Elasticity and nanomechanical response of Aspergillus niger spores using atomic force microscopy

The elasticity and nanomechanical response of Aspergillus niger spores determined using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and nanoindentation are discussed. The force-displacement curve of the spore surfaces shows that the average surface roughness of spores was approximately 33 nm and that the adhesion force ranged from 9 to 28 nN. The Young's modulus of the A. niger spores ranged from 0.1 to 21.4 GPa and the hardness ranged from 0.01 to 0.17 GPa. The critical buckling load of the spore membrane is 290 μN.     

Novel structures and mechanical properties of Zr2N:Ab initio description under high pressures

With the formation of structural vacancies,zirconium nitrides(key materials for cutting coatings,super wearresistance,and thermal barrier coatings) display a variety of compositions and phases featuring both cation and nitrogen enrichment.This study presents a systematic exploration of the stable crystal structures of zirconium heminitride combining the evolutionary algorithm method and ab initio density functional theory calculations at pressures of 0 GPa,30 GPa,60 GPa,90 GPa,120 GPa,150 GPa,and 200 GPa.In addition to the previously proposed phases P42/mnm-,Pnnn-,and Cmcm-Zr2 N,five new high-pressure Zr₂N phases of PA/nmm,IA/mcm,P2₁/m,P3 m1,and C2/m are discovered.An enthalpy study of these candidate configurations reveals various structural phase transformations of Zr2 N under pressure.By calculating the elastic constants and phonon dispersion,the mechanical and dynamical stabilities of all predicted structures are examined at ambient and high pressures.To understand the structure-property relationships,the mechanical properties of all Zr₂N compounds are investigated,including the elastic moduli,Vickers hardness,and directional dependence of Young’s modulus.The Cmncm-Zr2 N phase is found to belong to the brittle materials and has the highest Vickers hardness(12.9 GPa) among all candidate phases,while the I4/mcm-Zr2 N phase is the most ductile and has the lowest Vickers hardness(2.1 GPa).Furthermore,the electronic mechanism underlying the diverse mechanical behaviors of Zr2 N structures is discussed by analyzing the partial density of states.     

An Attempt to Prepare Metallic Glasses from Quasicrystals

Icosahedrons in supercooled liquids and glasses are considered to be of significance for the glass formation in alloy systems.Starting from the similarity of the local structure of quasicrystals to the icosahedrons in metallic glasses,a scheme is put forward to prepare metallic glasses based on a well-known quasicrystal Zr_(40)Ti_(40)Ni_(20).A series of(Zr_(40)Ti_(40)Ni_(20))_(100-x)Co_x metallic glasses are fabricated,and the optimized glass forming composition is determined at(Zr_(40)Ti_(40)Ni_(20))_(92)Co_8.The results show that the glass-forming ability of the alloys is closely related to the quasicrystalline phases.The mechanism of the enhanced glass-forming ability is discussed.     

Nanomechanical characteristics of SnO2:F thin films deposited by chemical vapor deposition

The nanoindentation characterizations and mechanical properties of fluorine-doped tin oxide (SnO₂:F) films deposited on glass substrates, using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, were studied, which included the effects of the indentation loads, the loading time and the hold time on the thin film. The surface roughness, fractal dimension and frictional coefficient were also studied by varying the freon flow rates. X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and frictional force microscopy (FFM) were used to analyze the morphology of the microstructure. The results showed that crystalline structure of the film had a high intensity (1 1 0) peak orientation, especially at a low freon flow rate. According to the nanoindentation records, the Young's modulus ranged from 62.4 to 75.1 GPa and the hardness ranged from 5.1 to 9.9 GPa at a freon flow rate of 8000 sccm. The changes in measured properties were due to changing loading rate.     

The structure and mechanical properties of thick rutile-TiO2 films using different coating treatments

The hardness and Young's modulus of thick rutile-TiO₂ films were determined using a continuous stiffness measurement (CSM) technique in this study. Pure rutile-TiO₂ nanopowders (TH₂O, TFeSO₄ and TCuSO₄) were prepared using a modified homogeneous-precipitation process at low temperature (MHPPLT) method. The TiO₂ films were prepared from sols using 3% (w/w) of the prepared-TiO₂ suspension solution coated onto silicon wafers. After dip-coating was completed, the coatings were further treated by natural air-drying, water-vapor exposure, and calcination, respectively. An ellipsometry with a monochromator was used to measure the thickness and refractive index of the TiO₂ films, and a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine their morphology. Three coatings of TH₂O, TFeSO₄ and TCuSO₄ demonstrated their refractive indexes of around 1.60 under three treatments. Volumetric expansion and thickness of the coatings should influence their refractive index. Furthermore, the continuous stiffness measurement (CSM) technique was used to perform nanoindentation testing on the hardness and Young's modulus of prepared rutile-TiO₂ coatings. The mean hardness and Young's modulus of three coatings increased with preparation temperature. In addition, the TH₂O coatings demonstrated greater hardness and modulus than those of TFeSO₄ and TCuSO₄ coatings in the natural air-drying condition. Surface cracking observed on the calcinated TFeSO₄ should be the reason why an obvious decrease of the mean hardness and Young's modulus appeared. Finally, two mechanical properties and related nanoindentation depth of the coatings were discussed in detail.     

The microstructure, mechanical and friction properties of protective diamond like carbon films on magnesium alloy

Protective hard coatings deposited on magnesium alloys are believed to be effective for overcoming their poor wear properties. In this work, diamond-like carbon (DLC) films as hard protective films were deposited on AZ91 magnesium alloy by arc ion plating under negative pulse bias voltages ranging from 0 to −200 V. The microstructure, composition and mechanical properties of the DLC films were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and nanoindentation. The tribological behavior of uncoated and coated AZ91 magnesium alloy was investigated using a ball-on-disk tribotester. The results show that the negative pulse bias voltage used for film deposition has a significant effect on the sp³ carbon content and mechanical properties of the deposited DLC films. A maximum sp³ content of 33.3% was obtained at −100 V, resulting in a high hardness of 28.6 GPa and elastic modulus of 300.0 GPa. The DLC films showed very good adhesion to the AZ91 magnesium alloy with no observable cracks and delamination even during friction testing. Compared with the uncoated AZ91 magnesium alloy, the magnesium alloy coated with DLC films exhibits a low friction coefficient and a narrow, shallow wear track. The wear resistance and surface hardness of AZ91 magnesium alloy can be significantly improved by coating a layer of DLC protective film due to its high hardness and low friction coefficient.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of nano-Y2O3 dispersed ferritic steel synthesized by mechanical alloying and consolidated by pulse plasma sintering

Ferritic steel with compositions 83.0Fe–13.5Cr–2.0Al–0.5Ti (alloy A), 79.0Fe–17.5Cr–2.0Al–0.5Ti (alloy B), 75.0Fe–21.5Cr–2.0Al–0.5Ti (alloy C) and 71.0Fe–25.5Cr–2.0Al–0.5Ti (alloy D) (all in wt%) each with a 1.0?wt% nano-Y₂O₃ dispersion were synthesized by mechanical alloying and consolidated by pulse plasma sintering at 600, 800 and 1000°C using a 75-MPa uniaxial pressure applied for 5?min and a 70-kA pulse current at 3?Hz pulse frequency. X-ray diffraction, scanning and transmission electron microscopy and energy disperse spectroscopy techniques have been used to characterize the microstructural and phase evolution of all the alloys at different stages of mechano-chemical synthesis and consolidation. Mechanical properties in terms of hardness, compressive strength, yield strength and Young's modulus were determined using a micro/nano-indenter and universal testing machine. All ferritic alloys recorded very high levels of compressive strength (850–2850?MPa), yield strength (500–1556?MPa), Young's modulus (175–250?GPa) and nanoindentation hardness (9.5–15.5?GPa), with up to 1–1.5 times greater strength than other oxide dispersion-strengthened ferritic steels (<1200?MPa). These extraordinary levels of mechanical properties can be attributed to the typical microstructure of uniform dispersion of 10–20-nm Y₂Ti₂O₇ or Y₂O₃ particles in a high-alloy ferritic matrix.     

Influence of annealing temperature on the structural, optical and mechanical properties of ALD-derived ZnO thin films

ZnO thin films grown on Si(1 1 1) substrates by using atomic layer deposition (ALD) were annealed at the temperatures ranging from 300 to 500 °C. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results show that the annealed ZnO thin films are highly (0 0 2)-oriented, indicating a well ordered microstructure. The film surface examined by the atomic force microscopy (AFM), however, indicated that the roughness increases with increasing annealing temperature. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum showed that the intensity of UV emission was strongest for films annealed at 500 °C. The mechanical properties of the resultant ZnO thin films investigated by nanoindentation reveal that the hardness decreases from 9.2 GPa to 7.2 GPa for films annealed at 300 °C and 500 °C, respectively. On the other hand, the Young's modulus for the former is 168.6 GPa as compared to a value of 139.5 GPa for the latter. Moreover, the relationship between the hardness and film grain size appear to follow closely with the Hall-Petch equation.     

Berkovich nanoindentation and deformation mechanisms in GaN thin films

The deformation mechanisms of GaN thin films obtained by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) method were studied using nanoindentation with a Berkovich diamond indenter, micro-Raman spectroscopy and the cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (XTEM) techniques. Due to the sharpness of the tip of Berkovich indenter, the nanoindentation-induced deformation behaviors can be investigated at relatively lower load and, hence, may cover wider range of deformation-related phenomena over the same loading range. The load-displacement curves show the multiple “pop-ins” during nanoindentation loading. No evidence of nanoindentation-induced phase transformation and cracking patterns were found up to the maximum load of 300 mN, as revealed from the micro-Raman spectra and the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations within the mechanically deformed regions. In addition, XTEM observation performed near the cross-section of the indented area revealed that the primary deformation mechanism in GaN thin film is via propagation of dislocations on both basal and pyramidal planes. The continuous stiffness measurement (CSM) technique was used to determine the hardness and Young's modulus of GaN thin films. In addition, analysis of the load-displacement data reveals that the values of hardness and Young's modulus of GaN thin films are 19 ± 1 and 286 ± 25 GPa, respectively.     

Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of AlCrFeNiMo_(0.5)Ti_x High Entropy Alloys

Effects of Ti addition on the microstructures and mechanical properties of AlCrFeNiMo_(0.5) Ti_x(X = 0, 0.25, 0.4,0.5, 0.6, 0.75) high entropy alloys(HEAs) are investigated. All these HEAs of various Ti contents possess dual BCC structures, indicating that Ti addition does not induce the formation of any new phase in these alloys. As Ti addition X varies from 0 to 0.75, the Vickers hardness(HV) of the alloy system increases from 623.7 HV to766.2 HV, whereas the compressive yield stress firstly increases and then decreases with increasing X above 0.5.Meanwhile, the compressive ductility of the alloy system decreases with Ti addition. The AlCrFeNiMo_(0.5)Ti_(0.6) and AlCrFeNiMo_(0.5)Ti_(0.75) HEAs become brittle and fracture with very limited plasticity. In the AlCrFeNiMo_(0.5)Ti_x HEAs, the AlCrFeNiMo_(0.5) HEA possesses the highest compressive fracture strength of 4027 MPa and the largest compressive plastic strain of 27.9%, while the AlCrFeNiMo_(0.5)Ti_(0.5) HEA has the highest compressive yield strength of 2229 MPa and a compressive plastic strain of 10.1%. The combination of high strength and large plasticity of the AlCrFeNiMo_(0.5) Ti_x(X = 0, 0.25, 0.4, 0.5) HEAs demonstrates that this alloy system is very promising for engineering applications.     

Nanomechanical characterizations of InGaN thin films

In_xGa_1−xN thin films with In concentration ranging from 25 to 34 at.% were deposited on sapphire substrate by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). Crystalline structure and surface morphology of the deposited films were studied by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Hardness, Young's modulus and creep resistance were measured using a nanoindenter. Among the deposited films, In_0.25Ga_0.75N film exhibits a larger grain size and a higher surface roughness. Results indicate that hardness decreases slightly with increasing In concentration in the In_xGa_1−xN films ranged from 16.6 ± 1.1 to 16.1 ± 0.7 GPa and, Young's modulus for the In_0.25Ga_0.75N, In_0.3Ga_0.7N and In_0.34Ga_0.66N films are 375.8 ± 23.1, 322.4 ± 13.5 and 373.9 ± 28.6 GPa, respectively. In addition, the time-dependent nanoindentation creep experiments are presented in this article.     

Surface characteristics and nanoindentation study of Ni-Mn-Ga ferromagnetic shape memory sputtered thin films

In present paper, the off-stoichiometric Ni-Mn-Ga ferromagnetic shape memory alloy thin films are fabricated using radio frequency magnetron sputtering method. The compositions, microstructures and mechanical properties of the thin films are characterized by energy dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDAX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electronic microscope (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and nanoindentation test, respectively. The results show that there is a thinner layer of oxides consisting of NiO, Ga₂O₃ and an unspecified manganese oxidation (Mn_xO_y) at the surface, whereas a small amount of MnO precipitates exist in internal layers of post-annealed Ni-Mn-Ga thin films. The hardness and elastic modulus decrease with increasing film thickness. Nanoindentation tests reveal that the hardness and elastic modulus of the films can be up to 5.5 and 155 GPa, respectively. The Ni-Mn-Ga thin films have remarkably improved the ductility of Ni-Mn-Ga ferromagnetic shape memory alloys bulk materials.     

Effect of Young's modulus evolution on residual stress measurement of thermal barrier coatings by X-ray diffraction

Subjected to thermal cycling, the apparent Young's modulus of air plasma-sprayed (APS) 8 wt.% Y₂O₃-stabilized ZrO₂ (8YSZ) thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) was measured by nanoindentation. Owing to the effects of sintering and porous microstructure, the apparent Young's modulus follows a Weibull distribution and changes from 50 to 93 GPa with an increase of thermal cycling. The evolution of residual stresses in the top coating of an 8YSZ TBC system was determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The residual stresses derived from the XRD data are well consistent with that obtained by the Vickers indention. It is shown that the evolution of Young's modulus plays an important role in improving the measurement precision of residual stresses in TBCs by XRD.     

Li2O-Al2O3-SiO2微晶玻璃表面粗糙度对纳米硬度测试的影响

 介绍了纳米压痕测试技术的基础理论及纳米压痕法常用的Oliver -Pharr方法的计算原理。采用纳米压痕试验测得不同表面粗糙度的Li2O-Al2O3-SiO2微晶玻璃样品的纳米硬度、弹性模量和载荷-位移曲线。结果表明样品表面粗糙度会降低纳米压痕测试结果的稳定性、准确性和可靠性：样品表面粗糙度越小,测得的纳米硬度和弹性模量值波动越小,载荷-位移曲线重合性越高。随着最大载荷的增大,测得的弹性模量逐渐减小,其原因是压痕边缘材料发生了塑形变形。在超光滑表面样品（Ra=0.9 nm）上测得较为准确的Li2O-Al2O3-SiO2微晶玻璃纳米硬度和弹性模量值分别为8.8 GPa和7.79 GPa。纳米压痕测试结果的重合度对于评价超光滑表面完整性研究具有指导意义。     

非晶合金中的低温电阻率极小行为研究

研究了非磁非晶合金Cu₆₀Zr₂₀Hf₁₀Ti₁₀和铁磁非晶合金Fe₆₁Co₇Zr₁₀Mo₅W₂B₁₅的低温电阻，用不同的模型对电阻温度曲线进行拟合.对两个样品中出现的极小值行为进行分析，探讨了无序结构和磁性状态对极小值行为的影响. 关键词： 非晶合金 电阻 极小值     

Characterization of hydrogenated amorphous carbon thin films by end-Hall ion beam deposition

Pure hydrogenated amorphous carbon (α-C:H) and nitrogen doped hydrogenated amorphous carbon (α-C:H:N) thin films were prepared using end-Hall (EH) ion beam deposition with a beam energy ranging from 24 eV to 48 eV. The composition, microstructure and mechanical properties of the films were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, scanning probe microscopy (SPM), and nano-scratch tests. The films are uniform and smooth with root mean square roughness values of 0.5-0.8 nm for α-C:H and 0.35 nm for α-C:H:N films. When the ion energy was increased from 24 eV to 48 eV, the fraction of sp³ bonding in the α-C:H films increased from 36% to 55%, the hardness increased from 8 GPa to 12.5 GPa, and the Young's modulus increased from 100 GPa to 130 GPa. In the α-C:H:N films, N/C atomic ratio, the hardness and Young's modulus of the α-C:H:N films are, 0.087, 15 and 145 GPa, respectively. The results indicate that both higher ion energy and a small amount of N doping improve the mechanical properties of the films. The results have demonstrated that smooth and uniform α-C:H and α-C:H:N films with large area and reasonably high hardness and Young's modulus can be synthesized by EH ion source.     

A displacement sensing nanoindentation study of tribo-mechanical properties of the Ni-Co system

An analysis of the tribo-mechanical properties of the Ni-Co system, at the submicrometric contact scale, is conducted using displacement sensing nanoindentation. In particular, the influence of contact depth and surface finishing methods on the hardness, H, and Young's modulus, E, of the materials is analysed. Mechanically and electrolitically polished samples were tested with a conospherical indenter using a range of loads between 0.05 and 10 mN. It is shown that the hardness of these materials depends on the surface finishing method and increases with decreasing contact depth, while the Young's modulus is relatively insensitive to contact depth. Furthermore, sample polycrystallinity leads to a large scattering of hardness values in Co-rich samples and of Young's modulus values in Ni-rich ones. The combined parametric ratio H/E, which can be related to the tribological behaviour of the material, was found to be higher in samples with Co content larger than 80 wt.%.     

Chemical and mechanical properties of snake fangs

The composition of dental tissues and their interaction determines its mechanical properties. The mechanical properties and chemical composition of the teeth of extant reptiles are still poorly studied areas. As a preliminary study the fangs of four species of snakes and a human tooth were investigated through nanoindentation and Raman spectroscopy. The average elastic modulus values for the main body of the fangs ranged from 15.3 GPa to 24.6 GPa, and 19.1 GPa for the human dentine. Raman spectroscopy and principal component analysis (PCA) showed that snake fangs are similar in composition to human dentine, both of which comprised of hydroxyapatite and an organic matrix. The elastic modulus and hardness data were correlated to the Raman spectra using partial least squares regression (PLS). The spectral features which correlated with the elastic modulus would suggest that elastic modulus is dependent on the relative protein to mineral amounts in the tooth. The form of the phosphate and the relative levels of phosphate to organic components also appear to be governing factors for elastic modulus. The PLS of Raman spectra against the hardness gave very similar results. The small differences between snake fangs and human dentine appeared to be because of carbonate content, with higher levels of carbonate in the human tooth than the snake fangs. Snake fangs should be able to withstand large lateral forces. Human dentine aids in dissipating imposed loads. This similarity in the chemical composition of the snake fangs and human dentine supported the findings of the similarities in mechanical properties, which may be attributed to the similar functional demands of these biocomposites. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effects of post-annealing on the structural and nanomechanical properties of Ga-doped ZnO thin films deposited on glass substrate by rf-magnetron sputtering

In this study, the effects of post-annealing on the structure, surface morphology and nanomechanical properties of ZnO thin films doped with a nominal concentration of 3 at.% Ga (ZnO:Ga) are investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nanoindentation techniques. The ZnO:Ga thin films were deposited on the glass substrates at room temperature by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. Results revealed that the as-deposited ZnO:Ga thin films were polycrystalline albeit the low deposition temperature. Post-annealing carried out at 300, 400 and 500 °C, respectively, has resulted in progressive increase in both the average grain size and the surface roughness of the ZnO:Ga thin film, in addition to the improved thin films crystallinity. Moreover, the hardness and Young's modulus of ZnO:Ga thin films are measured by a Berkovich nanoindenter operated with the continuous contact stiffness measurements (CSM) option. The hardness and Young's modulus of ZnO:Ga thin films increased as the annealing temperature increased from 300 to 500 °C, with the best results being obtained at 500 °C.     

The structural,elastic,and electronic properties of Zr_x Nb_(1-x)C alloys from first principle calculations

The structural,elastic,electronic,and thermodynamic properties of Zr x Nb1-x C alloys are investigated using the first principles method based on the density functional theory.The results show that the structural properties of Zr x Nb1-x C alloys vary continuously with the increase of Zr composition.The alloy possesses both the highest shear modulus(215 GPa)and a higher bulk modulus(294 GPa),with a Zr composition of 0.21.Meanwhile,the Zr0.21Nb0.79C alloy shows metallic conductivity based on the analysis of the density of states.In addition,the thermodynamic stability of the designed alloys is estimated using the calculated enthalpy of mixing.