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Description
In engineering, buckling is mechanical instability of walls or columns under compression and usually is a problem that engineers try to prevent. In everyday life buckles (wrinkles) on different substrates are ubiquitous -- from human skin to a rotten apple they are a commonly observed phenomenon. It seems that buckles

In engineering, buckling is mechanical instability of walls or columns under compression and usually is a problem that engineers try to prevent. In everyday life buckles (wrinkles) on different substrates are ubiquitous -- from human skin to a rotten apple they are a commonly observed phenomenon. It seems that buckles with macroscopic wavelengths are not technologically useful; over the past decade or so, however, thanks to the widespread availability of soft polymers and silicone materials micro-buckles with wavelengths in submicron to micron scale have received increasing attention because it is useful for generating well-ordered periodic microstructures spontaneously without conventional lithographic techniques. This thesis investigates the buckling behavior of thin stiff films on soft polymeric substrates and explores a variety of applications, ranging from optical gratings, optical masks, energy harvest to energy storage. A laser scanning technique is proposed to detect micro-strain induced by thermomechanical loads and a periodic buckling microstructure is employed as a diffraction grating with broad wavelength tunability, which is spontaneously generated from a metallic thin film on polymer substrates. A mechanical strategy is also presented for quantitatively buckling nanoribbons of piezoelectric material on polymer substrates involving the combined use of lithographically patterning surface adhesion sites and transfer printing technique. The precisely engineered buckling configurations provide a route to energy harvesters with extremely high levels of stretchability. This stiff-thin-film/polymer hybrid structure is further employed into electrochemical field to circumvent the electrochemically-driven stress issue in silicon-anode-based lithium ion batteries. It shows that the initial flat silicon-nanoribbon-anode on a polymer substrate tends to buckle to mitigate the lithiation-induced stress so as to avoid the pulverization of silicon anode. Spontaneously generated submicron buckles of film/polymer are also used as an optical mask to produce submicron periodic patterns with large filling ratio in contrast to generating only ~100 nm edge submicron patterns in conventional near-field soft contact photolithography. This thesis aims to deepen understanding of buckling behavior of thin films on compliant substrates and, in turn, to harness the fundamental properties of such instability for diverse applications.
ContributorsMa, Teng (Author) / Jiang, Hanqing (Thesis advisor) / Yu, Hongyu (Committee member) / Yu, Hongbin (Committee member) / Poon, Poh Chieh Benny (Committee member) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
Commercially pure (CP) and extra low interstitial (ELI) grade Ti-alloys present excellent corrosion resistance, lightweight, and formability making them attractive materials for expanded use in transportation and medical applications. However, the strength and toughness of CP titanium are affected by relatively small variations in their impurity/solute content (IC), e.g., O,

Commercially pure (CP) and extra low interstitial (ELI) grade Ti-alloys present excellent corrosion resistance, lightweight, and formability making them attractive materials for expanded use in transportation and medical applications. However, the strength and toughness of CP titanium are affected by relatively small variations in their impurity/solute content (IC), e.g., O, Al, and V. This increase in strength is due to the fact that the solute either increases the critical stress required for the prismatic slip systems ({10-10}<1-210>) or activates another slip system ((0001)<11-20>, {10-11}<11-20>). In particular, solute additions such as O can effectively strengthen the alloy but with an attendant loss in ductility by changing the behavior from wavy (cross slip) to planar nature. In order to understand the underlying behavior of strengthening by solutes, it is important to understand the atomic scale mechanism. This dissertation aims to address this knowledge gap through a synergistic combination of density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics. Further, due to the long-range strain fields of the dislocations and the periodicity of the DFT simulation cells, it is difficult to apply ab initio simulations to study the dislocation core structure. To alleviate this issue we developed a multiscale quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics approach (QM/MM) to study the dislocation core. We use the developed QM/MM method to study the pipe diffusion along a prismatic edge dislocation core. Complementary to the atomistic simulations, the Semi-discrete Variational Peierls-Nabarro model (SVPN) was also used to analyze the dislocation core structure and mobility. The chemical interaction between the solute/impurity and the dislocation core is captured by the so-called generalized stacking fault energy (GSFE) surface which was determined from DFT-VASP calculations. By taking the chemical interaction into consideration the SVPN model can predict the dislocation core structure and mobility in the presence and absence of the solute/impurity and thus reveal the effect of impurity/solute on the softening/hardening behavior in alpha-Ti. Finally, to study the interaction of the dislocation core with other planar defects such as grain boundaries (GB), we develop an automated method to theoretically generate GBs in HCP type materials.
ContributorsBhatia, Mehul Anoopkumar (Author) / Solanki, Kiran N (Thesis advisor) / Peralta, Pedro (Committee member) / Jiang, Hanqing (Committee member) / Neithalath, Narayanan (Committee member) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has always held the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear reactor fleet as a top priority. Continual improvements and advancements in nuclear fuels have been instrumental in maximizing energy generation from nuclear power plants and minimizing waste. One aspect of the DOE

The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has always held the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear reactor fleet as a top priority. Continual improvements and advancements in nuclear fuels have been instrumental in maximizing energy generation from nuclear power plants and minimizing waste. One aspect of the DOE Fuel Cycle Research and Development Advanced Fuels Campaign is to improve the mechanical properties of uranium dioxide (UO2) for nuclear fuel applications.

In an effort to improve the performance of UO2, by increasing the fracture toughness and ductility, small quantities of oxide materials have been added to samples to act as dopants. The different dopants used in this study are: titanium dioxide, yttrium oxide, aluminum oxide, silicon dioxide, and chromium oxide. The effects of the individual dopants and some dopant combinations on the microstructure and mechanical properties are determined using indentation fracture experiments in tandem with scanning electron microscopy. Indentation fracture experiments are carried out at room temperature and at temperatures between 450 °C and 1160 °C.

The results of this work find that doping with aluminosilicate produces the largest favorable change in the mechanical properties of UO2. This sample exhibits an increase in fracture toughness at room temperature without showing a change in yield strength at elevated temperatures. The results also show that doping with Al2O3 and TiO2 produce stronger samples and it is hypothesized that this is a result of the sample containing dopant-rich secondary phase particles.
ContributorsMcDonald, Robert (Author) / Peralta, Pedro (Thesis advisor) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Committee member) / Solanki, Kiran (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
The stability of nanocrystalline microstructural features allows structural materials to be synthesized and tested in ways that have heretofore been pursued only on a limited basis, especially under dynamic loading combined with temperature effects. Thus, a recently developed, stable nanocrystalline alloy is analyzed here for quasi-static (<100 s-1) and dynamic

The stability of nanocrystalline microstructural features allows structural materials to be synthesized and tested in ways that have heretofore been pursued only on a limited basis, especially under dynamic loading combined with temperature effects. Thus, a recently developed, stable nanocrystalline alloy is analyzed here for quasi-static (<100 s-1) and dynamic loading (103 to 104 s-1) under uniaxial compression and tension at multiple temperatures ranging from 298-1073 K. After mechanical tests, microstructures are analyzed and possible deformation mechanisms are proposed. Following this, strain and strain rate history effects on mechanical behavior are analyzed using a combination of quasi-static and dynamic strain rate Bauschinger testing. The stable nanocrystalline material is found to exhibit limited flow stress increase with increasing strain rate as compared to that of both pure, coarse grained and nanocrystalline Cu. Further, the material microstructural features, which includes Ta nano-dispersions, is seen to pin dislocation at quasi-static strain rates, but the deformation becomes dominated by twin nucleation at high strain rates. These twins are pinned from further growth past nucleation by the Ta nano-dispersions. Testing of thermal and load history effects on the mechanical behavior reveals that when thermal energy is increased beyond 200 °C, an upturn in flow stress is present at strain rates below 104 s-1. However, in this study, this simple assumption, established 50-years ago, is shown to break-down when the average grain size and microstructural length-scale is decreased and stabilized below 100nm. This divergent strain-rate behavior is attributed to a unique microstructure that alters slip-processes and their interactions with phonons; thus enabling materials response with a constant flow-stress even at extreme conditions. Hence, the present study provides a pathway for designing and synthesizing a new-level of tough and high-energy absorbing materials.
ContributorsTurnage, Scott Andrew (Author) / Solanki, Kiran N (Thesis advisor) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Committee member) / Peralta, Pedro (Committee member) / Darling, Kristopher A (Committee member) / Mignolet, Marc (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
Interstitial impurity atoms can significantly alter the chemical and physical properties of the host material. Oxygen impurity in HCP titanium is known to have a considerable strengthening effect mainly through interactions with dislocations. To better understand such an effect, first the role of oxygen on various slip planes in titanium

Interstitial impurity atoms can significantly alter the chemical and physical properties of the host material. Oxygen impurity in HCP titanium is known to have a considerable strengthening effect mainly through interactions with dislocations. To better understand such an effect, first the role of oxygen on various slip planes in titanium is examined using generalized stacking fault energies (GSFE) computed by the first principles calculations. It is shown that oxygen can significantly increase the energy barrier to dislocation motion on most of the studied slip planes. Then the Peierls-Nabbaro model is utilized in conjunction with the GSFE to estimate the Peierls stress ratios for different slip systems. Using such information along with a set of tension and compression experiments, the parameters of a continuum scale crystal plasticity model, namely CRSS values, are calibrated. Effect of oxygen content on the macroscopic stress-strain response is further investigated through experiments on oxygen-boosted samples at room temperature. It is demonstrated that the crystal plasticity model can very well capture the effect of oxygen content on the global response of the samples. It is also revealed that oxygen promotes the slip activity on the pyramidal planes.

The effect of oxygen impurity on titanium is further investigated under high cycle fatigue loading. For that purpose, a two-step hierarchical crystal plasticity for fatigue predictions is presented. Fatigue indicator parameter is used as the main driving force in an energy-based crack nucleation model. To calculate the FIPs, high-resolution full-field crystal plasticity simulations are carried out using a spectral solver. A nucleation model is proposed and calibrated by the fatigue experimental data for notched titanium samples with different oxygen contents and under two load ratios. Overall, it is shown that the presented approach is capable of predicting the high cycle fatigue nucleation time. Moreover, qualitative predictions of microstructurally small crack growth rates are provided. The multi-scale methodology presented here can be extended to other material systems to facilitate a better understanding of the fundamental deformation mechanisms, and to effectively implement such knowledge in mesoscale-macroscale investigations.
ContributorsGholami Bazehhour, Benyamin (Author) / Solanki, Kiran N (Thesis advisor) / Liu, Yongming (Committee member) / Oswald, Jay J (Committee member) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
Organic electronics have remained a research topic of great interest over the past few decades, with organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) emerging as a disruptive technology for lighting and display applications. While OLED performance has improved significantly over the past decade, key issues remain unsolved such as the development of

Organic electronics have remained a research topic of great interest over the past few decades, with organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) emerging as a disruptive technology for lighting and display applications. While OLED performance has improved significantly over the past decade, key issues remain unsolved such as the development of stable and efficient blue devices. In order to further the development of OLEDs and increase their commercial potential, innovative device architectures, novel emissive materials and high-energy hosts are designed and reported.

OLEDs employing step-wide graded-doped emissive layers were designed to improve charge balance and center the exciton formation zone leading to improved device performance. A red OLED with a peak efficiency of 16.9% and an estimated LT97 over 2,000 hours at 1,000 cd/m2 was achieved. Employing a similar structure, a sky-blue OLED was demonstrated with a peak efficiency of 17.4% and estimated LT70 over 1,300 hours at 1,000 cd/m2. Furthermore, the sky-blue OLEDs color was improved to CIE coordinates of (0.15, 0.25) while maintaining an efficiency of 16.9% and estimated LT70 over 600 hours by incorporating a fluorescent sensitizer. These devices represent literature records at the time of publication for efficient and stable platinum phosphorescent OLEDs.

A newly developed class of emitters, metal-assisted delayed-fluorescence (MADF), are demonstrated to achieve higher-energy emission from a relatively low triplet energy. A green MADF device reaches a peak efficiency of 22% with an estimated LT95 over 350 hours at 1,000 cd/m2. Additionally, a blue charge confined OLED of PtON1a-tBu demonstrated a peak efficiency above 20%, CIE coordinated of (0.16, 0.27), and emission onset at 425 nm.

High triplet energy hosts are required for the realization of stable and efficient deep blue emission. A rigid “M”-type carbazole/fluorene hybrid called mDCzPF and a carbazole/9-silafluorene hybrid called mDCzPSiF are demonstrated to have high triplet energies ET=2.88 eV and 3.03 eV respectively. Both hosts are demonstrated to have reasonable stability and can serve as a template for future material design. The techniques presented here demonstrate alternative approaches for improving the performance of OLED devices and help to bring this technology closer to widespread commercialization.
ContributorsKlimes, Kody George (Author) / Li, Jian (Thesis advisor) / Adams, James (Committee member) / Wang, Liping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
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Description
Increasing density of microelectronic packages, results in an increase in thermal and mechanical stresses within the various layers of the package. To accommodate the high-performance demands, the materials used in the electronic package would also require improvement. Specifically, the damage that often occurs in solders that function as die-attachment and

Increasing density of microelectronic packages, results in an increase in thermal and mechanical stresses within the various layers of the package. To accommodate the high-performance demands, the materials used in the electronic package would also require improvement. Specifically, the damage that often occurs in solders that function as die-attachment and thermal interfaces need to be addressed. This work evaluates and characterizes thermo-mechanical damage in two material systems – Electroplated Tin and Sintered Nano-Silver solder.

Tin plated electrical contacts are prone to formation of single crystalline tin whiskers which can cause short circuiting. A mechanistic model of their formation, evolution and microstructural influence is still not fully understood. In this work, growth of mechanically induced tin whiskers/hillocks is studied using in situ Nano-indentation and Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD). Electroplated tin was indented and monitored in vacuum to study growth of hillocks without the influence of atmosphere. Thermal aging was done to study the effect of intermetallic compounds. Grain orientation of the hillocks and the plastically deformed region surrounding the indent was studied using Focused Ion Beam (FIB) lift-out technique. In addition, micropillars were milled on the surface of electroplated Sn using FIB to evaluate the yield strength and its relation to Sn grain size.

High operating temperature power electronics use wide band-gap semiconductor devices (Silicon Carbide/Gallium Nitride). The operating temperature of these devices can exceed 250oC, preventing use of traditional Sn-solders as Thermal Interface materials (TIM). At high temperature, the thermomechanical stresses can severely degrade the reliability and life of the device. In this light, new non-destructive approach is needed to understand the damage mechanism when subjected to reliability tests such as thermal cycling. In this work, sintered nano-Silver was identified as a promising high temperature TIM. Sintered nano-Silver samples were fabricated and their shear strength was evaluated. Thermal cycling tests were conducted and damage evolution was characterized using a lab scale 3D X-ray system to periodically assess changes in the microstructure such as cracks, voids, and porosity in the TIM layer. The evolution of microstructure and the effect of cycling temperature during thermal cycling are discussed.
ContributorsLujan Regalado, Irene (Author) / Chawla, Nikhilesh (Thesis advisor) / Frear, Darrel (Committee member) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
Soft polymer composites with improved thermal conductivity are needed for the thermal management of electronics. Interfacial thermal boundary resistance, however, prevents the efficient use of many high thermal conductivity fill materials. Magnetic alignment of ferrous fill material enforces percolation of the high thermal conductivity fill, thereby shifting the governing boundary

Soft polymer composites with improved thermal conductivity are needed for the thermal management of electronics. Interfacial thermal boundary resistance, however, prevents the efficient use of many high thermal conductivity fill materials. Magnetic alignment of ferrous fill material enforces percolation of the high thermal conductivity fill, thereby shifting the governing boundary resistance to the particle- particle interfaces and increasing the directional thermal conductivity of the polymer composite. Magnetic alignment maximizes the thermal conductivity while minimizing composite stiffening at a fill fraction of half the maximum packing factor. The directional thermal conductivity of the composite is improved by more than 2-fold. Particle-particle contact engineering is then introduced to decrease the particle- particle boundary resistance and further improve the thermal conductivity of the composite.

The interface between rigid fill particles is a point contact with very little interfacial area connecting them. Silver and gallium-based liquid metal (LM) coatings provide soft interfaces that, under pressure, increase the interfacial area between particles and decrease the particle-particle boundary resistance. These engineered contacts are investigated both in and out of the polymer matrix and with and without magnetic alignment of the fill. Magnetically aligned in the polymer matrix, 350nm- thick silver coatings on nickel particles produce a 1.8-fold increase in composite thermal conductivity over the aligned bare-nickel composites. The LM coatings provide similar enhancements, but require higher volumes of LM to do so. This is due to the rapid formation of gallium oxide, which introduces additional thermal boundaries and decreases the benefit of the LM coatings.

The oxide shell of LM droplets (LMDs) can be ruptured using pressure. The pressure needed to rupture LMDs matches closely to thin-walled pressure vessel theory. Furthermore, the addition of tungsten particles stabilizes the mixture for use at higher pressures. Finally, thiols and hydrochloric acid weaken the oxide shell and boost the thermal performance of the beds of LMDs by 50% at pressures much lower than 1 megapascal (MPa) to make them more suitable for use in TIMs.
ContributorsRalphs, Matthew (Author) / Rykaczewski, Konrad (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Robert Y (Thesis advisor) / Phelan, Patrick (Committee member) / Wang, Liping (Committee member) / Devasenathipathy, Shankar (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
The study of the mechanical behavior of nanocrystalline metals using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices lies at the intersection of nanotechnology, mechanical engineering and material science. The extremely small grains that make up nanocrystalline metals lead to higher strength but lower ductility as compared to bulk metals. Effects of strain-rate dependence

The study of the mechanical behavior of nanocrystalline metals using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices lies at the intersection of nanotechnology, mechanical engineering and material science. The extremely small grains that make up nanocrystalline metals lead to higher strength but lower ductility as compared to bulk metals. Effects of strain-rate dependence on the mechanical behavior of nanocrystalline metals are explored. Knowing the strain rate dependence of mechanical properties would enable optimization of material selection for different applications and lead to lighter structural components and enhanced sustainability.
ContributorsHall, Andrea Paulette (Author) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Thesis director) / Liao, Yabin (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor)
Created2014-05
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Description
Solar energy is leading in renewable energy sources and the aspects surrounding the efforts to harvest light are gaining importance. One such aspect is increasing the light absorption, where heliotropism comes into play. Heliotropism, the ability to track the sun across the sky, can be integrated with solar cells for

Solar energy is leading in renewable energy sources and the aspects surrounding the efforts to harvest light are gaining importance. One such aspect is increasing the light absorption, where heliotropism comes into play. Heliotropism, the ability to track the sun across the sky, can be integrated with solar cells for more efficient photon collection and other optoelectronic systems. Inspired by plants, which optimize incident sunlight in nature, several researchers have made artificial heliotropic and phototropic systems. This project aims to design, synthesize and characterize a material system and evaluate its application in a phototropic system. A gold nanoparticle (Au NP) incorporated poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) hydrogel was synthesized as a photo-thermo-responsive material in our phototropic system. The Au NPs generate heat from the incident via plasmonic resonance to induce a volume phase change of the thermo-responsive hydrogel PNIPAAm. PNIPAAm shrinks or swells at temperature above or below 32°C. Upon irradiation, the Au NP-PNIPAAm micropillar actuates, specifically bending toward the incident light and precisely following the varying incident angle.

Swelling ratio tests, bending angle tests with a static incident light and bending tests with varying angles were carried out on hydrogel samples with varying Au NP concentrations. Swelling ratios ranging from 1.45 to 2.9 were recorded for pure hydrogel samples and samples with very low Au NP concentrations. Swelling ratios of 2.41 and 3.37 were calculated for samples with low and high concentrations of Au NPs, respectively. A bending of up to 88° was observed in Au NP-hydrogel pillars with a low Au NP concentration with a 90° incident angle. The light tracking performance was assessed by the slope of the pillar Bending angle (response angle) vs. Incident light angle plot. A slope of 1 indicates ideal tracking with top of the pillar being normal to the incident light, maximizing the photon absorption. Slopes of 0.82 and 0.56 were observed for the low and high Au NP concentration samples. The rapid and precise incident light tracking of our system has shown the promise in phototropic applications.
ContributorsGopalakrishna, Hamsini (Author) / He, Ximin (Thesis advisor) / Holman, Zachary C (Committee member) / Wang, Liping (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016