Three dimensional accurate morphology measurements of polystyrene standard particles on silicon substrate by electron tomography

Polystyrene latex (PSL) nanoparticle (NP) sample is one of the most widely used standard materials. It is used for calibration of particle counters and particle size measurement tools. It has been reported that the measured NP sizes by various methods, such as Differential Mobility Analysis, dynamic light scattering (DLS), optical microscopy (OM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), differ from each other. Deformation of PSL NPs on mica substrate has been reported in AFM measurements: the lateral width of PSL NPs is smaller than their vertical height. To provide a reliable calibration standard, the deformation must be measured by a method that can reliably visualize the entire three dimensional (3D) shape of the PSL NPs. Here we present a method for detailed measurement of PSL NP 3D shape by means of electron tomography in a transmission electron microscope. The observed shape of the PSL NPs with 100 nm and 50 nm diameter were not spherical, but squished in direction perpendicular to the support substrate by about 7.4% and 12.1%, respectively. The high difference in surface energy of the PSL NPs and that of substrate together with their low Young modulus appear to explain the squishing of the NPs without presence of water film.     

On the Nano/Micro-Mechanics of Metallic Glass

Metallic glass (MG) is amorphous and has some outstanding properties such as ultrahigh strength, superior elasticity, and excellent thermo-plasticity. However, as MG is relatively new to the metal family, the relationship between its physical properties and amorphous structure is still unclear. This article aims to provide an insightful discussion through a comprehensive review about the investigations in the past few decades on the scientific mechanisms of this class of material. The discussion of the paper will include the following key aspects: (1) the formation mechanism of an amorphous structure through glass transition, (2) the structural characterization and models, (3) the micromechanics of plastic event and shear band, and (4) the correlation between the amorphous structure and its mechanical properties.     

Nonlinear phase field theory for fracture and twinning with analysis of simple shear

A phase field theory for coupled twinning and fracture in single crystal domains is developed. Distinct order parameters denote twinned and fractured domains, finite strains are addressed and elastic nonlinearity is included via a neo-Hookean strain energy potential. The governing equations and boundary conditions are derived; an incremental energy minimization approach is advocated for prediction of equilibrium microstructural morphologies under quasi-static loading protocols. Aspects of the theory are analysed in detail for a material element undergoing simple shear deformation. Exact analytical and/or one-dimensional numerical solutions are obtained in dimensionless form for stress states, stability criteria and order parameter profiles at localized fractures or twinning zones. For sufficient applied strain, the relative likelihood of localized twinning vs. localized fracture is found to depend only on the ratio of twin boundary surface energy to fracture surface energy. Predicted criteria for shear stress-driven fracture or twinning are often found to be in closer agreement with test data for several types of real crystals than those based on the concept of theoretical strength.     

车用塑料耐刮擦测试方法概述

耐刮擦测试是汽车内外饰塑料零件质量控制的一项重要指标。介绍了耐刮擦测试原理,刮擦头、负载、样品与刮擦头相对运动状态等是决定测试方法的关键技术要素,评价塑料耐刮擦性的方法分为目视法及仪器测量法。综述了五指刮擦法、硬度试验笔刮擦法、网格刮擦法、摩擦色牢度刮擦法及其他刮擦法测试方法,分析和总结了不同测试方法的特点和应用范围。     

分析测试新成果(238~242)电线塑料护套的傅立叶变换红外光谱分析

采用傅立叶变换红外光谱法对21个5种不同颜色的电线塑料护套样品进行了分析.从红外光谱图中可观察到样品特征峰的峰数、峰位、相对峰面积比均有差异,但可以归纳为两大类.其中同种颜色的不同样品在红外谱图中又反映出了不同的信息,这表明在外观颜色十分相近的情况下,采用此方法能够有效的为刑事案件现场遗留的各种塑料制品提供鉴别与比对.     

Light-Driven Crawling of Molecular Crystals by Phase-Dependent Transient Elastic Lattice Deformation

The light-driven crawling of a molecular crystal that can form three phases, (α, β, and γ) is presented. Laser irradiation of the molecular crystal can generate phase-dependent transient elastic lattice deformation. The resulting elastic lattice deformation that follows scanning irradiation of a laser can actuate the different phases of molecular crystal to move with different velocity and direction. Because the γ phase has a large Young's modulus (ca. 26 GPa), a force of 0.1 μN can be generated under one laser spot. The generated force is sufficient to actuate the γ-formed molecular crystals in a wide dimensional range to move longitudinally at a velocity of about 60 μm min⁻¹, which is two orders of magnitude faster than the α and β phases.     

Performance of a parallel viscoelastic-viscoplastic model for a microcellular thermoplastic foam on wide temperature range

This paper is concerned with the experimental testing and the constitutive modelling of a thermoplastic microcellular polyethylene-terephthalate (MC-PET) foam on the temperature range of 21–210 °C in order to investigate the temperature-dependent performance of the applied parallel viscoelastic-viscoplastic material model. By means of carefully designed uniaxial mechanical tests in temperature chamber, the viscous, elastic and yielding behaviours of the investigated material are identified, which are then applied for selecting suitable viscoelastic-viscoplastic constitutive models. The material characterization process is conducted using finite-element-based fitting method, including also the analysis of the applied numerical optimization algorithm. The fitting results are used to analyse the parameter sensitivity and to propose closed-form analytical relations for the temperature dependency of the material parameters. Finally, the utilisation of the analytical temperature functions for speeding up the parameter-fitting process is also demonstrated.     

Resistivity and Thermal Expansion (4.2–820 K) of Skutterudites after Severe Plastic Deformation via HPT

Thermoelectric materials with a high figure of merit, ZT, are the essential basis to build thermoelectric generators, which can directly convert heat into electricity. Severe plastic deformation (SPD) via high-pressure torsion (HPT) was successfully applied to enhance ZT of ball-milled and hot-pressed skutterudites as well as to produce bulk nanostructured skutterudites directly from powders. SPD introduces many defects into the sample and in parallel the crystallite size is significantly reduced. During measurement-induced heating these defects anneal partially out, and the grains grow. In this work for the first time systematically the changes of the temperature-dependent electrical resistivity and of thermal expansion were compared. It could be shown that for p- and n-type skutterudites, being hot-pressed and HPT-processed as well as directly HPT-processed from compacted powder, these changes occur more or less simultaneously within the same temperature ranges. This evaluation gives a much deeper insight into the thermoelectric behavior of HPT samples under the influence of changing temperature.