Plastic deformation of nanocrystalline Fe was investigated by nanoindentation. Samples, synthesized by mechanical attrition, consisted of powder particles with diameters greater than 30 mm. The average grain diameters within the particles of different samples ranged from 10 nm to 10 mm. To avoid potential artifacts, samples were prepared without use of heat treatment, and measurements were cond...

Wireworms are the soil inhabiting larvae of click beetles and can cause severe damage to arable crops such as potatoes (Solanum tuberosum, L.). Several strains of the entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium brunneum (Petch) are pathogenic to wireworms. In this study, three European strains of M. brunneum were tested in the laboratory against the most damaging wireworm species in Europe, Agriotes li...

Fusarium graminearum Schwabe (Gibberella zeae Schwein. Petch.) and F. culmorum W.G. Smith are major mycotoxin producers in small-grain cereals afflicted with Fusarium head blight (FHB). Real-time PCR (qPCR) is the method of choice for species-specific, quantitative estimation of fungal biomass in plant tissue. We demonstrated that increasing the amount of plant material used for DNA extraction ...

A novel design electroplating spring frame MEMS structure specimen is demonstrated here. The specimen can be fit into a specially designed microtensile apparatus which is capable of carrying out a series of tests on submicro scale freestanding thin films. Certain thin films applicable in MEMS were tested including sputtered Chrome, Nicole, Copper, Tantalum Nitride thin films. Metal specimens we...

The ductile-to-brittle transition (DBT) behavior of two similar Fe-Cr-Al oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) stainless steels was analyzed following the Cottrell-Petch model. Both alloys were manufactured by mechanical alloying (MA) but by different forming routes. One was manufactured as hot rolled tube, and the other in the form of hot extruded bar. The two hot forming routes considered do no...

A system of four coupled rate equations for the development of the densities of mobile and redundant dislocations and of mobile and immobile disclinations with time or strain is proposed to describe the microstructure evolution up to large strains. The densities of redundant dislocations and of immobile disclinations are connected to ow stress contributions with the help of Mughrabi's composite...