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Now showing 1 - 10 of 27
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    Structure-property relationships in nanoporous metallic glasses
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2016) Şopu, D.; Soyarslan, C.; Sarac, B.; Bargmann, S.; Stoica, M.; Eckert, J.
    We investigate the influence of various critical structural aspects such as pore density, distribution, size and number on the deformation behavior of nanoporous Cu64 Zr36 glass. By using molecular dynamics and finite element simulations an effective strategy to control the strain localization in nanoporous heterostructures is provided. Depending on the pore distribution in the heterostructure, upon tensile loading the nanoporous glass showed a clear transition from a catastrophic fracture to localized deformation in one dominant shear band, and ultimately to homogeneous plastic flow mediated by a pattern of multiple shear bands. The change in the fracture mechanism from a shear band slip to necking-like homogeneous flow is quantitative interpreted by calculating the critical shear band length. Finally, we identify the most effective heterostructure with enhanced ductility as compared to the monolithic bulk metallic glass. The heterostructure with a fraction of pores of about 3% distributed in such a way that the pores do not align along the maximum shear stress direction shows higher plasticity while retaining almost the same strength as the monolithic glass. Our results provide clear evidence that the mechanical properties of nanoporous glassy materials can be tailored by carefully controlling the design parameters.
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    Structure evolution of soft magnetic (Fe36Co36B19.2Si4.8Nb4)100-xCux (x = 0 and 0.5) bulk glassy alloys
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2015) Stoica, Mihai; Ramasamy, Parthiban; Kaban, Ivan; Scudino, Sergio; Nicoara, Mircea; Vaughan, Gavin B.M.; Wright, Jonathan; Kumar, Ravi; Eckert, Jürgen
    Fully amorphous rods with diameters up to 2 mm diameter were obtained upon 0.5 at.% Cu addition to the Fe36Co36B19.2Si4.8Nb4 bulk metallic glass. The Cu-added glass shows a very good thermal stability but, in comparison with the Cu-free base alloy, the entire crystallization behavior is drastically changed. Upon heating, the glassy (Fe36Co36B19.2Si4.8Nb4)99.5Cu0.5 samples show two glass transitions-like events, separated by an interval of more than 100 K, in between which a bcc-(Fe,Co) solid solution is formed. The soft magnetic properties are preserved upon Cu-addition and the samples show a saturation magnetization of 1.1 T combined with less than 2 A/m coercivity. The relaxation behavior prior to crystallization, as well as the crystallization behavior, were studied by time-resolved X-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation. It was found that both glassy alloys behave similar at temperatures below the glass transition. Irreversible structural transformations take place when approaching the glass transition and in the supercooled liquid region.
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    Hybrid Optical Fibers – An Innovative Platform for In‐Fiber Photonic Devices
    (Weinheim : Wiley-VCH, 2015) Alexander Schmidt, Markus; Argyros, Alexander; Sorin, Fabien
    The field of hybrid optical fibers is one of the most active research areas in current fiber optics and has the vision of integrating sophisticated materials inside fibers, which are not traditionally used in fiber optics. Novel in-fiber devices with unique properties have been developed, opening up new directions for fiber optics in fields of critical interest in modern research, such as biophotonics, environmental science, optoelectronics, metamaterials, remote sensing, medicine, or quantum optics. Here the recent progress in the field of hybrid optical fibers is reviewed from an application perspective, focusing on fiber-integrated devices enabled by including novel materials inside polymer and glass fibers. The topics discussed range from nanowire-based plasmonics and hyperlenses, to integrated semiconductor devices such as optoelectronic detectors, and intense light generation unlocked by highly nonlinear hybrid waveguides.
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    Cryogenic-temperature-induced structural transformation of a metallic glass
    (London [u.a.] : Taylor & Francis, 2016-11-30) Bian, Xilei; Wang, Gang; Wang, Qing; Sun, Baoan; Hussain, Ishtiaq; Zhai, Qijie; Mattern, Norbert; Bednarčík, Jozef; Eckert, Jürgen
    The plasticity of metallic glasses depends largely on the atomic-scale structure. However, the details of the atomic-scale structure, which are responsible for their properties, remain to be clarified. In this study, in-situ high-energy synchrotron X-ray diffraction and strain-rate jump compression tests at different cryogenic temperatures were carried out. We show that the activation volume of flow units linearly depends on temperature in the non-serrated flow regime. A plausible atomic deformation mechanism is proposed, considering that the activated flow units mediating the plastic flow originate from the medium-range order and transit to the short-range order with decreasing temperature.
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    Effects of (complementary) polyelectrolytes characteristics on composite calcium carbonate microparticles properties
    (Bucureşti : [Verlag nicht ermittelbar], 2017) Mic, Cristian Barbu; Mihai, Marcela; Varganici, Cristian Dragos; Schwarz, Simona; Scutaru, Dan; Simionescu, Bogdan C.
    This study follows the possibility to tune the thermal stability of some CaCO3/polymer composites by crystal growth from supersaturated solutions controlled by polymer structure or by using nonstoichiometric polyelectrolyte complexes (NPECs). As the ratio between the organic and inorganic parts in the composites controls the Ca2+/polymer network crosslinking density, the CaCO3/polymer weight ratio was kept constant at 50/1, varying the initial concentration of the polyanions solutions (0.05 or 0.06 wt.%), the NPECs molar ratio , n+/n- (0.2 or 0.4), or the inorganic precursors concentration (0.25 or 0.3 M). Poly(2-acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid-co-acrylic acid) (PSA) and chondroitin-4-sulfate (CSA) were used as polyanions. Some NPEC dispersions, prepared with the same polyanions and poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH), were also used for calcium carbonate crystallization. The characteristics of the prepared composites were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), flow particle image analysis (FPIA), particles charge density (CD), zeta-potential (ZP). The thermal stability of the composite particles was investigated as compared to bare CaCO3 microparticles prepared at the same initial inorganic concentrations.
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    Benzoyl side-chains push the open-circuit voltage of PCDTBT/PCBM solar cells beyond 1 V
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2017) Lombeck, Florian; Müllers, Stefan; Komber, Hartmut; Menke, S. Matthew; Pearson, Andrew J.; Conaghan, Patrick J.; McNeill, Christopher R.; Friend, Richard H.; Sommer, Michael
    The synthesis, characterization and solar cell performance of PCDTBT and its highly soluble analogue hexyl-PCDTBT with cross-conjugated benzoyl moieties at the carbazole comonomer are presented. Through the use of both model reactions and time-controlled microwave-assisted Suzuki polycondensation, the base-induced cleavage of the benzoyl group from the polymer backbone has been successfully suppressed. Compared to the commonly used symmetrically branched alkyl motif, the benzoyl substituent lowers the energy levels of PCDTBT as well as the band gap, and consequently increases energy of the charge transfer state in blends with PC71BM. As a result, photovoltaic diodes with high-open circuit voltage of above 1 V are realized.
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    Plasticity, crack initiation and defect resistance in alkali-borosilicate glasses: From normal to anomalous behavior
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 2015) Limbach, R.; Winterstein-Beckmann, A.; Dellith, J.; Möncke, D.; Wondraczek, L.
    We provide a comprehensive description of the defect tolerance of sodium-borosilicate glasses upon sharp contact loading. This is motivated by the key role which is taken by this particular glass system in a wide variety of applications, ranging from electronic substrates, display covers and substrates for biomedical imaging and sensing to, e.g., radioactive waste vitrification. The present report covers the mechanical properties of glasses in the Na2O–B2O3–SiO2 ternary over the broad range of compositions from pure SiO2 to binary sodium-borates, and crossing the regions of various commercially relevant specialty borosilicate glasses, such as the multi-component Duran-, Pyrex- and BK7-type compositions and typical soda-lime silicate glasses, which are also included in this study. In terms of structure, the considered glasses may be separated into two groups, that is, one series which contains only bridging oxygen atoms, and another series which is designed with an increasing number of non-bridging oxygen ions. Elastic moduli, Poisson ratio, hardness as well as creep and crack resistance were evaluated, as well as the contribution of densification to the overall amount of indentation deformation. Correlations between the mechanical properties and structural characteristics of near- and mid-range order are discussed, from which we obtain a mechanistic view at the molecular reactions which govern the overall deformation reaction and, ultimately, contact cracking.
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    Wetting behaviour and reactivity between liquid Gd and ZrO2 substrate
    (Bor : Techn. Faculty, Univ. of Belgrade, 2017) Turalska, P.; Homa, M.; Bruzda, G.; Sobczak, N.; Kaban, I.; Mattern, N.; Eckert, J.
    The wetting behavior and reactivity between molten pure Gd and polycrystalline 3YSZ substrate (ZrO2 stabilized with 3 wt% of Y2O3)were experimentally determined by a sessile drop method using a classical contact heating coupled with drop pushing procedure. The test was performed under an inert flowing gas atmosphere (Ar) at two temperatures of 1362°C and 1412°C. Immediately after melting (Tm=1341°C), liquid Gd did not wet the substrate forming a contact angle of θ=141°. The non-wetting to wetting transition (θ < 90°) took place after about 110 seconds of interaction and was accompanied by a sudden decrease in the contact angle value to 67°. Further heating of the couple to 1412 °C did not affect wetting (θ=67°±1°). The solidified Gd/3YSZ couple was studied by means of optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy coupled with X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy. Structural investigations revealed that the wettability in the Gd/3YSZ system is of a reactive nature associated with the formation of a continuous layer of a wettable reaction product Gd2Zr2O7.
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    Anisotropic Finite Element Mesh Adaptation via Higher Dimensional Embedding
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier, 2015) Dassi, Franco; Si, Hang; Perotto, Simona; Streckenbach, Timo
    In this paper we provide a novel anisotropic mesh adaptation technique for adaptive finite element analysis. It is based on the concept of higher dimensional embedding, which was exploited in [1], [2], [3], [4] to obtain an anisotropic curvature adapted mesh that fits a complex surface in R3. In the context of adaptive finite element simulation, the solution (which is an unknown function f : Ω ⊂ d → ) is sought by iteratively modifying a finite element mesh according to a mesh sizing field described via a (discrete) metric tensor field that is typically obtained through an error estimator. We proposed to use a higher dimensional embedding, Φf (x):= (x1, …, xd, s f (x1, …, xd), s ▿ f (x1, …, xd))t, instead of the mesh sizing field for the mesh adaption. This embedding contains both informations of the function f itself and its gradient. An isotropic mesh in this embedded space will correspond to an anisotropic mesh in the actual space, where the mesh elements are stretched and aligned according to the features of the function f. To better capture the anisotropy and gradation of the mesh, it is necessary to balance the contribution of the components in this embedding. We have properly adjusted Φf (x) for adaptive finite element analysis. To better understand and validate the proposed mesh adaptation strategy, we first provide a series of experimental tests for piecewise linear interpolation of known functions. We then applied this approach in an adaptive finite element solution of partial differential equations. Both tests are performed on two-dimensional domains in which adaptive triangular meshes are generated. We compared these results with the ones obtained by the software BAMG – a metric-based adaptive mesh generator. The errors measured in the L2 norm are comparable. Moreover, our meshes captured the anisotropy more accurately than the meshes of BAMG.
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    Tetrahedral Mesh Improvement Using Moving Mesh Smoothing and Lazy Searching Flips
    (Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier, 2016) Dassi, Franco; Kamenski, Lennard; Si, Hang
    We combine the new moving mesh smoothing, based on the integration of an ordinary differential equation coming from a given functional, with the new lazy flip technique, a reversible edge removal algorithm for local mesh quality improvement. These strategies already provide good mesh improvement on themselves, but their combination achieves astonishing results not reported so far. Provided numerical comparison with some publicly available mesh improving software show that we can obtain final tetrahedral meshes with dihedral angles between 40° and 123°.