A study of the oscillating corner meniscus in a vertical constrained vapor bubble system

A vertical constrained vapor bubble, VCVB, made of fused silica was used to study the stability and oscillations of an evaporating wetting film of HFE- 7000^® in a corner. The film thickness profile was measured as a function of time and axial position using an advanced form of image analyzing interferometry. The curvature, apparent contact angle, and pressure profiles for the evaporating film were calculated from the measured film thickness profiles. Oscillation of the liquid film was observed and profiles for both the advancing and receding films were obtained. These are the first such detailed profiles obtained for an oscillating meniscus below a thickness of 0.1 μm.The film thickness profiles demonstrated the spreading of the meniscus during advance as well as the presence of a curvature gradient near the contact line region. The maximum curvature decreased for the advancing menisci and increased with time for the receding menisci. An increase in the adsorbed film thickness was associated with the advancing stage and a decrease with the receding stage. Pressure profiles were measured as a function of position indicating the potential for driving the flow of the fluid toward or away from the contact line. As the film advances or recedes, the pressure gradients change as a function of position fueling the next oscillation cycle.     

Effects of symmetric and asymmetric contact angles and division of menisci during separation

Meniscus and viscous forces are sources of adhesive force when two surfaces are separated with a micro-meniscus present at the interface. The adhesive force can be one of the main reliability issues when the contacting surfaces are ultra-smooth and the normal load is small, as is common for micro/nano devices. In this paper, both meniscus and viscous forces of menisci with symmetric and asymmetric contact angles are modelled. Equations for both meniscus and viscous forces in division of menisci are analytically formulated. The role of these two forces is evaluated during the separation process. The effects of the contact angles, division of menisci, as well as liquid thicknesses, surface tension and viscosity of the liquid, and separation distance and time during separation are presented. It is found that contact angles significantly affect the break point and meniscus force, and the magnitude of meniscus force can be largely reduced by choosing proper asymmetric contact angles. ‘Force scaling’ effects are found to be true for both meniscus and viscous forces when one larger meniscus is divided into large numbers of identical micro-menisci. Meniscus force increases with the number of divisions whereas viscous force decreases by an order of inverse the number of division (1/N). Optimal configurations for low adhesion are identified. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of meniscus and viscous forces during separation of menisci under different physical configurations. It provides a fundamental understanding of the physics of the process and knowledge for control of adhesion due to liquid menisci.     

Dynamics of drying in 3D porous media

The drying dynamics in three dimensional porous media are studied with confocal microscopy. We observe abrupt air invasions in size from single particle to hundreds of particles. We show that these result from the strong flow from menisci in large pores to menisci in small pores during drying. This flow causes air invasions to start in large menisci and subsequently spread throughout the entire system. We measure the size and structure of the air invasions and show that they are in accord with invasion percolation. By varying the particle size and contact angle we unambiguously demonstrate that capillary pressure dominates the drying process.     

Numerical prediction of rail roughness growth on tangent railway tracks

Growth of railhead roughness (irregularities, waviness) is predicted through numerical simulation of dynamic train-track interaction on tangent track. The hypothesis is that wear is caused by longitudinal slip due to driven wheelsets, and that wear is proportional to the longitudinal frictional power in the contact patch. Emanating from an initial roughness spectrum corresponding to a new or a recent ground rail, an initial roughness profile is determined. Wheel-rail contact forces, creepages and wear for one wheelset passage are calculated in relation to location along a discretely supported track model. The calculated wear is scaled by a chosen number of wheelset passages, and is then added to the initial roughness profile. Field observations of rail corrugation on a Dutch track are used to validate the simulation model. Results from the simulations predict a large roughness growth rate for wavelengths around 30-40 mm. The large growth in this wavelength interval is explained by a low track receptance near the sleepers around the pinned-pinned resonance frequency, in combination with a large number of driven passenger wheelset passages at uniform speed. The agreement between simulations and field measurements is good with respect to dominating roughness wavelength and annual wear rate. Remedies for reducing roughness growth are discussed.     

Relation between the spatial growth rate of a traveling wave and the temporal growth rate of a standing wave

The relation between the spatial growth rate of a traveling wave and the temporal growth rate of the corresponding standing wave is examined. It is shown that, when radiation propagates in a gain medium with a sufficiently narrow gain line and a high amplification coefficient in the line center, the frequency dependences of the spatial and temporal growth rates of the field amplitude can differ significantly. In particular, at a fixed population inversion, the unbounded narrowing of the gain line, which results in an unbounded increase in the spatial growth rate and the narrowing of its frequency profile, is accompanied by neither an unbounded increase in the maximum value of the temporal growth rate nor an unbounded narrowing of the frequency profile of this growth rate.     

The clinical significance of stage 2 meniscal abnormalities on magnetic resonance knee images

The Stage 2 meniscal abnormality was subdivided into Stage 2A--linear abnormal signal not contacting an articular surface, Stage 2B--abnormal signal in contact with the articular surface on a single image, Stage 2C--extensive wedge-shaped signal abnormality not in contact with an articular surface. Arthroscopy showed tears in 2A 3%, 2B 0%, 2C 50%. Complete tears should only be diagnosed if contact is seen on more than one image. Many Stage 2C menisci may have tears.     

The Relevance of Powder/Liquid Wettability to the Cohesiveness of Carbon Black Agglomerates

Particle size enlargement operations often involve the use of a liquid to improve powder cohesiveness. Capillary suction and surface tension forces acting through liquid menisci between particles are the primary source of the cohesive bonding. The strength of these forces, and consequently the strength of the wet agglomerate, is dependent upon the total liquid content, its distribution within the agglomerate, and the powder wettability (characterized by the liquid surface tension and powder/liquid contact angle). The tensile strength of powder compacts containing submicron carbon black particles has been measured as a function of saturation level for several liquids. It is found that the compact strength increases with increasing surface tension for liquids that exhibit a zero contact angle. Above the critical surface tension for wetting a more complicated situation exists where both the surface tension and contact angle are important.     

Local assortativity and growth of Internet

Local assortativity has been recently proposed as a measure to analyse complex networks. It has been noted that the Internet Autonomous System level networks show a markedly different local assortativity profile to most biological and social networks. In this paper we show that, even though several Internet growth models exist, none of them produce the local assortativity profile that can be observed in the real AS networks. We introduce a new generic growth model which can produce a linear local assortativity profile similar to that of the Internet. We verify that this model accurately depicts the local assortativity profile criteria of Internet, while also satisfactorily modelling other attributes of AS networks already explained by existing models.     

Curves of growth for van der Waals broadened spectral lines

Curves of growth are evaluated for a spectral line broadened by the van der Waals interactions during collisions. The growth of the equivalent widths of such lines is shown to be dependent on the product of the perturber density and the 6/10 power of the van der Waals potential coefficient. When the parameter is small, the widths grow as the 1/2 power of the optical depth as they do for the Voigt profile; but when the parameter is large, they grow as 2/3 power and, hence, faster than the Voigt profile. An approximate analytical expression for the computed growth characteristics is given.     

Laboratory evidence for stochastic plasma-wave growth

The first laboratory confirmation of stochastic growth theory is reported. Floating potential fluctuations are measured in a vacuum arc centrifuge using a Langmuir probe. Statistical analysis of the energy density reveals a lognormal distribution over roughly 2 orders of magnitude, with a high-field nonlinear cutoff whose spatial dependence is consistent with the predicted eigenmode profile. These results are consistent with stochastic growth and nonlinear saturation of a spatially extended eigenmode, the first evidence for stochastic growth of an extended structure.     

Effect of mechanical deformations on the growth of crystals (according to atomic force microscopy data)

Nanosized morphological transformations occurring on the surface of a crystal in the area drawn by a probe needle during the growth of a scratch and the growth kinetics of crystals subjected to mechanical impact have been studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). A series of experiments with mechanical impact on topographically different areas of a growing face (100) of a dioxidine crystal has been performed. It has been shown that even slight local contact between the probe needle and the surface on a nanoscale leads to essential crystallogenetic (morphological and kinetic) consequences, and its effect is perceptible for a long time. Among these consequences are the coarsening of stages, the appearance of great fluctuations in the growth rate of stages, the loss of morphological stability by the surface even at a distance of several tens of micrometers from the contact area, and also the phenomenon of simultaneous growth and dissolution in neighboring areas of stages.     

Differential growth and instability in elastic shells

Differential growth in elastic materials can produce stress either through incompatibility of growth or by interaction with the surrounding medium. In many situations, this stress can be sufficient to induce shape instability in the growing medium. To gain better insight in growth-induced instabilities, the growth of an elastic shell loaded with hydrostatic pressure or embedded in an elastic medium is studied. The residual stress arising from the incompatibility of growth and the contact stress arising from the interaction with the surrounding medium are computed with respect to growth and geometric parameters and critical values for instability are obtained. Depending on these parameters, different modes of instability can be obtained.     

Stimulation of the local growth of aligned carbon nanotubes by pulse laser exposure of the substrate

The local stimulation of carbon nanotubes (CNT) growth at the laser-modified sites that have been obtained by excimer laser irradiation at 248 nm causing a local surface modification has been investigated by two different processing methods. The influence of the laser processing parameters on the CNT growth is compared for the irradiation of thin spin-coated iron nitrate films on silicon substrates and the backside irradiation of a fused silica substrate being in contact with an iron nitrate solution. Both techniques cause the formation of catalytic surface sites either by decomposition of the film or by deposition from the solution. For both laser modification approaches the local growth of vertical aligned nanotubes has been observed. In the case of spin-coated film the laser irradiation conditions have only a small influence on the CNT growth whereas at backside modification by means of a solution a strong dependence on the laser processing parameters has been found.     

Perturbation methods in the kinetics of nanocluster growth

The rigorous perturbation theory of the evolution of a small-sized cluster is developed in the framework of the density functional method. The solution of the general equation for relaxation of the order parameter field is derived in the form of a power series of the metastability parameter (an analog of supersaturation or supercooling) and the curvature. The profile of the cluster density and the cluster growth rate are determined in an analytical form. The surface tension and the Tolman parameter are calculated. The results obtained are applied to a van der Waals three-dimensional gas and a two-dimensional lattice gas. It is shown that the theoretical results are in good agreement with experimental data.     

On hydrate growth in aquatic gas solution

The solution was obtained for a problem of gas hydrate growth in water with dissolved gas. The rate of hydrate formation depends on gas diffusion to the contact with gas hydrate. Three versions of problem configuration were considered: planar, radial, and spherical symmetry. For these cases, the values of the self-similarity coordinate were obtained: this parameter controls the growth of gas hydrate in water with gas dissolved and the level of top temperature in the hydrate zone. Analysis was performed for temperature fields related to heat release during hydrate formation.     

Inexpensive and highly controlled growth of zinc oxide nanowire: Impacts of substrate temperature and growth time on synthesis and physical properties

Zinc oxide nanowires (ZnO NWs) were synthesized using a simple reactive-evaporation method without the use of catalysts. The NWs growth was precisely controlled by adjusting the experimental conditions mainly growth times and substrate temperatures. These experimental parameters are crucial for the growth of NWs. The typical diameter and length of the highly crystalline NWs obtained are several tens and several hundred nanometers, respectively. The nature of early-stages growth, morphology, structure and photoluminescent properties of the NWs grown at low temperatures have been explained and give the basic reasons behind these growth mechanisms. Self-organized ZnO nuclei are primarily formed on FTO pits due to high density of Zn atoms. It can be ascribed to vapour-solid with an area selected growth of NWs which provide a continuous pathway for carrier transport due to direct contact with the substrate. These features are crucial for the application of electronic devices, solar cells, etc.     

Computer simulations of heterogeneous crystal growth of atomic systems

The systematic study of the mechanisms of heterogeneous crystal growth has proven somewhat difficult. Here we briefly review previous work in this area. We then report a novel molecular dynamics simulation methodology that has been developed to enable the creation of steady-state crystal growth–melting. We employ this methodology to examine BCC and FCC 001, 011 and 111 crystal faces of systems of spherical particles interacting through Lennard-Jones and inverse sixth-power potentials. Various growth–melting conditions are explored involving different temperature gradients and velocities. Profile functions of various quantities across the interface have been recorded; as measured in the moving frame by the present approach, these functions are effectively averaged over the molecular detail of the interface and become smooth. This characteristic allows for new ways of interpreting profile functions like the energy and local structural order parameters. We find that when the derivative of these profile functions is taken with respect to the z dimension, we obtain consistent peaks that characterize the freezing–melting interfaces. Consequently, the position and width of an interface are easily identified. The interfacial widths calculated show that it is somewhat dependent on the temperature gradient but no dependence on the growth velocity was observed. The interfacial widths are found to decrease in the order 001?>?011?>?111. Furthermore we determine interfacial tensions, which arise directly out of our methodology. We are able to demonstrate that ordering and disordering are distinct and different processes occurring at both the melting and freezing interfaces.     

Liquid/solid interface profile of melt grown oxide crystals I. Czochralski growth

The relation between temperature gradient and the liquid/solid interface profile of Czochralski grown Al₂O₃ and YAG crystals is described. Lowering the radial component as well as increasing the axial component of temperature gradient during crystal growth causes the convex or pointed interface to be flattened. In the range of magnitudes both of the components of temperature gradient used, four types of interface profiles were found. An alteration of the interface profile which causes local increase of the growth rate can be accompanied by cell formation. The volume of the portion of the growing crystal submerged in the melt is directly proportional to the optical transmissivity of the crystal and inversely proportional to the optical transmissivity of the melt.     

Avoided critical behavior in dynamically forced wetting

A solid object can be coated by a nonwetting liquid since a receding contact line cannot exceed a critical speed. In this Letter we study the dynamical wetting transition at which a liquid film gets deposited by withdrawing a vertical plate out of a liquid reservoir. It has recently been predicted that this wetting transition is critical with diverging time scales and coincides with the disappearance of stationary menisci. We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that the transition is due to the formation of a solitary wave, well below the critical point. As a consequence, relaxation times remain finite at threshold. The structure of the liquid deposited on the plate involves a capillary ridge that does not trivially match the Landau-Levich film.     

Solid source MBE growth of quantum cascade lasers

High material quality is the basis of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs). Here we report the solid source molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) growth details of realizing high quality of InGaAs/InAlAs QCL structures. Accurate control of material compositions, layer thickness, doping profile, and interface smoothness can be realized by optimizing the growth conditions. Double crystal x-ray diffraction discloses that our grown QCL structures possess excellent periodicity and sharp interfaces. High quality laser wafers are grown in a single epitaxial run. Room temperature continuous-wave (cw) operation of QCLs is demonstrated.