Porous polymeric microparticles foamed with supercritical COas scattering white pigments.

Nowadays, titanium dioxide (TiO) is the most commercially relevant white pigment. Nonetheless, it is widely criticized due to its energy-intensive extraction and costly disposal of harmful by-products. Furthermore, recent studies discuss its potential harm for the environment and the human health.

Grain boundary formation through particle detachment during coarsening of nanoporous metals.

Grain boundary formation during coarsening of nanoporous gold (NPG) is investigated wherein a nanocrystalline structure can form by particles detaching and reattaching to the structure. MicroLaue and electron backscatter diffraction measurements demonstrate that an in-grain orientation spread develops as NPG is coarsened. The volume fraction of the NPG sample is near the limit of bicontinuity, at which simulations predict that a bicontinuous structure begins to fragment into independent particles during coarsening.

Thin-Film Microtensile-Test Structures for High-Throughput Characterization of Mechanical Properties.

A photolithographic process for the rapid fabrication of thin-film tensile-test structures is presented. The process is applicable to various physical vapor deposition techniques and can be used for the combinatorial fabrication of thin-film tensile-test structure materials libraries for the high-throughput characterization of mechanical properties. The functionality of the fabrication process and the feasibility of performing high-quality measurements with these structures are demonstrated with Cu tensile-test structures.

Variable-Wavelength Quick Scanning Nanofocused X-Ray Microscopy for In Situ Strain and Tilt Mapping.

Compression of micropillars is followed in situ by a quick nanofocused X-ray scanning microscopy technique combined with 3D reciprocal space mapping. Compared to other attempts using X-ray nanobeams, it avoids any motion or vibration that would lead to a destruction of the sample. The technique consists of scanning both the energy of the incident nanofocused X-ray beam and the in-plane translations of the focusing optics along the X-ray beam.

Development of a high-temperature micromechanics stage with a novel temperature measurement approach.

The study of mechanical properties of materials at high temperatures at the microstructural length regime requires dedicated setups for testing. Despite the advances in the instrumentation in these setups over the last decade, further optimization is required in order to extend the temperature range well-beyond 600 °C. Particularly, an improvement of the contact temperature measurement is required.