Other Materials Science and Engineering Commons^™

Nanohub.Org: A Gateway To Undergraduate Simulation-Based Research In Materials Science And Related Fields, Tanya A. Faltens, Peter A. Bermel, Amanda Buckles, K Anna Douglas, Alejandro H. Strachan, Lynn K. Zentner, Gerhard Klimeck

Birck and NCN Publications

Our future engineers and scientists will likely be required to use advanced simulations to solve many of tomorrow's challenges in nanotechnology. To prepare students to meet this need, the Network for Computational Nanotechnology (NCN) provides simulation-focused research experiences for undergraduates at an early point in their educational path, to increase the likelihood that they will ultimately complete a doctoral program. The NCN summer research program currently serves over 20 undergraduate students per year who are recruited nationwide, and selected by NCN and the faculty for aptitude in their chosen field within STEM, as well as complementary skills such as coding …

Temporally And Spatially Resolved Plasma Spectroscopy In Pulsed Laser Deposition Of Ultra-Thin Boron Nitride Films, Nicholas R. Glavin, Christopher Muratore, Michael L. Jespersen, Jianjun Hu, Timothy S. Fisher, Andrey A. Voevodin

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Physical vapor deposition (PVD) has recently been investigated as a viable, alternative growth technique for two-dimensional materials with multiple benefits over other vapor deposition synthesis methods. The high kinetic energies and chemical reactivities of the condensing species formed from PVD processes can facilitate growth over large areas and at reduced substrate temperatures. In this study, chemistry, kinetic energies, time of flight data, and spatial distributions within a PVD plasma plume ablated from aboron nitride (BN) target by a KrF laser at different pressures of nitrogen gas were investigated. Time resolved spectroscopy and wavelength specific imaging were used to identify and …

Influence Of Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cement On The Pullout Performance Of Reinforcing Fibers: An Evaluation Of The Micro-Mechanical Behavior, Robert B. Jewell

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

The objective of this research was to determine the influence of calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement on reinforcing fibers by evaluating the fiber pullout behavior, and bonding characteristics, of a single fiber embedded in a cementitious paste matrix. Four types of fibers commonly used in industry were evaluated: 1) Polyvinyl alcohol; 2) Polypropylene; 3) Coated Steel; and 4) Plain Steel.

Upward trends in energy costs and potential greenhouse gas regulations favor an increased use of construction materials that require lower energy and lower CO₂ emissions to fabricate, such as CSA cement, as opposed to the production of ordinary portland cement …

Effects Of Magnetic Field On The Shape Memory Behavior Of Single And Polycrystalline Magnetic Shape Memory Alloys, Ali S. Turabi

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Magnetic Shape Memory Alloys (MSMAs) have the unique ability to change their shape within a magnetic field, or in the presence of stress and a change in temperature. MSMAs have been widely investigated in the past decade due to their ability to demonstrate large magnetic field induced strain and higher frequency response than conventional shape memory alloys (SMAs). NiMn-based alloys are the workhorse of metamagnetic shape memory alloys since they are able to exhibit magnetic field induced phase transformation. In these alloys, martensite and austenite phases have different magnetization behavior, such as the parent phase can be ferromagnetic and martensite …

Shape Memory Behavior Of Single Crystal And Polycrystalline Ni-Rich Nitihf High Temperature Shape Memory Alloys, Sayed M. Saghaian

Theses and Dissertations--Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

NiTiHf shape memory alloys have been receiving considerable attention for high temperature and high strength applications since they could have transformation temperatures above 100 °C, shape memory effect under high stress (above 500 MPa) and superelasticity at high temperatures. Moreover, their shape memory properties can be tailored by microstructural engineering. However, NiTiHf alloys have some drawbacks such as low ductility and high work hardening in stress induced martensite transformation region. In order to overcome these limitations, studies have been focused on microstructural engineering by aging, alloying and processing.

Shape memory properties and microstructure of four Ni-rich NiTiHf alloys (Ni50.3Ti29.7Hf20, Ni50.7Ti29.3Hf20, …

The Future Of Carbon-Based Scaffolds In Foot And Ankle Surgery, Jarema S. Czarnecki, Khalid Lafdi, Panagiotis A. Tsonis

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Autologous grafts have been the gold standard in tissue replacement and the most accurate means of recapitulating both the biological and mechanical properties of tissue. However, autologous grafts have had complications and drawbacks. Skin grafting, a prime example of an autologous tissue graft, has been limited by the size of graft, availability, and secondary donor site morbidity. Use of cadaveric tissues circumvents several limitations of autologous grafts; however, sterilization processes used to reduce the risk of disease transmission potentially weaken tissues and eliminate living cells and some growth factors from scaffolds, making them suboptimal tissue replacements. Chemical cross-linkage of tissue …

Effects Of Disorder State And Interfacial Layer On Thermal Transport In Copper/Diamond System, Vikas Sinha, Jaime J. Gengler, Christopher Muratore, Jonathan E. Spowart

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

The characterization of Cu/diamond interface thermal conductance (h_c) along with an improved understanding of factors affecting it are becoming increasingly important, as Cu-diamond composites are being considered for electronic packaging applications. In this study, ∼90 nm thick Cu layers weredeposited on synthetic and natural single crystal diamond substrates. In several specimens, a Ti-interface layer of thickness ≤3.5 nm was sputtered between the diamond substrate and the Cu top layer. The h_c across Cu/diamond interfaces for specimens with and without a Ti-interface layer was determined usingtime-domain thermoreflectance. The h_c is ∼2× higher for similar interfacial layers on …

The Examination Of Stress Corrosion Cracking In High Strength Carbon Steel Through Combined Mechanical-Electrochemical Testing, Jacob Sines

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Through the analysis of materials and environments seen in industry a better understanding of the fundamentals behind degradation mechanisms can be observed. The scope of this project was to better understand the fundamentals behind the degradation of high strength pipeline steels in a lab setting to simulate an environment seen in industry. Specifically the degradation mechanisms of high and nearly neutral pH stress corrosion cracking were examined in environments that simulated oil and gas pipelines buried in soil. Experimentation was carried out utilizing X65 carbon steel specimen, a Gamry potentiostat, a CORTEST proof ring, a CORTEST slow strain rate machine, …

Nanomechanical And Scaling Behavior Of Nanoporous Gold, Nicolas J. Briot

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Nanoporous metals have recently been drawn significant interest in various fields of research. Their high surface-to-volume ratio present a strong potential for applications in sensing, catalysis, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and even in the medical field. However, the mechanical properties of nanoporous metals have not yet been well determined, as conducting mechanical tests was found to be challenging. Scaling relations linking the mechanical properties of porous materials to those of their dense counterparts are successfully and widely used for many porous metals. However, their applicability to nanoporous metals have recently been questioned, as estimations from the classic scaling relations were found …

Nanoindentation Of A Zinc Metal Soap Mixture For Use In A Laser Printer, George A. Nimick

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

At the start of this project, the possible choices of metal soaps had already been narrowed to include some of the zinc soaps used in this project. These zinc soaps are mixtures of zinc stearate and zinc palmitate of varying ratios purchased from a supplier. Zinc soap was chosen as result of its common use in various industries as a lubricant and mold release, which implied potential benefits in an electrophotographic printing system. These potential benefits include, but are not limited to, a more efficient transfer from a photoconductive drum and protection of the drum from mechanical and chemical degradation. …

Microindentation Of Bi57in26sn17 Lead-Free Alloy, Ruiting Zhao

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

There is great need to understand the mechanical properties of lead-free alloys—an alternative of lead-based alloys—to address the environmental problems associated with the use of lead-based materials in microelectronics. In this work, the microstructures of Bi57In26Sn17 lead-free alloy were examined using Optical Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy analysis. The micro-indentation technique was used to study the mechanical properties of Bi57In26Sn17 lead-free alloy. The experimental results of the hardness and contact modulus were presented and discussed. Local creep during the indentation was observed from the load-displacement curves. The Vickers hardness (HV) increases with the decrease of the indentation depth, suggesting …

Synthesis, Structure, Properties And Applications Of Nanoporous Silicon And Palladium, Xu Jiang

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Nanoporous (np) materials with pore size below 100 nano-meters exist naturally in biological and mineral structures, and synthetic np materials have been used industrially for centuries. Np materials have attracted significant research interest in recent decades, as the development of new characterization techniques and nanotechnology allow the observation and design of np materials at a new level. This study focuses on two np materials: nanoporous silicon (np-Si) and nanoporous palladium (np-Pd).

Silicon (Si), because of its high capacity to store lithium (Li), is increasingly becoming an attractive candidate as anode material for Li ion batteries (LIB). One significant problem with …

A Study To Evaluate Non-Uniform Phase Maps In Shape Memory Alloys Using Finite Element Method, Naren Motte

Theses and Dissertations

The unique thermo-mechanical behavior of Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs), such as their ability to recover the original shape upon heating or being able to tolerate large deformations without undergoing plastic transformations, makes them a good choice for actuators.

This work studies their application in the aerospace and defense industries where SMA components can serve as release mechanisms for gates of enclosures that have to be deployed remotely. This work provides a novel approach in evaluating the stress and heat induced change of phase in a SMA, in terms of the transformation strain tensor. In particular, the FEA tool

ANSYS has …

Early-Age Hydration Studies Of Portland Cement, Fengjuan Liu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Our current knowledge on cement hydration during setting is based on the discrete observation of hydrated paste. An advanced micro/nano-level technique which can perform the in-situ observation on the continuous hydration of cement paste is demanded. In this study, Raman spectroscopy (RS) was chosen as such a method to continuously investigate wet pastes. The objective of this research is to explore the hydration process and microstructural development of fresh pastes with this technique. This research was conducted in three phases. First, the RS analysis was used to continuously observe the cement hydration from 20 minutes after mixing to 9 hours. …

Investigation Of Fatigue Life And Fracture Mechanics Of Unconstrained Ni-Mn-Ga Single Crystals, Theodore Bryson Lawrence

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Ni-Mn-Ga is a magnetic shape memory alloy (MSMA) that exhibits large recoverable strains. The magnetic field induced strain (MFIS) occurs through twin boundary motion resulting in reorientation of the crystal structure, which is coupled to the magnetic moment of the material. The shape memory capabilities of the material make it promising for applications including microactuators, sensors, microfluid pumps, refrigeration, energy harvesting, and data storage.

In order for Ni-Mn-Ga to become a viable option for use in commercial applications the performance and reliability must be on par with industry standards. Ni‑Mn-Ga has been shown to achieve high cycles at low strains, …

Fabrication Of 3d Ultrafine Fibrous Protein Structures Via Freeze-Drying, Yiling Huang

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In this thesis, ultrafine fibrous 3D matrices were fabricated using three different proteins (soy protein, wool keratin, and chicken feather keratin) via freeze-drying. Protein matrices are preferable for tissue engineering compared to matrices made from synthetic material because of their similarity to native extracellular matrices. Due to their cell-binding motifs, natural proteins are also recognized as more biocompatible compared. Freeze-drying, which is a simple method used to produce 3D sponge matrices, was employed in this study to fabricate 3D fibrous matrices in a controlled manner. The inner structures of the 3D matrices fabricated ranged from film to fibers, and the …

Growth And Properties Of Carbon Microcoils And Nanocoils, Muneaki Hikita, Robyn Bradford, Khalid Lafdi

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Various types of coiled carbon filaments have been synthesized using chemical vapor deposition and other methods. These carbon filaments exhibit unique electrical and mechanical properties due to their versatile shapes and structures. To form coiled shapes, different types of catalyst compositions and reactive gases have been explored. Generally, coiled carbon filaments are classified by coil diameter and shape (e.g., microcoil and nanocoil). In this review, coiled carbon filaments are classified into three growth mechanism categories:

(1) bidirectional double helical growth;

(2) bidirectional twisted growth; and

(3) tip single helical or twisted growth.

Next, their synthesis methods and hypothetical growth mechanisms …

Slow Release Of Ions From Internalized Silver Nanoparticles Modifies The Epidermal Growth Factor Signaling Response, Kristen K. Comfort, Elizabeth I. Maurer, Saber M. Hussain

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Due to their distinctive physiochemical properties, including a robust antibacterial activity and plasmonic capability, hundreds of consumer and medical products contain colloidal silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). However, even at sub-toxic dosages, AgNPs are able to disrupt cell functionality, through a yet unknown mechanism. Moreover, internalized AgNPs have the potential to prolong this disruption, even after the removal of excess particles. In the present study, we evaluated the impact, mechanism of action, and continual effects of 50 nm AgNP exposure on epidermal growth factor (EGF) signal transduction within a human keratinocyte (HaCaT) cell line. After AgNP expose, EGF signaling was initially obstructed …

Epoxy Catalyzed Sol-Gel Method For Pinhole-Free Pyrite Fes2 Thin Films, S. Kment, H. Kmentova, A. Sarkar, R. J. Soukup, N. J. Ianno, D. Sekora, J. Olejnicek, P. Ksirova, J. Krysa, Z. Remes, Z. Hubicka

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

The uniform pinhole-free iron disulfide (FeS₂) pyrite thin films were fabricated. In the first step the FeO(OH)_x xerogel solution was synthetized by means of a novel epoxy catalyzed sol-gel method and next spin-coated onto various substrates to form the thin films. In the second step the xerogel coatings were annealed to yield hematite (α-Fe₂O₃) films, which were transformed into pyrite by chemical sulfurization. Among the main deposition parameters studied were the temperature of xerogel-hematite transformation and the optimal sulfurization temperature and duration. It has been observed that 15 min sulfurization at the temperature …

Development Of Electron Microscopy Analysis And Simulation Tools For Nanohub, Mingxuan Lu, Chang Wan Han, Benjamin P. Haley, Volkan Ortalan

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Electron microscopy has a crucial role in the field of materials science and structural biology. Although electron microscopy gives lots of important results and findings, some additional simulations and image processing/reconstruction is required to get more information from the data that are collected from the experiments. For this purpose, researchers are using IMOD¹ and QSTEM² for electron microscopy analysis and simulation. IMOD is a set of programs used for tomographic reconstruction and 3D visualization and QSTEM is used for quantitative simulations of TEM and STEM images. However, IMOD and QSTEM are hard to install or use for beginners …