To build a highly active photocatalytic system with high efficiency and low cast of TiO2, we report a facile hydrothermal technique to synthesize Ag2Se-nanoparticle-modified TiO2 composites. The physical characteristics of these samples are analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy and BET analysis. The XRD and TEM results show us that TiO2 is coupled with small sized Ag2Se nanoplate, which has an average grain size of about 30 nm in diameter. The agglomeration of Ag2Se nanoparticles is improved by the hydrothermal process, with dispersion improvement of the Ag2Se@TiO2 nanocomposite. Texbrite BA-L is selected as a simulated dye to study the photodegradation behavior of as-prepared samples under visible light radiation. A significant enhancement of about two times the photodegradation rate is observed for the Ag2Se@TiO2 nanocomposite compared with the control sample P25 and as-prepared TiO2. Long-term stability of Ag2Se@TiO2 is observed via ten iterations of recycling experiments under visible light irradiation.
A 1.8 μm thick polycrystalline diamond (PCD) thin film layer is prepared on a Si(100) substrate using hot-filament chemical vapor deposition. Thereafter, its thermal conductivity is measured using the conventional laser flash analysis (LFA) method, a LaserPIT-M2 instrument, and the newly proposed light source thermal analysis (LSTA) method. The LSTA method measures the thermal conductivity of the prepared PCD thin film layer using an ultraviolet (UV) lamp with a wavelength of 395 nm as the heat source and a thermocouple installed at a specific distance. In addition, the microstructure and quality of the prepared PCD thin films are evaluated using an optical microscope, a field emission scanning electron microscope, and a micro-Raman spectroscope. The LFA, LaserPIT-M2, and LSTA determine the thermal conductivities of the PCD thin films, which are 1.7, 1430, and 213.43 W/(m·K), respectively, indicating that the LFA method and LaserPIT-M2 are prone to errors. Considering the grain size of PCD, we conclude that the LSTA method is the most reliable one for determining the thermal conductivity of the fabricated PCD thin film layers. Therefore, the proposed LSTA method presents significant potential for the accurate and reliable measurement of the thermal conductivity of PCD thin films.
In this paper, the effect of Ni (0, 0.5 and 1.0 wt%) additions on the microstructure, mechanical properties and electrical conductivity of cast and extruded Al-MM-Sb alloy is studied using field emission scanning electron microscopy, and a universal tensile testing machine. Molten aluminum alloy is maintained at 750 oC and then poured into a mold at 200 oC. Aluminum alloys are hot-extruded into a rod that is 12 mm in diameter with a reduction ratio of 39:1 at 550 oC. The addition of Ni results in the formation of Al11RE3, AlSb and Al3Ni intermetallic compounds; the area fraction of these intermetallic compounds increases with increasing Ni contents. As the amount of Ni increases, the average grain sizes of the extruded Al alloy decrease to 1359, 536, and 153 μm, and the high-angle grain boundary fractions increase to 8, 20, and 34 %. As the Ni content increases from 0 to 1.0 wt%, the electrical conductivity is not significantly different, with values from 57.4 to 57.1 % IACS.
The Mn-Zn ferrite powders were prepared by high energy ball milling, then compacted and sintered at various temperatures to assess their sintering behavior and magnetic properties. The initial ferrite powders were spherical in shape with the size of approximately 70 m. After 3 h of ball milling at 300 rpm, aggregated powders ~230 nm in size and composed of ~15 nm nanoparticles were formed. The milled powders had a density of ~70 % when compacted at 490 MPa for 3 min. In the samples subsequently sintered at 1,273 K ~ 1,673 K for 3 h, the MnZnFe2O4 phase was detected. The density of the sintered samples had a tendency to increase with increasing sintering temperature up to 1,473 K, which produced the highest density of 98 %. On the other hand, the sample sintered at 1,373 K had the highest micro-hardness of approximately 610 Hv, which is due to much finer grains.
NbC, HfC, TaC, and their solid solution ceramics have been identified as the best materials for ultrahigh-temperature ceramics. However, their structural stability and elastic properties are mostly unclear. Thus, we investigated structure and elastic properties of (Nb1-xTax)C and (Nb1-xHfx)C solid solutions via ab initio calculations. Our calculated results show that the stability of (Nb1-xTax)C and (Nb1-xHfx)C increases with the increase of Hf and Ta content, and (Nb1-xHfx)C is more stable than (Nb1-xTax)C at the same content of Hf and Ta. The lattice constants decrease with increasing of Hf and Ta content. (Nb1-xTax)C and (Nb1-xHfx)C carbides are mechanically stable and brittle. Bulk modulus of (Nb1-xTax)C increases with increasing Ta content. In contrast, bulk modulus of (Nb1-xHfx)C decreases with increasing Hf content. Hardness of solid solutions shows the highest values at the (Nb0.25Ta0.75)C and (Nb0.75Hf0.25)C. In particular, (Nb0.75Hf0.25)C shows the highest hardness for the current system. The results indicate that the overall mechanical properties of (Nb1-xHfx)C solid solutions are superior to those of (Nb1-xTax)C solid solutions. Therefore, controlling the Hf and Ta element and content of the (Nb1-xTax)C and (Nb1-xHfx)C Solid solution is crucial for optimizing the material properties.
The purpose of this study is to develop a zirconium-based alloy with low modulus and magnetic susceptibility to prevent the stress-shielding effect and the generation of artifacts. Zr-7Cu-xSn (x = 1, 5, 10, 15 mass%) alloys are prepared by an arc melting process. Microstructure characterization is performed by microscopy and X-ray diffraction. Mechanical properties are evaluated using micro Vickers hardness and compression test. The magnetic susceptibility is evaluated using a SQUIDVSM. The average magnetic susceptibility value of the Zr-7Cu-xSn alloy is 1.176 × 108 cm3g1. Corrosion tests of zirconiumbased alloys are conducted through polarization test. The average Icorr value of the Zr-7Cu-xSn alloy is 0.1912 A/cm2. The elastic modulus value of 14 ~ 18 GPa of the zirconium-based alloy is very similar to the elastic modulus value of 15 ~ 30 GPa of the human bone. Consequently, the Sn added zirconium alloy, Zr-7Cu-xSn, is very interesting and attractive as a biomaterial that reduces the stress-shielding effect caused by differences of elastic modulus between human bone and metallic implants. In addition, this material has the potential to be used in metallic dental implants to effectively eliminate artifacts in MRI images due to low magnetic susceptibility.
Aluminum nitride having a dense hexagonal structure is used as a high-temperature material because of its excellent heat resistance and high mechanical strength; its excellent piezoelectric properties are also attracting attention. The structure and residual stress of AlN thin films formed on glass substrate using TFT sputtering system are examined by XRD. The deposition conditions are nitrogen gas pressures of 1 × 102, 6 × 103, and 3 × 103, substrate temperature of 523 K, and sputtering time of 120 min. The structure of the AlN thin film is columnar, having a c-axis, i.e., a <00·1> orientation, which is the normal direction of the glass substrate. An X-ray stress measurement method for crystalline thin films with orientation properties such as columnar structure is proposed and applied to the residual stress measurement of AlN thin films with orientation <00·1>. Strength of diffraction lines other than 00·2 diffraction is very weak. As a result of stress measurement using AlN powder sample as a comparative standard sample, tensile residual stress is obtained when the nitrogen gas pressure is low, but the gas pressure increases as the residual stress is shifts toward compression. At low gas pressure, the unit cell expands due to the incorporation of excess nitrogen atoms.
In the flux used in the batch galvanizing process, the effect of the component ratio of NH₄Cl to ZnCl₂ on the microstructure, coating adhesion, and corrosion resistance of Zn-Mg-Al ternary alloy-coated steel is evaluated. Many defects such as cracks and bare spots are formed inside the Zn-Mg-Al coating layer during treatment with the flux composition generally used for Zn coating. Deterioration of the coating property is due to the formation of AlClx mixture generated by the reaction of Al element and chloride in the flux. The coatability of the Zn-Mg-Al alloy coating is improved by increasing the content of ZnCl2 in the flux to reduce the amount of chlorine reacting with Al while maintaining the flux effect and the coating adhesion is improved as the component ratio of NH4Cl to ZnCl2 decreases. Zn-Mg-Al alloy-coated steel products treated with the optimized flux composition of NH₄Cl•3ZnCl₂ show superior corrosion resistance compared to Zn-coated steel products, even with a coating weight of 60 %.
Recently, due to high theoretical capacitance and excellent ion diffusion rate caused by the 2D layered crystal structure, transition metal hydroxides (TMHs) have generated considerable attention as active materials in supercapacitors (or electrochemical capacitors). However, TMHs should be designed using morphological or structural modification if they are to be used as active materials in supercapacitors, because they have insulation properties that induce low charge transfer rate. This study aims to modify the morphological structure for high cycling stability and fast charge storage kinetics of TMHs through the use of nickel cobalt hydroxide [NiCo(OH)2] decorated on nickel foam. Among the samples used, needle-like NiCo(OH)2 decorated on nickel foam offers a high specific capacitance (1110.9 F/g at current density of 0.5 A/g) with good rate capability (1110.9 - 746.7 F/g at current densities of 0.5 - 10.0 A/g). Moreover, at a high current density (10.0 A/g), a remarkable capacitance (713.8 F/g) and capacitance retention of 95.6% after 5000 cycles are noted. These results are attributed to high charge storage sites of needle-like NiCo(OH)2 and uniformly grown NiCo(OH)2 on nickel foam surface.
Through the process of chemical vapor deposition, Tungsten Hexafluoride (WF6) is widely used by the semiconductor industry to form tungsten films. Tungsten Hexafluoride (WF6) is produced through manufacturing processes such as pulverization, wet smelting, calcination and reduction of tungsten ores. The manufacturing process of Tungsten Hexafluoride (WF6) is required thorough quality control to improve productivity. In this paper, a real-time detection system for oxidation defects that occur in the manufacturing process of Tungsten Hexafluoride (WF6) is proposed. The proposed system is implemented by applying YOLOv5 based on Convolutional Neural Network (CNN); it is expected to enable more stable management than existing management, which relies on skilled workers. The implementation method of the proposed system and the results of performance comparison are presented to prove the feasibility of the method for improving the efficiency of the WF6 manufacturing process in this paper. The proposed system applying YOLOv5s, which is the most suitable material in the actual production environment, demonstrates high accuracy (mAP@0.5 99.4 %) and real-time detection speed (FPS 46).
In this study, we have investigated a selective emitter using a UV laser on BBr3 diffusion doping layer. The selective emitter has two regions of high and low doping concentration alternatively and this structure can remove the disadvantages of homogeneous emitter doping. The selective emitters were fabricated by using UV laser of 355 nm on the homogeneous emitters which were formed on n-type Si by BBr3 diffusion in the furnace and the heavy boron doping regions were formed on the laser regions. In the optimized laser doping process, we are able to achieve a highly concentrated emitter with a surface resistance of up to 43 Ω/□ from 105 ± 6 Ω/□ borosilicate glass (BSG) layer on Si. In order to compare the characteristics and confirm the passivation effect, the annealing is performed after Al2O3 deposition using an ALD. After the annealing, the selective emitter shows a better effect than the high concentration doped emitter and a level equivalent to that of the low concentration doped emitter.