Study on the early surface films formed on Mg-Y molten alloy in different atmospheres

In the present study,the non-isothermal early stages of surface oxidation of liquid Mg-1%Y alloy during casting were studied under UPH argon,dry air,and air mixed with protective fluorine-bearing gases.The chemistry and morphology of the surface films were characterized by SEM and EDX analyses.The results indicate a layer of smooth and tightly coherent oxidation film composed of MgO and Y_(2)O_(3) formed on the molten Mg-Y alloy surface with 40-60 nm thickness under dry air.A dendritic/cellular microstructure is clearly visible with Y-rich second phases gathered in surface of the melt and precipitated along the grain/cell boundaries under all gas conditions.Under fluorine-bearing gas mixtures,the surface film was a mixed oxide and fluoride and more even;a flat and folded morphology can be seen under SF6 with oxide as dominated phase and under 1,1,1,2-tetra-fluoroethane,a smooth and compact surface film uniformly covering the inner surface of the bubble with equal oxide and fluoride thickness,which results in a film without any major defects.MgF_(2) phase appears to be the key characteristic of a good protective film.

Model Research on the Effect of Surface Film on Ammonia Volatilization from Rice Field

Pan and field experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of surface film on ammonia volatilization from water and paddy soil. The results showed that the addition of the surface film on floodwater reduced the rate of ammonia volatilization, however, the reduction of the latter varied greatly with its rates of addition. Jayaweera-Mikkelsen ammonia volatilization model with the introduction of a parameter Kf, a relative measure of the resistance of the surface film on ammonia volatilization, was used to elucidate the effectiveness of the surface film on lowering ammonia volatilization. The Kf value was calculated from the results ob-

Characterization of the Protective Surface Films Formed on Molten AZ91D Magnesium Alloy in SO_2/Air Atmospheres in a Sealed Furnace

Surface films that formed on molten AZ91D magnesium alloy in S02/air cover gases at 680 ℃ in a sealed furnace were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Auger electron spectroscopy. It is revealed that the film formed on molten AZ91D alloy surface in cover gas with high air content can prevent the molten AZ91D alloy from oxidation and ignition. The surface film contained three elements, namely magnesium, oxygen and sulfur, and was mainly composed of MgO and MgS. The properties of the film depended on air content in the cover gas and holding time. Thermodynamic calculation showed that MgSO4 was the stable phase, and it was concluded that the formation of MgS04 was important for the formation of the protective surface film in S02/air atmospheres.

Can the Prior Cathodic Polarisation Treatment Remove the Air-Formed Surface Film and Is It Necessary for the Potentiodynamic Polarisation Test?

This paper clarifies two issues related to the prior cathodic polarisation treatment(PCPT) for the potentiodynamic polarisation test: whether PCPT can(1) remove the air-formed surface film and(2) affect the polarisation test results. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyses of fluoride ion-labelled samples show that PCPT cannot remove the surface film completely due to the low reaction rate. Potentiodynamic polarisation tests demonstrate that PCPT with proper operating parameters,-1.0 V SCE for 5 min with subsequent open circuit potential(OCP) stabilisation in this study, is necessary because it can improve the test reproducibility without affecting the corrosion parameters by unifying the initial surface state. However, PCPT with lower potentials, longer time or no OCP stabilisation has significant effects on the electrochemical corrosion parameters due to the hydrogen absorption under the conditions of this study.

Effect of Annealing Temperature on the Formation of Silicides and the Surface Morphologies of PtSi Films

The effect of annealing temperature on the formation of the PtSi phase. distribution of silicides and the surface morphologies of silicides films is investigated by XPS. AFM. It is shown that the phase sequences of the films change from Pt-Pt2Si-PtSi-Si to Pt+Pt2Si+PtSi-PtSi-Si or Pt+Pt2Si+PtSi-PtSi-st with an increase of annealing temperature and the reason for the formation of mixed layers is discussed.

A MOLECULAR BEAM INVESTIGATION ON ACTIVATED CHEMISORPTION OF N_2 ON Ni SURFACE AND La FILM

The activated chemisorption of N2 on Ni （poly） and La film was performed on a molecular beam—surface scattering apparatus. Experimental results indicate that the initial sticking probability so increases linearly from 0 to 0.03 as normal component of translational energy of the molecuar beam En increases from 11.00 to 19.91 kcal/mol for N2/Ni system and S0 from 0 to 0. 10 as En from 10. 40 to 19.91 kcal/mol for N2/La system. The apparent activation energy △E are 6.16 kcal/mol and 5.30 kcal/mol for N2/Ni and N2/La systems respectively.

Improvement of Surface Morphology of Yttrium-Stabilized Zirconia Films Deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition on Rolling Assisted Biaxially Textured Substrate Tapes

The surface morphology of buffer layer yttrium-stabilized zirconia （YSZ） of YBa2CuaO7-σ （YBCO） high temperature superconducting films relies on a series of controllable experimental parameters. In this work, we focus on the influence of pulsed laser frequency and target crystalline type on surface morphology of YSZ films deposited by pulsed laser deposition （PLD） on rolling assisted biaxially textured substrate tapes. Usually two kinds of particles are observed in the YSZ layer： randomly distributed ones on the whole film and self-assembled ones along grain boundaries. SEM images are used to prove that particles can be partly removed when choosing dense targets of single crystalline. Lower frequency of pulsed laser also contributes to a smoother film surface. TEM images are used to view the crystalline structure of thin film. Thus we can obtain a basic understanding of how to prepare a particle-free YSZ buffer layer for YBCO in optimized conditions using PLD. The YBCO layer with nice structure and critical current density of around 5 MA/cm2 can be reached on smooth YSZ samples.

THE MECHANISM OF SURFACE METALLIZATION OF POLYVINYL ALCOHOL COMPLEX METAL CHELATE FILMS

A novel method for preparing metalllzed film has been studied.The reduction process and properties of the poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA)were probed by several analytic means.According to the etudies,a mechanism for the polymer surface reduction metallization was proposed and proved.

Impurity Effects at Surfaces of a Photon-Dressed Bi2Se3 Thin Film

We investigate the impurity effects on surfaces of a thin film topological insulator, applied by an off-resonant circular polarized light. It is found that the off-resonant driving induces a quantized total Hall conductivity, when the driving strength is larger than a critical value and the Fermi level lies in the band gap, indicating that our system is converted into the topological phase. We also find that with the increasing disorder strength, the Dirac masses of top and bottom surfaces are renormalized and then fixed to half of their initial values, respectively,which will shrink the widths of the half-integer plateau of anomalous Hall conductivities.

Abnormal IR Spectra of CO Adsorbed on the Surface of Glass Carbon Electrode Modified with Polypyrrole Film with Platinum Microparticles

Abnormal IR spectra of CO adsorbed at the surface of glass carbon electrode modified with polypyrrole film with Pt microparticles are reported.

Thermoelectric Transport by Surface States in Bi2Se3-Based Topological Insulator Thin Films

We develop a tractable theoretical model to investigate the thermoelectric （TE） transport properties of surface states in topological insulator thin films （TITFs） of Bi2Sea at room temperature. The hybridization between top and bottom surface states in the TITF plays a significant role. With the increasing hybridization-induced surface gap, the electrical conductivity and electron thermal conductivity decrease while the Seebeck coefficient increases. This is due to the metal-semiconductor transition induced by the surface-state hybridization. Based on these TE transport coefficients, the TE figure-of-merit ZT is evaluated. It is shown that ZT can be greatly improved by the surface-state hybridization. Our theoretical results are pertinent to the exploration of the TE transport properties of surface states in TITFs and to the potential application of Bi2Sea-based TITFs as high-performance TE materials and devices.

Acetic acid additive in NaNO_(3)aqueous electrolyte for long-lifespan Mg-air batteries

Mg-air batteries have attracted tremendous attention as a potential next-generation power source for portable electronics and e-transportation due to their remarkable high theoretical volumetric energy density,environmental sustainability,and cost-effectiveness.However,the fast hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)in NaCl-based aqueous electrolytes impairs the performance of Mg-air batteries and leads to poor specific capacity,low energy density,and low utilization.Thus,the conventionally used NaCl solute was proposed to be replaced by NaNO_(3)and acetic acid additive as a corrosion inhibitor,therefore an electrolyte engineering for long-life time Mg-air batteries is reported.The resulting Mg-air batteries based on this optimized electrolyte demonstrate an improved discharge voltage reaching~1.8 V for initial 5 h at a current density of 0.5 mA/cm^(2) and significantly prolonged cells'operational lifetime to over 360 h,in contrast to only~17 h observed in NaCl electrolyte.X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry were employed to analyse the composition of surface film and scanning electron microscopy combined with transmission electron microscopy to clarify the morphology changes of the surface layer as a function of acetic acid addition.The thorough studies of chemical composition and morphology of corrosion products have allowed us to elucidate the working mechanism of Mg anode in this optimized electrolyte for Mg-air batteries.

Application of Ceramic Film as Means of Lubrication for Forming of TiSheet in a Highly Localized Deformation Process

Incremental forming is a novel die-less sheet forming process. There is a need for special means to retain lubricant at the tool/sheet interface during forming. To fulfillthe stated aim, a porous ceramic film was developed on pure Ti substrate, and it was done through an electrochemical depsition process known as plasma electrolytic oxidation. The film with preferred pore size could be realized after several attempts by varying the processing parameters. In order to characterize the film, a variety of tests including rnicrostructure, film-substrate bond strength and tribological properties tests were conducted. On-job performance of the film was also examined by forming Ti components employing a range of forming conditions. It was found that the proposed method of lubrication was effective, and the plasma eletrolytic oxidation process can be employed to fabricate films on pure Ti sheet to provide means of lubrication during incremental forming.

MHD Effect of Liquid Metal Film Flows as Plasma-Facing Components

Stability of liquid metal film flow under gradient magnetic field is investigated. Three dimensional numerical simulations on magnetohydrodynamics （MHD） effect of free surface film flow were carried out, with emphasis on the film thickness variation and its surface stability. Three different MHD phenomena of film flow were observed in the experiment, namely, retardant, rivulet and flat film flow. From our experiment and numerical simulation it can be concluded that flat film flow is a good choice for plasma-facing components （PFCs）

Surface oxidation study of molten Mg–Al alloys by oxide/metal/oxide sandwich method

The dynamic oxidation of molten Mg–Al alloy was investigated via the oxide/metal/oxide(OMO)sandwich method.The characteristics of sandwiches were explored using optical microscopy,scanning electron microscopy,X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy,and X-ray diffraction analyses.The results showed the formation of porous oxide films with varying thicknesses from 0.43 to 16.7 mm.Both the measurements and calculations confirmed the literature findings that the oxidation product consists mainly of MgO and Mg Al_(2)O_(4)compounds.The increase in thickness and amount of folds formed on the oxide films implies the significant effect of aluminum in reducing the oxidation resistance of magnesium.

Impedance Characterization of the Film Formation Process at the Graphite Anodes

In this paper, the formation mechanism of the passive SEI film at the natural graphite anodes was investigated with tilt: electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). A characteristic semicircle was observed in the lower frequency range of the EIS spectrum for the irreversible charge process (lithium intercalation) at ca. 0.75V, 0.40V and 0.20V.

Non-linear Dynamics of Inlet Film Thickness during Unsteady Rolling Process

The inlet film thickness directly affects film and stress distribution of rolling interfaces. Unsteady factors, such as unsteady back tension, may disturb the inlet film thickness. However, the current models of unsteady inlet film thickness lack unsteady disturbance factors and do not take surface topography into consideration. In this paper, based on the hydrodynamic analysis of inlet zone an unsteady rolling film model which concerns the direction of surface topography is built up. Considering the small fluctuation of inlet angle, absolute reduction, reduction ratio, inlet strip thickness and roll radius as the input variables and the fluctuation of inlet film thickness as the output variable, the non-linear relationship between the input and output is discussed. The discussion results show that there is 180° phase difference between the inlet film thickness and the input variables, such as the fluctuant absolute reduction, the fluctuant reduction ratio and non-uniform inlet strip thickness, but there is no phase difference between unsteady roll radius and the output. The inlet angle, the steady roll radius and the direction of surface topography have significant influence on the fluctuant amplitude of unsteady inlet film thickness. This study proposes an analysis method for unsteady inlet film thickness which takes surface topography and new disturbance factors into consideration.

Carrier transport characteristics of H-terminated diamond films prepared using molecular hydrogen and atomic hydrogen

The H-terminated diamond films, which exhibit high surface conductivity, have been used in high-frequency and high-power electronic devices. In this paper, the surface conductive channel on specimens from the same diamond film was obtained by hydrogen plasma treatment and by heating under a hydrogen atmosphere, respectively, and the surface carrier transport characteristics of both samples were compared and evaluated. The results show that the carrier mobility and carrier density of the sample treated by hydrogen plasma are 15 cm^2·V^（-1）·s^（-1） and greater than 5 × 1012 cm^（-2）, respectively, and that the carrier mobilities measured at five different areas are similar. Compared to the hydrogen-plasma-treated specimen, the thermally hydrogenated specimen exhibits a lower surface conductivity, a carrier density one order of magnitude lower, and a carrier mobility that varies from 2 to 33 cm^2·V^（-1）·s^（-1）. The activated hydrogen atoms restructure the diamond surface, remove the scratches, and passivate the surface states via the etching effect during the hydrogen plasma treatment process, which maintains a higher carrier density and a more stable carrier mobility.

Synthesis and performance of Zn–Ni–P thin films

The electroplating of Zn–Ni–P thin film alloys from a sulfate bath containing phosphoric and phosphorous acid was investigated. The bath composition and the deposition parameters were optimized through Hull cell experiments, and the optimum experimental conditions were determined（p H = 2, temperature = 298–313 K, zinc sulfate concentration =30 g·L^-1, EDTA concentration = 15 g·L^-1, and current density = 1.0–2.0 A·dm^-2）. The SEM analysis of the coating deposited from the optimum bath revealed fine-grained deposits of the alloy in the presence of EDTA. Optical microscopy analysis indicated an electrodeposited thin film with uniform thickness and good adhesion to the steel substrate. The good adherence of the coatings was also demonstrated by the scratch tests that were performed, with a maximum determined value of 25 N for the critical load. Corrosion resistance tests revealed good protection of the steel substrate by the obtained Zn–Ni–P coatings, with values up to 85.89% for samples with Ni contents higher than 76%. The surface analysis of the thin film samples before and after corrosion was performed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy（XPS）.