Materials Science and Engineering Commons^™

Simulations Of Nematic Liquid Crystals: Confined Geometries, Phase Transitions And Topological Defects, Nikolai V. Priezjev

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

The physics of liquid crystals is an exciting field of research with important practical applications. In this dissertation we present the results of simulation studies of nematic liquid crystals using Monte Carlo and molecular dynamic techniques. In our first project we performed Monte Carlo Simulations of the Lebwohl-Lasher (LL) model of nematic liquid crystals confined to cylindrical cavities with perpendicular anchoring. In this particular geometry one has an interesting interplay between bulk and surface energies, which results in different director configurations inside the cylinder. Our work reconciled the apparent contradictions between the results of earlier simulations and approximate analytics theories. …

Investigation Of The Electronic And Optical Properties Of The Strained Cdte/Znte (001) Superlattices, Amna Abdulla Ahmed Al-Zarouni

Theses

Semiconductors are distinguished among all materials by having a non-vanishing energy band gaps. They are often used in industry in the form of alloys or heterostructures in order to tailor energy gaps suitable for the desired applications. In general, semiconductor materials have broad applications in industry, ranging from micro-electronic devices, to light emitters and detectors, to laser and solar cells. In the last two decades, particular attention has been given to the II-VI semiconductor heterostructures because of their suitability as photoelectronic devices covering from the infra-red to the ultra-violet spectral ranges. The scope of this thesis belongs to the field …

Evaluation Of Lead Anode Reactions In Acid Sulfate Electrolytes: Ii. Manganese Reactions, Pu Yu, Thomas J. O'Keefe

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Lead alloys containing calcium-tin, silver, or similar combinations are the primary insoluble anodes used for copper and zinc electrowinning. One potential concern with these anodes is the detrimental effect on cathode purity from incorporation of lead corrosion products. Other factors which are important to process economics are the reaction potential and overpotential required for oxygen evolution. In addition to the inherent overpotential, impurities in the electrolyte can have a significant polarization impact, such as the films that may form when manganese is present. In order to gain a better understanding of the fundamental behavior of various concentrations of manganese ions …

Room-Temperature Homogeneous Nucleation Synthesis And Thermal Stability Of Nanometer Single Crystal Ceo₂, X.-D. Zhou, Wayne Huebner, Harlan U. Anderson

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Nanometer (about 4~5nm) CeO₂ single crystals were first synthesized by room-temperature homogeneous nucleation; the size was determined by electron microscopy and specific surfaced area of the particles. Modeling revealed that the surface energy of as-synthesized nanometer single crystals was in the range of 2.8-3.7J/m². Crystal growth mechanisms change over the temperature regimes, from boundary diffusion over low-temperature regime (E_α=0.16eV) to bulk diffusion (E_α=0.50eV) over high-temperature region.

Electron–Phonon Interactions In Htsc Cuprates, Takeshi Egami, J-H Chung, Rj Mcqueeney, Mohana Yethiraj, Herbert A. Mook, C. Frost, Y. Petrov, Fatih Dogan, Yasuhiro Inamura, Masatoshi Arai, Setsuuko Tajima, Yasuo Endoh

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Phonons have been generally considered to be irrelevant to the high-temperature superconductivity in the cuprates. However, such a bias is usually based upon the assumption of conventional electron–phonon coupling, while in the cuprates the coupling can be rather unconventional because of strong electron correlation. We present the results of our recent measurements of phonon dispersion in YBa₂Cu₃O_6+x by inelastic neutron scattering. These suggest certain phonon modes interact strongly with electrons and are closely involved in the superconductivity phenomenon with possible contribution to pairing.

Optical Limiting In Srbi₂Ta₂O₉ And Pbzrxti₁₋ₓo₃ Thin Films, Pingxiong Yang, Jianfeng Xu, Robert W. Schwartz, David L. Carroll, John Ballato

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Optical limiting effects in SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT) and PbZrxTi1-xO3 (PZT) ferroelectric thin films have been observed with nanosecond laser pulses at 1.064 µm. Limiting thresholds were found to be 5.84 J/cm2 for SBT and between 4.53 and 5.93 J/cm2 for PZT, depending on composition, whereas saturation thresholds for the films were about 2.92 J/cm2 and between 2.27 J/cm2 to 2.97 J/cm2, respectively. Damage thresholds around 10.0 J/cm2 and between 10.37 J/cm2 to 10.54 J/cm2, respectively for SBT and PZT, were also determined. A possible mechanism for the observed limiting, nonlinear optical scattering from the ferroelectric domains, is discussed. These results elucidate …

Biodegradable Glass Compositions And Methods For Radiation Therapy, D. E. Day, James E. White

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A nonradioactive glass in particulate form adapted for radiation therapy in a mammal comprise a biodegradable rare earth-lithium borate glass material of a specified composition which, upon being subjected to an effective amount of neutron irradiation, will produce a beta or gamma emitting radioisotope, the radioisotope being distributed throughout the glass material, the glass upon being introduced into a body fluid for radiation therapy being adapted to react therewith causing the radioisotope to form an insoluble compound on the surface of the glass material which is retained in the glass material and thereby prevented from escaping from the treatment site. …

Design And Analysis Of A Process For Melt Casting Metallic Fuel Pins Incorporating Volatile Actinides, Yitung Chen, Darrell Pepper, Randy Clarksean

Fuels Campaign (TRP)

UNLV has developed and will continue to develop process models for the analysis of melt casting processes. This work will continue to be performed under the guidance of Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) engineers to ensure that their knowledge and experience benefits the project. The research to be conducted during the second year will center on performing detailed analyses on a conceptual design of an inductively heated skull-crucible casting furnace. Processing conditions will be analyzed, basic models utilized, and detailed heat and mass transfer models will be developed to analyze the most promising processes. The goal of this second year is …

Modeling, Fabrication, And Optimization Of Niobium Cavities: Phase Ii, Robert A. Schill Jr., Mohamed Trabia

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

Niobium cavities are important parts of the integrated NC/SC high-power linacs. Over the years, researchers in several countries have tested various cavity shapes. They concluded that elliptically shaped cells are the most appropriate shape for superconducting cavities. The need for very clean surfaces led to the use of a buffered chemical polishing procedure for surface cleaning to get good performance of the cavities. This proposal discusses the second phase of research in the second year of the project.

The first phase (starting Summer 2001) has resulted in improving the basic understanding of multipacting and the process of chemical etching. Based …

Use Of Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy For Stress-Strain Measurements, Ajit K. Roy

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The purpose of this collaborative research project involving the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and Idaho State University (ISU) is to evaluate the feasibility of determining residual stresses of welded (after pre-straining) engineering materials using a new nondestructive technique based on positron annihilation spectroscopy. The proposed technique is to use γ-rays 2 from a small MeV electron Linac to generate positrons inside the sample via pair production. This method can be used for materials characterization and investigation of defects in thick samples that could not be accomplished by conventional positron techniques or other nondestructive methods. The data generated will …

Spectral Analysis Of Transition Metal-Doped Mgo “Matched Emitters” For Thermophotovoltaic Energy Conversion, Lucian G. Ferguson, Fatih Dogan

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A new, thermally excited Co/Ni-doped MgO ceramic emitter for TPV energy conversion is described in this work and termed the “matched emitter” because its emissive power spectrum is very efficiently matched with the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be converted directly into electrical energy by infrared responding GaSb photovoltaic cells. Ligand Field Theory calculations are used to estimate the crystal field splitting energies at high temperatures for Co and Ni-doped MgO matched emitters. Experimental measurements of the high temperature (1300–1400◦C) emissive power spectrums for Co and Ni-doped MgO emitters are compared with predictions obtained from ligand field calculations …

Synthesis Of Pmma-Ceramics Nanocomposites By Spray Process, X.-D. Zhou, H. C. Gu

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

PMMA-ceramics nanocomposites particles were synthesized by a spray process. PMMA-ZnO compositions showed a higher homogeneous than PMMA-SiO₂. The surface of PMMA-SiO₂ composites was SiO₂ rich. Donut shape particles were formed at high gas flow rate, which was due to the competition between surface tension and dragging force. The Zeta potential dramatically changed in PMMA-ZnO composites whereas there was a slight change in PMMA-SiO₂ system.

Cellular Array Morphology During Directional Solidification, Surendra N. Tewari, Y-Husuan Weng, G. L. Ding, R. Trivedi

Chemical & Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Cellular array morphology has been examined in the shallow cell, deep cell, and cell-to-dendrite transition regime in Pb-2.2 wt pct Sb and Al-4.1 wt pct Cu alloy single-crystal samples that were directionally solidified along [100]. Statistical analysis of the cellular spacing distribution on transverse sections has been carried out using minimum spanning tree (MST), Voronoi polygons, radial distribution factor, and fast Fourier transform (FFT) techniques. The frequency distribution of the number of nearest neighbors and the MST parameters suggest that the arrangement of cells may be visualized as a hexagonal tessellation with superimposed 50 pct random noise. However, the power …

Integrating Passenger And Modulo As Learning Tools For Collaborative Engineering Education, Kalamullah Ramli, Frank Schwarz, Stefan Werner, A Halim Shamsuddin, Axel Hunger

Makara Journal of Technology

The University of Indonesia (UI), Gerhard Mercator University (GMU), the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) have agreed to cooperate as partners to develop a joint bachelor (3+1) and masters (1+1) degree, and collaborate in the research fi elds of multimedia- and internet-based learning and application level active networks. This paper describes the introduction of the Offshore Project and the extending of information technology applications to the partner institutions in this international cooperation which would very much enhance the operations of the new initiative in engineering education, which could provide students in far distance with more fl exible learning environment.

Improvements In Wavelength Modulation Spectroscopy Using Ratios Of Higher Harmonics, James Michael Barrington

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Experiments in Wavelength Modulation Spectroscopy have been conducted at Old Dominion University since 1996. The method provides a highly sensitive, nonintrusive method of probing gases. Research has concentrated on effectively modeling the higher harmonic shapes that are measured experimentally. Accurately modeling these signals will result in the ability to reliably extract the information contained in transition line shapes.

In order to accurately depict the signals, the theory must be thoroughly understood. This thesis develops the theory of Wavelength Modulation Spectroscopy from two aspects: a direct Fourier series expansion of a time varying intensity profile and through communication theory. In addition, …

Study Effect Of Salt Washing Process On Content And Iodium Stability Of Salt, Nelson Saksono

Makara Journal of Technology

Effect of Salt Washing Process on Content and Iodium Stability of Salt. Salt washing process should increase the salt quality. It should clean the salt from sludge or clay and also reduce the impurity compound such as Mg, Ca and the reductor content. The objective of these reseach is to assess the effect of washing process on the content og hygroscopic impurities compound (Ca and Mg), and reductor content of salt. The research also investigate the water absorbing, pH, KIO3 content as function of time to obtain effect of washing process on KIO3 stability in salt. The experiment result shows …

Object Classfification In Computer Vision With Discriminant Analysis, Amir Hamzahan

Makara Journal of Technology

A robotic sensor system is always supported by a computer system called ‘computer vision’. The important concept of computer vision is object classfifi cation. In this study two algorithms for object classifi cation in this system will be compared. Firstly, A simple method that do not need complex computation and that considered as an informal method is called binary tree decision structure. This method is based on modest caracteristic decriptors of an object such as vertical line, horizontal line or ellipse line. Unfortunately this method has weakness in recognize an image that contaminated by a noise. Secondly, a more formal …

Making Alloys (Ti1 - Xalx) N Using Plasma Cvd Technique From Alcl3 Powder, H2 And N2 Gas ,With Solvent Ticl4, Keba Moto

Makara Journal of Technology

The substitution of Ti atoms by Al atoms in TiN lattice sites to form (Ti1-xAlx)N is clearly demonstrated by the coatings which were deposited on steel substrate and using plasma CVD technique. The presence of Al atoms in TiN lattice site is shown by means of XRD and EDX techniques: lattice parameters decreasing of TiN as the fraction of Al increases (XRD) and precipitation of hexagonal AlN phase (XRD) as the fraction of Al exceeding 0.8 (EDX). The hardness of these coating are just around 30 GPa, which is beyond the values reported in literatures.

Effects Of 0.25 % Mo (Molybdenum) Which Is Contained In The Ductile Cast Iron On Mechanical Properties Of Austempered Ductile Iron (Adi)., Nukman Nukman, Bustanul Arifin, Bambang Sugiarto

Makara Journal of Technology

The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of 0.25 % Mo (Molybdenum) which is contained in the ductile cast iron on mechanical properties of Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI). The various temperatures and the holding times are used in the heat treatment processes. Using a given 0.25 % Mo in the ductile iron, ADI's alloyed developes a higher ultimate tensile stress value and decreases the elongation if we compare with the as cast (non alloy ductile iron). The higher impact energy value obtained at 9000 C austenization and 375o C austempering temperatures during 60 minutes holding times. The …

The Manufacturing Properties Of Galvanised Steel Sheet With Hexagonal And Tetragonal Network Of Circle Holes, Rahmat Saptono

Makara Journal of Technology

Galvanized steel sheet of 0.8 mm in thickness was drilled with circle holes of 2.5 mm diameter and spacing arranged in tetragonal and hexagonal pattern. The manufacturing properties of specimen were studied through drawing and stretching simulative test. It was concluded from the results that, at high ratio of punch to hole diameter (40/2.5), the drawing properties (LDR) of both square and hexagonal perforated sheet were slightly lower than that of solid sheet, while hexagonal perforated showing LDR somewhat higher than the square one. The stretching properties (LDH) of sheet, however, were much lower than that of solid sheet while …

Develops The Software Of Dsp Processor For The Cdma Circuitry, Arman Djohan D.

Makara Journal of Technology

This research develops the software of DSP Processor type TMS320C54X for the CDMA circuitry. This research apply two algorithms namely Mathematic Algorithm and table lookup Algorithm. From both algorithms, the research examine what algorithm have the fasted processing time and the smallest memory occupation. From the examination results the Mathematic Algorithm have 20.62 milliseconds processing time and the Table lookup algorithm have 14.08 milliseconds processing time. The Table lookup algorithm have the fastest processing time because the Matematic algorithm need the rounding process of the fi gure. Eventhough such processing time is not exceed from the 125 millisecond of delay …

The Effect Of Temperature On The Optical Absorptive And Reflective Behavior Of Metals, Thomas A. Hunyady

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In the five decades since its invention, the laser has been used to commercially process materials in an increasingly diverse number of ways. The precise control over the delivery of the incident energy that is afforded by a laser allows for a wide variety of applications. All of these processes depend in some way on two important physical properties of the material being treated. These properties are known as the optical reflectivity and absorptivity of a material. The values of each of these properties are different for each material and are influenced by a number of factors, including surface roughness, …

Environment-Induced Degradation And Crack-Growth Studies Of Candidate Target Materials: Aaa Task-4 Quarterly (December 1, 2001 – February 28, 2002) Report, Ajit K. Roy, Brendan O'Toole

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The primary objective of this task is to evaluate the effect of hydrogen on environment-assisted cracking of candidate materials for applications in spallation-neutron-target (SNT) systems such as accelerator production of tritium (APT) and accelerator transmutation of waste (ATW). The materials selected for evaluation and characterization are martensitic stainless steels including HT- 9, EP 823 and 422. The susceptibility to stress corrosion cracking (SCC) and hydrogen embrittlement (HE) of these alloys will be evaluated in environments of interest using tensile specimens under constant load and slow-strain-rate (SSR) conditions. The extent and morphology of cracking of these alloys will further be evaluated …

Development Of A Mechanistic Understanding Of High-Temperature Deformation Of Alloy Ep-823: Aaa Task-10 Quarterly (12/1, 2001 –02/28, 2002) Report, Ajit K. Roy, Brendan O'Toole

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

The objective of this task is to evaluate the elevated temperature tensile properties of Alloy EP-823, a leading target material for accelerator-driven waste transmutation applications. The test material will be thermally treated prior to evaluation of its tensile properties at temperatures relevant to the transmutation applications. The deformation characteristics of tensile specimens, upon completion of testing, will be evaluated by surface analytical techniques including scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The overall results are expected to provide a mechanistic understanding of high-temperature deformation behavior of Alloy EP-823 as a function of heat treatment.

Highlights of Accomplishment

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Remote Resonant-Circuit Analyte Sensing Apparatus With Sensing Structure And Associated Method Of Sensing, Craig A. Grimes

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Patents

A resonant sensing apparatus for operative arrangement within a test environment to sense an analyte. A sensing structure is included having an antenna in electrical communication with a resonant circuit and a structural element made of a material that selectively responds to the analyte. This sensing structure will resonate at a particular characteristic resonant frequency in the presence of an applied interrogation electromagnetic field and the analyte upon the occurrence of the selective response. A receiver is used for remotely identifying a value for the characteristic resonant frequency by measuring a plurality of values for electromagnetic emission intensity of the …

Method For Preparing Porous Shells Or Gels From Glass Particles, D. E. Day, Samuel D. Conzone

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A method is provided for preparing shells, concentric shells or porous, homogenous gels from alkali borate glass particles at low temperatures (i.e. room temperature or less than above 100° C.). The alkali borate glass particles contain one or more cations such as aluminum which react with an aqueous solution containing an anion such as hydroxide to form an aqueous insoluble material having a solubility limit of less than about 0.01 wt. percent. TTie resulting shells or gels may be used in many different applications such as a filler in resins, as filters, precursors for nano-sized powders, as thin surface films …

Charge And Spin Structure In Yba2cu3o6.35, Herbert A. Mook, Pengcheng Dai, Fatih Dogan

Materials Science and Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Neutron scattering has been used to measure the charge and spin structure in the highly underdoped superconductor YBa₂Cu₃O_6.35. Incommensurate static charge ordering is found that remains at high temperatures. The magnetic pattern is complex with a resonance and incommensurate structure observed at low temperatures. The results clarify the role of striped phases in YBa₂Cu₃O_6+x superconductors.

Characterization Of The Optical And Electrical Properties Of Proton-Irradiated 4h-Silicon Carbide, Heather C. Crockett

Theses and Dissertations

Epitaxial n-type 4H-silicon carbide (SiC) is irradiated with 2 MeV protons to evaluate the dislocation damage effects on the optical and electrical characteristics of the material. Semiconductor materials with a high tolerance to radiation fields have applications in several aerospace power and satellite systems. SiC is under investigation due to its potential for such space material applications. The optical properties of the material are investigated using temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) and the effects of proton irradiation on the electrical properties are evaluated using current-voltage measurements and constant-voltage deep level transient spectroscopy (CV-DLTS). Subsequent high-temperature thermal annealing and recovery of the irradiated …

Third Quarter Report, Covering January Through March 2002, John Farley

Transmutation Sciences Materials (TRP)

Progress from June 2001-November 2001 was presented at the winter meeting of the American Nuclear Society in Reno (November 12-15, 2001), and incorporated into a refereed conference proceeding. A copy of the refereed conference proceeding has been provided to Tony Hechanova. In brief, the paper described the new program to examine the corrosive effects of lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) on steels. We employed various types of surface studies (Scanning Electron Microscope [SEM], and X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometry [XPS]) to examine steel samples that had been exposed to LBE for various lengths of time at various temperatures. The goal is to understand the …

Fretting Fatigue Behavior Of A Titanium Alloy Ti-6al-4v At Elevated Temperature, Onder Sahan

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to investigate the fretting fatigue behavior of the titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V at elevated temperature is investigated. Fretting and plain fatigue experiments are conducted at 260 °C. Crack initiation location and crack initiation orientation is measured and fretting and plain fatigue life data of the specimens from these tests are obtained. Fatigue parameters capable of predicting the number of cycles to specimen failure, the crack location and the crack orientation along the contact surface are analyzed. The parameters are calculated by using the computed stresses and strains obtained from the finite element analysis. The mechanisms …