Growth Of Thick Layers Research Articles

Real-Time Monitoring and Forecasting Ice Layer Thickness Growth Rate and Grip Loss on a Road Network During Winter Storm Events

Real-Time Monitoring and Forecasting Ice Layer Thickness Growth Rate and Grip Loss on a Road Network During Winter Storm Events

Fabrication of a bimodal micro/nanoporous copper cladding layer by the high-speed laser cladding and dealloying

The Cu30Mn70 cladding layer was prepared by high-speed laser cladding technology and successfully combined with chemical dealloying method to prepare a bimodal micro/nanoporous copper coating. The 0.1 M HCl solution was experimentally determined as the dealloying solution. During the dealloying, the Mn-rich regions were preferentially corroded and formed micron pores in situ; the remaining regions served as a framework to form nanoporous structures on both sides. With increasing time, the transformation of the nanoporous structure led to micron ligaments thinning or fracture, resulting in the structural collapse of the bimodal microporous/nanoporous copper coating surface. Repeated oxidation-dissolution processes on the surface accelerate the structural collapse of the surface and inhibit the demanganization layer thickness growth. The same structure was formed in the cross-sectional direction, with no structural collapse due to continuous H+ consumption and low corrosivity in the micropores. The bimodal microporous/nanoporous copper coatings remained highly porosity and rapidly increased in thickness to 340 μm from 24 to 72 h. After 72 h, the surface structure started to collapse and the growth of the demanganization layer thickness slowed down.

The effect of residual mechanical stresses and vacancy defects on the diffusion expansion of the damaged layer during irradiation of BeO ceramics

The paper presents the results of a study on the application of Raman and UV spectroscopy methods to determine the structural damage kinetics in the near-surface layer of BeO ceramics caused by high-dose irradiation with He2+ ions. Interest in this type of ceramics is due to the combination of its structural and thermophysical parameters, making these ceramics one of the promising classes of materials for microelectronics and structural materials for nuclear reactors, with the possibility of operation in conditions of heightened radiation background. According to the conducted studies, it was established that with the irradiation fluence growth, changes in the nature of deformation structural distortions associated with the accumulation of residual mechanical stresses of tensile and compressive types are observed. At irradiation fluences of 1016-5×1016 Не2+/cm2, tensile stresses play a dominant role in structural distortions, while the value of compressive stresses at fluence growth makes up a small share in the overall nature of the deformations. Moreover, an elevation in the irradiation fluence above 5×1016 He2+/cm2 leads to a rise in the concentration of defects caused by the formation of oxygen vacancies, as well as He-VO type complexes, the presence of which is indicated by the halo intensity growth in the Raman spectra, as well as a change in the intensity of the absorption bands. Analysis of changes in thermophysical parameters revealed that a rise in structural distortions associated with the accumulation of complex defects results in thermal conductivity reduction and a deterioration in heat transfer processes associated with partial amorphization of the damaged layer. Moreover, the established direct relationship between the value of residual mechanical stresses and the degradation of thermal conductivity indicates the cumulative effect of destructive changes caused by irradiation, as well as the influence of diffusion mechanisms on the damaged layer thickness growth.

A refined empirical model of steady-state downburst based on high-resolution wind speed data obtained from wind tunnel tests

A slice of research pertinent to the analytical or empirical models of downburst winds was available, but the current validation was usually based on sampled wind velocities at several typical positions in the experimental measurements rather than the whole-flow domain information. Therefore, the capability of existing analytical or empirical models to reproduce the whole development of downbursts at different stages remains questionable. This paper aims to refine the empirical model of downbursts based on high-resolution wind speed data obtained from wind tunnel tests, which renders the well-established empirical model to simulate the maximum wind speed of the vortex ring and to obtain the more accurate wind profiles in the outflow regime. To overcome the bottleneck problem that lay in the lack of experimental results for whole-flow domain information, a comprehensive experimental study based on the impinging jet simulator was conducted and the spatial variations of downburst winds were systematically measured. Then, the empirical model considering the nonlinear growth of boundary layer thickness is refined according to the experimental results, so that two new empirical functions, which could rationally represent the spatial variation of horizontal wind velocities in the whole-flow domain, have been proposed. The refined empirical model can be used to facilitate the safety analysis of structures and buildings under downburst winds with a higher confidence level.

Nanometer Control of Ruddlesden-Popper Interlayers by Thermal Evaporation for Efficient Perovskite Photovoltaics.

Solution-processed Ruddlesden-Popper (RP) interlayers in lead halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) present processing challenges due to fast film formation and uncontrolled growth of phases and layer thickness at interfaces. In this work, an alternative, solvent-free, thermal co-evaporation process is developed to deposit RP interlayers. The method provides precise control on interlayer thickness and enables understanding its role on charge-carrier extraction. Studying RP film growth reveals the development of heterointerfaces when deposited on three-dimensional (3D) perovskite layers. This allows a large thickness window with an optimum between 20 nm and 40 nm to improve the optoelectronic properties of the underlying 3D perovskite. Solar cells using evaporated interlayers achieve power conversion efficiency of 21.6%, compared to 19.6% for untreated devices, driven by improvements in the open-circuit voltage and fill factor. This work sheds light on the importance of phase and thickness control of passivation layers, which ultimately determine the solar cell performance in state-of-the-art PSCs.

Effect of Growth Temperature on Strain during Growth and Crack Suppression in AlGaN Templates on Sapphire Substrates for Deep Ultraviolet Light‐Emitting Diodes

The crack formations in AlGaN templates for deep ultraviolet (DUV) light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) are investigated and successfully suppressed. The strain values in AlGaN thick layers on sapphire substrates by in situ wafer curvature measurements and ex situ X‐ray diffraction measurements are evaluated. It is found that the tensile strain during the AlGaN thick layer growth comes from a thermal expansion difference between the AlGaN thick layer and the sapphire substrate as the temperature changes from the AlN nucleation layer growth to the AlGaN thick layer growth. When the temperature change is 100 °C and less, the tensile strain of 0.1% and less is observed during the AlGaN thick layer growth, resulting in no crack formations in the AlGaN thick layer. Furthermore, a DUV LED layer structure grown on such a crack‐free AlGaN template shows no crack formations. Thus, to suppress crack formation in templates fabricated for DUV LEDs, their growth temperature must be optimized by considering thermal expansions caused by the changes in the growth temperature from the nucleation layer to the thick layer.

Experimental study on the effect of inverted aperture plate temperature on frosting characteristics under rising flow considering edge effect

To reduce the negative impact of frost formation on cold surfaces in low-temperature environments, metal wire mesh can be set in the air flow direction from the cold surface to reduce air humidity. To quantitatively determine the effectiveness of dehumidification after passing through a metal wire, the frosting process needs to be studied. To analyze the mechanism of frost formation under the horizontal wire mesh surface, the wire mesh was simplified as a flat plate with holes, or aperture plate, with plate temperature varying at a range of -15.0 °C to -5.0 °C. The results show that, as the plate temperature decreases, the droplet condensation and growth and droplet solidification stages gradually decrease, the average frost layer thickness and frost layer growth rate rise, and overall frost layer surface roughness increases. For a frosting duration of 1,800 s, compared to -5.0 °C, the average frost layer thickness from -7.5 °C to -15.0 °C inside the hole increased by 56.68 % and 156.41 %, while the plate edge region away from the hole increased by 40.76 % and 169.92 %, respectively. The reverse melting frequency gap between the inside hole region and the plate edge region away from the hole increases with the decreasing aperture plate temperature. At -15.0 °C, the reverse melting frequency inside the hole is 5.00 × 10−3 Hz lower than in the region of the plate edge away from the hole. The results of this article are beneficial for understanding the frosting process of wire mesh or perforated-fin heat exchanger.

Developing characteristics of subsonic-supersonic shear layers induced by different lobed mixers in the RBCC

The rapid mixing of air and rocket gas is pivotal for enhancing combustion performance in the ejector mode of rocket-based combined-cycle engines. This study experimentally investigated developing characteristics of subsonic-supersonic shear layers induced by sinusoidal- and rectangular-lobed mixers using a subsonic-supersonic shear layer experimental system and an ice-cluster-based planar laser scattering technique. Both sinusoidal- and rectangular-lobed mixers evidently bolstered mixing through the promotion of transverse flow and vortex interactions. Under equivalent conditions, the sinusoidal-lobed mixer offered superior mixing effects. The mixing enhancement of a sinusoidal-lobed mixer exhibited a positive correlation with the wavelength, with excessively small wavelengths potentially impeding mixing. Based on the dimensionless wavelength ratio, a criterion was identified for evaluating the mixing enhancement of the sinusoidal-lobed mixer: a positive mixing enhancement occurred when the dimensionless wavelength ratio was at least 1. Notably, in this study, the shear layer thickness growth rate increased by 12 % when the dimensionless wavelength ratio was 1.905. These findings can offer valuable insights for improving combustion performance via enhanced mixing.

Study of The Gas-Swelling Mechanisms in Silicon Carbide Ceramics under High-Temperature Irradiation with Helium Ions.

The purpose of this work is to simulate the processes of gaseous swelling in SiC ceramics as well as the associated changes in strength and thermophysical properties under high-temperature irradiation with helium ions. The choices of irradiation conditions (irradiation temperatures of 700 and 1000 K) and irradiation fluences (1015-1018 ion/cm2) are based on the possibilities of modeling the processes of destructive changes in the near-surface layer as a result of the accumulation of gas-filled inclusions during high-dose irradiation. During this study, it was found that an increase in the irradiation temperature of the samples from 700 to 1000 K leads to a decrease in the resistance to gas swelling, since with the temperature increase, the mobility of implanted helium in the near-surface layer grows, which results in an increase in the size of gas-filled bubbles and, as a result, accelerated destruction of the damaged layer. It has been established that in the case of irradiation at 700 K, the critical fluence for swelling associated with the formation of visible gas-filled bubbles on the surface is 5 × 1017 ion/cm2, while for samples irradiated at a temperature of 1000 K, the formation of gas-filled bubbles is observed at a fluence of 1017 ion/cm2. Measurements of the thermal conductivity coefficient showed that the formation of gas-filled bubbles leads to a sharp deterioration in heat transfer processes, which indicates that the created defective inclusions prevent phonon heat transfer. Changes in the strength characteristics showed that a decrease in hardness occurs throughout the entire depth of the damaged ceramic layer. However, with a rise in the irradiation fluence above 1017 ion/cm2, a slight damaged layer thickness growth associated with diffusion processes of helium implantation into the near-surface layer is observed. The relevance of this study consists in obtaining new data on the stability of the strength and thermophysical parameters of SiC ceramics in the case of helium accumulation and its subsequent radiation-induced evolution in the case of irradiation at temperatures of 700 and 1000 K. The data obtained during the experimental work on changes in the properties of ceramics will make it possible to determine the potential limits of their applicability in the case of operation under extreme conditions at elevated temperatures in the future.

The Stability of the Layer Nitrided in Low-Pressure Nitriding Process

The kinetics of the nitrided layer thickness growth and its structure depend on the nitrogen flux from the atmosphere to the nitrided surface. A nitrogen flux to the surface is more significant than a diffusion flux into the substrate, during forming surface iron nitrides and the internal nitriding zone. For pure iron, nitrided under low pressure, cutting off the nitriding atmosphere creates a flux from the subsurface layer of nitrides to the surface. The purpose of this paper is to determine the direction of the nitrogen flux in a similar situation for steels containing nitride-forming elements, thus answering the question of the stability of the layer nitrided under such conditions. The surface of X37CrMoV5-1 steel was nitrided under low pressure (of 24 hPa) and annealed in a vacuum or nitrogen. The microstructure, thickness of the nitride layers nitrided layers, the thickness of the internal nitriding zone, surface hardness and stresses were examined. The highest values of the nitrided layer properties were observed for the samples saturated only with nitrogen obtained from ammonia dissociation or additionally heated in nitrogen. It has been shown that using a pure vacuum during the annealing stage leads to unfavourable changes in the structure of the nitrided layer formed and, in particular, to the decomposition of the iron nitride layer formed at the saturation stage and occurrence of the tensile stresses—what excludes practical application of such layer. Ultimately, it has been shown that in the low-pressure nitriding process, the stability of the nitride layer of the nitrided surface strongly depends on the annealing atmosphere during the annealing stage, while the stability of the internal nitriding zone remains mainly at the same level.

Control-oriented performance prediction of solid oxide electrolysis cell and durability improvement through retard oxygen electrode delamination with reverse operation

Oxygen electrode delamination is the key degradation mechanism of reversible solid oxide cells (rSOC) operating in the electrolysis mode. Previous experimental studies have shown that rSOC operating in fuel cell mode can mitigate this degradation and extend its lifetime. As a result, this paper proposes a multiscale degradation model that integrates microscale structures, mesoscale parameters, and macroscale performances to investigate the sensitivity of the alleviation of oxygen electrode delamination to reverse operating conditions. After that, the model is validated by available experimental data at the microscale and macroscale. Subsequently, the multiscale degradation behaviors regarding certain operating conditions are discussed. The analysis demonstrates that, on the one hand, the cell degradation is mainly attributed to lanthanum zirconate oxide (LZO) formation during long-term operation; on the other hand, the higher the temperature and current density, the faster the degradation. Consequently, a new parameter of LZO layer thickness related to oxygen electrode delamination is introduced to assess the sensitivities of durability improvement to reverse operating variables, namely starting switch moment, operating duration, and operating temperature. Meanwhile, voltage degradation rate and hydrogen production are also evaluated. The result indicates that a decrease in the starting switch moment and an increase in the operating duration can reduce the growth of LZO layer thickness and prolong the incubation time for oxygen electrode delamination. It can also decrease the degradation rate and hydrogen production. However, improving reverse operating temperature reduces the LZO layer thickness growth rate and degradation rate without affecting hydrogen production.

Role of Nanoparticles and Heat Source/Sink on MHD Flow of Cu-H2O Nanofluid Flow Past a Vertical Plate with Soret and Dufour Effects

The study is devoted to investigating the effect of an unsteady non-Newtonian Casson fluid over a vertical plate. A mathematical analysis is presented for a Casson fluid by taking into consideration Soret and Dufour effects, heat generation, heat radiation, and chemical reaction. The novelty of the problem is the physical interpretation of Casson fluid before and after adding copper water-based nanoparticles to the governing flow. It is found that velocity was decreased and the temperature profile was enhanced. A similarity transformation is used to convert the linked partial differential equations that control flow into non-linear coupled ordinary differential equations. The momentum, energy, and concentration formulations are cracked by means of the finite element method. The thermal and solute layer thickness growth is due to the nanoparticles’ thermo-diffusion. The effects of relevant parameters such as the Casson fluid parameter, radiation, Soret and Dufour effects, chemical reaction, and Prandtl number are discussed. A correlation of the average Nusselt number and Sherwood number corresponding to active parameters is presented. It can be noticed that increasing the Dufour number leads to an uplift in heat transfer. Fluid velocity increases with Grashof number and decreases with magnetic effect. The impact of heat sources and radiation is to increase the thermal conductivity. Concentration decreases with the Schmidt number.

Application of Parametric Modeling in Atomic Layer Deposition

Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) is sequential and conformal process that provides precise thickness control due to its self-limiting nature even in high aspect ratio structures. The exponential growth in the use of ALD is due the availability of hundreds of precursor chemistries for diverse technological applications beyond just semiconductors and microelectronics. However, one of recurring challenges is the problem of results disparity, and errors that underline the causes of disparity, primarily may be due to lack of consistency in process optimization and reproducibility. In this research, a Design of Experiment (DoE) approach is adopted for parametric optimization for synthesis of Al2O3 thin films using ALD. The objective of this work is to adopt DoE for reproducible ALD synthesis processes within statistical reliability.Briefly, the precursors used for Al2O3 ALD (Ultratech Veeco Thermal ALD) were Trimethylaluminum (TMA) and H2O with Ozone. The effect of four parameters, namely pulse duration of TMA and water, number of cycles, and temperature were evaluated for the response parameter of Al2O3 thickness on Si with 300 nm of SiO2. E-Chip DoE software was chosen for data modeling. E-Chip considers multivariate analysis to provide the parametric relationship for Analysis of Variances (ANOVA) and predictive surface response analysis, thus eliminating the need for extensive process optimization experiments that are required for full factorial design. Initially, screening experiments were conducted to determine the levels of input parameters. The pulse duration for TMA and H2O were 0.01-0.02 sec, the number of cycles were varied between 50 and 100, the temperature range was 100-200 0C. For each sample, five thickness and roughness readings were measured on an ex-situ ellipsometer and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). The stoichiometry of Al2O3 thin films were evaluated using XPS.The data analysis reveals that the influential parameters are number of cycles, pulse duration, and temperature in the order of their significance. The direct relationship between number of cycles and Al2O3 thickness infers that flux available is effectively used for layer growth. The consistency of layer thickness is related not just to the conformality but also to the adsorption of reactive species effectively. Uneven pulse duration also contributes to the linear growth of layer thickness, which supports the effectiveness of reactive species saturation and purging of un-reactive elements. The temperature variation was also an influential parameter as it affected the vapor pressure for TMA and H2O. This mechanistic model based on DoE is a suitable tool to predict the ALD’s growth per cycle, which can further help in understanding of any chemisorption with substrate treatment or variation in film roughness characteristics. Study of other DoE parameters such as type of substrate, substrate functionalization, reactor size in relation to the size of substrate, and purge duration are ongoing. Figure 1 describes the ANOVA chart estimates and surface response graphs, which identifies the bounded parametric region along with the ability to predict the influence of change in parameters based on developed mechanistic model. Figure 1

Crystal quality improvement of ZnTe (1 1 0) thin film prepared on sapphire by increasing nuclei density on substrate surface

ZnTe thin films were prepared on r, S-plane nanofacet substrates to achieve a high-crystal-quality layer with a (110) orientation. Scanning electron microscopy was used to study the nucleation process. Selective formation of growth nuclei can be achieved by controlling the substrate temperature. The low-temperature grown amorphous layers changed to nuclei by annealing. The surface amorphous layer was completely removed when the annealing temperature was too high. Zn beam irradiation during the annealing removed materials selectively from the r-nanofacet. Migration-enhanced epitaxy (MEE) was introduced to enlarge the nuclei size, and a thick-layer growth by conventional molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) followed. The MEE sequence was increased up to 1200 cycles, and the substrate temperature for MEE and MBE was set to higher temperatures than the conventional MBE substrate temperature (the conventional substrate temperature was around 340 °C). The crystal quality of the thin film was analyzed using the X-ray pole figure, θ–2θ measurements and photoluminescence. (110) oriented layer formation perpendicular to the substrate surface was confirmed after introducing those techniques. The low-temperature photoluminescence measurement indicated the high quality of the thick layer.

Large Area Growth of Cubic Silicon Carbide Using Close Space PVT by Application of Homoepitaxial Seeding

One setback that hinders the breakthrough of cubic silicon carbide is the lack of suitable seeding material for sublimation growth methods such as PVT. We present the growth of large area cubic silicon carbide material, up to a diameter of 100 mm, with a sublimation growth process called close spaced PVT (CS-PVT). Freestanding 3C‑SiC seeding layers were grown by a homoepitaxial CVD process. Subsequently CS-PVT was used to grow crystals up to a thickness of 1 mm. To prevent backside sublimation a carbon containing layer was applied as protection. Due to the presence of a wafer bow as well as a rough backside of the used seeds additional effort was necessary to apply the coating. After growth no visible curvature was present independent of the grown layer thickness and sample size. Raman spectroscopy was performed on the seeds and grown crystals, showing that the overall stress level of the material was reduced by CS‑PVT.

Numerical analysis of Casson nanofluid three-dimensional flow over a rotating frame exposed to a prescribed heat flux with viscous heating

This study investigates heat transfer characteristics and three-dimensional flow of non-Newtonian Casson nanofluid over a linearly stretching flat surface in the rotating frame of a reference. The current model includes the Buongiorno nanofluid model comprises nanoparticles’ haphazard motion and thermo-migration. It also considered mechanisms for viscous heating and constant heat flux at the boundary. The nonlinear partial differential system modeling includes the non-Newtonian Casson fluid model and the boundary layer approximation. The system governing equations were nondimensionalized and numerically solved. A parametric study was conducted to analyze the significance of dimensionless parameters on velocities, the concentration, temperatures, Nusselt number, friction factors, and Sherwood number. The study reveals that the Casson nanoliquid temperature enhanced significantly due to the mechanisms of haphazard motion and thermo-migration. The momentum layer thickness of nano Casson fluid reduced due to the rotation phenomenon while the thermal layer structure amended notably. In the absence of rotation, there is no transverse velocity. The thermal layer structure is enhanced owing to the viscous heating process. The intense haphazard motion and thermo-migration mechanisms lead to maximum heat transfer rate at the plate. In addition, results show that the Coriolis force strength elevation shows similar axial and transverse velocities behavior. In addition, the nanoparticle concentration is observed higher due to the rotation aspect and Casson fluid parameter. Furthermore, the Casson fluid factor decreases with velocities, but the trend is the opposite for the high Casson fluid factor. The thermal and solute layer thickness growth is due to the nanoparticles’ thermo-diffusion. In conclusion, the larger rotation factor increases the friction factors. The maximum plate heat transfer rate is when higher Nb and Nt are higher.

Modelling of faults in LoopStructural 1.0

Abstract. Without properly accounting for both fault kinematics and observations of a faulted surface, it is challenging to create 3D geological models of faulted geological units. Geometries where multiple faults interact, where the faulted surface geometry significantly deviate from a flat plane and where the geological interfaces are poorly characterised by sparse datasets are particular challenges. There are two existing approaches for incorporating faults into geological surface modelling. One approach incorporates the fault displacement into the surface description but does not incorporate fault kinematics and in most cases will produce geologically unexpected results such as shrinking intrusions, fold hinges without offset and layer thickness growth in flat oblique faults. The second approach builds a continuous surface without faulting and then applies a kinematic fault operator to the continuous surface to create the displacement. Both approaches have their strengths; however, neither approach can capture the interaction of faults within complicated fault networks, e.g. fault duplexes, flower structures and listric faults because they either (1) impose an incorrect (not defined by data) fault slip direction or (2) require an over-sampled dataset that describes the faulted surface location. In this study, we integrate the fault kinematics into the implicit surface, by using the fault kinematics to restore observations, and the model domain prior to interpolating the faulted surface. This new approach can build models that are consistent with observations of the faulted surface and fault kinematics. Integrating fault kinematics directly into the implicit surface description allows for complexly faulted stratigraphy and fault–fault interactions to be modelled. Our approach shows significant improvement in capturing faulted surface geometries, especially where the intersection angle between the faulted surface and the fault surface varies (e.g. intrusions, fold series) and when modelling interacting faults (fault duplex).

Numerical investigation on splitter plate jet assisted mixing in supersonic flow

Efficient mixing is of great importance for engineering applications of hypersonic propulsion systems. With supersonic air flowing through the interior of combustor in milliseconds, rapid mixing of airstream and fuel becomes one of the great challenges, and it is imperative to employ mixing enhancement strategies to improve the system performance. In present work the splitter plate jet assisted mixing (SPJAM) strategy is proposed and direct numerical simulations are conducted to reveal enhanced-mixing mechanisms. Both instantaneous fine structures and turbulent intensity distributions are obtained to analyze the flow dynamical behaviors. Mixing layer thickness growth rate and structure topology properties affected by SPJAM are researched as well. The results indicate that the introduction of SPJAM can significantly promote mixing by means of the newly found T-shaped structures and its dynamics. The interaction of T-shaped structure and inherent Kelvin-Helmholtz vortex leads to the breakdown of flow structures, which can obviously increase the interface of upper and lower streams. Turbulent intensity analysis suggests that with the effect of SPJAM, the region where turbulent activity exists is notably extended, and the peak values of the fluctuations are much larger. The evolution of transversely-integrated turbulent kinetic energy (IK) indicates that rapid increase of IK appear in the near field of the flow. Spatial correlation analysis results indicate that vortex size is notably increased with the introduction of SPJAM, especially for that with the strategy set at the front of the splitter plate. Through exploration of the enhanced-mixing mechanisms, present preliminary work indicates that the proposed strategy is a good candidate for efficient mixing, and in the future more detailed work including three-dimensional simulations concerning the strategy optimization should be conducted.

The Fabrication of Ni-MWCNT Composite Solder and Its Reliability Under High Relative Humidity and Temperature

Ni decorated multi-walled carbon nanotube (Ni-MWCNT) composite solders have been fabricated using Ni-MWCNT composite materials and Sn58Bi solder alloys. Ni-MWCNT composite materials were synthesized with functionalization, reduction and electroless plating. The Ni-MWCNT composite solders were fabricated at various weight percentages (0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 wt.%) of Ni-MWCNT. The mechanical properties of Ni-MWCNT composite solder were evaluated using ball shear tests. The shear strength and fracture energy were improved about 16.02% and 12.60%, respectively, by adding 0.1 wt.% of Ni-MWCNTs, which released the stress in the solder alloy. The environmental reliability was examined at 85°C with 85% relative humidity at various holding times. After environmental reliability testing, the microstructure was analyzed to characterize the grain and intermetallic layers. The growth of grains and intermetallic layer thickness were mitigated by Ni-MWCNTs in the solder matrix that affected the mechanical properties. The distribution of Ni-MWCNTs inside the solder joints was confirmed by EPMA and Raman spectroscopy.

Nanotribological Effect of Water Layers Intercalated between Exfoliated MoS2 and Mica

When the two-dimensional material molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) is exfoliated on a hydrophilic substrate such as mica, a layer of water is intercalated at the interface at a relative humidity over 20%. This intercalated water layer increases friction at a microscopic scale by providing an additional excitation channel. Using atomic force microscopy, we quantitatively examined various frictional effects from the intercalated water layer. A general tendency of friction dependence on the number of MoS2 and water layers followed the case of graphene exfoliated on mica, despite different structure, layer thickness, hydrophilicity, and water growth mode in the intercalated water layer. These phenomena reveal a universal trend of frictional behavior in confined water, indicating that the physical and electronic properties of the atomic layer covering intercalated water layers do not play an important role.