Abstract: A circular bead produced by a laser beam (CLW) is a method of joining superposed sheets by scanning circularly a laser beam. Among the various applications, it could be highlighted the welding of austenitic stainless steel AISI 304 sheets for heat exchangers. This work aims to report the effect of fiber laser CLW in tensile shear strength of superposed sheets as well as the corrosion behavior in relation to the process parameters. It was carried out circular beads using stainless steel AISI 304 sheets varying the laser power and speed. The samples were then submitted to optical and electronic microscopy, tensile-shear tests and electrochemical experiments. Among the experimental conditions, the weld sample with 800 W power and 50 mm/s speed presented an ultimate tensile strength of 159 MPa, 17% higher than the sample with the lowest result. The corrosion rate, corrosion and pitting potentials did not change significantly in the welded joint with different conditions compared to the base metal.

High Temperature Nitrogen Plasma Based Ion Implantation (HT-NPBII) has been used to treat the surface of niobium superconducting reentrant cavities, which are part of parametric transducers in a resonant-mass gravitational wave detector. The aim is to enhance the corresponding electrical quality factors (Q-factors) which are closely related with the increase of the sensitivity of the system. In this experiment, the cavities are immersed in plasma and bombarded by energetic nitrogen ions, which are implanted into the surfaces of these heated substrates. The heating temperature of the cavities is controlled during the treatment and its level directly affects the N implantation depth profile due to the diffusion process. Additional tailoring of the nitrogen doping can be performed by the adjustment of the intensity and the duty cycle of the high negative voltage pulses used for ion implantation. For implantations performed at 5 kV /20 µs /300 Hz/ 700 °C, nitrogen atoms occupy interstitial spaces in the crystal lattice of niobium. The treatment of niobium superconducting cavities under these parameters caused the enhancement of two orders of magnitude of respective Q-factors. A set of characterization techniques was performed herein in order to help with the understanding of the underlying mechanism behind this phenomenon.

Resumo A irradiância solar total (TSI) é definida como a energia emitida pelo Sol por unidade de área e recebida pela Terra. Durante muitos anos essa energia foi considerada constante, no entanto, hoje se sabe que há variações em diferentes escalas de tempo. A medição do valor absoluto da TSI precisar ser realizada em ambiente extraterrestre devido à influência da atmosfera na irradiância solar que atinge a superfície da Terra. Sendo a TSI uma variável imprescindível para quantificar a influência solar nas mudanças climáticas da Terra, a obtenção de medidas com a precisão e estabilidade necessária têm se demonstrado um grande desafio tecnológico. Nesse artigo é descrito o princípio de funcionamento e as particularidades dos radiômetros de substituição elétrica utilizados para medir a TSI no espaço.

Abstract Total solar irradiance (TSI) is the solar energy per unit area received by the Earth. For many years, this energy was considered constant. However, it is known there are variations in different time scales. The TSI absolute value needs to be performed in an extraterrestrial environment due the Earth's atmosphere influence these measurements. The TSI is an important variable to quantify the solar influence on Earth's climate. For this purpose, high precision and stability measurements are necessary. These kind of measurements has proven to be a major technological challenge. This paper describes the operation mode and some characteristics of the electrical substitution radiometer (ESR) used to measure TSI in the space.