Cubic boron nitride (cBN) composites starting with cBN–Al mixtures were sintered on WC-16 wt% Co substrates under static high pressure of 5.0 GPa and at temperatures of 800–1400 °C for 30 min. Vickers hardness of the sintered samples increased with increasing cBN content, and the highest hardness of 32.7 GPa was achieved for the cBN–5 wt% Al specimens sintered at 1400 °C. The reactions between cBN and Al started to occur at about 900 °C, and the reaction products strongly depended on the Al content, sintering temperature, and Co diffusion from the substrates according to the x-ray diffraction (XRD) observations. The high pressure and high temperature in situ resistance measurement indicated that the reactions between cBN and Al could be completed in about 90 s when the temperature was higher than ∼1200 °C at high pressure. The cBN composite sintered at 1200 °C from a cBN–15 wt% Al mixture showed the best cutting performance.

The optical and electrical properties of “tilted” and “spiral” indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films are reported. The influence of the flux incident angle on the optical and electrical properties is investigated. When the flux incident angle is increased, both the refractive index and extinction coefficient of the film are decreased, but the resistivity is increased. Thus, the physical properties of the film can be modified over a wide range by adjusting the flux incident angle and substrate rotation scheme. It is suggested that the oblique angle deposition technique provides ITO films with more application possibilities by allowing their optical and electrical properties to be tailored.

The SHS reaction in the Ni–Ti–B4C system starts with the formation of Ni–Ti and Ni–B intermetallic compounds from the solid interacted reaction among the reactants and, subsequently, the formation of Ni–Ti and Ni–B liquid at the eutectic point. Meanwhile, some C atoms from the reaction between Ni and B4C can dissolve into Ni–Ti liquid to form TiC. The heat generated from these reactions can promote the mutual diffusion of Ni–Ti–C and Ni–B liquid and simultaneously accelerate the formation of Ni–Ti–C–B liquid. Finally the precipitation of TiC and TiB2 occur when the C and B atoms in the liquid become supersaturated. The addition of Ni not only promotes the occurrence of the self-propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS) reaction by forming Ni–Ti liquid, but also accelerates the SHS reaction by forming Ni–B liquid and dissociative C. The early appearance of dissociative C from the reaction between Ni and B4C causes the formation of TiC prior to that of TiB2.

The concept of optical protein-based memory has been of interest since the early 1970s. Yet, no commercially available protein-based memory devices exist. This review presents an analysis of the main challenges associated with the practical implementation of such devices. In addition, the discussion includes details on the potential of using the unparalleled properties of photochromic proteins by creating an optical data storage disk drive with unmatched features and, particularly, record-high data densities and rates.

Temperature and film thickness are expected to have an influence on the mechanical properties of thin films. However, mechanical testing of ultrathin metallic films at elevated temperatures is difficult, and few experiments have been conducted to date. Here, we present a systematic study of the mechanical properties of 80–500-nm-thick polycrystalline Au films with and without SiNx passivation layers in the temperature range from 123 to 473 K. The films were tested by a novel synchrotron-based tensile testing technique. Pure Au films showed strong temperature dependence above 373 K, which may be explained by diffusional creep. In contrast, passivated samples appeared to deform by thermally activated dislocation glide. The observed activation energies for both mechanisms are considerably lower than those for the bulk material, indicating that concomitant stress relaxation mechanisms are more pronounced in the thin film geometry.

Aramid-based nanocomposites were prepared by solution intercalation techniques using p-aminobenzoic acid-modified montmorillonite. Polyamide was synthesized by reacting 4,4′-oxydianiline with isophthaloyl chloride in dimethyl acetamide. To create chemical interactions between the two phases for better dispersion of organoclay, aramid chains were selectively amine end-capped. The influence of organically modified clay on the morphology was investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), polarized optical microscopy (POM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Mechanical, thermal, and water uptake measurements were carried out to further verify other physical properties of the nanocomposites. Tensile strength, modulus, elongation at break, and toughness were improved relative to pure polymer with the addition of 6 wt% organoclay. Thermal-decomposition temperatures of the nanocomposites were in the range 300–450 °C. Water uptake of neat aramid film was rather high (5.7%) and decreased with augmenting organoclay. DSC exhibited increase in the glass transition temperature (118 °C) up to addition of 16 wt% of organoclay.

We obtained Ba3Yb(BO3)3 single crystals by the flux method with solutions of the BaB2O4–Na2O–Yb2O3 system. The evolution of the cell parameters with temperature shows a slope change at temperatures near 873 K, which may indicate a phase transition that is not observed by changes appearing in the x-ray powder patterns or by differential thermal analysis (DTA). The evolution of the diffraction patterns with the temperature shows incongruent melting at temperatures higher than 1473 K. DTA indicates that there is incongruent melting and this process is irreversible. Ba3Yb(BO3)3 has a wide transparency window from 247 to 3900 nm. We recorded optical absorption and emission spectra at room and low temperature, and we determined the splitting of Yb3+ ions. We used the reciprocity method to calculate the maximum emission cross section of 0.28 × 10−20 cm2 at 966 nm. The calculated lifetime of Yb3+ in Ba3Yb(BO3)3 is τrad = 2.62 ms, while the measured lifetime is τ = 3.80 ms.

Indentation stress relaxation tests were carried out on high-purity polycrystalline copper specimens at room temperature with a flat cylindrical indenter. The experimental results showed that the resulting load-time relaxation curves can be described by a power law, which coupled an internal stress and an integral constant between the effective stress and relaxation time. Then the internal stress, integral constant, and dislocation velocity stress exponent can be extracted from load relaxation curves. The derived values from this way were consistent with the results of conventional uniaxial compression stress relaxation tests. These agreements are not only useful to understand deformation (dislocation) mechanisms under the indenter, but also exhibit an attractive potential of measuring nano/micromechanical properties of materials by indentation test.

Measuring Na in silicate glasses can be difficult in transmission electron microscopy due to modifications induced by electron irradiation. The modifications involve not only the loss of Na from the illuminated region, but also the formation of Na and Na2O. This work compares the electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) of plasmon and Na L23 edge in Na2O–SiO2 glass with those in Na and Na2O. The interpretations of the fine structures in Na L23 edge were also given with the aid of full multiplescattering calculations. It demonstrates that the formation of metallic Na can be easily identified by its bulk plasmon at about 5.8 eV, and the formation of Na2O can be better seen by Na L23-edge fine structure.

First-principles total-energy and heat of formation calculations on α and β polymorphs of Ta4AlC3 have been made with a full-potential electronic structure program with the generalized gradient approximation, which shows that α phase is more stable than β phase. The charge transfer and chemical bonding of the two phases were investigated quantitatively by using Bader’s quantum theory of atoms in molecules (AIM). The results show that the bonding between Ta1-C2 is stronger in α phase than β phase, which leads to the stability of α phase.