additives induces the chiral symmetry breaking for the magnetic field polarity.

Development of an x-ray diffraction camera used in magnetic fields up to 10 T.

A high-field x-ray diffraction (HF-XRD) camera was developed to observe structural changes of magnetic materials in magnetic fields up to 10 T. The instrument mainly consists of a Debye-Scherrer-type camera with a diameter of 80.1 mm, a 10-T cryocooled superconducting magnet with a 100-mm room-temperature bore, an x-ray source, a power supply, and a chiller for the x-ray source. An x-ray detector (image plate) in the HF-XRD camera can be taken out and inserted into the magnet without changing the sample position. The performance of the instrument was tested by measuring the HF-XRD for silicon and ferromagnetic MnBi powders. A change of x-ray diffraction pattern was observed due to the magnetic orientation of MnBi, showing that the instrument is useful for studying field-induced orientation processes and structural properties of field-controlled materials.

The effect of high strength static magnetic fields and ionizing radiation on gene expression and DNA damage in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Magnetic resonance imaging with high static magnetic fields (SMFs) has become widely used for medical imaging purposes because SMFs cause fewer genotoxic side effects than ionizing radiation (IR). However, the effect of exposure to high SMFs on global transcription is little understood. We demonstrate that genes involved in motor activity, actin binding, cell adhesion, and cuticles are transiently and specifically induced following exposure to 3 or 5 T SMF in the experimental model metazoan Caenorhabditis elegans. In addition, transient induction of hsp12 family genes was observed after SMF exposure. The small-heat shock protein gene hsp16 was also induced but to a much lesser extent, and the LacZ-stained population of hsp-16.1::lacZ transgenic worms did not significantly increase after exposure to SMFs with or without a second stressor, mild heat shock. Several genes encoding apoptotic cell-death activators and secreted surface proteins were upregulated after IR, but were not induced by SMFs. Real-time quantitative RT-PCR analyses for 12 of these genes confirmed these expression differences between worms exposed to SMFs and IR. In contrast to IR, exposure to high SMFs did not induce DNA double-strand breaks or germline cell apoptosis during meiosis. These results suggest that the response of C. elegans to high SMFs is unique and capable of adjustment during long exposure, and that this treatment may be less hazardous than other therapeutic tools.