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Full-Text Articles in Materials Science and Engineering

Formation Of Lyotropic Liquid Crystals Through The Self-Assembly Of Bile Acid Building Blocks, Karan Tamhane Jan 2009

Formation Of Lyotropic Liquid Crystals Through The Self-Assembly Of Bile Acid Building Blocks, Karan Tamhane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Liquid crystalline materials (LCMs) have gained much popularity over the past century. The thermotropic forms of these materials have been extensively studied and employed in a range of innovative applications. The lyotropic liquid crystal systems that have been studied in the past have often been formed by the organization of natural and synthetic small molecules in solutions. In this study, we use self-assembled supramolecular structures as building blocks to fabricate lyotropic liquid crystals. We investigate the self-assembly of a naturally occurring bile acid called lithocholic acid (LCA), to form supramolecular fibrous and tubular structures in basic aqueous solutions. We control …


Characterization And Aqueous Colloidal Processing Of Tungsten Nano-Powders, Zhengtao Yang Jan 2009

Characterization And Aqueous Colloidal Processing Of Tungsten Nano-Powders, Zhengtao Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Extensive attention has been paid to consolidate nanoparticles into nanocrystalline components that possess better properties than their coarse-grained counterparts. Nanocrystalline monolithic tungsten (W) has been envisaged to possess better properties than coarse-grained tungsten and to improve the performance of many military components. Commercially available nano-W powders were characterized via X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and Brunauer, Emmett, and Teller (BET) measurement. While the bulk of nano-W powders consisted of bcc-W as confirmed by XRD and TEM, much of their surface consisted of WO3 with traces of …


Sintering Additives For Nanocrystalline Titania And Processing Of Porous Bone Tissue Engineering Scaffolds, Arun Menon Jan 2009

Sintering Additives For Nanocrystalline Titania And Processing Of Porous Bone Tissue Engineering Scaffolds, Arun Menon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Titania (Titanium dioxide, TiO2) has been researched as a promising biomaterial due to its excellent biocompatibility. However, the main limitation of titania is its poor mechanical properties which limit its use in many load-bearing applications. In this thesis report, the properties of titania were improved by doping with small quantities of MgO, ZnO and SiO2 as sintering additives. Nanocrystalline powder was selected, as it possesses outstanding properties over conventional coarse-grained powders due to reduced grain size. Nanocrystalline anatase powder of size 5-15 nm was synthesized via a simple sol-gel technique. Small quantities of dopants were introduced into pure titania powder, …


Electronic Properties And Microstructures Of Amorphous Sicn Ceramics Derived From Polymer Precursors, Tao Jiang Jan 2009

Electronic Properties And Microstructures Of Amorphous Sicn Ceramics Derived From Polymer Precursors, Tao Jiang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) are a new class of high-temperature materials synthesized by thermal decomposition of polymeric precursors. These materials possess many unique features as compared with conventional ceramics synthesized by powder metallurgy based processing. For example, PDCs are neither amorphous nor crystalline. Instead, they possess nano-domain structures. Due to the direct chemical-to-ceramic processing, PDCs can be used for making components and devices with complex shapes. Thus, understanding the properties and structures of these materials are of both fundamental and practical interest. In this work, the structures and electronic behavior of polymer-derived amorphous silicon carbonitrides (SiCNs) were investigated. The materials were …


Classical Size Effect In Copper Thin Films: Impact Of Surface And Grain Boundary Scattering On Resistivity, Tik Sun Jan 2009

Classical Size Effect In Copper Thin Films: Impact Of Surface And Grain Boundary Scattering On Resistivity, Tik Sun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Surface and grain boundary electron scattering contribute significantly to resistivity as the dimensions of polycrystalline metallic conductors are reduced to, and below, the electron mean free path. A quantitative measurement of the relative contributions of surface and grain boundary scattering to resistivity is very challenging, requiring not only the preparation of suitably small conductors having independent variation of the two relevant length scales, namely, the sample critical dimension and the grain size, but also independent experimental quantification of these two length scales. In most work to date the sample grain size has been either assumed equal to conductor dimension or …


Multicomponent Interdiffusion In Austenitic Ni-, Fe-Ni-Base Alloys And L12-Ni3al Intermetallic For High-Temperature Applications, Narayana Garimella Jan 2009

Multicomponent Interdiffusion In Austenitic Ni-, Fe-Ni-Base Alloys And L12-Ni3al Intermetallic For High-Temperature Applications, Narayana Garimella

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Interdiffusion in multicomponent-multiphase alloys is commonly encountered in many materials systems. The developments of multicomponent-multiphase alloys require control of microstructure through appropriate heat treatment, involving solid-state transformations, precipitation processes, and surface modification, where the interdiffusion processes play a major role. In addition, interdiffusion processes often control degradation and failure of these materials systems. Enhanced performance and reliable durability always requires a detailed understanding of interdiffusion. In this study, ternary and quaternary interdiffusion in Ni-Cr-X (X = Al, Si, Ge, Pd) at 900°C and 700°C, Fe-Ni-Cr-X (X = Si, Ge) at 900°C, and Ni3Al alloyed with Ir, Ta and Re at …


Phase-Field Simulation Of Microstructural Development Induced By Interdiffusion Fluxes Under Multiple Gradients, Rashmi Mohanty Jan 2009

Phase-Field Simulation Of Microstructural Development Induced By Interdiffusion Fluxes Under Multiple Gradients, Rashmi Mohanty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The diffuse-interface phase-field model is a powerful method to simulate and predict mesoscale microstructure evolution in materials using fundamental properties of thermodynamics and kinetics. The objective of this dissertation is to develop phase-field model for simulation and prediction of interdiffusion behavior and evolution of microstructure in multiphase binary and ternary systems under composition and/or temperature gradients. Simulations were carried out with emphasis on multicomponent diffusional interactions in single-phase system, and microstructure evolution in multiphase systems using thermodynamics and kinetics of real systems such as Ni-Al and Ni-Cr-Al. In addition, selected experimental studies were carried out to examine interdiffusion and microstructure …


Vibrational And Mechanical Properties Of 10 Mol % Sc2o3-1 Mol % Ceo2- Zro2 Electrolyte Ceramics For Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, Svetlana Lukich Jan 2009

Vibrational And Mechanical Properties Of 10 Mol % Sc2o3-1 Mol % Ceo2- Zro2 Electrolyte Ceramics For Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, Svetlana Lukich

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) are emerging as a potential breakthrough energy conversion technology for clean and efficient production of electricity and heat from hydrogen and hydrocarbon fuels. Sc0.1Ce0.01ZrO2 electrolytes for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells are very promising materials because their high ionic conductivity in the intermediate temperature range 700°C-800°C. The vibration response of cubic and rhombohedral (β) 10 mol%Sc2O3 - 1 mol%CeO2 - ZrO2(Sc0.1Ce0.01ZrO2 ) both at room and high-temperatures is reported. The in-situ heating experiments and ex-situ indentation experiments were performed to characterize the vibrational behavior of these important materials. A temperature and stress-assisted phase transition from cubic …