High mechanical strength Si anode synthesis with interlayer bonded expanded graphite structure for lithium-ion batteries

Despite advancements in silicon-based anodes for high-capacity lithium-ion batteries,their widespread commercial adoption is still hindered by significant volume expansion during cycling,especially at high active mass loadings crucial for practical use.The root of these challenges lies in the mechanical instability of the material,which subsequently leads to the structural failure of the electrode.Here,we present a novel synthesis of a composite combining expanded graphite and silicon nanoparticles.This composite features a unique interlayer-bonded graphite structure,achieved through the application of a modified spark plasma sintering method.Notably,this innovative structure not only facilitates efficient ion and electron transport but also provides exceptional mechanical strength(Vickers hardness:up to658 MPa,Young's modulus:11.6 GPa).This strength effectively accommodates silicon expansion,resulting in an impressive areal capacity of 2.9 mA h cm^(-2)(736 mA h g^(-1)) and a steady cycle life(93% after 100cycles).Such outsta nding performance is paired with features appropriate for large-scale industrial production of silicon batteries,such as active mass loading of at least 3.9 mg cm^(-2),a high-tap density electrode material of 1.68 g cm^(-3)(secondary clusters:1.12 g cm^(-3)),and a production yield of up to 1 kg per day.

Effects of Surface Treatments on Tensile, Thermal and Fibre-matrix Bond Strength of Coir and Pineapple Leaf Fibres with Poly Lactic Acid

Coir Fibres （CF） and Pineapple Leaf Fibres （PALF） are valuable natural fibres which are abundantly available in Malaysia as agricultural wastes. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of alkali （6%）, silane （2%）, and calcium hydroxide （6%） on tensile, morphological, thermal, and structural properties of CF and PALF to improve their interfacial bonding with Polylactic Acid （PLA） matrix. Scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy were used to observe the effectiveness of the chemical treat- ments in the removal of impurities. Alkali treated fibres yield the lowest fibre diameter and the highest Interfacial Stress Strength （IFSS）. Thermogravimetric Analysis （TGA） shows improved thermal stability in silane treated CF and alkali treated PALF. It is assumed that fibre treatments can help to develop biodegradable CF and PALF reinforced PLA biocomposites for industrial applications.

Transient liquid phase bonding of DD5 superalloy using a designed interlayer: microstructure and mechanical properties

Nickel based single crystal superalloy is currently widely used as the material for turbine blades in aerospace engines.However,metallurgical defects during the manufacturing process and damage during harsh environmental service are inevitable challenges for turbine blades.Therefore,bonding techniques play a very important role in the manufacturing and repair of turbine blades.The transient liquid phase(TLP)bonding of DD5 Ni-based single crystal superalloy was performed using the designed H1 interlayer.A new third-generation Ni-based superalloy T1 powder was mixed with H1 powder as another interlayer to improve the mechanical properties of the bonded joints.The res-ults show that,such a designed H1 interlayer is beneficial to the improvement of shear strength of DD5 alloy bonded joints by adjusting the bonding temperature and the prolongation of holding time.The maximum shear strength at room temperature of the joint with H1 interlayer reached 681 MPa when bonded at 1260℃for 3 h.The addition of T1 powder can effectively reduce holding time or relatively lower bond-ing temperature,while maintaining relatively high shear strength.When 1 wt.%T1 powder was mixed into H1 interlayer,the maximum room temperature shear strength of the joint bonded at 1260℃reached 641 MPa,which could be obtained for only 1 h.Considering the bonding temperature and the efficiency,the acceptable process parameter of H1+5 wt.%T1 interlayer was 1240℃/2 h,and the room tem-perature shear strength reached 613 MPa.

Hybrid bonding of GaAs and Si wafers at low temperature by Ar plasma activation

High-quality bonding of 4-inch GaAs and Si is achieved using plasma-activated bonding technology.The influence of Ar plasma activation on surface morphology is discussed.When the annealing temperature is 300℃,the bonding strength reaches a maximum of 6.2 MPa.In addition,a thermal stress model for GaAs/Si wafers is established based on finite element analysis to obtain the distribution of equivalent stress and deformation variables at different temperatures.The shape varia-tion of the wafer is directly proportional to the annealing temperature.At an annealing temperature of 400℃,the maximum protrusion of 4 inches GaAs/Si wafers is 3.6 mm.The interface of GaAs/Si wafers is observed to be dense and defect-free using a transmission electron microscope.The characterization of interface elements by X-ray energy dispersion spectroscopy indi-cates that the elements at the interface undergo mutual diffusion,which is beneficial for improving the bonding strength of the interface.There is an amorphous transition layer with a thickness of about 5 nm at the bonding interface.The preparation of Si-based GaAs heterojunctions can enrich the types of materials required for the development of integrated circuits,improve the performance of materials and devices,and promote the development of microelectronics technology.

Carbon Fiber Breakage Mechanism in Aluminum(Al)/Carbon Fibers(CFs) Composite Sheet during Accumulative Roll Bonding(ARB) Process

We put forward a method of fabricating Aluminum(Al)/carbon fibers(CFs) composite sheets by the accumulative roll bonding(ARB) method. The finished Al/CFs composite sheet has CFs and pure Al sheets as sandwich and surface layers. After cross-section observation of the Al/CFs composite sheet, we found that the CFs discretely distributed within the sandwich layer. Besides, the tensile test showed that the contribution of the sandwich CFs layer to tensile strength was less than 11% compared with annealed pure Al sheet. With ex-situ observation of the CFs breakage evolution with-16%,-32%, and-45% rolling reduction during the ARB process, the plastic instability of the Al layer was found to bring shear damages to the CFs. At last, the bridging strengthening mechanism introduced by CFs was sacrificed. We provide new insight into and instruction on Al/CFs composite sheet preparation method and processing parameters.

Bonding interface characteristic and shear strength of diffusion bonded Ti-17 titanium alloy

The bonding interface characteristic and shear strength of diffusion bonded Ti-17 titanium alloy at different bonding time were investigated. The results show that the average size of voids decreases while the amount of voids decreases after increasing to the maximum value with the increasing bonding time. The irregular void with a scraggly edge tends to an ellipse void with smooth surface and then changes to a tiny void with round shape. The grains across bonding interface occur at bonding time of 60 min. The shear strength of bond increases with increasing bonding time, and the highest shear strength of bond is 887.4 MPa at 60 min. The contribution of plastic deformation on the void closure and the increase of shear strength is significant even though the action time of plastic deformation is short.

Effect of Self-adhesive Resin Cement and Tribochemical Treatment on Bond Strength to Zirconia

Aim To evaluate the interactive effects of different self- adhesive resin cements and tribochemical treatment on bond strength to zirconia. Methodology The following self-adhesive resin cements for bonding two zirconia blocks were evaluated： Maxcem （MA）, Smartcem （SM）, Rely X Unicem Aplicap （UN）, Breeze （BR）, Biscem （BI）, Set （SE）, and Clearfil SA luting （CL）. The specimens were grouped according to conditioning as follows： Group 1, polishing with 600 grit polishing paper; Group 2, silica coating with 110 μm Al2O3 particles which modified with silica; and, Group 3, tribochemical treatment - silica coating ＋ silanization. Specimens were stored in distilled water at 37℃ for 24 hours before testing shear bond strength. Results Silica coating and tribochemical treatment significantly increased the bond strength of the MA, UN, BR, B1, SE and CL to zirconia compared to #600 polishing. For both #600 polished and silica coating treatments, MDP- containing self-adhesive resin cement CL had the highest bond strengths to zirconia. Conclusion Applying silica coating and tribochemical treatment improved the bond strength of self-adhesive resin cement to zirconia, especially for CL.

Effect of Freeze-thaw Cycles on Bond Strength between Steel Bars and Concrete

The effect of freezing and thawing cycles on mechanical properties of concrete （compressive, splitting tensile strength） was experimentally investigated. According to the pullout test data of three kinds of deformed steel bars, the bond stress-slip curves after freezing and thawing were obtained. The empirical equations of peak bond strength were proposed that the damage accounted for effects of freezing and thawing cycle. Meanwhile, the mechanism of bond deterioration between steel bars and concrete after freezing and thawing cycles was discussed. All these conclusions will be useful to the durability design and reliability calculation of RC structures in cold region.

Influence of holding time on microstructure and shear strength of Mg alloy/steel joint diffusion bonded with Zn-5Al interlayer

The diffusion bonding of AZ31B Mg alloy and Q235 steel was investigated with a Zn-5Al alloy as interlayer and under different holding time ranging from 3 to 1 200 s. The microstructure and phase compositions of bonded joints were characterized by scanning electron microscopy( SEM),energy dispersive spectrometer( EDS) and X-ray diffraction( XRD)methods. The shear strength of Mg alloy/steel joints was measured by tensile tester. It was found that the microstructure of bonded joints evolved dramatically along with the prolongation of holding time. Under the holding time of 3 s,the main part of joint was composed of MgZn_2 phase and dispersed Al-rich solid solution particles. When increased the holding time more than 60 s,the excessive solution of AZ31B into the interfacial reaction area led to the formation of coarse phase and eutectic microstructure,and also the complex Fe-Al and Mg-Al-Zn IMCs at transition layer closed to Q235 steel side. According to the tensile testing characterizations,the joints obtained under holding time of 3 s exhibited the best shear strength of 84 MPa,and the fracture occurred at the intermediary part of joint where the flexible Al-rich solid solution particles could help to impede the microcrack propagations. With prolonging the holding time to 600 s,the shear strength of joints was deteriorated enormously and the fracture position was shifted to the transition layer part closed to Q235 steel.

Influence of basicity and temperature on bonding phase strength,microstructure,and mineralogy of high-chromium vanadium–titanium magnetite

To develop a smelting process for the comprehensive utilization of high-chromium vanadium-titanium magnetite(HCVTM),the micro-sinter test was applied to investigate the influence of basicity and temperature on the HCVTM sinters.The bonding phase strength(BS) was tested via an electronic universal testing machine.The phase transformations of the HCVTM sinters were detected via X-ray diffraction(XRD),whereas the structure and mineralogy of the HCVTM sinters under different temperatures and basicities were detected via scanning electron microscopy in combination with energy-dispersive spectroscopy(SEM–EDS).Our results demonstrate that the BS of the HCVTM sinters exhibits a slightly increasing tendency with an increase in temperature when the basicity is 2.4 and within the range of 2.8–4.0.Many cracks,small size crystals,and dependent phase structures are generated by increasing the sinter basicity.The BS is lower than 4000 N when the basicity is 2.2 and 2.8.When the temperature is in the range of 1280–1300?C,the BS exceeds 4000 N with the basicity of 2.0,2.4,and 3.4–4.0.The pore size of the HCVTM sinters increases with the increase of the temperature.The perovskite decreases,whereas the silicate phase increases with basicity higher than 3.2.This study provides theoretical and technical foundations for the effective production of HCVTM sinters.

Influence of heterogeneity on rock strength and stiffness using discrete element method and parallel bond model

The particulate discrete element method(DEM) can be employed to capture the response of rock,provided that appropriate bonding models are used to cement the particles to each other.Simulations of laboratory tests are important to establish the extent to which those models can capture realistic rock behaviors.Hitherto the focus in such comparison studies has either been on homogeneous specimens or use of two-dimensional(2D) models.In situ rock formations are often heterogeneous,thus exploring the ability of this type of models to capture heterogeneous material behavior is important to facilitate their use in design analysis.In situ stress states are basically three-dimensional(3D),and therefore it is important to develop 3D models for this purpose.This paper revisits an earlier experimental study on heterogeneous specimens,of which the relative proportions of weaker material(siltstone) and stronger,harder material(sandstone) were varied in a controlled manner.Using a 3D DEM model with the parallel bond model,virtual heterogeneous specimens were created.The overall responses in terms of variations in strength and stiffness with different percentages of weaker material(siltstone) were shown to agree with the experimental observations.There was also a good qualitative agreement in the failure patterns observed in the experiments and the simulations,suggesting that the DEM data enabled analysis of the initiation of localizations and micro fractures in the specimens.

The influence of four dual-cure resin cements and surface treatment selection to bond strength of fiber post

In this study, we evaluate the influence of post surface pre-treatments on the bond strength of four different cements to glass fiber posts. Eighty extracted human maxillary central incisors and canines were endodontically treated and standardized post spaces were prepared. Four post pre-treatments were tested： （i） no pre-treatment （NS, control）, （ii） sandblasting （SA）, （iii） silanization （SI） and （iv） sandblasting followed by silanization （SS）. Per pre-treatment, four dual-cure resin cements were used for luting posts： DMG LUXACORE Smartmix Dual, Multilink Automix, RelyX Unicem and Panavia F2.0. All the specimens were subjected to micro push-out test. Two-way analysis of variance and Tukey post hoc tests were performed （α=0.05） to analyze the data. Bond strength was significantly affected by the type of resin cement, and bond strengths of RelyX Unicem and Panavia F2.0 to the fiber posts were significantly higher than the other cement groups. Sandblasting significantly increased the bond strength of DMG group to the fiber posts.

Bond strength improvement of GFRP rebars with different rib geometries

Based on the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) criteria,105 pullout specimens were tested to investigate the effect of different rib geometries on bond strength of glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP) rebars embedded in concrete. Two kinds of conventional reinforcing rebars were also studied for comparison. Each rebar was embedded in a 150 mm concrete cube,with the embedded length being four times the rebar diameter. The experimental parameters were the rebar type,rebar component,rebar diameter,rebar surface texture,rib height,rib spacing and rib width. Theoretical analysis was also carried out to explain the experimental phenomena and results. The experimental and theoretical results indicated that the bond strength of GFRP rebars was about 13%～35% lower than that of steel rebars. The bond strength and bond-slip behavior of the specially machined rebars varied with the rebar type,rebar diameter,rebar surface texture,rib height,rib spacing and rib width. Using the results,design recom-mendations were made concerning optimum rib geometries of GFRP ribbed rebars with superior bond-slip characteristics,which concluded that the optimal rib spacing of ribbed rebars is the same as the rebar diameter,and that the optimal rib height is 6% of the rebar diameter.

Effect of Saliva Contamination on Shear Bond Strength of Orthodontic Brackets When Using a Self-Etch Primer

The effect of saliva contamination on the shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets, at various stages of the bonding procedure using a new self-etch primer was studied. The samples were divided into 4 groups according to 4 different enamel surface conditions: Group A: dry; Group B: saliva contamination before priming; Group C: saliva contamination after priming, and Group D: saliva contamination before and after priming. Stainless steel brackets were bonded in each test group with a light-cured composite resin (TransbondXT 3M). The shear bond strength was determined in the first 30 min after bonding. The analysis of variance indicated that the shear bond strengths of the 4 groups were significantly different (F=11.89, P<0.05). Tukey HSD tests indicated that contamination both before and after the application of the acid-etch primer resulted in a significantly lower (=4.6±1.7 MPa) shear bond strength than either the control group (=8.8±1.9 MPa) or the groups where contamination occurred either before (=7.9±2.0 MPa) or after (=6.9±1.5 MPa) the application of the primer. It was concluded that the new acid-etch primer could maintain adequate shear bond strength if contamination occurred either before or after the application of the primer. On the other hand, contamination both before and after the application of the primer could significantly reduce the shear bond strength of orthodontic brackets.

Strength prediction of multi-layered copper-based composites fabricated by accumulative roll bonding

This work aims to evaluate the feasibility of the fabrication of nanostructured Cu/Al/Ag multi-layered composites by accumulative roll bonding(ARB),and to analyze the tensile properties and electrical conductivity of the produced composites.A theoretical model using strengthening mechanisms and some structural parameters extracted from X-ray diffraction is also developed to predict the tensile strength of the composites.It was found that by progression of ARB,the experimental and calculated tensile strengths are enhanced,reach a maximum of about 450 and 510 MPa at the fifth cycle of ARB,respectively and then are reduced.The electrical conductivity decreased slightly by increasing the number of ARB cycles at initial ARB cycles,but the decrease was intensified at the final ARB cycles.In conclusion,the merit of ARB to fabricate this type of multi-layered nanocomposites and the accuracy of the developed model to predict tensile strength were realized.

Long-term Antibacterial Properties and Bond Strength of Experimental Nano Silver-containing Orthodontic Cements

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long time antibacterial properties and shear bond strength of experimental nano silver-containing cements （NSC）. Nano silver base inorganic antibacterial powder was added to the reinforced glass ionomer cement at five different weight ratios to obtain a series of nano silver-containing cements, then the antibacterial properties of three orthodontic cement products and five NSC samples were evaluated by the direct contact test （DCT） and the agar diffusion test （ADT）. The DCT, which was based on turbidness determination of bacterial growth in 96-well microtiter plates, was performed in both fresh and aged for 1 day, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks, and 8 weeks tested materials. The shear bond strengthes of three orthodontic cement products and five NSC samples were examined using a universal testing machine. The ADT results indicated that there were no significant differences between NSCs and ORTHO LC fresh specimens. In the DCT experiment, all fresh silver nanoparticles-containing tested samples presented powerful antibacterial properties, but they gradually lost the effective antimicrobial agents with the extension of aging time. Finally, none of the tested materials maintained its antibacterial property after aging for 8 weeks. A gradually decreasing trend of bond strength presented with the increasing incorporation of nano silver base inorganic antibacterial powder into the glass ionomer cement, even though all the tested material specimens reached the ideal bond strength range. We may conclude that NSCs can contribute to decrease the demineralization rate around brackets without compromising bond strength.

The Effect of Steel Corrosion on Bond Strength in Concrete Structures

The effect of steel corrosion on the behavior of bond between steel and the surrounding concrete was investigated. Pullout tests were carried out to demonstrate bond stress-slip response for reinforcing steel bars of a series of corrosion level. Specimens either confined or unconfined were investigated for evaluation of the effect of confinement on bond strength and failure mode. Also, the tests were analyzed using nonlinear finite element analysis. It was shown that for both confined and unconfined steel bars, bond strength generally decreases as the corrosion level increases when corrosion level is relatively high. Confinement was demonstrated to provide excellent means to conteract bond loss for corroded reinforcing steel bars. It was shown that unconfined specimens generally split at a small slip with a large crack width and result in splitting failure while confined specimens contribute to a small crack width and generally cause a pullout failure. The analysis results agree reasonably well with the experiments.

Bonding strength of Invar/Cu clad strips fabricated by twin-roll casting process

Based on traditional twin-roll casting process,Invar/Cu clad strips were successfully fabricated by using solid Invar alloy strip and molten Cu under conditions of high temperature,high pressure and plastic deformation.A series of tests including tensile test,bending test,T-type peeling test and scanning electron microscope(SEM)and energy dispersive spectrometer(EDS)measurements were carried out to analyze the mechanical properties of Invar/Cu clad strips and the micro-morphology of tensile fracture surfaces and bonding interfaces.The results indicate that no delamination phenomenon occurs during the compatible deformation of Invar/Cu in bending test and only one stress platform exists in the tensile stress-strain curve when the bonding strength is large.On the contrary,different mechanical properties of Invar and Cu lead to delamination phenomenon during the uniaxial tensile test,which determines that two stress platforms occur on the stress-strain curve of Invar/Cu clad strips when two elements experience necking.The average peeling strength can be increased from13.85to42.31N/mm after heat treatment at800℃for1h,and the observation of the Cu side at peeling interface shows that more Fe is adhered on the Cu side after the heat treatment.All above illustrate that heat treatment can improve the strength of the bonding interface of Invar/Cu clad strips.

Strength of Intramolecular Hydrogen Bonds

The concept of resonance-assisted hydrogen bonds(RAHBs)highlights the synergistic interplay between theπ-resonance and hydrogen bonding interactions.This concept has been well-accepted in academia and is widely used in practice.However,it has been argued that the seemingly enhanced intramolecular hydrogen bonding(IMHB)in unsaturated compounds may simply be a result of the constraints imposed by theσ-skeleton framework.Thus,it is crucial to estimate the strength of IMHBs.In this work,we used two approaches to probe the resonance effect and estimate the strength of the IMHBs in the two exemplary cases of the enol forms of acetylacetone and o-hydroxyacetophenone.One approach is the block-localized wavefunction(BLW)method,which is a variant of the ab initio valence bond(VB)theory.Using this approach,it is possible to derive the geometries and energetics with resonance shut down.The other approach is Edmiston’s truncated localized molecular orbital(TLMO)technique,which monitors the energy changes by removing the delocalization tails from localized molecular orbitals.The integrated BLW and TLMO studies confirmed that the hydrogen bonding in these two molecules is indeed enhanced byπ-resonance,and that this enhancement is not a result ofσconstraints.

Effect of CeO_2 on Microstructure and Bond Strength of Fe-Ni-Cr Alloy

Fe-Ni-Cr alloy powders with and without 0.4% CeO_2 were flame sprayed on the surface of 1045 carbon steel substrate. The effect of rare earth oxide CeO_2 on the interface layer and microstructure was investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis, SEM and EDS. Based on our previous work, comparison on the microstructure of a Fe-Ni-Cr alloy with and without 0.4% CeO_2 addition was made. The correlation between the microstructure and bond strength was studied. The addition of CeO_2 in Fe-Ni-Cr alloy shows promise results for providing good bonding strength as well as tribological properties. The results show that the hardness of the coatings can be improved by addition of 0.4% CeO_2, and the shape of powders is more spheroidal. The combination of three aspects, namely small, well-distributed microstructure, the well-distributed matrix and promotion of diffusion leads to the improvement in bond strength of Fe-Ni-Cr alloy with addition of 0.4% CeO_2.