Scholarly Works, Materials Science and Engineering (MSE)

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  • Predicting Ion Sequestration in Charged Polymers with the Steepest-Entropy-Ascent Quantum Thermodynamic Framework
    McDonald, Jared; von Spakovsky, Michael R.; Reynolds, William T. (MDPI, 2024-03-01)
    The steepest-entropy-ascent quantum thermodynamic framework is used to investigate the effectiveness of multi-chain polyethyleneimine-methylenephosphonic acid in sequestering rare-earth ions (Eu3+) from aqueous solutions. The framework applies a thermodynamic equation of motion to a discrete energy eigenstructure to model the binding kinetics of europium ions to reactive sites of the polymer chains. The energy eigenstructure is generated using a non-Markovian Monte Carlo model that estimates energy level degeneracies. The equation of motion is used to determine the occupation probability of each energy level, describing the unique path through thermodynamic state space by which the polymer system sequesters rare-earth ions from solution. A second Monte Carlo simulation is conducted to relate the kinetic path in state space to physical descriptors associated with the polymer, including the radius of gyration, tortuosity, and Eu-neighbor distribution functions. These descriptors are used to visualize the evolution of the polymer during the sequestration process. The fraction of sequestered Eu3+ ions depends upon the total energy of the system, with lower energy resulting in greater sequestration. The kinetics of the overall sequestration are dependent on the steepest-entropy-ascent principle used by the equation of motion to generate a unique kinetic path from an initial non-equilibrium state.
  • Microstructures and Corrosion Properties of Wire Arc Additive Manufactured Copper–Nickel Alloys
    Song, Jie; Jimenez, Xavier A.; To, Albert C.; Fu, Yao (MDPI, 2024-02-14)
    The 70/30 copper–nickel alloy is used mainly in critical parts with more demanding conditions in marine settings. There is a need for innovative methods that offer fast production and cost-effectiveness in order to supplement current copper–nickel alloy manufacturing processes. In this study, we employ wire arc additive manufacturing (WAAM) to fabricate the 70/30 copper–nickel alloy. The as-built microstructure is characterized by columnar grains with prominent dendrites and chemical segregation in the inter-dendritic area. The aspect ratio of the columnar grain increases with increasing travel speed (TS) at the same wire feed speed (WFS). This is in contrast with the equiaxed grain structure, with a more random orientation, of the conventional sample. The sample built with a WFS of 8 m/min, TS of 1000 mm/min, and a track distance of 3.85 mm exhibits superior corrosion properties in the 3.5 wt% NaCl solution when compared with the conventional sample, as evidenced by a higher film resistance and breakdown potential, along with a lower passive current density of the WAAM sample. The corrosion morphology reveals the critical roles played by the nickel element that is unevenly distributed between the dendrite core and inter-dendritic area.
  • A Review on Tribocorrosion Behavior of Aluminum Alloys: From Fundamental Mechanisms to Alloy Design Strategies
    Zhang, Zhengyu; Dandu, Raja Shekar Bhupal; Klu, Edwin Eyram; Cai, Wenjun (MDPI, 2023-10-18)
    Tribocorrosion, a research field that has been evolving for decades, has gained renewed attention in recent years, driven by increased demand for wear- and corrosion-resistant materials from biomedical implants, nuclear power generation, advanced manufacturing, batteries, marine and offshore industries, etc. In the United States, wear and corrosion are estimated to cost nearly USD 300 billion per year. Among various important structural materials, passive metals such as aluminum alloys are most vulnerable to tribocorrosion due to the wear-accelerated corrosion as a result of passive film removal. Thus, designing aluminum alloys with better tribocorrosion performance is of both scientific and practical importance. This article reviews five decades of research on the tribocorrosion of aluminum alloys, from experimental to computational studies. Special focus is placed on two aspects: (1) The effects of alloying and grain size on the fundamental wear, corrosion, and tribocorrosion mechanisms; and (2) Alloy design strategies to improve the tribocorrosion resistance of aluminum alloys. Finally, the paper sheds light on the current challenges faced and outlines a few future research directions in the field of tribocorrosion of aluminum alloys.
  • Operando characterization and regulation of metal dissolution and redeposition dynamics near battery electrode surface
    Zhang, Yuxin; Hu, Anyang; Xia, Dawei; Hwang, Sooyeon; Sainio, Sami; Nordlund, Dennis; Michel, F. Marc; Moore, Robert B.; Li, Luxi; Lin, Feng (Nature Portfolio, 2023-07)
    Mn dissolution has been a long-standing, ubiquitous issue that negatively impacts the performance of Mn-based battery materials. Mn dissolution involves complex chemical and structural transformations at the electrode–electrolyte interface. The continuously evolving electrode–electrolyte interface has posed great challenges for characterizing the dynamic interfacial process and quantitatively establishing the correlation with battery performance. In this study, we visualize and quantify the temporally and spatially resolved Mn dissolution/redeposition (D/R) dynamics of electrochemically operating Mn-containing cathodes. The particle-level and electrode-level analyses reveal that the D/R dynamics is associated with distinct interfacial degradation mechanisms at different states of charge. Our results statistically differentiate the contributions of surface reconstruction and Jahn–Teller distortion to the Mn dissolution at different operating voltages. Introducing sulfonated polymers (Nafion) into composite electrodes can modulate the D/R dynamics by trapping the dissolved Mn species and rapidly establishing local Mn D/R equilibrium. This work represents an inaugural effort to pinpoint the chemical and structural transformations responsible for Mn dissolution via an operando synchrotron study and develops an effective method to regulate Mn interfacial dynamics for improving battery performance.
  • A topological kagome magnet in high entropy form
    Min, L.; Sretenovic, M.; Heitmann, T. W.; Valentine, T. W.; Zu, R.; Gopalan, V.; Rost, Christina M.; Ke, X.; Mao, Z. (Springer, 2022-03-18)
    Topological kagome magnets RMn6Sn6 (R = rare earth element) attract numerous interests due to their non-trivial band topology and room-temperature magnetism. Here, we report a high entropy version of kagome magnet, (Gd0.38Tb0.27Dy0.20Ho0.15)Mn6Sn6. Such a high entropy material exhibits multiple spin reorientation transitions, which is not seen in all the related parent compounds and can be understood in terms of competing magnetic interactions enabled by high entropy. Furthermore, we also observed an intrinsic anomalous Hall effect, indicating that the high entropy phase preserves the non-trivial band topology. These results suggest that high entropy may provide a route to engineer the magnetic structure and expand the horizon of topological materials.
  • Size Effects on the Cross-Plane Thermal Conductivity of Transparent Conducting Indium Tin Oxide and Fluorine Tin Oxide Thin Films
    Olson, David H.; Rost, Christina M.; Gaskins, John T.; Szwejkowski, Chester J.; Braun, Jeffrey L.; Hopkins, Patrick E. (IEEE, 2018-08-06)
    Visibly transparent and electrically conductive oxides are attractive for a wide array of applications. Indium tin oxide (ITO) and fluorine tin oxide (FTO) are the subset of the larger transparent conducting oxide family and possess transmittance in the visible spectrum as well as high electrical conductivity. Even though their unique optical and electrical properties have been thoroughly examined, the thermal transport properties, namely, thermal conductivity in the cross-plane direction, have received much less attention. In this paper, using a series of ITO and FTO thin films comprising a range of thicknesses and grain sizes, we characterize the cross-plane thermal conductivity using time-domain thermoreflectance. We determine the heat capacity of the FTO films from simultaneous measurements of volumetric heat capacity and thermal conductivity on an 396-nm-thick FTO film. We show that the size effects have a considerable influence on the thermal conductivity from both the perspective of grain boundary and thin film scattering.
  • What is in a name: Defining "high entropy" oxides
    Brahlek, Matthew; Gazda, Maria; Keppens, Veerle; Mazza, Alessandro R.; McCormack, Scott J.; Mielewczyk-Gryń, Aleksandra; Musico, Brianna; Page, Katharine; Rost, Christina M.; Sinnott, Susan B.; Toher, Cormac; Ward, Thomas Z.; Yamamoto, Ayako (AIP Publishing, 2022-11-04)
    High entropy oxides are emerging as an exciting new avenue to design highly tailored functional behaviors that have no traditional counterparts. Study and application of these materials are bringing together scientists and engineers from physics, chemistry, and materials science. The diversity of each of these disciplines comes with perspectives and jargon that may be confusing to those outside of the individual fields, which can result in miscommunication of important aspects of research. In this Perspective, we provide examples of research and characterization taken from these different fields to provide a framework for classifying the differences between compositionally complex oxides, high entropy oxides, and entropy stabilized oxides, which is intended to bring a common language to this emerging area. We highlight the critical importance of understanding a material's crystallinity, composition, and mixing length scales in determining its true definition.
  • Searching for superconductivity in high entropy oxide Ruddlesden-Popper cuprate films
    Mazza, Alessandro R.; Gao, Xingyao; Rossi, Daniel J.; Musico, Brianna L.; Valentine, Tyler W.; Kennedy, Zachary; Zhang, Jie; Lapano, Jason; Keppens, Veerle; Moore, Robert G.; Brahlek, Matthew; Rost, Christina M.; Ward, Thomas Z. (American Vacuum Society, 2021-11-29)
    In this work, the high entropy oxide A2CuO4 Ruddlesden-Popper (La0.2Pr0.2Nd0.2Sm0.2Eu0.2)2CuO4 is explored by charge doping with Ce+4 and Sr+2 at concentrations known to induce superconductivity in the simple parent compounds, Nd2CuO4 and La2CuO4. Electron doped (La0.185Pr0.185Nd0.185Sm0.185Eu0.185Ce0.075)2CuO4 and hole doped (La0.18Pr0.18Nd0.18Sm0.18Eu0.18Sr0.1)2CuO4 are synthesized and shown to be single crystal, epitaxially strained, and highly uniform. Transport measurements demonstrate that all as-grown films are insulating regardless of doping. Annealing studies show that resistivity can be tuned by modifying oxygen stoichiometry and inducing metallicity but without superconductivity. These results, in turn, are connected to extended x-ray absorption fine structure results, indicating that the lack of superconductivity in the high entropy cuprates likely originates from a large distortion within the Cu-O plane (σ2 > 0.015 Å2) due to A-site cation size variance, which drives localization of charge carriers. These findings describe new opportunities for controlling charge- and orbital-mediated functional responses in Ruddlesden-Popper crystal structures, driven by balancing of cation size and charge variances that may be exploited for functionally important behaviors such as superconductivity, antiferromagnetism, and metal-insulator transitions while opening less understood phase spaces hosting doped Mott insulators, strange metals, quantum criticality, pseudogaps, and ordered charge density waves.
  • Power device breakdown mechanism and characterization: review and perspective
    Zhang, Ruizhe; Zhang, Yuhao (IOP Publishing, 2023-04)
    Breakdown voltage (BV) is arguably one of the most critical parameters for power devices. While avalanche breakdown is prevailing in silicon and silicon carbide devices, it is lacking in many wide bandgap (WBG) and ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) devices, such as the gallium nitride high electron mobility transistor and existing UWBG devices, due to the deployment of junction-less device structures or the inherent material challenges of forming p-n junctions. This paper starts with a survey of avalanche and non-avalanche breakdown mechanisms in WBG and UWBG devices, followed by the distinction between the static and dynamic BV. Various BV characterization methods, including the static and pulse I-V sweep, unclamped and clamped inductive switching, as well as continuous overvoltage switching, are comparatively introduced. The device physics behind the time- and frequency-dependent BV as well as the enabling device structures for avalanche breakdown are also discussed. The paper concludes by identifying research gaps for understanding the breakdown of WBG and UWBG power devices.
  • Efficient Activation and High Mobility of Ion-Implanted Silicon for Next-Generation GaN Devices
    Jacobs, Alan G.; Feigelson, Boris N.; Spencer, Joseph A.; Tadjer, Marko J.; Hite, Jennifer K.; Hobart, Karl D.; Anderson, Travis J. (MDPI, 2023-04)
    Selective area doping via ion implantation is crucial to the implementation of most modern devices and the provision of reasonable device design latitude for optimization. Herein, we report highly effective silicon ion implant activation in GaN via Symmetrical Multicycle Rapid Thermal Annealing (SMRTA) at peak temperatures of 1450 to 1530 ?, producing a mobility of up to 137 cm(2)/Vs at 300K with a 57% activation efficiency for a 300 nm thick 1 x 10(19) cm(-3) box implant profile. Doping activation efficiency and mobility improved alongside peak annealing temperature, while the deleterious degradation of the as-grown material electrical properties was only evident at the highest temperatures. This demonstrates efficient dopant activation while simultaneously maintaining low levels of unintentional doping and thus a high blocking voltage potential of the drift layers for high-voltage, high-power devices. Furthermore, efficient activation with high mobility has been achieved with GaN on sapphire, which is known for having relatively high defect densities but also for offering significant commercial potential due to the availability of cheap, large-area, and robust substrates for devices.
  • In situ electron tomography for the thermally activated solid reaction of anaerobic nanoparticles
    Ihara, Shiro; Yoshinaga, Mizumo; Miyazaki, Hiroya; Wada, Kota; Hata, Satoshi; Saito, Hikaru; Murayama, Mitsuhiro (Royal Society Chemistry, 2023-06)
    The nanoscale characterization of thermally activated solid reactions plays a pivotal role in products manufactured by nanotechnology. Recently, in situ observation in transmission electron microscopy combined with electron tomography, namely four-dimensional observation for heat treatment of nanomaterials, has attracted great interest. However, because most nanomaterials are highly reactive, i.e., oxidation during transfer and electron beam irradiation would likely cause fatal artefacts; it is challenging to perform the artifact-free four-dimensional observation. Herein, we demonstrate our development of a novel in situ three-dimensional electron microscopy technique for thermally activated solid-state reaction processes in nanoparticles (NPs). The sintering behaviour of Cu NPs was successfully visualized and analyzed in four-dimensional space-time. An advanced image processing protocol and a newly designed state-of-the-art MEMS-based heating holder enable the implementation of considerably low electron dose imaging and prevent air exposure, which is of central importance in this type of observation. The total amount of electron dose for a single set of tilt-series images was reduced to 250 e(-) nm(-2), which is the lowest level for inorganic materials electron tomography experiments. This study evaluated the sintering behaviour of Cu NPs in terms of variations in neck growth and particle distance. A negative correlation between the two parameters is shown, except for the particle pair bound by neighbouring NPs. The nanoscale characteristic sintering behavior of neck growth was also captured in this study.
  • A phase field model to simulate crack initiation from pitting site in isotropic and anisotropic elastoplastic material
    Song, Jie; Matthew, Christian; Sangoi, Kevin; Fu, Yao (IOP Publishing, 2023)
    A multiphysics phase field framework for coupled electrochemical and elastoplastic behaviors is presented, where the evolution of complex solid-electrolyte is described by the variation of the phase field variable with time. The solid-electrolyte interface kinetics nonlinearly depends on the thermodynamic driving force and can be accelerated by mechanical straining according to the film rupture-dissolution mechanism. A number of examples in two- and three- dimensions are demonstrated based on the finite element-based MOOSE framework. The model successfully captures the pit-to-crack transition under simultaneous electrochemical and mechanical effects. The crack initiation and growth has been demonstrated to depend on a variety of materials properties. The coupled corrosion and crystal plasticity framework also predict the crack initiation away from the perpendicular to the loading direction.
  • Towards underwater additive manufacturing via additive friction stir deposition
    Griffiths, R. Joey; Gotawala, Nikhil; Hahn, Greg D.; Garcia, David; Yu, Hang Z. (Elsevier, 2022-11)
    Given the challenges in feed material supply and quality control, metal additive manufacturing has rarely been implemented in austere environments, especially underwater. This paper explores the underwater operation potential of an emerging solid-state additive technology: additive friction stir deposition, wherein material feeding and bonding are enabled by mechanical forces with minimal influences from water. It is demonstrated that additive friction stir deposition of 304 stainless steel can be successfully performed with the print head and substrate immersed in water. High temperature is reached in the deposition zone (>60% melting temperature); the material deposition behavior is similar to that in typical open-air operation. The as-deposited material is fully-dense, having fewer annealing twins and a substantially smaller grain size than the feed material (4.98 lm vs. 31.44 lm). Such microstructural changes stem from dynamic recrystallization caused by the large strain and high temperature introduced during deposition. In addition to grain refinement, small equiaxed dispersoids (-2-3 lm or less) are formed and evenly distributed in the austenite steel matrix. Rich in Cr, Mn, and O, these particles likely result from the reaction between the elements in stainless steel and water at elevated temperatures. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
  • Physics-informed neural network for phase imaging based on transport of intensity equation
    Wu, Xiaofeng; Wu, Ziling; Shanmugavel, Sibi Chakravarthy; Yu, Hang Z.; Zhu, Yunhui (Optica Publishing Group, 2022-11)
    Non-interferometric quantitative phase imaging based on Transport of Intensity Equation (T1E) has been widely used in bio-medical imaging. However, analytic TIE phase retrieval is prone to low-spatial frequency noise amplification, which is caused by the iliposedness of inversion at the origin of the spectrum. There are also retrieval ambiguities resulting from the lack of sensitivity to the curl component of the Poynting vector occurring with strong absorption. Here, we establish a physics-informed neural network (PINN) to address these issues, by integrating the forward and inverse physics models into a cascaded deep neural network. We demonstrate that the proposed PINN is efficiently trained using a small set of sample data, enabling the conversion of noise-corrupted 2-shot TIE phase retrievals to high quality phase images under partially coherent LED illumination. The efficacy of the proposed approach is demonstrated by both simulation using a standard image database and experiment using human buccal epitehlial cells. In particular, high image quality (SSIM = 0.919) is achieved experimentally using a reduced size of labeled data (140 image pairs). We discuss the robustness of the proposed approach against insufficient training data, and demonstrate that the parallel architecture of PINN is efficient for transfer learning.
  • The effects of ultrasonic cavitation on the dissolution of lithium disilicate glass
    Dillinger, Ben; Suchicital, Carlos; Clark, David (Nature Portfolio, 2022-11)
    There has been little research conducted on how ultrasonic cavitation may affect glass dissolution. The focus of this study was to examine how the mechanisms and kinetics of glass dissolution may change in a system that included ultrasonication. Experiments were conducted on lithium disilicate glass in deionized water at 50 degrees C between 1 and 7.5 h. Results showed that the erosion from ultrasonication affected the kinetics of glass dissolution. Samples with erosion had 2-3 x more dissolution compared to samples without erosion. The change in dissolution was thought to be partly caused by an increase in the surface area of the sample to volume of solution (SA/V) ratio due to the roughening of the surface and release of particulates and a reduction in the size of the depleted layer due to erosion. Stereoscopic 3D reconstruction of eroded samples was used to calculate the increase in surface area due to erosion. Type 2 surface areas (exfoliation mixed with normal leaching) were roughly 3-6% greater while Type 3 surface areas (heavy roughening of surface) were roughly 29-35% greater than the surfaces areas from Type 1 surfaces (normal leaching).
  • New insight into SiOC atomic structure evolution during early stage of pyrolysis
    Lu, Kathy; Chaney, Harrison (Wiley, 2023-05)
    This study focuses on the early stage of polymer-derived SiOC ceramic conversion. We demonstrate that the perceived SiOC phase separation is nonexistent. Instead, SiO2 and free carbon clusters form first and then carbothermal reduction sets in to induce SiOC formation. Such fundamental understanding is supported by both synchrotron X-ray diffraction study and reactive force field simulation. This work for the first time unifies the understanding of atomic evolution process of polysiloxane-based polymer to ceramic conversion.
  • Clearance of Biodegradable Polymer and Polyethylene Films from the Rumens of Holstein Bull Calves
    Galyon, Hailey; Vibostok, Samuel; Duncan, Jane; Ferreira, Gonzalo; Whittington, Abby; Havens, Kirk; McDevitt, Jason; Cockrum, Rebecca (MDPI, 2023-03-03)
    Due to the occurrence of plastic impaction in ruminants and its deleterious effects on health and production, it is necessary to determine the suitability of biodegradable polymers to replace polyethylene-based agricultural plastics, such as hay netting. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the clearance of a polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) and poly(butylene succinate-co-adipate) (PBSA) melt-blend polymer from the rumen when fed to cattle and subsequent animal health. Twelve Holstein bull calves were dosed with an encapsulated 13.6 g of PBSA:PHA (Blend), 13.6 g of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), or four empty gelatin capsules (Control) for 30 d. The feed intake, body weight, and body temperature were evaluated, and hemograms were run on d 0 and d 30. On d 31, calves were euthanized to evaluate gross rumen measurements and pathology, papillae length, and polymer residues in rumen contents. No calves presented any signs related to plastic impaction. The feed intake; body weight; rectal temperature; hematological parameters; gross rumen measurements and pathology; and rumen pH and temperature were not affected by treatments. Calves dosed with LDPE had 27 g of undegraded polymer retained in the rumen while Blend calves had only 2 g of fragmented polymers that were 10% of their original size. Agricultural plastics developed from PBSA:PHA may be a suitable alternative to LDPE-based products in the case of animal ingestion and may reduce the incidence of plastic impaction.
  • Using Powder Metallurgy and Oxide Reduction to Produce Eco‐Friendly Bulk Nanoporous Nickel
    Atwater, Mark A.; Corcoran, Sean G. (Wiley, 2023-02-21)
    A low cost and scalable powder-based method for producing nanoporous Ni is demonstrated, and the only processing byproduct is water vapor. This is achieved by creating a metal-matrix composite of Ni and NiO that is then reduced under dilute hydrogen to create pure Ni with nanocrystalline structure and nanoscale porosity. The technique is demonstrated in loose powder and in thin and bulk compacts with centimeter dimensions. These compacts can withstand extensive deformation without disintegrating, performing similarly to wrought Ni in specific strength. The unique processing strategy and resulting material can be readily extended to other metals and alloys.
  • Partitioned Active Learning for Heterogeneous Systems
    Lee, Cheolhei; Wang, Kaiwen; Wu, Jianguo; Cai, Wenjun; Yue, Xiaowei (ASME, 2023-08)
    Active learning is a subfield of machine learning that focuses on improving the data collection efficiency in expensive-to-evaluate systems. Active learning-applied surrogate modeling facilitates cost-efficient analysis of demanding engineering systems, while the existence of heterogeneity in underlying systems may adversely affect the performance. In this article, we propose the partitioned active learning that quantifies informativeness of new design points by circumventing heterogeneity in systems. The proposed method partitions the design space based on heterogeneous features and searches for the next design point with two systematic steps. The global searching scheme accelerates exploration by identifying the most uncertain subregion, and the local searching utilizes circumscribed information induced by the local Gaussian process (GP). We also propose Cholesky update-driven numerical remedies for our active learning to address the computational complexity challenge. The proposed method consistently outperforms existing active learning methods in three real-world cases with better prediction and computation time.
  • Field Inspection of High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) Storage Tanks Using Infrared Thermography and Ultrasonic Methods
    Behravan, Amir; Tran, Thien Q.; Li, Yuhao; Davis, Mitchell; Shaikh, Mohammad Shadab; DeJong, Matthew M.; Hernandez, Alan; Brand, Alexander S. (MDPI, 2023-01-20)
    High-density polyethylene (HDPE) is widely used for above-ground storage tanks (ASTs). However, there are currently no guidelines for the non-destructive testing (NDT) and evaluation (NDE) of HDPE ASTs. Moreover, the feasibility, limitations, and challenges of using NDT techniques for the field inspection of HDPE ASTs have not been well established. This study used both infrared thermography (IRT) and ultrasonic testing (UT) for the field inspection of HDPE ASTs. Highlighting the implementation challenges in the field, this study determined that: (1) ambient environmental parameters can affect IRT accuracy; (2) there is an ideal time during the day to perform IRT; (3) the heating source and infrared camera orientation can affect IRT accuracy; and (4) with proper measures taken, IRT is a promising method for flaw detection in HDPE ASTs. Additionally, UT can be used following IRT for detailed investigation to quantify the size and depth of defects. The manuscript concludes with a discussion of the limitations and best practices for the implementing of IRT and UT for HDPE AST inspections in the field.