Non-destructive evaluation of nano-sized structure of thin film devices by using small angle neutron scattering.

Nano-sized multi-layers copper-doped SrZrO3, platinum (Pt) and silicon oxide (SiO2) on silicon substrates were prepared by dense plasma focus (DPF) device with the high purity copper anode tip and analyzed by using small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to establish a reliable method for the non-destructive evaluation of the under-layer structure. Thin film was well formed at the time-to-dip of 5 microsec with stable plasma of DPF. Several smooth intensity peaks were periodically observed when neutron beam penetrates the thin film with multi-layers perpendicularly. The platinum layer is dominant to intensity peaks, where the copper-doped SrZnO3 layer next to the platinum layer causes peak broadening. The silicon oxide layer has less effect on the SANS spectra due to its relative thick thickness. The SANS spectra shows thicknesses of platinum and copper-doped SrZnO3 layers as 53 and 25 nm, respectively, which are well agreement with microstructure observation.

Study of the effect of nano-sized precipitates on the mechanical properties of boron-added low-carbon steels by neutron scattering techniques.

Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) and neutron powder diffraction (ND) techniques were used to study quantitatively the effect of nano-sized precipitates and boron addition on the mechanical properties of low-carbon steels. SANS was used to evaluate nano-sized precipitates, smaller than about 600 A in diameter, and ND was used to determine the weight fraction of the cementite precipitates. Fine core-shell structured spherical precipitates with an average radius of ~50 A, such as MnS and/or CuS, surrounded by BN layers were observed in the boron-added (BA) low-carbon steels; fine spherical precipitates with an average radius of ~48 A were mainly observed in the boron-free (BF) low-carbon steels. In the BA steels, the number of boron precipitates, such as BN, Fe(3)(C,B) and MnS, surrounded by BN layers increased drastically at higher hot-rolling temperatures. The volume fraction of the fine precipitates of the BA steels was higher than that of the BF steels; this difference is related to the rapid growth of the BN layers on the MnS and CuS precipitates. Boron addition to low-carbon steels resulted in a reduction in strength and an improvement in elongation; this behaviour is related to the reduction of the solute carbon and the nitrogen contents in the ferrite matrix caused by the precipitation of BN, as well by the increase in the volume fraction of the cementites.

Hybrid weighted-density approximation for nonuniform fluid mixtures.

A hybrid weighted-density approximation (HWDA), which is based on both local density and globally averaged density, has been proposed to study the structural properties of nonuniform fluid mixtures. The advantage is that the HWDA is computationally much simpler than the extended weighted-density approximation proposed by Davidchack and Laird. The HWDA has been applied to calculate the density profiles of binary hard-sphere mixtures near a structureless hard wall. Comparison between the theoretical results and simulations for the confined binary hard-sphere mixtures demonstrates the reliable accuracy of the HWDA.