Instrumented indentation testing was used to evaluate the changes in mechanical properties of single-walled carbon nanotube composite specimens with varying weight percentage (0, 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 wt%) of nanotubes using a low-viscosity liquid epoxy resin. The nanotubes were prepared using laser ablation technique. Reference tensile tests were also performed on the same samples, and relevant comparisons with indentation results were made. The variations in modulus and hardness obtained using nanoindentation (considering time effects) showed quantifiable differences between the various composite specimens, but differed from tensile test data. The small changes in the observed stiffness and breaking strength of carbon nanotube composites was due to the formation of bundles, their curvy morphology, and microporosity in the specimens. Interesting fluctuations obtained from the interpreted values of modulus with depth of indentation is attributed to varying degrees of the local confining effect of nanotube bundles. Creep exponents for these nanocomposites were also evaluated and indicate considerable improvements.

The reduction mechanism of particle surface oxide films on Al–Mg alloy specimens sintered by the pulse electric current sintering (PECS) process was investigated via transmission electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, and thermodynamic calculation. The reduction products were either MgAl2O4 or MgO or both, which is dependent on the sintering temperature and Mg content in Al–Mg alloy. Comparing the experimental temperature of the reduction products with that from thermodynamic calculation, it was suggested that the temperature at interfaces between particles was higher than that inside particles. This difference of temperature enhanced reduction of surface oxide films of Al–Mg alloy powders and hence accelerated the sintering in the PECS process.

Ca5A2Ti1−xZrxO12 (A = Nb, Ta) ceramics were prepared through conventional solid-state ceramic route for 0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1. The crystal structures of the ceramics were studied by x-ray diffraction techniques, and dielectric properties were measured at microwave frequencies. In the Ca5Nb2Ti1−xZrxO12 system as x increases from 0 to 1, ϵr decreases from 48 to 25, Qu× f from 26,000 to 19,000 GHz, and τf from +40 to −21 ppm/°C. In Ca5Ta2Ti1−xZrxO12 ceramics, ϵr varies from 38 to 22, Quxf from 33,000 to 24,000 GHz, and τf from +10 to −26 ppm/°C as x is changed from 0 to 1. The variation of microwave dielectric properties with bond valence and electronegativity in the two systems were also investigated. Ca5Nb2Ti0.2Zr0.8O12 and Ca5Ta2Ti0.7Zr0.3O12 dielectric ceramics were found to have stable resonant frequency with temperature and are potential candidates for applications in personal and satellite communication systems in the S and C band (2–8 GHz).

A YNi2B2C thin film deposited on MgO(001) substrate by pulsed laser deposition has been investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Cross-sectional TEM analyses show that the YNi2B2C film grows in the [001] direction. Y2O3 exists not only as an interlayer at the interface of the YNi2B2C thin film and the MgO substrate but occasionally also in the YNi2B2C thin film near the substrate. The orientation relationships between the YNi2B2C thin film, Y2O3 interlayer, and MgO substrate are determined from electron-diffraction patterns to be MgO(001)[100] ‖ Y2O3(001)[100], YNi2B2C(001)[110] ‖ Y2O3(001)[100] ‖ Y2O3(001)[100, and YNi2B2C(001)[100] ‖ Y2O3(001)[100 1.5‖ Y2O3(001)[100] ‖ Y2O3(001)[100 (the numeral above the “parallel” symbol represents the misorientation (in degrees) between the [100] ‖ Y2O3(001)[100 directions).

Dense fully stabilized cubic zirconia, sintered by the spark plasma sintering (SPS) method, was characterized through hardness, fracture toughness, and electrical impedance measurements. The effect of sintering temperature on hardness and fracture toughness was evaluated. Samples sintered at 1200 °C for 5 min, which had crystallite size of <100 nm, exhibited the highest hardness. Impedance measurements showed an increase in bulk contribution relative to grain boundaries as sintering temperature is increased. Calculation of the activation energy for conduction gave a value, 1.13 eV, in agreement with previously published results.

Cubic NaCl-B1 structured multilayer TiAlN/VN with a bi-layer thickness of approximately 3 nm and atomic ratios of (Ti+Al)/V = 0.98 to 1.15 and Ti/V = 0.55 to 0.61 were deposited by unbalanced magnetron sputtering at substrate bias voltages between -75 and -150 V. In this paper, detailed transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction revealed pronounced microstructure changes depending on the bias. At the bias -75 V, TiAlN/VN followed a layer growth model led by a strong (110) texture to form a T-type structure in the Thornton structure model of thin films, which resulted in a rough growth front, dense columnar structure with inter-column voids, and low compressive stress of -3.8 GPa. At higher biases, the coatings showed a typical Type-II structure following the strain energy growth model, characterized by the columnar structure, void-free column boundaries, smooth surface, a predominant (111) texture, and high residual stresses between -8 and -11.5 GPa.

Room temperature data of impedance and phase angle in pellets of electrochemically synthesized ClO4− doped poly(3-methylthiophene) (P3MT) were analyzed assuming the sample being represented by a parallel resistor-capacitor (RC) circuit or by a series RC circuit. The last assumption proved to be the correct one, and to confirm it we use the sample as the RC component of a resistor-capacitor-inductor series resonator. We discuss the possibility of this RC series behavior to be due to a charge-density wave characteristic also evidenced from the huge values of the low-frequency dielectric constant of the system.

The size effects on indentation creep were studied on single-crystal Ni3Al, polycrystalline pure Al, and fused quartz samples at room temperature. The stress exponents were measured by monitoring the displacement during constant indentation loads after correction for thermal drift effects. The stress exponents were found to exhibit a very strong size effect. In the two metals Al and Ni3Al, the stress exponent for very small indents is very small, and for Al, this even approaches unity, suggesting that linear diffusional flow may be the controlling mechanism. The stress exponents in these two metals rise rapidly to over 100 as the indent size gets larger, indicating a rapid change of the dominating mechanism to climb-controlled to eventually glide-controlled events. In fused quartz, the stress exponent also exhibits a sharply rising trend as the indent size increases. The stress exponent is also close to unity at the smallest indents studied, and it rises rapidly to a few tens as the indent size gets larger.

We successfully dispersed amorphous bismuth titanate nanoparticles (<50 nm)in situ in poly-hydroxy ethyl methacrylate via a sol-gel process. Since less than 20% of the polymer composition is bismuth titanate by weight, the material exhibits high refractive indices (>1.6) and good optical transparency (>90% transmittance from 530 to 800 nm). Furthermore, this highly cross-linked material has an improved thermal stability and a lower coefficient of thermal expansion than that of neat polymers. The material also displays a high dielectric constant (>10) without ferroelectricity. Thus the material has potential applications in optical lenses, optical waveguides, and capacitors.

Coarsening of the ternary eutectic in cast Sn–Ag–Cu lead-free solder alloys was investigated. The process was found to follow r3 ∝ t kinetics where r is the rod radius of the dispersed phase and t is time. The effective activation energy for the process is 69 ± 5 kJmol-1. The two types of intermetallic rods, Cu6Sn5 and Ag3Sn, in the eutectic structure coarsen at different rates, with each having a different rate-controlling mechanism. The overall coarsening kinetics for the Sn–Ag–Cu ternary eutectic is significantly slower than that found for the Pb-Sn eutectic, which has implications for long-term reliability of Sn–Ag–Cu solder joints.

Dense β–Si3N4 ceramics were fabricated from α–Si3N4 raw powder by gas-pressure sintering at 1900 °C for 12 h under a nitrogen pressure of 1 MPa, using four different kinds of additive compositions: Yb2O3–MgO, Yb2O3–MgSiN2, Y2O3–MgO, and Y2O3–MgSiN2. The effects of additive composition on the microstructure and thermal and mechanical properties of β–Si3N4 ceramics were investigated. It was found that the replacement of Yb2O3 by Y2O3 has no significant effect on the thermal conductivity and fracture toughness, but the replacement of MgO by MgSiN2 leads to an increase in thermal conductivity from 97 to 113 Wm-1K-1and fracture toughness from 8 to 10 MPa m1/2, respectively. The enhanced thermal conductivity of the MgSiN2-doped materials is attributed to the purification of β–Si3N4 grain and increase of Si3N4–Si3N4 contiguity, resulting from the enhanced growth of large elongated grains. The improved fracture toughness of the MgSiN2-doped materials is attributed to the increase of grain size and fraction of large elongated grains. However, the same thermal conductivity between the Yb2O3- and Y2O3-doped materials is related to not only their similar microstructures, but also the similar abilities of removing oxygen impurity in Si3N4 lattice between Yb2O3 and Y2O3. The same fracture toughness between the Yb2O3- and Y2O3-doped materials is consistent with their similar microstructures. This work implies that MgSiN2 is an effective sintering aid for developing not only high thermal conductivity (>110 Wm−1K−1) but also high fracture toughness (>10 MPa m1/2) of Si3N4 ceramics.

The fracture and instrumented indentation behavior of a range of materials subjected to indentation by four sharp probes varying in acuity from the Berkovich to the cube-corner was studied. Quantities derived from load, displacement, and continuous stiffness measurements were evaluated for their ability to detect “pop-in”—sudden displacement excursions associated with fracture. It was found that gross unloading character was sensitive to the presence of fracture, even when no pop-in was detected. This may be useful in the development of fracture toughness estimation models that do not rely on the imaging of cracks.

By a solid-state process, well-crystallized BaTiO3 (BT) particles with their average grain size below 0.2 μm were obtained. Wet and dry mechanical pretreatment processes were combined to obtain fine particulate mixture comprising BaCO3 and TiO2 with the highest possible homogeneity without causing appreciable agglomeration. Degree of homogenization was quantitatively evaluated by different microscopic techniques, in an attempt to optimize nuclei-growth processes. Reaction processes were discussed on the basis of thermal analyses in conjunction with the particulate morphology. The granulometrical and crystallographical properties of the present particulate products are comparable with or even superior to commercially available high-valued products fabricated via a hydrothermal or sol-gel route.

The relative effects of Pb and Re doping on microstructure, irreversibility field, and electronic anisotropy of HgBa2Ca2Cu3O8+δ (Hg-1223) thick films grown on Ag substrates prepared by dip-coating were studied. Both Pb- and Re-doped films exhibit the dominant phase of Hg-1223, characterized by a superconducting transition temperature (Tc) of 133 K. Both dopants distribute homogeneously in the Hg-1223 grains and promote grain growth. Pb-doped films have larger colony size compared to the Re-doped. The irreversibility fields (Hirr) of (Hg,Re)-1223 are significantly higher than those of (Hg,Pb)-1223 at temperatures below 100 K. The logarithmic plots of Hirr versus (1 – T/Tc) show both Pb- and Re-doped have a crossover temperature reflecting a transition from two- to three-dimensional behavior with increasing temperature. Re doping significantly decreases the electronic anisotropy γ, which would enhance flux pinning and consequently improve the critical current density. The differences between Pb and Re dopants in affecting γ are explained in terms of crystal structure.

Nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of amorphous chalcogenide Ga–Sb–Te films with compositions along the pseudo-binary tie-lines connecting Sb7Te3−GaSb and Sb2Te3–GaSb of the ternary phase diagram were investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry. Powder samples were prepared firstly by film deposition using a co-sputtering method; the films were then stripped from the substrate. The activation energy (Ea) and rate factor (Ko) were evaluated from the heating rate dependency of the crystallization temperature using the Kissinger method. The kinetic exponent (n) was deduced from the exothermic peak integrals using the Ozawa method. The crystallization temperature (Tx = 181 to 327 °C) and activation energy (Ea= 2.8 to 6.5 eV) increased monotonically with increasing GaSb content and reached a maximum value in compositions located at the vicinity of GaSb. The kinetic exponent is temperature dependent and shows higher values in the SbTe-rich compositions. Promising media compositions worthy of further studies were identified through the determined kinetics parameters.

A large contrast ratio (>ΔΤ = 60%) and rapid switching (0.3–1 s) electrochromic (EC) polymer device that consists of a laminated two-layer structure between two electrodes was prepared. The new design consists of an indium tin oxide (ITO) glass electrode, a cathodic EC polymer film, a solid electrolyte, and a counterelectrode that replaces the anodic EC polymer and ITO electrode. Four EC polymers including two new EC polymers, Poly[3-methyl-3′-propyl-3,4-dihydro-2H-thieno(3,4-b)(1,4)dioxepine] (PProDOT-MePro) and Poly[3,3-diethyl-3,4-dihydro-2H,7H-(1,4)dioxepino(2,3-c)pyrrole] (PProDOP-Et2), were synthesized as cathodic EC polymers. A carbon-based counterelectrode was prepared for comparison with an Au-based counterelectrode. Several kinds of polymer gel electrolytes were prepared for comparison. The devices (windows) were increased in area from 0.028 × 0.04 in.2, 1 × 1 in.2 to 3 × 3 in.2 Three main components, the EC polymer film, the gel electrolyte, and the counterelectrode, were studied and their optical properties, conductivities, and repeatabilities were compared. The effects of window size on the contrast ratio, switching speed, power usage, and repeatability were studied.

Aluminum nitride thin films were deposited by multipulse KrF* (λ = 248 nm, τ∼450 fs) excimer laser ablation of AlN targets in low-pressure nitrogen. We investigated the morphology of the deposited films by scanning as well as transmission electron microscopy, as a function of laser fluence and ambient nitrogen pressure. The AlN films entirely consist of grains (clusters) with average diameters of a few tens of nanometers. In addition, particulates several hundreds of nanometers in diameter (spherical droplets) were observed on the surfaces of the deposited films. Besides these particulates, we noticed the presence of micrometer-size whiskers, or dendritic- and wave-like structures, consisting of agglomerates of nanoparticles. The particulates density decreases with the decrease of the laser fluence, or with the increase of the ambient nitrogen pressure, while their average size increases. This indicates that clustering is the dominant particulates formation mechanism, as a result of the enhanced number of collisions in the fs laser generated ablation plasma.

The etching process of the 6H–SiC(000-1) surface was investigated to obtain a flat surface by removing scratches due to polishing. An atomically flat surface with a step-terrace structure without scratches has been obtained by removing the graphite layer grown on the substrate after annealing in N2 at a temperature of 1900 °C for 6 h. The step height corresponds to that of a 6H–SiC unit cell. In contrast, a rough surface was observed on the Si face, 6H–SiC (0001), using the same process as for the C face.

Thin films of Ti1–x–y Six Ny were produced on unheated Si(100) substrates by reactive unbalanced dc-magnetron sputtering of titanium and silicon in an Ar–N2 gas mixture. The effects of silicon incorporation on surface morphology and structural properties of these films as well as the influence of postdeposition annealing have been studied. These films were characterized ex situ in terms of their core-level electron bonding configuration by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, their microstructure by cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction, their hardness by nanoindentation measurements, and their roughening kinetics by atomic force microscopy (AFM) with the scaling analysis. It was found that a linear increase in the Si concentration of the films was observed with increasing Si target current up to 2 A whereas the reverse trend was seen for the Ti concentration. The films consisted of 15–20-nm-sized TiN crystallites embedded in an amorphous SiNx matrix. They had a hardness of about 32.8 GPa with silicon concentration x = 0.1. The improved mechanical properties of Ti1–x–y Six Ny films with the addition of Si into TiN were attributed to their densified microstructure with development of fine grain size and reduced surface roughness. The reduction in grain size has been supported by means of a Monte Carlo simulation that reveals that the average size of TiN grains decreases with the volume fraction of amorphous SiNx approximately according to a power law, showing a reasonable agreement with the experimental results. By applying the height–height correlation functions to the measured AFM images, a steady growth roughness exponent α = 0.89 ± 0.05 was determined for all the films with different Si additions. It was also found that the nanocomposite films were thermodynamically stable up to 800 °C. The effect of thin SiNx layer in stabilizing nanocrystalline TiN structure is also elucidated and explained on the basis of structural and thermodynamic stability.

An n-type Ga2O3 semiconductor thin film was prepared by rheotaxial growth and thermal oxidation (RGTO) method on SiO2 and Al2O3 substrates. Multilayer growth technique was used to control grain size. The morphology and the electrical properties of the Ga and Ga2O3 films were measured as functions of thickness, temperature, and Ti dopant concentration. Measurements of the sensitivity, the response time, and the recovery time of the Ga2O3 films in response to ethanol and CO were carried out.The results showed that the grain size of Ga film increased with thickness, and a balls-on-ball type morphology was produced as the film exceeded 3000 Å. Ga2O3 nanowires were created when Ga films were oxidized under impure O2 atmosphere. Ga2O3 films had an optimum sensing temperature increasing from 625 °C for a5012 Å film to 675 °C for a 5.6-μm film. The films prepared by multilayer growth technique had smaller grain size, but the sensitivity remained unchanged. The films deposited on SiO2 substrate had a sensitivity higher by 28% than that on Al2O3. Doping of 0.28 at.% Ti enhanced nanowires growth, raised sensitivity by 6%, shortened response time from 40 to 30 s, but prolonged recovery time from 92 to130 s. Formation of nanowires resulted in an increase of sensitivity up to 50%.Doping of 2.18 at.% Ti led to the formation of nanoribbons with a sensitivity lowerby 8% and a recovery time shortened from 130 to 72 s. The RGTO method was shown to produce Ga2O3 gas-sensitive thin film with good reproducibility.