A powder in sheath rolling method was applied to the fabrication of a carbon nano tube (CNT) reinforced aluminum composite. A 6061 aluminum alloy tube with outer diameter of 31 mm and wall thickness of 2 mm was used as a sheath material. A mixture of pure aluminum powder and CNTs with a volume content of 5% was filled in the tube by tap filling and then processed to an 85% reduction using multi-pass rolling after heating for 0.5 h at 400˚C. The specimen was then further processed at 400˚C by multi-pass hot rolling. The specimen was then annealed for 1 h at various temperatures that ranged from 100 to 500˚C. The relative density of the 5vol%CNT/Al composite fabricated using powder in sheath rolling increased with increasing of the rolling reduction, becoming about 97% after hot rolling under 96 % total reduction. The relative density of the composite hardly changed regardless of the increasing of the annealing temperature. The average hardness also had only slight dependence on the annealing temperature. However, the tensile strength of the composite containing the 6061 aluminum sheath decreased and the fracture elongation increased with increasing of the annealing temperature. It is concluded that the powder in sheath rolling method is an effective process for fabrication of CNT reinforced Al matrix composites.
Cu2ZnSn(Sx,Se1-x)4 (CZTSSe) thin films were prepared by sulfurization of evaporated precursor thin films. Precursor was prepared using evaporation method at room temperature. The sulfurization was carried out in a graphite box with S powder at different temperatures. The temperatures were varied in a four step process from 520˚C to 580˚C. The effects of the sulfurization temperature on the micro-structural, morphological, and compositional properties of the CZTSSe thin films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectra, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The XRD and Raman results showed that the sulfurized thin films had a single kesterite crystal CZTSSe. From the FE-SEM and TEM results, the Mo(Sx,Se1-x)2 (MoSSe) interfacial layers of the sulfurized CZTS thin films were observed and their thickness was seen to increase with increasing sulfurization temperature. The microstructures of the CZTSSe thin films were strongly related to the sulfurization temperatures. The voids in the CZTSSe thin films increased with the increasing sulfurization temperature.
Nanocrystalline materials have recently received significant attention in the area of advanced materials engineering due to their improved physical and mechanical properties. A solid-solution nanocrystalline powder, (Ti,Mo)C, was prepared via high-energy milling of Ti-Mo alloys with graphite. Using XRD data, the synthesis process was investigated in terms of the phase evolution. Rapid sintering of nanostuctured (Ti,Mo)C hard materials was performed using a pulsed current activated sintering process (PCAS). This process allows quick densification to near theoretical density and inhibits grain growth. A dense, nanostructured (Ti,Mo)C hard material with a relative density of up to 96 % was produced by simultaneous application of 80 MPa and a pulsed current for 2 min. The average grain size of the (Ti,Mo)C was lower than 150 nm. The hardness and fracture toughness of the dense (Ti,Mo)C produced by PCAS were also evaluated. The fracture toughness of the (Ti,Mo)C was higher than that of TiC.
In this study, intermediate-mixed powders were prepared by loading zirconia powders initially in a ball-mill jar and loading alumina powders afterward; the initial-mixed powders were produced by loading zirconia and alumina powders together in the ball-mill jar. The effect of such differences in mixing method on the mechanical properties was investigated. In intermediate-mixed powders, the volume fraction of large particles slightly increased and, simultaneously, zirconia particles formed agglomerates that, due to early ball-mill loading of the zirconia powders only, were more dispersed than were the initial-mixed powders. For the intermediate-mixed powders, zirconia agglomerates were destroyed more quickly than were initial-mixed powders, so the number of dispersed zirconia particles rose and the inhibitory effect of densification due to the addition of a second phase was more obvious. In the microstructure of intermediate-mixed powders, zirconia grains were homogeneously dispersed and grain growth by coalescence was found to occur with increasing sintering temperature. For the initial-mixed powders, large zirconia grains formed by localized early-densification on the inside contacts of some zirconia agglomerates were observed in the early stages of sintering. The intermediate-mixed powders had slightly lower hardness values as a whole but higher fracture toughness compared to that of the initial-mixed powders.
Synthesis of sub-micron 2SnO·(H2O) powders by chemical reduction process was performed at room temperature as function of viscosity of methanol solution and molecular weight of PVP (polyvinylpyrrolidone). Tin(II) 2-ethylhexanoate and sodium borohydride were used as the tin precursor and the reducing agent, respectively. Simultaneous calcination and sintering processes were additionally performed by heating the 2SnO·(H2O) powders. In the synthesis of the 2SnO·(H2O) powders, it was possible to control the powder size using different combinations of the methanol solution viscosity and the PVP molecular weight. The molecular weight of PVP particularly influenced the size of the synthesized 2SnO·(H2O) powders. A holding time of 1 hr in air at 500˚C sufficiently transformed the 2SnO·(H2O) into SnO2 phase; however, most of the PVP (molecular weight: 1,300,000) surface-capped powders decomposed and was removed after heating for 1 h at 700˚C. Hence, heating for 1 h at 500˚C made a porous SnO2 film containing residual PVP, whereas dense SnO2 films with no significant amount of PVP formed after heating for 1 h at 700˚C.
Chalcopyrite CuInSe2(CIS) is considered to be an effective light-absorbing material for thin film photovoltaic solarcells. CIS thin films have been electrodeposited onto Mo coated and ITO glass substrates in potentiostatic mode at roomtemperature. The deposition mechanism of CIS thin films has been studied using the cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique. Acyclic voltammetric study was performed in unitary Cu, In, and Se systems, binary Cu-Se and In-Se systems, and a ternaryCu-In-Se system. The reduction peaks of the ITO substrate were examined in separate Cu2+, In3+, and Se4+ solutions.Electrodeposition experiments were conducted with varying deposition potentials and electrolyte bath conditions. Themorphological and compositional properties of the CIS thin films were examined by field emission scanning electronmicroscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The surface morphology of as-deposited CIS films exhibitsspherical and large-sized clusters. The deposition potential has a significant effect on the film morphology and/or grain size,such that the structure tended to grow according to the increase of the deposition potential. A CIS layer deposited at −0.6Vnearly approached the stoichiometric ratio of CuIn0.8Se1.8. The growth potential plays an important role in controlling thestoichiometry of CIS films.
Activated carbon (AC) was synthesized from rice husks using the chemical activation method with KOH, NaOH, a combination of (NaOH + Na2CO3), and a combination of (KOH + K2CO3) as the chemical activating reagents. The activated carbon with the highest surface area (around 2000m2/g) and high porosity, which allows the absorption of a large number of ions, was applied as electrode material in electric double layer capacitors (EDLCs). The AC for EDLC electrodes is required to have a high surface area and an optimal pore size distribution; these are important to attain high specific capacitance of the EDLC electrodes. The electrodes were fabricated by compounding the rice husk activated carbons with super-P and mixed with polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) at a weight ratio of 83:10:7. AC electrodes and nickel foams were assembled with potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution as the electrolyte. Electrochemical measurements were carried out with a three electrode cell using 6 M KOH as electrolyte and Hg/HgO as the reference electrode. The specific capacitance strongly depends on the pore structure; the highest specific capacitance was 179 F/g, obtained for the AC with the highest specific surface area. Additionally, different activation times, levels of heating, and chemical reagents were used to compare and determine the optimal parameters for obtaining high surface area of the activated carbon.
The effect of interstitial elements on the ductile-brittle transition behavior of austenitic Fe-18Cr-10Mn-2Ni alloys with different nitrogen and carbon contents was investigated in this study. All the alloys exhibited ductile-brittle transition behavior because of unusual low-temperature brittle fracture, even though they have a faced-centered cubic structure. With the same interstitial content, the combined addition of nitrogen and carbon, compared to the sole addition of nitrogen, improved the low-temperature toughness and thus decreased the ductile-brittle transition temperature (DBTT) because this combined addition effectively enhances the metallic component of the interatomic bonds and is accompanied by good plasticity and toughness due to the increased free electron concentration. The increase in carbon content or of the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, however, could increase the DBTT since either of these causes the occurrence of intergranular fracture that lead to the deterioration of the toughness at low temperatures. The secondary ion mass spectroscopy analysis results for the observation of carbon and nitrogen distributions confirms that the carbon and nitrogen atoms were significantly segregated to the austenite grain boundaries and then caused grain boundary embrittlement. In order to successfully develop austenitic Fe-Cr-Mn alloys for low-temperature application, therefore, more systematic study is required to determine the optimum content and ratio of carbon and nitrogen in terms of free electron concentration and grain boundary embrittlement.
Photoelectrochemical cells have been used in photolysis of water to generate hydrogen as a clean energy source. A high efficiency electrode for photoelectrochemical cell systems was realized using a ZnO hierarchical nanostructure. A ZnO nanofiber mat structure was fabricated by electrospinning of Zn solution on the substrate, followed by oxidation; on this substrate, hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO nanorods on the ZnO nanofibers was carried out to form a ZnO hierarchical structure. The thickness of the nanofiber mat and the thermal annealing temperature were determined as the parameters for optimization. The morphology of the structures was examined by field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The performance of the ZnO nanofiber mat and the potential of the ZnO hierarchical structures as photoelectrochemical cell electrodes were evaluated by measurement of the photoelectron conversion efficiencies under UV light. The highest photoconversion efficiency observed was 63 % with a ZnO hierarchical structure annealed at 400˚C in air. The morphology and the crystalline quality of the electrode materials greatly influenced the electrode performance. Therefore, the combination of the two fabrication methods, electrospinning and hydrothermal synthesis, was successfully applied to fabricate a high performance photoelectrochemical cell electrode.
We investigated the characteristics of electroless plated Cu films on screen printed Ag/Anodized Al substrate. Cu plating was attempted using neutral electroless plating processes to minimize damage of the anodized Al substrate; this method used sodium hypophosphite instead of formaldehyde as a reducing agent. The basic electroless solution consisted of CuSO4·5H2O as the main metal source, NaH2PO2·H2O as the reducing agent, C6H5Na3O7·2H2O and NH4Cl as the complex agents, and NiSO4·6H2O as the catalyser for the oxidation of the reducing agent, dissolved in deionized water. The pH of the Cu plating solutions was adjusted using NH4OH. According to the variation of pH in the range of 6.5~8, the electroless plated Cu films were coated on screen printed Ag pattern/anodized Al/Al at 70˚C. We investigated the surface morphology change of the Cu films using FE-SEM (Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy). The chemical composition of the Cu film was determined using XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy). The crystal structures of the Cu films were investigated using XRD (X-ray Diffraction). Using electroless plating at pH 7, the structures of the plated Cu-rich films were typical fcc-Cu; however, a slight Ni component was co-deposited. Finally, we found that the formation of Cu film plated selectively on PCB without any lithography is possible using a neutral electroless plating process.