Anchorage resistance of CFRP strips externally bonded to various cementitious substrates

This paper presents a study on the anchorage capacity of Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) strips bonded to a cementitious substrate used for concrete surface reprofiling. The structural strengthening of a large-scale prestressed concrete girder in the framework of a bridge retrofitting project by means of prestressed CFRP strips required the levelling of an initial negative camber of about 2–4 cm. Both midspan and girder end situations were investigated with lap-shear and prestress force-releasing tests. Four different solutions regarding the levelling material, i.e. three mortars applied by hand as well as dry shotcrete, were tested. The results in terms of strain, slip and total anchorage resistance are presented and compared. In the end, dry shotcrete is recommended for the girder application. In addition to a very convincing bond behavior, the application is, despite the necessity of involving a specialized company from the field, clearly less time-consuming and easier. The retained solution represents an interesting approach for future applications in bridge retrofitting when an even surface is necessary for bonding CFRP strips.     

Biodegradable Thin Metal Foils and Spin‐On Glass Materials for Transient Electronics

Biodegradable substrates and encapsulating materials play critical roles in the development of an emerging class of semiconductor technology, generally referred as “transient electronics”, whose key characteristic is an ability to dissolve completely, in a controlled manner, upon immersion in ground water or biofluids. The results presented here introduce the use of thin foils of Mo, Fe, W, or Zn as biodegradable substrates and silicate spin‐on‐glass (SOG) materials as insulating and encapsulating layers, with demonstrations of transient active (diode and transistor) and passive (capacitor and inductor) electronic components. Complete measurements of electrical characteristics demonstrate that the device performance can reach levels comparable to those possible with conventional, nontransient materials. Dissolution kinetics of the foils and cytotoxicity tests of the SOG yield information relevant to use in transient electronics for temporary biomedical implants, resorbable environmental monitors, and reduced waste consumer electronics.     

不同过渡层对钢基金刚石薄膜的影响

采用超高真空热丝化学气相沉积(HFCVD)系统,以甲烷和氢气为反应气体,在高速钢W18Cr4V基体上利用3种不同的过渡层(WC、Cr、WC/Cr)制备金刚石薄膜。采用场发射扫描电子显微镜(FE–SEM)、X射线衍射仪(XRD)、显微激光拉曼光谱仪(Raman)以及洛氏硬度计对过渡层和金刚石薄膜进行检测分析,研究了不同过渡层对金刚石薄膜形貌质量和附着性能的影响。结果表明,3种过渡层均可以有效减少钢基中Fe对金刚石薄膜的负面影响,提高金刚石的形核率;其中,采用WC/Cr过渡层时膜基间残余应力最小,仅为0.25 Gpa,附着性能最好。     

W18Cr4V高速钢渗铬热处理对HFCVD金刚石膜生长的影响

采用热丝化学沉积法在高速钢基体上沉积金刚石薄膜.为了减少石墨的形成、增强膜基结合强度,沉积前先使用渗铬热处理在高速钢表面制备一层碳化铬中间层.采用场发射扫描电子显微镜、X射线衍射仪、激光拉曼光谱和洛氏硬度计对渗铬基体和金刚石膜进行检测分析,研究渗铬热处理对高速钢基体与金刚石膜的物相组织、结构形貌和附着性能的影响.结果表明:渗铬热处理能在钢基表面形成一层致密的富Cr层,此过渡层能有效提高金刚石的形核率,在渗铬钢基表面形成连续致密的高质量金刚石膜,但该金刚石膜的应力较大,1 471N载荷的压痕测试导致薄膜严重破坏,说明膜基结合强度有待进一步提高.     

Structural, electrical and bending properties of transparent conductive Ga-doped ZnO films on polymer substrates

We investigated the characteristics of highly transparent conductive Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) polycrystalline films of 100 nm thickness deposited on glass and polymer substrates. GZO films were deposited by ion plating with dc-arc discharge. We developed multiple-deposition method to obtain various deposition process temperatures lower than 100 °C. Cross-sectional SEM images show that all the GZO films have columnar structure. Analysis of data obtained by XRD measurements shows that all the GZO films with wurtzite structure exhibit highly (002) orientation perpendicular to the substrate. The resistivity of the GZO films deposited on polyester and glass substrates were 5.0 × 10^-4 Ω · cm. The mechanical bending properties of the GZO films were investigated by comparing the sheet resistance determined before and after a bending test with various bending diameters. For the bending diameter of more than 30 mm, all the GZO films exhibited excellent bending properties with no change in sheet resistance. For the bending diameter of less than 20 mm, we found the sheet resistance affected by the bending. We demonstrated that our multiple-deposition method to achieve different controllable polyester substrate temperatures is highly suitable for improving the bending properties of GZO films.     

Preparation of (n) a-Si: H/(p) c-Si heterojunction solar cells

Heterojunction solar cells have been manufactured by depositing n-type a-Si: H on p-type 1–2Ω cm CZ single crystalline silicon substrates. Although our cell structure is very simple - neither a BSF nor a surface texturing is used - a conversion efficiency of 13.1% has been achieved on an area of 1 cm². In this paper the technology is described and the dependence of the solar cell parameters on the properties of the n-type a-Si: H layer is discussed. It is shown that this cell type exhibits no degradation under light exposure.     

Effects of pre-strain applied at a polyethylene terephthalate substrate before the coating of TiO2 film on the coating film quality and optical performance

A mold was designed to create various strains in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates before the deposition of TiO₂ film to simulate deposition process on a cylindrical drum. The residual stress of the PET substrate with TiO₂ film significantly increased with increasing strain, decreasing the radius of curvature. Compared to the as-received PET substrate, there was a noticeable increase in the surface roughness in the PET/TiO₂ specimens when a large strain was applied. The formation of voids or cavities in the TiO₂ layer significantly increased the roughness of the specimen. The mean cavity size and depth increased with increasing strain. For strains ≦ 4%, the specimen's hardness and Young's modulus factored by the voids/cavities increased with increasing surface roughness. The optical absorption increased with increasing surface roughness before becoming asymptotic to a constant value. The strain applied to the PET substrate before TiO₂ deposition greatly affects the optical reflection, transmittance, and absorption.     

Fabrication of organic thin film transistors on Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) fabric substrates

In this paper organic thin film transistors (OTFTs) are directly fabricated on fabric substrates consisting of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) fibers. A key process is coating the polymer layers on the fabric in order to reduce the large surface roughness of the fabric substrate. Two polymers, i.e. polyurethane (PU) and photo-acryl (PA), are used to reduce the large surface roughness and simultaneously improve the process compatibility of the layers with the subsequent OTFTs processes while also retaining the original flexibility of the fabric. The surface roughness of the PU/PA-coated fabric is significantly reduced to 0.3 μm. Furthermore, the original flexibility of the PET fabric remained after coating of the PU/PA polymer layers. The mobility of the OTFTs fabricated on the PU-PA coated fabric substrate is 0.05 ± 0.02 cm²/V s when three PA layers and 90 nm thick pentacene layer were used. The performance does not vary even after 30,000 bending test.