Ag Surface and Bulk Segregations in Sputtered ZrCuAlNi Metallic Glass Thin Films.

We report on the formation of Ag-containing ZrCuAlNi thin film metallic glass (nano)composites by a hybrid direct-current magnetron sputtering and high-power pulsed magnetron sputtering process. The effects of Ag content, substrate temperature and substrate bias potential on the phase formation and morphology of the nanocomposites were investigated. While applying a substrate bias potential did not strongly affect the morphological evolution of the films, the Ag content dictated the size and distribution of Ag surface segregations.

A Proposal for a Composite with Temperature-Independent Thermophysical Properties: HfV-HfVO.

The HfV-HfVO composite is proposed as a material with potentially temperature-independent thermophysical properties due to the combination of anomalously increasing thermoelastic constants of HfV with the negative thermal expansion of HfVO. Based on literature data, the coexistence of both a near-zero temperature coefficient of elasticity and a coefficient of thermal expansion is suggested for a composite with a phase fraction of approximately 30 vol.% HfV and 70 vol.

Single-Molecule Desorption Studies of Poly(acrylic acid) at Electrolyte/Oxide/TiAlN Interfaces.

The presented studies correlate the surface chemistry of electrochemically oxidized TiAlN hard coatings with the desorption forces of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) at the electrolyte/oxide/TiAlN interface. Atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based single-molecule force spectroscopy (SMFS) was performed at different pH values to investigate surface chemistry-induced changes in desorption force. The chemical state was characterized by X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and electrochemical analysis.

Synthesis of Intermetallic (Mg,Al)Ca by Combinatorial Sputtering.

The synthesis-composition-structure relationship in the Mg-Ca-Al system is studied using combinatorial magnetron sputtering. With increasing deposition temperature, a drastic decrease in Mg concentration is obtained. This behavior can be understood based on density functional theory calculations yielding a desorption energy of 1.