Recording, Storage, and Reproduction of Information on Polyvinyl Chloride Films Using Shape Memory Effects

Partial dissolution and plasticization are used for recording, storing, and reproducing information with modified industrial screen-printing equipment and aqueous solutions of colorless organic liquids on small surface area shape memory polymer films. To justify the choice of “ink” and evaluate the effectiveness of using organic liquids as high-speed polymer solvents, the new method for recording hidden information uses the calculation of the solubility parameter, differential scanning calorimetry, and the method of one-sided swelling of films under isometric conditions. Using the example of tactile marking of shrink labels made of polyvinyl chloride, the optimal conditions for recording hidden information on a film are established in terms of the concentration of an aqueous solution of tetrahydrofuran, the contact time, and the processing temperature of the polymer using screen printing equipment

Spontaneous Formation of Sub-4 nm Nanocrystalline Alloy Via Polymorphic Phase Transformation

A new phase-transformation-induced path to spontaneous formation of extreme nanograin structure is reported. In-situ-heating-mode-microscopy exhibited a substantial grain-growth of Cu6Sn5. During cooling, the grain-growth continued, but it spontaneously switched to grain-refinement mode on phase transformation through ∼180 °C from η-Cu6Sn5 to η’-Cu6Sn5, ending up with an extremely small nanograin size of ∼2.5 nm. The cooling cycling always restores the nanograin size regardless of thermal exposure history, making this to be the first demonstration to stabilize the nanograin with its own spontaneous behavior. The Young’s Modulus was significantly reduced by ∼×3, and the elongation was remarkably increased by ∼×8 to ∼9%

Spontaneous Formation of Sub-4 nm Nanocrystalline Alloy Via Polymorphic Phase Transformation

A new phase-transformation-induced path to spontaneous formation of extreme nanograin structure is reported. In-situ-heating-mode-microscopy exhibited a substantial grain-growth of Cu6Sn5. During cooling, the grain-growth continued, but it spontaneously switched to grain-refinement mode on phase transformation through ∼180 °C from η-Cu6Sn5 to η’-Cu6Sn5, ending up with an extremely small nanograin size of ∼2.5 nm. The cooling cycling always restores the nanograin size regardless of thermal exposure history, making this to be the first demonstration to stabilize the nanograin with its own spontaneous behavior. The Young’s Modulus was significantly reduced by ∼×3, and the elongation was remarkably increased by ∼×8 to ∼9%

Effects of Thickness Ratios and Sputtering Mode on the Structural, Electrical and Optical Properties of Bilayer Molybdenum Thin Films

In this paper, the bilayer Mo films with a constant thickness were deposited by direct current and direct current (DC/DC), radio frequency and direct current mixed (RF/DC) magnetron sputtering, respectively. Changing thickness ratios of bottom layer to total thickness of bilayer film in the range from 10% to 50%, ten types of bilayer Mo thin films were deposited. The purpose is to improve the photo-conversion efficiency of Cu(In, Ga)Se2(CIGS) solar cells by changing the sputtering modes and thickness ratio. The microstructures, electrical and optical properties of the bilayer Mo thin films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM), Hall Effect measurement system, ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer (UV-vis) and four-point probe resistance system. It was found that with the increase of thickness ratios in two sputtering modes, both the crystallinity and grain size decreased, while the reflectance increased. Especially, when the thickness ratio was 40%, the resistivity of Mo film prepared in RF/DC mode was as low as 3.365 ×10-5 Ω·cm and the highest reflectance was above 60%. Using this optimized Mo thin film as electrode, the highest photo-conversion efficiency for the CIGS thin film solar cells was as high as 11.5%