Effects of Grain Boundaries and Surfaces on Electronic and Mechanical Properties of Solid Electrolytes

Extended defects, including exposed surfaces and grain boundaries (GBs), are critical to the properties of polycrystalline solid electrolytes in all-solid-state batteries (ASSBs). These defects can alter the mechanical and electronic properties of solid electrolytes, with direct manifestations in the performance of ASSBs. Here, by building a...

Atomistic and artificial intelligence simulations of grain boundaries and dislocations

Operation of a titanium nitride superconducting microresonator detector in the nonlinear regime

If driven sufficiently strongly, superconducting microresonators exhibit nonlinear behavior including response bifurcation. This behavior can arise from a variety of physical mechanisms including heating effects, grain boundaries or weak links, vortex penetration, or through the intrinsic nonlinearity of the kinetic inductance. Although...

Positron depth profiling of the structural and electronic structure transformations of hydrogenated Mg-based thin films

We report positron depth-profiling studies on the hydrogen sorption behavior and phase evolution of Mg-based thin films. We show that the main changes in the depth profiles resulting from the hydrogenation to the respective metal hydrides are related to a clear broadening in the observed electron momentum densities in both Mg and Mg2Ni films....

Hydrogen mediated transport of Sn to Ru film surface

The authors report on the interaction of atomic hydrogen with Sn and thin Ru film at room temperature. The study is done using a combination of photoelectron and low energy ion scattering spectroscopies as well as scanning electron microscopy. The adsorption of hydrogen on a Sn surface leads to the formation of stannane (SnH4), which...

Investigation of local electrical properties of coincidence-site-lattice boundaries in location-controlled silicon islands using scanning capacitance microscopy

We used scanning capacitance microscopy (SCM) to investigate the electrical activity of grain boundaries consisting of random and coincidence-site-lattice (CSL) boundaries in location-controlled silicon islands, which were fabricated using the ?-Czochralski process with an excimer laser. The SCM results suggest that the electrical activity of...

In situ imaging of electromigration-induced nanogap formation by transmission electron microscopy

The authors imaged electromigration-induced nanogap formation in situ by transmission electron microscopy. Real-time video recordings show that edge voids form near the cathode side. The polycrystalline gold wires narrow down until a single-grain boundary intersects the constriction along which the breaking continues. During the last 50?ms of...

Stress gradients in CrN coatings

Stress in hard films is the net sum of tensile stress generated at the grain boundaries, compressive stress due to ion peening, and thermal stress due to the difference in thermal expansion of the coating and substrate. The tensile part due to grain boundaries is thickness dependent. The other two contributions are not thickness dependent....

Defects and morphological changes in nanothin Cu films on polycrystalline Mo analyzed by thermal helium desorption spectrometry

Thermal helium desorption spectrometry (THDS) has been used for the investigation of defects and thermal stability of thin Cu films (5–200?Å) deposited on a polycrystalline Mo substrate in ultrahigh vacuum. These films are metastable at room temperature. On heating, the films transform into islands, giving rise to a relatively broad peak in the...

Stress in sputter-deposited Cr films: Influence of Ar pressure

We studied the tensile stress and grain-width evolution in sputter-deposited Cr films with thickness from 20?nm to 2.7??m. Films were deposited in an industrial Hauzer 750 physical vapor deposition machine at 50–80?°C. The films exhibited a columnar microstructure. A power law behavior of the tensile stress as well as of the average grain width...

Stress in hard metal films

In the absence of thermal stress, tensile stress in hard metal films is caused by grain boundary shrinkage and compressive stress is caused by ion peening. It is shown that the two contributions are additive. Moreover tensile stress generated at the grain boundaries does not relax by ion bombardment. In polycrystalline hard metal films the grain...

The role of grain size in embrittlement of archaeological silver

Archaeological silver may be embrittled by long-term corrosion and microstructural changes. The embrittlement of artifacts increases with increasing grain size. This is explained by considering the grain boundary character and models describing the interactions between microcracks, lattice dislocations and grain boundaries. Severely embrittled...

Damage assessment and preservation of an Egyptian silver vase (300 - 200 B.C.)

An Egyptian metal vase from the Ptolemaic period was investigated metallurgically and fractographically. The metal is nearly pure silver, and chemical analysis indicates it was obtained from the cupellation of lead. Despite its high purity (in archaeological terms) the metal is severely cracked and embrittled, with fractures mainly along grain...

Stress corrosion resistance of damage tolerant aluminium-lithium sheet materials

The SCC resistances of three damage tolerant aluminium sheet materials were determined by means of the ASCOR (Automated Stress COrrosion Ring) test. The conventional damage tolerant sheet material 2024-T3 was used as reference. The SCC resistance of 8090-T81 turned out to be only slightly lower than the SCC resistance of 2024-T3. In contrast,...

The Jominy end-quench test for investigation of corrosion properties and microstructure of high strength aluminium alloys

The Jominy end-quench test was applied to extruded rods of the aluminium alloys 2024 and 7075 to obtain a decreasing quench rate over the length of the rods. Subsequently the alloys were heat treated to the conditions: 2024-T4, 2024-T6, 7075-T73. A corrosion investigation and a transmission electron microscopy investigation were performed to...