Micro/nano engineering on stainless steel substrates to produce superhydrophobic surfaces

Creating micro-/nano-scale topography on material surfaces to change their wetting properties has been a subject of much interest in recent years. Wenzel in 1936 and Cassie and Baxter in 1944 proposed that by microscopically increasing the surface roughness of a substrate, it is possible to increase its hydrophobicity. This paper reports the fabrication of micro-textured surfaces and nano-textured surfaces, and the combination of both on stainless steel substrates by sandblasting, thermal evaporation of aluminum, and aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si). Meanwhile, fluorinated carbon films were used to change the chemical composition of the surfaces to render the surfaces more hydrophobic. These surface modifications were investigated to create superhydrophobic surfaces on stainless steel substrates. The topography resulting from these surface modifications was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy and surface profilometry. The wetting properties of these surfaces were characterized by water contact angle measurement. The results of this study show that superhydrophobic surfaces can be produced by either micro-scale surface texturing or nano-scale surface texturing, or the combination of both, after fluorinated carbon film deposition.     

Reaction characteristic of Fe–Ni nano-alloy with organic chloride

Fe–Ni nano-alloy which was prepared by chemical reduction with KBH₄ as reductant and polyethylene glycol (PEG) as dispersant had high surface energy after being deoxidized in H₂ atmosphere at 400 °C. It could cause breakage of C–Cl bond of organic chloride in the presence of a small amount of oxygen. The result of elemental analysis indicated that the reaction products were FeCl₂, NiCl₂ and Cl₂, the production of Cl₂ was because of the combination of Cl atom or Cl free radical that came from the breakage of C–Cl bond. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) result showed that the existence of new organic compound such as biphenyl and so on. The results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that carbon free radical or carbonaceous free radical enchased on the surface of nano-alloy and produced Fe₃C, Fe₂C after being baked in N₂ atmosphere at 600 °C.     

Plastic deformation of high-purity α-titanium: Model development and validation using the Taylor cylinder impact test

In this paper, results of an experimental study on the quasi-static and high-rate plastic deformation due to impact of a high-purity, polycrystalline, α-titanium material are presented. It was found that the material is transversely isotropic and displays strong strength differential effects. Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar tests in tension and compression and Taylor impact tests were conducted. For an impact velocity of 196 m/s, plastic deformation extended to 64% of the length of the deformed specimen, with little radial spreading. A three-dimensional constitutive model was developed. Key in the formulation was the use of a macroscopic yield function that incorporates the specificities of the plastic flow, namely the combined effects of anisotropy and tension–compression asymmetry. Comparison between model predictions and data show the capabilities of the model to describe with accuracy the plastic behavior of the α-titanium material for both quasi-static and high-rate loadings. In particular, the three-dimensional simulations of the Taylor impact test show a very good agreement with data, both the post-test major and minor side profiles and impact interface footprints are very well described.     

Hollow graphene spheres self-assembled from graphene oxide sheets by a one-step hydrothermal process

We developed a one-step hydrothermal method to assemble graphene oxide (GO) sheets into hollow graphene spheres (HGSs), using only a GO/H₂SO₄ aqueous suspension as the starting material. Scanning electron microscope, focused ion beam scanning electron microscope and transmission electron microscope images show that the as-prepared HGSs vary from 1 to 3 μm in diameter and have a hollow interior structure. The as-prepared HGSs show a high capacitance of 207 F g⁻¹, as well as good rate capability and cycling stability when used as electrode materials for supercapacitors.     

Development of a reversible machining method for fabrication of microstructures by using micro-EDM

A new micromachining method for the fabrication of micro-metal structures by using micro-reversible electrical discharge machining (EDM) was investigated. The reversible machining combines the micro-EDM deposition process with the selective removal process, which provides the ability of depositing or removing metal material using the same micro-EDM machining system. From the discharge mechanism of micro-EDM, the process conditions of micro-EDM deposition were analyzed firstly. Using the brass and steel materials as a tool electrode, the micro-cylinders with 200 μm in diameter and height-to-diameter ratio of more than 5 were deposited on a high-speed steel surface. Then the machining procedure was transformed easily from deposition to selective removal process by switching the process conditions. Different removal strategies including micro-EDM drilling and micro-EDM milling were used in the machining. Micro-holes with 80 μm in diameter are drilled successfully in the radial direction of the deposited micro-steel cylinder. Also, a brass square column with 70 μm in side length and 750 μm in height, and a micro-cylinder with 135 μm in diameter and 1445 μm in height are obtained by using micro-EDM milling. Finally, the characteristics of the deposited material were analyzed. The results show that the material components of a deposited micro-cylinder are almost the same as those of the tool electrode, and the metallurgical bonding has been formed on the interface. In addition, the Vickers-hardness of 454Hv of the steel deposited material is higher when compared to the hardness of 200Hv of the raw steel electrode.     

Size effects in micro blanking of metal foil with miniaturization

Miniaturization of micro blanking process caused changes in the relative contribution of relevant process parameters and the grain size of metal foil reaches the same order with the blanking clearance. As a result, the size effects occur, which is different from the other micro forming processes, such as micro upsetting, micro tensile, and micro bending. In the paper, the size effects of micro blanking of metal foil with miniaturization were investigated. Similar to the traditional blanking process, the micro blanking process is still composed of three stages of elastic deformation, plastic shearing deformation, and fracture separation. However, the maximum blanking force appeared at punch stroke of foil thickness, which is much larger than the transitional blanking process of 1/3 of work material thickness. The cross section of micro-hole is also composed of rollover, smoothly shearing zone, fraction zone, and burr. But the distribution of the fraction zone and burr is uneven, which is caused by the influence of the material anisotropy with the decreasing of the foil thickness. The results show that the ultimate shear strength of micro blanking is decreasing with the increasing of the length scale ??, not only for the brass foil, but also for the stainless steel foil. The fracture mechanism of micro blanking of brass foil is significantly changed from shear dimple to slip separation with the decreasing of length scale ??, but the fracture mechanism of micro blanking of stainless steel is not changed and kept ductile fracture with equiaxed dimples     

Ball-disk rotor gyroscope adaptive quick-start technique

Rotating speed is a critical parameter affecting the performance of rotor gyroscopes. Rotor gyroscopes must operate at the rated rotating speed. To shorten the start time of the ball-disk rotor gyroscope, this paper presents a new design of the drive system for a ball-disk rotor gyroscope. The drive system is monitored by a microcontroller. First, the microcontroller generates a sine pulse width modulation signal to drive the permanent magnet rotor. Second, the position of the rotor is detected according to the back electromotive force in the non-energized coil. Third, a piecewise closed-loop control algorithm is implemented to keep the angular acceleration of the rotor within the safe range automatically during the acceleration process and when running at a constant speed. This control algorithm can avoid rotor stalling due to loss of steps. Experimental result shows that with the help of adaptive quick-start technique, the start time of the device can be shortened by up to 36.6%.     

微机械角速率传感器CMOS闭环驱动电路

为解决微机械角速率传感器的驱动信号对检测电极的耦合问题,提出一种基于电压频率调制闭环静电力驱动方法．该方法将驱动电压调制到高频,有效地将机械谐振频率与电压驱动频率分离,同时不改变驱动静电力的相位与频率．采用自动增益控制电路使得闭环驱动幅值非稳定性为0．01％,片上集成跨阻放大器可实现1aF／sqrt（Hz）电容变化测量...     

Mesoporous nitrogen-doped graphene aerogels with enhanced rate capability towards high performance supercapacitors

In this work, a novel preparation method and architecture of mesoporous nitrogen-doped graphene aerogels (GAs) using electrostatic attraction are reported. The sacrificial template, positively charged SiO₂ nanoparticles by using (3-Animopropyl) triethoxysilane (3-APTS), can significantly decrease the spacing between graphene oxide sheets, due to the strong electrostatic attraction between the graphene oxide and SiO₂. After the etching of templates, the ratio of mesopores is greatly increased, and the electrochemical performances of electrodes are enhanced. The mesoporous GAs yield an enhanced specific capacitance of 203 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g, and a capacitance fade of only 8.95% at a high current density of 20 A/g, indicating improved ion transport in mesoporous architecture. The controllable synthesized method can be further applied to prepare other mesoporous materials and such mesoporous nitrogen-doped GAs have great potential in high rate performance supercapacitors.     

新型的低电压高精度电流镜设计

电流镜是模拟电路当中的基本单元,其性能对整体电路的性能起着关键作用.基本电流镜不能理想复制参考源的电流,其输出电流随外界输入电压的变化而变化,且基本电流镜对输入电压存在着最小值的要求.传统的cascode电流镜虽然能够较精确的复制参考源电流,但是仍然存在着对输入电压最小值的要求,该值大约为2V<,on>.为了对基本电流镜的两个缺陷进行改进,提出了一种新型的低电压高精度电流镜结构,该电流镜能够理想的复制参考源电流,其输出电流对外界输入电压不敏感.通过仿真得出,opl和op2的低频增益为83dB,带宽为7.9MHz,最小输入电压大约可以减小到大约25mV,其输出电流对电压的斜率slope=0.