Application of Flexible Waveguides for Vibroacoustic Monitoring of Technological Processes in Vacuum Chambers

Measurement Techniques - The complexities of implementing production processes in vacuum chambers are analyzed: powerful electromagnetic interference, the small overall dimensions of the chamber,...     

Solvent-Less Vapor-Phase Fabrication of Membranes for Sustainable Separation Processes

Sustainable processes for purifying water, capturing carbon, producing biofuels, operating fuel cells, and performing energy-efficient industrial separations will require next-generation membranes. Solvent-less fabrication for membranes not only eliminates potential environmental issues with organic solvents, but also solves the swelling problems that occur with delicate polymer substrates. Furthermore, the activation procedures often required for synthesizing microporous materials such as metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) can be reduced when solvent-less vapor-phase approaches are employed. This perspective covers several vacuum deposition processes, including initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD), initiated plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (iPECVD), solvent-less vapor deposition followed by in situ polymerization (SLIP), atomic layer deposition (ALD), and molecular layer deposition (MLD). These solvent-less vapor-phase methods are powerful in creating ultrathin selective layers for thin-film composite membranes and advantageous in conformally coating nanoscale pores for the precise modification of pore size and internal functionalities. The resulting membranes have shown promising performance for gas separation, nanofiltration, desalination, and water/oil separation. Further development of novel membrane materials and the scaling up of high-throughput reactors for solvent-less vapor-phase processes are necessary in order to make a real impact on the chemical industry in the future.     

螺栓连接对燃机燃烧室结构模态的影响研究

针对螺栓联结带来的预紧力和摩擦系数对装配体模态影响较大而在设备装配中因处理困难常被忽略的问题,利用有限元分析方法、试验结合对比方法进行研究。以某型燃气轮机燃烧室作为研究对象,对重型燃机燃烧室实际模型进行建模,建立带有实体螺栓联结的有限元模型,考虑表面接触刚度、螺栓预紧力和摩擦系数等因素,重点分析预紧力和摩擦系数对结构模态的影响规律;并以该燃气轮机1:4缩比模型加工实体模型,利用锤击法对其进行模态试验,得出其固有频率并与仿真结果对比,验证仿真方法的有效性。     

粉末法制备工艺对SiCp／Al复合材料性能影响的初步研究

进行了封闭非真空热压制备SiCp/2024Al复合材料和采用预氧化的普通工业纯铝粉替代微晶纯铝粉制备SiCp/Al复合材料的研究。对上述复合材料进行了性能测试并与常规方法制备的复合材料进行了对比。     

难加工金属材料短流程高效制备加工技术研究进展

提出了难加工金属材料可以分为2大类的观点:一类是源于材料本征性能的难加工材料,具有高脆性,或高熔点、高变形抗力的特点;另一类是源于制备加工工艺复杂、成材率低的难加工材料。以作者课题组近年来的工作为基础,重点介绍了高硅电工钢、精密铜管、热交换用BFe10-1-1合金管材、高弹高导Cu-12%(质量分数)Al合金的短流程高效制备加工技术的研究开发进展情况。认为通过熔体和凝固过程的精确控制,可精确控制凝固组织和形状尺寸,是开发先进短流程制备加工技术的重要途径。     

Solution Combustion Synthesis of TiO2 and Its Use for Fabrication of Photoelectrode for Dye-sensitized Solar Cell

Three different types of TiO2 nano powders were synthesized by a solution combustion synthesis (SCS) method using three different fuels and for comparison, another type of TiO2 nano powder was synthesized by calcination of titanyl hydroxide. These TiO2 nano powders were used to fabricate photoelectrodes for the dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and their performance was compared to that of the DSSC fabricated with Degussa P25 TiO2. The results showed that the SCS TiO2 could work well as photoelectrode for DSSC. The SCS TiO2 contained impurities of C and/or S, thus exhibiting visible light absorption and reduced band gap. The open circuit voltage and the fill factor both varied little among the various TiO2 and thus both had little effect on the photoelectrical conversion efficiency (η). However, the variation of η was seen to be in quite a good agreement with that of the short circuit current (Isc), suggesting that η was dominated by Isc. Isc was found to be enhanced by light scattering effect due to the presence of large particles but reduced by high impurity content due to an increase in electron transfer resistance. In addition, the specific surface area of the powders was found to be an important factor affecting the Isc and thus the η.     

Anomaly in Fabrication Processes for Large-Scale Array Detectors of Superconducting Tunnel Junctions

The STJ array detectors with an effective detection area of 4 mm², which consist of 100 Nb/Al-AlOx/Al/Nb junctions with a size of 200×200 μm, have been fabricated. In order to improve the reproducibility of the STJ array fabrication, we investigated a correlation between the junction surface structures and the leakage currents. It has been found that the junctions near the fringe of the array detectors have a step of about 5 nm at the middle of the array detector, of which leakage currents are considerably larger than 1 μA. The step structure was formed after the etching of the bottom Nb layer for complete separation of Nb/Al/AlOx/Al/Nb/Si. In case of the sputtered Nb/Al/Nb/Si multilayers without 1 nm-thick tunneling barrier, no stepped surface was observed even after the bottom Nb layer etching. Therefore, it is apparent that the 5 nm step structure is a cause of the large leakage currents. We solved the step-fringe problem by a kind of extra patterning along the fringe of the array or lift-off patterning of the Nb/Al multilayers. It is concluded that the number of the junctions with the step structure depends on a slight difference in film deposition or etching conditions.      

氧化铱/聚多巴胺/层粘连蛋白仿生涂层的制备

神经电极的生物相容性是制约植入式神经假体长期使用功效的核心要素,对电极表面进行修饰改性可有效提高电极活性。本研究利用射频磁控溅射和循环伏安法在钛基体表面形成氧化铱薄膜,通过多巴胺氧化自聚合修饰氧化铱薄膜,进一步在涂层表面接枝层粘连蛋白实现二次功能化,完成仿生涂层的构建。对涂层的理化性质研究表明,其机械稳定性较好,表面亲水性以及电化学性能得到显著提高,并且无细胞毒性,促细胞粘附能力较好。     

Nanostructure and Microstructure Fabrication: From Desired Properties to Suitable Processes

When designing a new nanostructure or microstructure, one can follow a processing‐based manufacturing pathway, in which the structure properties are defined based on the processing capabilities of the fabrication method at hand. Alternatively, a performance‐based pathway can be followed, where the envisioned performance is first defined, and then suitable fabrication methods are sought. To support the latter pathway, fabrication methods are here reviewed based on the geometric and material complexity, resolution, total size, geometric and material diversity, and throughput they can achieve, independently from processing capabilities. Ten groups of fabrication methods are identified and compared in terms of these seven moderators. The highest resolution is obtained with electron beam lithography, with feature sizes below 5 nm. The highest geometric complexity is attained with vat photopolymerization. For high throughput, parallel methods, such as photolithography (≈10¹ m² h^?1), are needed. This review offers a decision‐making tool for identifying which method to use for fabricating a structure with predefined properties.     

Iridium oxide as low temperature NO/sub 2/-sensitive material for work function-based gas sensors

This paper presents the results on work function-based NO/sub 2/-sensing properties of iridium-oxide thin films at 130/spl deg/C. Films of 20-nm and 100-nm thickness were deposited on silicon substrates using dc sputtering followed by annealing in oxygen ambient. Sensitivity of these films to different concentrations of NO/sub 2/, H/sub 2/, CO, Cl/sub 2/, and NH/sub 3/ in synthetic air was measured using a Kelvin probe. It was observed that work function of 20-nm-thick iridium-oxide film changed by /spl sim/100 mV on exposure to 5-ppm NO/sub 2/ (German safety limit). Cross sensitivity to other gases (except NH/sub 3/) and interference of humidity was found to be negligibly small. The film was incorporated as a gate electrode in a hybrid suspended gate field effect transistor (HSGFET) structure to examine its suitability in FET-type sensors. The films were characterized using Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and scanning electron microscopy to determine their composition, phase, and surface morphology. The results suggest that iridium-oxide film is a promising material for the realization of a FET-based NO/sub 2/ sensor.     

Powder‐Based Ceramic Meso‐ and Microscale Fabrication Processes

Processing techniques are reviewed that allow the introduction of ceramic components made from powders into microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Ceramics have several advantages over other materials also in microsystems, e.g., heat resistance, hardness, corrosion resistivity, or functional properties. The range of available materials in microfabrication technology is being increased beyond those deposited by thin‐film technology. Top–down approaches like mechanical and laser‐based direct writing processes, ink‐jet printing, microextrusion, and lithography‐based methods are presented. They are complemented by some more fundamental work in the field of bottom–up synthesis of micro‐ and nanoscaled ceramic materials.     

Reel-to-Reel PLD Fabrication of YBCO Coated Conductor by Single and Multi-coating Processes

YBa₂Cu₃O_7?δ (YBCO) coated conductors have been fabricated on CeO₂/YSZ/Y₂O₃ buffered Ni-5at%W tapes by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) using the reel-to-reel process. A multi-coating process for YBCO film was employed, and single and multi-coating methods for YBCO films are compared. X-ray diffraction texture measurements showed good in-plane and out-of-plane crystalline orientations for the YBCO films. Magnetic measurements were carried out on the samples, and the critical current density as a function of the magnetic field was investigated. The results showed that the superconducting properties of YBCO films fabricated by the multi-coating process were better than those prepared by the single coating process.     

Methods for Locating Stray-Signal Sources in Anechoic Chambers

Two complementary numerically efficient frequency-domain methods for locating stray-signal sources in anechoic chambers are investigated and applied in combination to actual measurement data. Both methods use single-frequency near-field data collected on a planar surface and process them to reconstruct field values (images) elsewhere. The first method, which is based on the fact that the probe output satisfies the Helmholtz equation, uses plane waves to backpropagate the scan-plane data and is well suited for fast-Fourier-transform (FFT)-based rapid reconstruction of images on planar surfaces parallel to the scan plane. The second method uses the simple spherical-wave focusing technique and is flexible, in that, it can be used to generate images on either planar or nonplanar surfaces from the data collected on either planar or nonplanar surfaces. When data and image points are both located on a regular grid, the method can be implemented using the FFT-based fast convolution technique. Both methods include a spatial filter for isolating selected plane-wave spectrum components. The two methods are used in combination to successfully locate the strong multiple-bounce stray signals that degrade the quiet zone of a near-field bistatic radar cross-section facility. Subsequent scan data confirm that the suppression of these stray signals indeed substantially improves the quality of the quiet zone. The spherical-focusing method is also used to evaluate the effectiveness of the various absorber configurations applied to selected edges of the reflector to control edge-diffracted fields. It is shown that the reduction of the edge-diffracted fields further improves the quiet zone.     

Iridium distributions in silicate glass for sedimentology studies

Abstracts are not published in this journal This revised version was published online in November 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Characterization of Iridium Thin Films for TES Microcalorimeters

We are developing transition edge sensors (TES) using single layer iridium (Ir) as the detector and deposited tin (Sn) as the absorber. We obtained good Ir devices with reproducible and uniform transition temperature around 120 mK, transition widths of 1–2 mK, residual resistivity ratio (RRR) between 1.8–3 and high sensitivity α. Our Ir films are obtained using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering and photolithography. In this paper we present a full low temperature characterization of the Ir films.      

Fabrication of titania/hydroxyapatite composite granules for photo-catalyst

The titania/hydroxyapatite composite granular photo-catalyst with novel microstructure was fabricated by the process based on the liquid immiscibility effect and followed by precalcination and hydrothermal treatment from commercially available powders of α-Tri-calcium phosphate and TiO₂. XRD, SEM, BET, optical microscopy and UV-vis spectrophotometer were applied to characterize the prepared photo-catalyst. Microstructure analysis indicated that the granule was weaved by rod-shaped hydroxyapatite crystals whose surface was covered by nano-sized TiO₂. In the composite granules, the active surface of anatase was retained effectively. With the hybridization of TiO₂ and HAp, a 16-nm blue-shift of absorption edge could be observed and the crystallinity of anatase could be enhanced by precalcination. The granules with the rod-shaped hydroxyapatite crystals performing as scaffold work as three-dimensional high porous, size-controllable small reactor. The phase and microstructure transformation of the granule before and after hydrothermal treatment was investigated and its decomposition ability was evaluated by using Methylene blue as a target pollutant compound.     

Synthesis of La-Doped CaTiO3 Perovskite Powders from the Mixture of Metal Salt Solutions by Ultrasonic Mist Combustion/Pyrolysis Processes

The CaTiO₃ and La-doped CaTiO₃ [Ca_1–x (La) _x TiO₃, x = 0.05–0.3] powders were prepared from aqueous solutions by the ultrasonic mist pyrolysis and ultrasonic mist combustion processes. Glycine provides carboxylic acid and amine groups as a fuel in the ultrasonic mist combustion process. In ultrasonic mist pyrolysis, the particles with hollow sphere morphology were obtained; whereas, particles prepared by the ultrasonic mist combustion process had a dense solid morphology with low porosity. The ultrasonic mist combustion process using metal nitrates and glycine as the fuel for a starting material has proved to be a simple and unique approach to preparing dense CaTiO₃ powder and a solid solution of CaTiO₃ with lanthanum.