Large single grain Gd1.5Ba2Cu3O7-y (Gd1.5) bulk superconductors were fabricated by a top-seeded melt growth (TSMG) process using an NdBa2Cu3O7-y seed. The seeded Gd1.5 powder compacts with a diameter of 50 mm were subjected to the heating cycles of a TSMG process. After the TSMG process, the diameter of the single grain Gd1.5 compact was reduced to 43 mm owing to the volume contraction during the heat treatment. The superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of the top surface of the single grain Gd1.5 sample was as high as 93.5 K. The critical current densities (Jcs) at 77 K and 1T and 1.5 T were in ranges of 25,200-43,900 A/cm2 and 10,000-23,000 A/cm2, respectively. The maximum attractive force at 77 K of the sample field-cooled using an Nd-B-Fe permanent magnet (surface magnetic field of 0. 527 T) was 108.3 N; the maximum repulsive force of the zero field-cooled sample was 262 N. The magnetic flux density of the sample field-cooled at 77 K was 0.311T, which is approximately 85% of the applied magnetic field of 0.375 T. Microstructure investigation showed that many Gd2BaCuO5 (Gd211) particles of a few μm in size, which are flux pinning sites of Gd123, were trapped within the GdBa2Cu3O7-y (Gd123) grain; unreacted Ba3Cu5O8 liquid and Gd211 particles were present near the edge regions of the single grain Gd1.5 bulk compact.
The purpose of this study is to investigate the crystalline structure and optical properties of (GaZn)(NO) powders prepared by solid-state reaction between GaOOH and ZnO mixture under NH3 gas flow. While ammoniation of the GaOOH and ZnO mixture successfully produces the single phase of (GaZn)(NO) solid solution within a GaOOH rich composition of under 50 mol% of ZnO content, this process also produces a powder with coexisting (GaZn)(NO) and ZnO in a ZnO rich composition over 50 mol%. The GaOOH in the starting material was phase-transformed to α-, β-Ga2O3 in the NH3 environment; it was then reacted with ZnO to produce ZnGa2O4. Finally, the exchange reaction between nitrogen and oxygen atoms at the ZnGa2O4 powder surface forms a (GaZn)(NO) solid solution. Photoluminescence spectra from the (GaZn)(NO) solid solution consisted of oxygen-related red-emission bands and yellow-, green- and blue-emission bands from the Zn acceptor energy levels in the energy bandgap of the (GaZn)(NO) solid solutions.
The microstructure and mechanical properties of a copper alloy sheet processed by differential speed rolling (DSR) were investigated in detail. A copper alloy with thickness of 3 mm was rolled to a 50% reduction at ambient temperature without lubrication and with a differential speed ratio of 2.0:1. For comparison, conventional rolling (CR), in which the rolling speeds of the upper and lower rolls is 2.0 m/min, was also performed under the same rolling conditions. The shear strain of the sample processed by CR showed positive values at the positions of the upper roll side and negative values at the positions of the lower roll side. On the other hand, the sample processed by the DSR showed zero or positive shear strain values at all positions. However, the microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-rolled copper alloys did not show such significant differences between the CR and the DSR. The samples rolled by the CR and the DSR exhibited a typical deformation structure. In addition, the DSR processed samples showed a typical rolling texture in which 112<111>, 011<211> and 123<634> components were developed at all positions. Therefore, it is concluded that the DSR was very effective for the introduction of a uniform microstructure throughout the thickness of the copper alloy.
Recently, the demand for the miniaturization of package substrates has been increasing. Technical innovation has occurred to move package substrate manufacturing steps into CMP applications. Electroplated copper filled trenches on the substrate need to be planarized for multi-level wires of less than 10μm. This paper introduces a chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) process as a new package substrate manufacturing step. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of surfactant on the dishing and erosion of Cu patterns with the lines and spaces of around 10/10μm used for advanced package substrates. The use of a conventional Cu slurry without surfactant led to problems, including severe erosion of 0.58μm in Cu patterns smaller than 4/6μm and deep dishing of 4.2μm in Cu patterns larger than 14/16μm. However, experimental results showed that the friction force during Cu CMP changed to lower value, and that dishing and erosion became smaller simultaneously as the surfactant concentration became higher. Finally, it was possible to realize more globally planarized Cu patterns with erosion ranges of 0.22μm to 0.35μm and dishing ranges of 0.37μm to 0.69μm by using 3 wt% concentration of surfactant.
For heat exchanger applications, 2-ply clad materials were fabricated by rolling of aluminum (Al) and mild steel sheets. Effects of annealing temperature on interface properties, especially on inter-layer formation and softening of strain hardened mild-steel, for Al/mild steel clad materials, were investigated. To obtain optimum annealing conditions for the Al/mild steel clad materials, annealing temperature was varied from room temperature to 600˚C. At the annealing temperature about 450˚C, an inter-layer was formed in an island-shape at the interface of the Al/mild steel clad materials; this island expanded along the interface at higher temperature. By analyzing the X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks and the energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) results, it was determined that the exact chemical stoichiometry for the inter-layer was that of Fe2Al5. In some samples, an X-layer was formed between the Al and the inter-layer of Fe2Al5 at high annealing temperature of around 550˚C. The existence of an X-layer enhanced the growth of the inter-layer, which resulted in the delamination of the Al/mild-steel clad materials. Hardness tests were also performed to examine the influence of the annealing temperature on the cold deformability, which is a very important property for the deep drawing process of clad materials. The hardness value of mild steel gradually decreased with increasing annealing temperature. Especially, the value of hardness sharply decreased in the temperature range between 525˚C and 550˚C. From these results, we can conclude that the optimum annealing temperature is around 550˚C under condition of there being no X-layer creation.
MgO based cement for the low-temperature calcination of magnesite required less energy and emitted less CO2 than the manufacturing of Portland cements. Furthermore, adding reactive MgO to Portland-pozzolan cement can improve their performance and also increase their capacity to absorb atmospheric CO2. In this study, the basic research for magnesia cement using MgCO3 and magnesium silicate ore (serpentine) as starting materials was carried out. In order to increase the hydration activity, MgCO3 and serpentinite were fired at a temperature higher than 600˚C. In the case of MgCO3 as starting material, hydration activity was highest at 700˚C firing temperature; this MgCO3 was completely transformed to MgO after firing. After the hydration reaction with water, MgO was totally transformed to Mg(OH)2 as hydration product. In the case of using only MgCO3, compressive strength was 35 kgf/cm2 after 28 days. The addition of silica fume and Mg(OH)2 led to an enhancements of the compressive strength to 55 kgf/cm2 and 50 kgf/cm2, respectively. Serpentine led to an up to 20% increase in the compressive strength; however, addition of this material beyond 20% led to a decrease of the compressive strength. When we added MgCl2, the compressive strength tends to increase.
Recently, inorganic-organic hybrid materials have attracted much attention not only for their excellent thermal conductivity but also for their flame retardant properties. In this study, the properties of organic-inorganic hybrid insulating materials using inorganic fillers and polyurethane foam with different foaming conditions have been investigated. The addition of 1.5 wt% water to polyurethane as foaming agent shows the best foaming properties. The pore size was decreased in the foaming body with increasing of the CaCO3 addition. The apparent density and thermal conductivity were increased by increasing the CaCO3 addition. With an increasing amount of CaCO3 powder, the flame retardant property is improved, but the properties of thermal conductivity and apparent density tend to decrease. When the addition of fine particles of CaCO3, the apparent density and thermal conductivity were increased and, also, with the addition of coarse particles over 45μm in size, the apparent density and thermal conductivity were increased as well. In this study, the adding of CaCO3 with average particle size of 27μm led to the lowest thermal conductivity and apparent density. After evaluation with different inorganic fillers, Mg(OH)2 showed the highest thermal conductivity; on the other hand, CaCO3 showed the lowest thermal conductivity.
We report on the NO gas sensing properties of non-directional ZnO nanofibers synthesized using a typical electrospinning technique. These non-directional ZnO nanofibers were electrospun on an SiO2/Si substrate from a solution containing poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) and zinc nitrate hexahydrate dissolved in distilled water. Calcination processing of the ZnO/PVA composite nanofibers resulted in a random network of polycrystalline ZnO nanofibers of 50 nm to 100 nm in diameter. The diameter of the nanofibers was found to depend primarily on the solution viscosity; a proper viscosity was maintained by adding PVA to fabricate uniform ZnO nanofibers. Microstructural measurements using scanning electron microscopy revealed that our synthesized ZnO nanofibers after calcination had coarser surface morphology than those before calcination, indicating that the calcination processing was sufficient to remove organic contents. From the gas sensing response measurements for various NO gas concentrations in dry air at several working temperatures, it was found that gas sensors based on electrospun ZnO nanofibers showed quite good responses, exhibiting a maximum sensitivity to NO gas in dry air at an operating temperature of 200˚C. In particular, the non-directional electrospun ZnO nanofiber gas sensors were found to have a good NO gas detection limit of sub-ppm levels in dry air. These results illustrate that non-directional electrospun ZnO nanofibers are promising for use in low-cost, high-performance practical NO gas sensors.
Recently, ultrafine grained (ufg, typically 100 > d > 500 nm) Ti-Fe eutectic materials have been highlighted due to their extraordinarily high strength and good abrasion resistance compared to conventional coarse grained (cg, d > 1μm) materials. However, these materials exhibit limited plastic strain and toughness during room temperature deformation due to highly localized shear strain. Several approaches have been extensively studied to overcome such drawbacks, such as the addition of minor elements (Sn, Nb, Co, etc.). In this paper, we have investigated the influence of the addition of Gd and Y contents (0.3-1.0 at.%) into the binary Ti-Fe eutectic alloy. Gd and Y are chosen due to their immiscibility with Ti. Microstructural investigation reveals that the Gd phase forms in the eutectic matrix and the Gd phase size increases with increasing Gd content. The improvement of the mechanical properties is possibly correlated to the precipitation hardening. On the other hand, in the case of Ti-Fe-Y alloys, with increasing Y contents, primary phases form and lamellar spacing increases compared to the case of the eutectic alloy. Investigation of the mechanical properties reveals that the plasticity of the Ti-Fe-Y alloys is gradually improved, without a reduction of strength. These results suggest that the enhancement of the mechanical properties is closely related to the formation of the primary phase.
A general synthetic method to make Fe3O4-δ (activated magnetite) is the reduction of Fe3O4 by H2 atmosphere. However, this process has an explosion risk. Therefore, we studied the process of synthesis of Fe3O4-δ depending on heat-treatment conditions using FeC2O4·2H2O in Ar atmosphere. The thermal decomposition characteristics of FeC2O4·2H2O and the δ-value of Fe3O4-δ were analyzed with TG/DTA in Ar atmosphere. β-FeC2O4·2H2O was synthesized by precipitation method using FeSO4·7H2O and (NH4)2C2O4·H2O. The concentration of the solution was 0.1 M and the equivalent ratio was 1.0. β-FeC2O4·2H2O was decomposed to H2O and FeC2O4 from 150˚C to 200˚C. FeC2O4 was decomposed to CO, CO2, and Fe3O4 from 200˚C to 250˚C. Single phase Fe3O4 was formed by the decomposition of β-FeC2O4·2H2O in Ar atmosphere. However, Fe3C, Fe and Fe4N were formed as minor phases when β-FeC2O4·2H2O was decomposed in N2 atmosphere. Then, Fe3O4 was reduced to Fe3O4-δ by decomposion of CO. The reduction of Fe3O4 to Fe3O4-δ progressed from 320˚C to 400˚C; the reaction was exothermic. The degree of exothermal reaction was varied with heat treatment temperature, heating rate, Ar flow rate, and holding time. The δ-value of Fe3O4-δ was greatly influenced by the heat treatment temperature and the heating rate. However, Ar flow rate and holding time had a minor effect on δ-value.
The properties of SOFC unit cells manufactured using the decalcomania method were investigated. SOFC unit cell manufacturing using the decalcomania method is a very simple process. In order to minimize the ohmic loss of flattened tube type anode supports of solid oxide fuel cells(SOFC), the cells were fabricated by producing an anode function layer, YSZ electrolyte, LSM electrode, etc., on the supports and laminating them. The influence of these materials on the power output characteristics was studied when laminating the components and laminating the anode function layer between the anode and the electrolyte to improve the output characteristics. Regarding the performance of the SOFC unit cell, the output was 246 mW/cm2 at a temperature of 800˚C in the case of not laminating the anode function layer; however, this value was improved by a factor of two to 574 mW/cm2 due to the decrease of the ohmic resistance and polarization resistance of the cell in the case of laminating the anode function layer. The outputs appeared to be as high as 574 and 246 mW/cm2 at a temperature of 800˚C in the case of using decalcomania paper when laminating the electrolyte layer using the in dip-coating method; however, the reason for this is that interfacial adhesion was improved due to the dense structure, which leads to a thin thickness of the electrolyte layer.
Nickel oxide was doped with a wide range of concentrations (mol%) of Aluminum (Al) by solvothermal synthesis;single-phased nano powder of nickel oxide was generated after calcination at 900oC. When the concentration of Al dopant wasincreased, the reduced intensity was confirmed through XRD analysis. Lattice parameters of the synthesized NiO powder weredecreased after treatment of the dopant; parameters were increased when the concentration of Al was over the doping limit(5mol% Al). The binding energy of Ni2+ was chemically shifted to Ni3+ by doping Al3+ ion, as confirmed by the XPS analysis.The tilted structure of the synthesized NiO with 5mol% Al dopant and the polycrystalline structure of the Ni0.75Al0.25O wereobserved by HR-TEM analysis. The electrical conductivity of the newly synthesized NiO was highly improved by Al dopingin the conductivity test. The electrical conductivity values of the commercial NiO and the synthesized NiO with 5mol% Aldopant (Ni0.95Al0.05O) were 1,400s/cm and 2,230s/cm at 750oC, respectively. However, the electrical conductivity of thesynthesized NiO with 10mol% Al dopant (Ni0.9Al0.1O) decreased due to the scattering of free-electrons caused by the largenumber of impurity atoms; the electrical conductivity of Ni0.9Al0.1O was 545s/cm at 750oC.
In this study, we have investigated highly efficient nanoscale surface corrugated light emitting diodes (LEDs) for the enhancement of light extraction efficiency (LEE) of nitride semiconductor LEDs. Nanoscale indium tin oxide (ITO) surface corrugations are fabricated by using the conformal nanoimprint technique; it was possible to observe an enhancement of LEE for the ITO surface corrugated LEDs. By incorporating this novel method, we determined that the total output power of the surface corrugated LEDs were enhanced by 45.6% for patterned sapphire substrate LEDs and by 41.9% for flat c-plane substrate LEDs. The enhancement of LEE through nanoscale surface corrugations was studied using 3-dimensional Finite Different Time Domain (FDTD) calculation. From the FDTD calculations, we were able to separate the light extraction from the top and bottom sides of device. This process revealed that light extraction from the top and bottom sides of a device strongly depends on the substrate and the surface corrugation. We found that enhanced LEE could be understood through the mechanism of enhanced light transmission due to refractive index matching and the increase of light scattering from the corrugated surface. LEE calculations for the encapsulated LEDs devices also revealed that low LEE enhancement is expected after encapsulation due to the reduction of the refractive index contrast.