New lead-free solder alloy

As the electronics industry is moving towards lead-free manufacturing processes, a new lead-free solder alloy based on Sn–9Zn–1Bi–2Cu–In is described. The quaternary alloy with indium additions exhibits melting, wetting, and mechanical properties superior to those in binary, ternary, and quaternary alloys. Indium as a penternary addition decreases the melting point of this alloy to 181 ^°C which it is a lower value when compared with the eutectic Sn–Pb solder (183 ^°C), it decreases the contact angle to 23^° which is very close to that for Sn–Pb solder alloy, it increases the Young’s modulus to higher values, and it increases its hardness to 19 kgf/mm² when compared with 12.9 kgf/mm² for the Sn–Pb solder alloy.     

可调制润湿性和力学性能的电纺纤维膜的制备与性能研究

采用静电纺丝技术分别制备了无规排列和高度取向排列的聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯(PET)和PET/CA(柠檬酸)4种纤维膜,对它们的润湿性能和力学性能进行了研究,同时研究了纤维膜厚度对膜的力学性能的影响.研究结果表明,与无规排列的PET纤维膜相比,取向排列的PET纤维膜沿纤维取向方向的力学性能有了很大的提高,而断裂伸长率略有下降;加入柠檬酸(CA)后,PET/CA复合纤维膜的表面水接触角从132.3!减少到0!,且取向排列的纤维膜比无规排列的纤维膜更易润湿;无规排列的复合纤维膜的力学性能因加入CA而大幅下降,取向排列的PET/CA纤维膜沿纤维取向方向的力学性能下降较小,而无规排列的PET/CA纤维膜的断裂伸长率从284.1%增加到444.5%.无规排列纤维膜的力学性能随膜厚度的增加先提高,后来又下降,而取向排列的纤维膜沿纤维取向方向的力学性能随膜厚度增加而单调增加.     

Water adsorption on hydrogenated Si(1 1 1) surfaces

The adsorption of water on the hydrogen terminated Si(1 1 1) surface is studied by means of first-principles calculations as well as contact angle measurements. Possible initial adsorption configurations for single water molecules and the potential energy surface are calculated. Only small adsorption energies of the order of meV are predicted. Calculations for higher coverage show that the water-water interactions are stronger than the water-surface bonding. The contact angle formed between a water droplet on the surface approximated from the total-energy calculations amounts to 88°, while our measured value is 91°.     

Superhydrophobic silica films by sol–gel co-precursor method

Wetting phenomena of water droplets on solid are of crucial concern in our daily life as well as in engineering and science. The present paper describes the room temperature synthesis of superhydrophobic silica films on glass substrates using trimethylethoxysilane (TMES) as a co-precursor. The coating sol was prepared by keeping the molar ratio of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) precursor, methanol (MeOH) solvent, water (H₂O) constant at 1:38.6:8.68, respectively, with 2 M NH₄OH throughout the experiments and the TMES/TEOS molar ratio (M) was varied from 0 to 1.1. It was found that with an increase in M value, the hydrophobicity of the films increased, however the optical transmission decreased from 88% to 82% in the visible range. The hydrophobic silica films retained their hydrophobicity up to a temperature of 275 °C and above this temperature the films became superhydrophilic. The hydrophobic silica films were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, percentage of optical transmission, humidity test and static and dynamic contact angle measurements.     

Random walk versus random line

We consider random walks X_n in Z₊, obeying a detailed balance condition, with a weak drift towards the origin when X_n↗∞. We reconsider the equivalence in law between a random walk bridge and a 1+1 dimensional Solid-On-Solid bridge with a corresponding Hamiltonian. Phase diagrams are discussed in terms of recurrence versus wetting. A drift of the random walk yields a Solid-On-Solid potential with an attractive well at the origin and a repulsive tail at infinity, showing complete wetting for δ≤1 and critical partial wetting for δ>1.     

The wettability of polytetrafluoroethylene and polymethylmethacrylate by aqueous solutions of Triton X-100 and short chain alcohol mixtures

Measurements of advancing contact angles (θ) were carried out for aqueous solutions of Triton X-100 (TX-100) and methanol and ethanol mixtures at constant TX-100 concentration equal to 1 × 10⁻⁷, 1 × 10⁻⁶, 1 × 10⁻⁵, 1 × 10⁻⁴, 6 × 10⁻⁴ and 1 × 10⁻³ M, respectively, on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). Using measured contact angle values the relationships between cos θ, adhesion tension and surface tension of the solutions were determined, and on their basis the critical surface tension of PTFE and PMMA wetting was calculated. The obtained average value of the critical surface tension of PTFE wetting is lying in the range of the PTFE surface tension values which can be found in the literature, while for PMMA it is even lower than the Lifshitz-van der Waals component of its surface tension. From the relationship between the adhesion and surface tension and Lucassen-Reynders equation it results that in the case of PTFE the adsorption at the PTFE-solution and solution-air interfaces is the same, which was confirmed by a linear relationship between the cos θ and 1/γ_LV and intercept on cos θ axis equal to −1. However, for PMMA the adsorption of the surface active agents at solution-air interface is higher than at PMMA-solution. Using the values of the contact angle the values of the adhesion work of solution to the PTFE and PMMA surface were also determined, which are constant for PTFE, but for PMMA decrease with alcohol concentration increase. Next, using the contact angle values in the Young equation, the PTFE(PMMA)-solution interface tension was also calculated. The obtained values of PTFE-solution interface tension were compared with those evaluated from the Szyszkowski, Connors and Fainerman and Miller equations, and good agreement between these values was observed for all series of TX-100 and alcohol mixtures at a low alcohol concentration.     

Flow injection wetting-film extraction system for flame atomic absorption spectrometric determination of cadmium in environmental waters

A newly simple flow injection wetting-film extraction system coupled to flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) has been developed for trace amount of cadmium determination. The sample was mixed on-line with sodium diethyl dithiocarbamate and the produced non-charged Cd(II)-diethyl dithiocarbamate (DDTC) chelate complex was extracted on the thin film of diisobutyl ketone (DIBK) on the inner wall of the PTFE extraction coil. The wetting-film with the extracted analyte was then eluted by a segment of the cover solvent, and transported directly to the FAAS for evaluation. All the important chemical and flow parameters were optimized. Under the optimized conditions an enhancement factor of 35, a sample frequency of 22 h⁻¹ and a detection limit of c_L = 0.7 μg l⁻¹ Cd(II) were obtained for 60 s preconcentration time. The calibration curve was linear over the concentration range 1.5-45.0 μg l⁻¹ Cd(II) and the relative standard deviation, R.S.D. (n = 10) was 3.9%, at 10.0 μg l⁻¹ concentration level. The developed method was successfully applied to cadmium determination in a variety of environmental water samples as well as waste-water sample.     

Spreading of diblock copolymer droplets: A probe of polymer micro-rheology

We present an experimental study of the spreading dynamics of symmetric diblock copolymer droplets above and below the order-disorder transition. Disordered diblock droplets are found to spread as a homopolymer and follow Tanner’s law (the radius grows as R ∼ t ^m , where t is time and m = 1/10 . However, droplets that are in the ordered phase are found to be frustrated by the imposed lamellar microstructure. This frustration is likely at the root of the observed deviation from Tanner’s law: droplet spreading has a much slower power law ( m ∼ 0.05±0.01 . We show that the different spreading dynamics can be reconciled with conventional theory if a strain-rate-dependent viscosity is taken into account.     

Fabrication of segmented nanofibers by template wetting of multilayered alternating polymer thin films

Segmented polystyrene (PS) and poly-methyl methacrylate (PMMA) nanofibers were fabricated by wetting nanoporous alumina templates with multilayered polymer thin films. The order and thickness of the polymers within the thin films affected the resulting nanofiber morphology, PS and PMMA segment properties, and created unique core-shell structure in the PMMA segments. The core-shell structure suggests a complex wetting phenomenon. Fabrication of polymer nanostructures by wetting of layered thin films opens the arena of multifunctional, one-dimensional, polymer nanostructures with segments having individual and specific functionalities.     

Modelling the wetting of a solid occlusion by a liquid film

We investigate in this work how the presence of an occlusion affects the dynamics of the wetting front of a liquid film draining down a vertical surface. This numerical study is developed in the context of the lubrication approximation. Through a parametric study, we show that depending on the asymptotic film thickness and the fluid properties, there exists a critical substrate contact angle below which separation of the contact line from the occlusion wall is observed which results in the appearance of a dry zone in the wake of the occlusion. In analogy with external aerodynamics, we also show that a sharp corner in the occlusion can induce this contact line separation. Our numerical results also highlight the importance of the occlusion wettability on the morphology of the wetting front suggesting a possible mechanism to control and mitigate the often undesirable fingering instability.