Cu/PET composite films are widely used in a variety of wearable electronics. Lifetime of the electronics is determined by adhesion between the Cu film and the PET substrate. The formation of an anisotropic nanostructure on the PET surface by surface modification can enhance Cu/PET interfacial adhesion. The shape and size of the anisotropic nanostructures of the PET surface can be controlled by varying the surface modification conditions. In this work, the effect of Cu/PET interface nanostructures on the failure mechanism of a Cu/PET flexible composite film is studied. From observation of the morphologies of the anisotropic nanostructures on plasma-treated PET surfaces, and cross-sections and surfaces of the fractured specimens, the Cu/PET interface area and nanostructure width are analyzed and the failure mechanism of the Cu/PET film is investigated. It is found that the failure mechanism of the Cu/PET flexible composite film depends on the shape and size of the plasmatreated PET surface nanostructures. Cu/PET interface nanostructures with maximal peel strength exhibit multiple craze-crack propagation behavior, while smaller or larger interface nanostructures exhibit single-path craze-crack propagation behavior.
Two different casting speeds of 60 and 80mm/min are adopted to determine the effect of casting speed on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Al-Mg-Si/Al hybrid material prepared by duo-casting. The obtained hybrid material has a uniform and straight macro-interface between the pure Al side and the Al-Mg-Si alloy side at both casting speeds. When the casting speed is increased to 80mm/min, the size of primary α phases in Al-Mg-Si alloy decreases, without change of shape. Although the Al-Mg-Si alloy produced at higher casting speed of 80mm/min shows much higher ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and 0.2 % proof stress and lower elongation, along with higher bending strength compared to the case of the 60mm/min in casting speed, the tensile properties and bending strength of the hybrid material, which are similar to those of pure Al, are the same regardless of the increase of casting speed. Despite the different casting speeds, deformation and fracturing in hybrid materials are observed only on the pure Al side. This indicates that the macro-interface is well-bonded, allowing it to endure tensile and bending deformation in all hybrid materials.
The effects of fast neutron irradiation on the electrical and optical properties of Li (3 at%) doped ZnSnO (ZTO) thin films fabricated using a sol-gel process are investigated. From the results of Li-ZTO TFT characteristics according to change of neutron irradiation time, the saturation mobility is found to increase and threshold voltage values shift to a negative direction from 1,000 s neutron irradiation time. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis of the O 1s core level shows that the relative area of oxygen vacancies is almost unchanged with different irradiation times. From the results of band alignment, it is confirmed that, due to the increase of electron carrier concentration, the Fermi level (EF) of the sample irradiated for 1,000 s is located at the position closest to the conduction band minimum. The increase in electron concentration is considered by looking at the shallow band edge state under the conduction band edge formed by fast neutron irradiation of more than 1,000 s.
In this study, two types of thick steel plates are prepared by controlling carbon equivalent and nickel content, and their microstructures are analyzed. Tensile tests, Vickers hardness tests, and Charpy impact tests are conducted to investigate the correlation between microstructure and mechanical properties of the steels. The H steel, which has high carbon equivalent and nickel content, has lower volume fraction of granular bainite (GB) and smaller GB packet size than those of L steel, which has low carbon equivalent and nickel content. However, the volume fraction of secondary phases is higher in the H steel than in the L steel. As a result, the strength of the L steel is higher than that of the H steel, while the Charpy absorbed energy at -40 °C is higher than that of the L steel. The heat affected zone (HAZ) simulated H-H specimen has higher volume fraction of acicular ferrite (AF) and lower volume fraction of GB than the HAZ simulated L-H specimen. In addition, the grain size of AF and the packet sizes of GB and BF are smaller in the H-H specimen than in the L-H specimen. For this reason, the Charpy absorbed energy at -20 °C is higher for the H-H specimen than for the L-H specimen.
Silver nanowire (AgNW) networks have been adopted as a front electrode in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) thin film solar cells due to their low cost and compatibility with the solution process. When an AgNW network is applied to a CIGS thin film solar cell, reflection loss can increase because the CdS layer, with a relatively high refractive index (n ~ 2.5 at 550 nm), is exposed to air. To resolve the issue, we apply solution-processed ZnO nanorods to the AgNW network as an anti-reflective coating. To obtain high performance of the optical and electrical properties of the ZnO nanorod and AgNW network composite, we optimize the process parameters – the spin coating of AgNWs and the concentration of zinc nitrate and hexamethylene tetramine (HMT – to fabricate ZnO nanorods. We verify that 10 mM of zinc nitrate and HMT show the lowest reflectance and 10% cell efficiency increase when applied to CIGS thin film solar cells.
The magnetocaloric effect (MCE), which is the reversible temperature change of magnetic materials due to an applied magnetic field, occurs largely in the vicinity of the magnetic phase transition temperature. This phenomenon can be used to induce magnetic refrigeration, a viable, energy-efficient solid-state cooling technology. Recently, Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), due to their structural diversity of tunable crystalline pore structure and chemical functionality, have been studied as good candidates for magnetic refrigeration materials in the cryogenic region. In cryogenic cooling applications, MCE using MOF can have great potential, and is even considered comparable to conventional lanthanum alloys and magnetic nanoparticles. Owing to the presence of large internal pores, however, MOF also exhibits the drawback of low magnetic density. To overcome this problem, therefore, recent reports in literature that achieve high magnetic entropy change using a dense structure formation and ligand tuning are introduced.
Graphene has attracted the interest of many researchers due to various its advantages such as high mobility, high transparency, and strong mechanical strength. However, large-area graphene is grown at high temperatures of about 1,000 °C and must be transferred to various substrates for various applications. As a result, transferred graphene shows many defects such as wrinkles/ripples and cracks that happen during the transfer process. In this study, we address transfer-free, large-scale, and high-quality monolayer graphene. Monolayer graphene was grown at low temperatures on Ti (10nm)-buffered Si (001) and PET substrates via plasma-assisted thermal chemical vapor deposition (PATCVD). The graphene area is small at low mTorr range of operating pressure, while 4 × 4 cm2 scale graphene is grown at high working pressures from 1.5 to 1.8 Torr. Four-inch wafer scale graphene growth is achieved at growth conditions of 1.8 Torr working pressure and 150 °C growth temperature. The monolayer graphene that is grown directly on the Ti-buffer layer reveals a transparency of 97.4 % at a wavelength of 550 nm, a carrier mobility of about 7,000 cm2/V×s, and a sheet resistance of 98 W/□. Transfer-free, large-scale, high-quality monolayer graphene can be applied to flexible and stretchable electronic devices.
A powder-in-sheath rolling method is applied to the fabrication of a carbon nano tube (CNT) reinforced copper composite. A copper tube with outer diameter of 30 mm and wall thickness of 2 mm is used as sheath material. A mixture of pure copper powder and CNTs with a volume content of 3 % is filled in a tube by tap filling and then processed to an 93.3 % reduction using multi-pass rolling after heating for 0.5 h at 400 oC. The specimen is then sintered for 1h at 500 oC. The relative density of the 3 vol%CNT/Cu composite fabricated using powder in sheath rolling is 98 %, while that of the Cu powder compact is 99 %. The microstructure is somewhat heterogeneous in width direction in the composite, but is relatively homogeneous in the Cu powder compact. The hardness distribution is also ununiform in the width direction for the composite. The average hardness of the composites is higher by 8Hv than that of Cu powder compact. The tensile strength of the composite is 280 MPa, which is 20 MPa higher than that of the Cu powder compact. It is concluded that the powder in sheath rolling method is an effective process for fabrication of sound CNT reinforced Cu matrix composites.