Dimensional dependences of the interfacial tension at a solid—liquid interface and the melting temperature of metal nanoparticles

New coordinating relationships are obtained for the dimensional dependences of melting temperature T(r) and interfacial tension ?? _SL (r) of a solid spherical nanoparticle at the boundary with its own melt. The Thomson formula for T(r) and the Tolman formula for ?? _SL (r) follow from the expressions obtained at large radii of curvature. Numerical calculations are performed for metals. Results from calculations on the dimensional dependences of the melting temperature for Pt, Au, and Al that conform fairly well with experimental data are given as examples.     

Response properties at the dynamic water/dichloroethane liquid–liquid interface

ABSTRACT

We present a novel approach for calculating the static dielectric permittivity profile of a liquid–liquid interface (LLI) from molecular dynamics simulations. To obtain well-defined features, comparable to those observed at solid–liquid interfaces, we find it essential to reference to the instantaneous liquid–liquid interface rather than the more commonly used average Gibbs interface. We provide a coarse-grained approach for the practical definition of the instantaneous interface and present numerical results for the prototypical water/1,2-dichloroethane system. These results show that the parallel components of the dielectric permittivity tensor can be accurately extracted. In contrast, the perpendicular component does not converge to the correct bulk value at large distances from the LLI, highlighting a flaw in the regularly applied coarse-graining procedure.     

Laser-induced thermoelastic Leaky Lamb waves at the fluid–solid interface

A model based on the theory of fluid–structure interaction is developed to simulate the laser thermoelastic generation and propagation of Leaky Lamb waves at the water–aluminum interface. Each component of displacement, stress, and temperature are derived in transform domain by the photothermoelastic transfer matrix method. The time domain solutions are obtained by numerically inverting the transforms while the dispersion curves and attenuation curves for the leaky waves are also calculated. Then the propagation characteristics of different modes are analyzed. The model establishes a quantitative relation between the laser parameters, the material parameters, the corresponding waveforms, and the dispersion curves, which provides a useful tool for the Leaky Lamb waves applied to nondestructive evaluation.     

Ultrasonic cavitation at liquid/solid interface in a thin Ga–In liquid layer with free surface

Cavitation in thin layer of liquid metal has potential applications in chemical reaction, soldering, extraction, and therapeutic equipment. In this work, the cavitation characteristics and acoustic pressure of a thin liquid Ga–In alloy were studied by high speed photography, numerical simulation, and bubble dynamics calculation. A self-made ultrasonic system with a TC4 sonotrode, was operated at a frequency of 20 kHz and a max output power of 1000 W during the cavitation recording experiment. The pressure field characteristic inside the thin liquid layer and its influence on the intensity, types, dimensions, and life cycles of cavitation bubbles and on the cavitation evolution process against experimental parameters were systematically studied. The results showed that acoustic pressure inside the thin liquid layer presented alternating positive and negative characteristics within 1 acoustic period (T). Cavitation bubbles nucleated and grew during the negative-pressure stage and shrank and collapsed during the positive-pressure stage. A high bubble growth speed of 16.8 m/s was obtained and evidenced by bubble dynamics calculation. The maximum absolute pressure was obtained at the bottom of the thin liquid layer and resulted in the strongest cavitation. Cavitation was divided into violent and weak stages. The violent cavitation stage lasted several hundreds of acoustic periods and had higher bubble intensity than the weak cavitation stage. Cavitation cloud preferentially appeared during the violent cavitation stage and had a life of several acoustic periods. Tiny cavitation bubbles with life cycles shorter than 1 T dominated the cavitation field. High cavitation intensities were observed at high ultrasonication power and when Q235B alloy was used because such conditions lead to high amplitudes on the substrate and further high acoustic pressure inside the liquid.     

Surface tension of hydrocarbon chains at the liquid–vapour interface

Molecular dynamics simulations were performed at constant temperature to obtain the surface tension of hydrocarbon chains at the liquid–vapour interface. The Ewald sum was used to calculate the dispersion forces of the Lennard–Jones potential to take into account the full interaction. The NERD and TraPPE_UA flexible force field models were used to simulate molecules from ethane to hexadecane along the coexistence curve. The simulation results for the TraPPE_UA model are in good agreement with experimental data, whereas the NERD model predicts slightly higher values.     

Microplasma generated at solid–solid interface and its application to nanostructure formation

The dynamics of the microplasmas created at a transparent solid–solid interface were investigated extensively. Microplasmas were generated at an interface between a carbon (C) or a germanium (Ge) target and a SiO₂ substrate by irradiating a KrF excimer laser beam onto the target, and the dynamics of the plasmas were investigated with the aid of optical emission spectroscopy. Although the emission spectra that contained the characteristic emission lines and the absorption bands originated from C and Ge species were observed from the C and Ge plasmas without the SiO₂ substrate, identical spectra were obtained from both the plasmas created at the C–SiO₂ and Ge–SiO₂ interfaces. Furthermore, the target and the Si substrate surfaces were examined with a scanning electron microscope. The SiO₂ substrate was smoothly etched and a nanostructure of a chain-like morphology was also observed in the deposits on the SiO₂ substrate.     

Study of solid–liquid interface in water dispersions of microcrystalline celluloses

Interaction on the solid–liquid surface in dispersions of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) with various particle sizes has been studied by means of rheological methods. It was shown that the MCC dispersions possess shear-thinning rheological properties. An inversely proportional relationship between the average particle size of the MCC particles and the viscosity of the dispersions was discovered. This phenomenon is explained by the decrease of water mobility with increase in the specific surface of the MCC particles. Irreversible closing of the MCC pores reduces the viscosity of water dispersions. Addition of some water-soluble polymers leads to a considerable increase in viscosity due to formation of macromolecular net composed of solid particles.     

Improved liquid－solid－gas interface deposition of nanoparticle thin films

A liquid－solid－gas interface deposition method to prepare nanoparticle thin films is presented in this paper. The nanoparticles in the part of suspension located close to the solid－liquid－gas interface grow on the substrate under the influence of interface force when the partially immersed substrate moves relatively to the suspension. By using statistical theory of the Brownian motion, growth equations for mono-component and multi-component nanoparticle thin films are obtained and some parameters for deposition process are discussed.     

Interaction behaviors at the interface between liquid Al–Si and solid Ti–6Al–4V in ultrasonic-assisted brazing in air

Power ultrasonic vibration (20 kHz, 6 μm) was applied to assist the interaction between a liquid Al–Si alloy and solid Ti–6Al–4V substrate in air. The interaction behaviors, including breakage of the oxide film on the Ti–6Al–4V surface, chemical dissolution of solid Ti–6Al–4V, and interfacial chemical reactions, were investigated. Experimental results showed that numerous 2–20 μm diameter-sized pits formed on the Ti–6Al–4V surface. Propagation of ultrasonic waves in the liquid Al–Si alloy resulted in ultrasonic cavitation. When this cavitation occurred at or near the liquid/solid interface, many complex effects were generated at the small zones during the bubble implosion, including micro-jets, hot spots, and acoustic streaming. The breakage behavior of oxide films on the solid Ti–6Al–4V substrate, excessive chemical dissolution of solid Ti–6Al–4V into liquid Al–Si, abnormal interfacial chemical reactions at the interface, and phase transformation between the intermetallic compounds could be wholly ascribed to these ultrasonic effects. An effective bond between Al–Si and Ti–6Al–4V can be produced by ultrasonic-assisted brazing in air.     

Anisotropy of the solid–liquid interface properties of the Ni–Zr B33 phase from molecular dynamics simulation

Solid–liquid interface (SLI) properties of the Ni–Zr B33 phase were determined from molecular dynamics simulations. In order to perform these measurements, a new semi-empirical potential for Ni–Zr alloy was developed that well reproduces the material properties required to model SLIs in the Ni_50.0Zr_50.0 alloy. In particular, the developed potential is shown to provide that the solid phase emerging from the liquid Ni_50.0Zr_50.0 alloy is B33 (apart from a small fraction of point defects), in agreement with the experimental phase diagram. The SLI properties obtained using the developed potential exhibit an extraordinary degree of anisotropy. It is observed that anisotropies in both the interfacial free energy and mobility are an order of magnitude larger than those measured to date in any other metallic compound. Moreover, the [0 1 0] interface is shown to play a significant role in the observed anisotropy. Our data suggest that the [0 1 0] interface simultaneously corresponds to the lowest mobility, the lowest free energy and the highest stiffness of all inclinations in B33 Ni–Zr. This finding can be understood by taking into account a rather complicated crystal structure in this crystallographic direction.     

Modeling the liquid–gas interface using self-assembled monolayers

Stochastic classical trajectory simulations were used to study the efficiency of the energy exchange at the gas–liquid interface. Self-assembled monolayers (SAM) of long-chain functionalized molecules were used to mimic the liquid surface. Since the molecules in the monolayers are anchored by only one end, they retain some of the mobility that they have in the liquid but lose all their fluidity. The corrugation of the surface and the stiffness of the interface were tuned by varying the length of the molecules in the monolayers. The use of longer molecules leads to increased corrugation of the surface and provides additional dissipation channels that promote more efficient momentum and energy accommodation, increase the translational–rotational energy interconversion and enhance trapping. However, this “length effect” appears to saturate, as no further significant changes are observed in those properties when the monolayer's molecules's length is elongated from six to nine carbons. This saturation effect suggests that, even though monolayers can provide some of the mobility observed in liquid surfaces, they lack the energy dissipation channel provided by the fluidity of the liquid.     

Adsorption of the cysteine–tryptophan dipeptide at the Au(110)/liquid interface studied using reflection anisotropy spectroscopy

The adsorption of a cysteine–tryptophan dipeptide has been monitored at a Au(110)/electrolyte interface using reflection anisotropy spectroscopy. At ?0.6 V the dipeptide adsorbed through the formation of Au–S bonds and a link between the NH₂ group at the Au surface. As the applied potential was changed to + 0.6 V the NH₂ group left the surface and the spectra suggest that two dipeptides form a disulphide bridge that binds to the Au surface. This event is accompanied by changes in the orientation of, and possibly interactions between, tryptophan moieties. Returning the applied potential to ?0.6 V failed to re-establish the initial population of Au–S bonds and the changes induced in the region of the spectrum associated with the tryptophan's by the positive potentials were permanent on the time scale of an hour. Subtle changes associated with the tryptophan moieties indicate that the orientation of the tryptophans is very sensitive to the applied potential. Cycling of the potential showed a stable inter-conversion between Au–S bonds and Au–disulphide bonds at low scan rates, but at higher scan rates not all the broken disulphide bonds were able to reform. Irreversible changes were also observed in the tryptophan region of the spectrum during potential cycling.     

Influence of initial solid–liquid interface morphology on further microstructure evolution during directional solidification

Preparation of the initial solid–liquid interface on which growth is started is a very critical step in directional solidification experiments. Dedicated experiments concerning preparation of the initial solid–liquid interface morphology and its influence on further directionally solidified microstructure were performed on Cu-20 wt% Sn peritectic alloy in a Bridgman-type furnace. To verify the morphology of the initial solid–liquid interface, steady-state directional dendritic growth was interrupted by thermal stabilization ranging from 0 to 1 h prior to quenching. With thermal stabilization duration increase, the solid–liquid interface morphology degenerated from dendritic to cellular and finally to planar. To verify the influence of the initial state on further solidification microstructure, directional solidification experiments were performed at a low pulling rate of 1 μm/s with different initial solid–liquid interface morphologies. The initial state affects solute redistribution and formation of peritectic coupled growth structure in the subsequent directional solidification process.     

Solid–liquid phase transition in a Gibbs monolayer of melissic acid at the n-hexane–water interface

A sharp phase transition from a crystalline state with the area per molecule A = (17 ± 1) Ų to a liquid state with A = (23 ± 1) Ų at the n-hexane–water interface in a Gibbs monolayer of melissic acid has been revealed in data of X-ray reflectometry with the use of synchrotron radiation.     

Diffuse X-ray scattering near a two-dimensional solid–liquid phase transition at the <Emphasis Type=Italic>n</Emphasis>-hexane–water interface

Spatial profiles of single-shot microcraters produced by tightly focused femtosecond laser pulses with variable pulse energies are measured by means of a laser confocal microscope. Dependences of crater depth on laser intensity at different pulse energies appear as overlapping saturating curves with the same threshold, indicating the presence of nonlinear absorption and absence of nonlocal ablation effects. A monotonic twofold increase in absorption nonlinearity is related to the transition from minor defect-band absorption to fundamental band-to-band absorption.     

Laser-induced film ejection at interfaces: Comparison of the dynamics of liquid and solid films

The ejection dynamics of nanometer-thin fluid isopropanol and solid CO₂ films are investigated. The films are deposited on a silicon substrate, which is rapidly heated by a nanosecond laser pulse (Nd:YAG, 532 nm). A small fraction of material at the interface evaporates and the film on top is ejected as an intact layer. The kinetic energies of the two different films with thicknesses between 100 nm and 1 μm give an insight into the dynamics of a flying lamella.     

Dielectric or plasmonic Mie object at air–liquid interface: The transferred and the traveling momenta of photon

Considering the inhomogeneous or heterogeneous background, we have demonstrated that if the background and the half-immersed object are both non-absorbing, the transferred photon momentum to the pulled object can be considered as the one of Minkowski exactly at the interface. In contrast, the presence of loss inside matter, either in the half-immersed object or in the background, causes optical pushing of the object. Our analysis suggests that for half-immersed plasmonic or lossy dielectric, the transferred momentum of photon can mathematically be modeled as the type of Minkowski and also of Abraham. However, according to a final critical analysis, the idea of Abraham momentum transfer has been rejected. Hence,an obvious question arises: whence the Abraham momentum? It is demonstrated that though the transferred momentum to a half-immersed Mie object(lossy or lossless) can better be considered as the Minkowski momentum, Lorentz force analysis suggests that the momentum of a photon traveling through the continuous background, however, can be modeled as the type of Abraham. Finally, as an interesting sidewalk, a machine learning based system has been developed to predict the time-averaged force within a very short time avoiding time-consuming full wave simulation.