The high temperature deformation behavior of Ni3Al and Ni3(Al,Mo) single crystals that were oriented near <112> was investigated at low strain rates in the temperature range above the flow stress peak temperature. Three types of behavior were found under the present experimental conditions. In the relatively high strain rate region, the strain rate dependence of the flow stress is small, and the deformation may be controlled by the dislocation glide mainly on the {001} slip plane in both crystals. At low strain rates, the octahedral glide is still active in Ni3Al above the peak temperature, but the active slip system in Ni3(Al,Mo) changes from octahedral glide to cube glide at the peak temperature. These results suggest that the deformation rate controlling mechanism of Ni3Al is viscous glide of dislocations by the <110>{111} slip, whereas that of Ni3(Al,Mo) is a recovery process of dislocation climb in the substructures formed by the <110>{001} slip. The results of TEM observation show that the characteristics of dislocation structures are uniform distribution in Ni3Al and subboundary formation in Ni3(Al,Mo). Activation energies for deformation in Ni3Al and Ni3(Al,Mo) were obtained in the low strain rate region. The values of the activation energy are 360 kJ/mol for Ni3Al and 300 kJ/mol for Ni3(Al,Mo).
In order to use coal tar pitch (CTP) as a raw material for carbon fibers, it should have suitable properties such as a narrow range of softening point, suitable viscosity and uniform optical properties. In this study, raw CTP was modified by heat treatment with three types of polymer additives (PS, PET, and PVC) to make a spinnable pitch for carbon fibers. The yield, softening point, C/H ratio, insoluble yield, and meso-phase content of various modified CTPs with polymer additives were analyzed by changing the type of polymer additive and the heat treatment temperature. The purpose of this study was to compare the properties of CTPs modified by polymer addition with those of a commercial CTP. After the pitch spinning, the obtained green fibers were stabilized and carbonized. The properties of the respective fibers were analyzed to compare their uniformity, diameter change, and mechanical properties. Among three polymer additives, PS220 and PET261 pitches were found to be spinnable, but the carbon fibers from PET261 showed mechanical properties comparable with those of a commercial CTP produced by an air-blowing method (OCI284). The CTPs modified with polymer additive had higher β-resin fractions than the CTP with only thermal treatment indicating a beneficial effect of carbon fiber application.
Zircon, having excellent thermal, chemical, and mechanical properties, is utilized in refractory materials, electronic materials, chemical machines, structural materials, etc. However, zircon generally shows thermal dissociation to zirconia(ZrO2) and silica(SiO2) around the sintering temperature of 1540 oC, and when zircon particles are small and impurities are present, thermal dissociation is known to occur at around 1100 oC. This reduces the mechanical properties of ZrSiO4. In this research, the effect of adding SiO2 and 3Y-TZP to ZrSiO4 has been studied in order to suppress dissociation and improve the mechanical properties. Addition of SiO2 suppressed the dissociation of ZrSiO4 at lower temperatures. It also enabled optimum packing between the particles, resulting in a dense microstructure and good mechanical properties. When 3Y-TZP was added, recombination with the dissociated SiO2 resulted in good mechanical properties by suppressing the generation of pores and the densification of the microstructure.
Fabrication of iron oxide/carbon nanotube composite structures for detection of ammonia gas at room temperature is reported. The iron oxide/carbon nanotube composite structures are fabricated by in situ co-arc-discharge method using a graphite source with varying numbers of iron wires inserted. The composite structures reveal higher response signals at room temperature than at high temperatures. As the number of iron wires inserted increased, the volume of carbon nanotubes and iron nanoparticles produced increased. The oxidation condition of the composite structures varied the carbon nanotube/iron oxide ratio in the structure and, consequently, the resistance of the structures and, finally, the ammonia gas sensing performance. The highest sensor performance was realized with 500 oC/2 h oxidation heat-treatment condition, in which most of the carbon nanotubes were removed from the composite and iron oxide played the main role of ammonia sensing. The response signal level was 62% at room temperature. We also found that UV irradiation enhances the sensing response with reduced recovery time.
We prepared polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) beads with a particle size of 80 nm to improve the energy conversion efficiency (ECE) by increasing the effective surface area and the dye absorption ability of the working electrodes (WEs) in a dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC). We prepared the TiO2 layer with PMMA beads of 0.0~1.0 wt%; then, finally, a DSSC with 0.45 cm2 active area was obtained. Optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy were used to characterize the microstructure of the TiO2 layer with PMMA. UV-VIS-NIR was used to determine the optical absorbance of the WEs with PMMA. A solar simulator and a potentiostat were used to determine the photovoltaic properties of the PMMA-added DSSC. Analysis of the microstructure showed that pores of 200 nm were formed by the decomposition of PMMA. Also, root mean square values linearly increased as more PMMA was added. The absorbance in the visible light regime was found to increase as the degree of PMMA dispersion increased. The ECE increased from 4.91% to 5.35% when the amount of PMMA beads added was increased from 0.0 to 0.4 wt%. However, the ECE decreased when more than 0.6 wt% of PMMA was added. Thus, adding a proper amount of PMMA to the TiO2 layer was determined to be an effective method for improving the ECE of a DSSC.
This study was carried out to investigate the effect of W substitution on the precipitation behavior of χ and σ phases in super duplex stainless steel. The χ phase was precipitated at the interface of ferrite / austenite phases and inside the ferrite phase at the initial stage of aging. With an increase in the aging time, the volume fraction of the χ phase increased, and then decreased with the transformation from the χ phase to the σ phase. The σ phase was precipitated later than the χ phase, and the volume fraction of x phase increased with the increase in the aging time. The ferrite phase was decomposed into the new austenite (γ2) and σ phases by aging treatment. The decomposition of the ferrite phase into the γ2 and σ phases was retarded by W substitution for Mo. The volume fraction of the χ phase increased and that of the σ phase decreased due to W substitution. The χ and σ phases were intermetallic compounds, which had lower nickel concentration, and higher chromium, molybdenum, and tungsten concentrations. The χ phase has higher molybdenum and tungsten concentrations than those of the σ phase. The amounts of chromium and nickel in the χ and σ phases did not change, but these phases have higher concentrations of molybdenum and tungsten due to W substitution for Mo.
Ti films were deposited on glass substrates under various preparation conditions in a chamber of two-facing-target type dc sputtering; after deposition, the electric resistivity values were measured using a conventional four-probe method. Crystallographic orientations and microstructures, including the texture and columnar structure, were also investigated for the Ti films. The morphological features, including the columnar structures and surface roughness, are well explained on the basis of Thornton’s zone model. The electric resistivity and the thermal coefficient of the resistivity vary with the sputtering gas pressure. The minimum value of resistivity was around 0.4 Pa for both the 0.5 μm and 3.0 μm thick films; the apparent tendencies are almost the same for the two films, with a small difference in resistivity because of the different film thicknesses. The films deposited at high gas pressures show higher resistivities. The maximum of TCR is also around 0.4 Pa, which is the same as that obtained from the relationship between the resistivity and the gas pressure. The lattice spacing also decreases with increasing sputtering gas pressure for both the 0.5 μm and 3.0 μm thick films. Because they are strongly related to the sputtering gas pressures for Ti films that have a crystallographic anisotropy that is different from cubic symmetry, these changes are well explained on the basis of the film microstructures. It is shown that resistivity measurement can serve as a promising monitor for microstructures in sputtered Ti films.
In this paper, cerium doped lutetium pyrosilicate (LPS) powders with cerium content (0.05 and 0.07 mol%) were prepared by sol-gel process. The formation of lutetium pyrosilicate (LPS) phase was confirmed by XRD analysis for the powders heated at 1,200 oC; in these powders, a single phase of Lu2Si2O7 (LPS) was observed. Cerium doped lutetium pyrosilicate (LPS) powder was agglomerated and constituted of small spherical particles with diameters of about 300 nm. The photoluminescence spectra of the Lu2Si2O7:Ce3+ powders showed the characteristic of excitation and there was an emission spectrum for Ce3+ in the host of Lu2Si2O7. The emission spectrum shows a broad band in the range of 350-525 nm; the broad wavelength on the right side of the spectra should be ascribed to the same 5d-4f transitions of Ce3+, as in the case of cerium doped Lu2Si2O7 single crystals.
A sintering process for copper based films using a rapid thermal process with infrared lamps is proposed to improve the electrical properties. Compared with films produced by conventional thermal sintering, the microstructure of the copper based films contained fewer internal and interfacial pores and larger grains after the rapid thermal process. This high-density microstructure is due to the high heating rate, which causes the abrupt decomposition of the organic shell at higher temperatures than is the case for the low heating rate; the high heating rate also induces densification of the copper based films. In order to confirm the effect of the rapid thermal process on copper nanoink, copper based films were prepared under varying of conditions such as the sintering temperature, time, and heating rate. As a result, the resistivity of the copper based films showed no significant changes at high temperature (300 oC) according to the sintering conditions. On the other hand, at low temperatures, the resistivity of the copper based films depended on the heating rate of the rapid thermal process.
Tin oxides have been studied for various applications such as gas detecting materials, transparent electrodes, transparent devices, and solar cells. p-type SnO is a promising transparent oxide semiconductor because of its high optical transparency and excellent electrical properties. In this study, we fabricated p-type SnO thin film using rf magnetron sputtering with an SnO/Sn composite target; we examined the effects of various oxygen flow rates on the SnO thin films. We fundamentally investigated the structural, optical, and electrical properties of the p-type SnO thin films utilizing X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV/Vis spectrometry, and Hall Effect measurement. A p-type SnO thin film of PO2 = 3 % was obtained with > 80 % transmittance, carrier concentration of 1.12 × 1018 cm−3, and mobility of 1.18 cm2V− 1s−1. With increasing of the oxygen partial pressure, electrical conductivity transition from p-type to n-type was observed in the SnO crystal structure.