Study of the Electrochemical Dissolution Behavior of Nitinol Shape Memory Alloy in Different Electrolytes for Micro-ECM Process

Nickel-Titanium alloy (Nitinol) is an excellent shape memory alloy (SMA) for Micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) particularly in biomedical applications owing to its three excellent features like shape memory effect (SME), superelasticity, and biocompatibility. The fabrication of micro features on Nitinol SMAs through conventional machining has been challenging due to its temperature-dependent material transformation properties. Micro electrochemical machining (micro-ECM), a nonconventional machining method for conductive material irrespective of strength and hardness has the potential for microfeature fabrication on Nitinol. This study presents the investigation on electrochemical dissolution behavior of Nitinol in different electrolytes for micro-ECM. The influence of electrolytes on the nature of dissolution of Nitinol has been studied by fabricating microchannels in three levels of parameters containing applied voltage and electrolyte concentration. The first three electrolytes were all aqueous neutral electrolytes i.e. sodium chloride (NaCl), sodium nitrate (NaNO3), and sodium bromide (NaBr). For profound analysis of dissolution behavior and its influence on machining performance, potentiodynamic polarization (PDP) tests of Nitinol were performed in aqueous NaCl, aqueous NaNO3, and aqueous NaBr solutions. The PDP tests that are conducted here are cyclic voltammetry (CV) and linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). The three aqueous solutions were utilized for microchannel fabrication in Nitinol through micro ECM in three levels of parameters out of which aqueous NaNO3 was successful in fabricating microchannel. Then nonaqueous electrolyte of ethylene glycol-based NaNO3 has been used to fabricate microchannels with lower depth overcut (DOC), width overcut (WOC), and length overcut (LOC) with respect to aqueous NaNO3 electrolyte.

Swin–UNet++: A Nested Swin Transformer Architecture for Location Identification and Morphology Segmentation of Dimples on 2.25Cr1Mo0.25V Fractured Surface

The precise identification of micro-features on 2.25Cr1Mo0.25V steel is of great significance for understanding the mechanism of hydrogen embrittlement (HE) and evaluating the alloy’s properties of HE resistance. Presently, the convolution neural network (CNN) of deep learning is widely applied in the micro-features identification of alloy. However, with the development of the transformer in image recognition, the transformer-based neural network performs better on the learning of global and long-range semantic information than CNN and achieves higher prediction accuracy. In this work, a new transformer-based neural network model Swin–UNet++ was proposed. Specifically, the architecture of the decoder was redesigned to more precisely detect and identify the micro-feature with complex morphology (i.e., dimples) of 2.25Cr1Mo0.25V steel fracture surface. Swin–UNet++ and other segmentation models performed state-of-the-art (SOTA) were compared on the dimple dataset constructed in this work, which consists of 830 dimple scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images on 2.25Cr1Mo0.25V steel fracture surface. The segmentation results show Swin–UNet++ not only realizes the accurate identification of dimples but displays a much higher prediction accuracy and stronger robustness than Swin–Unet and UNet. Moreover, efforts from this work will also provide an important reference value to the identification of other micro-features with complex morphologies.

Micro-features of ambipolar snapback behaviour under high current injection to design capacitorless memory device

This paper presents micro-features of capacitorless memory cells based on snapback phenomenon and modeling of space-charges. 2—Dimensional gate grounded NMOS structure is specified and its operational window of the memory cell is inspected using the Synopsys TCAD tool. This work examines snapback behaviour in one transistor DRAM memory cell in the absence of a storage capacitor under zero gate bias and applied ramp of high current at the drain terminal. Carrier electrostatics and memory cell mechanisms are also explored by adjusting the slope of the high current ramp. The process variation is examined for different parameters in the device. The current crowding phenomenon due to the injection of electrons and holes is investigated, giving rise to ambipolar behaviour. Due to the snapback, redistribution of electron and hole current is investigated. This work also evaluates the impact on electrostatic potential along channel and bulk under the snapback. It explains the dependency of snapback on potential build-up. Post-snapback electron current flipping presents the flow line near the gate region. The bipolar activity is manifested in surface and bulk regions to show its impact through analytics. The effect of gate biasing is also examined under the applied current ramp.

Impact of Charging and Charging Rate on Thermal Runaway Behaviors of Lithium-Ion Cells

The present work carries out a series of thermal runaway experiments to explore the impact of charging and charging rate on the thermal runaway behaviors of lithium-ion cells, in which five charging rates (0C, 0.5C, 1C, 2C and 4C) and three initial states of charge (SOC), i.e. 25%, 50% and 75% are included. The thermal runaway process of 18650 lithium-ion cells induced by over-heating usually consists of seven stages, and is accompanied with high-temperature, fire and toxicity risks. The internal morphology of cells and the micro features of cell materials are seriously damaged after thermal runaway. Charging aggravates the thermal runaway behavior of cells, which is further exhibited as the earlier occurrence of safety vent opening, gas releasing and thermal runaway. Moreover, the severity deteriorates as the charging rate increases (the larger the charging rate, the earlier and more severe the thermal runway), which may be ascribed to the growth of cell SOC and the decline of cell stability under charging. This phenomenon is especially apparent for the cell with a high initial SOC where a more dramatic-rising α (the advancement ratio of critical times for thermal runaway due to charging) is observed.

Manufacturability and Surface Characterisation of Polymeric Microfluidic Devices for Bio-medical Applications

Microfluidic devices fabricated through mechanical micromachining techniques have already been reported to be highly economical when compared to other techniques. Direct mechanical machining processes are generally classified as a one-step manufacturing process, having the advantages of rapid prototyping and batch production. Though there are advancements in ultra-precision machining techniques, the real challenge of direct machining polymeric microfluidic channels is the occurrence of poor surface integrity owing to the change in mechanical as well as viscoelastic properties. This forms the key objective of the present research work, where the major emphasis has been given to understand the applicability of micro-milling techniques in fabricating microfluidic devices, especially for bio-applications. In this research, the mechanical micro-milling technique was used to create microscale channels on polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and polycarbonate (PC) materials; wherein the process capability was mainly assessed based on the surface characteristics of the micro features. Furthermore, for the quantitative analysis, a comparative study was also performed by measuring the surfaces roughness and surface energy of the microchannels made by various fabrication routes such as hot embossing and lithography. The experimental results indicate that the micro-milling of PMMA is the preferable choice for fabricating microfluidic devices when compared to PC. Also, for showing the manufacturability of the mechanical micromachining technique, microfluidic channels with serpentine channels were machined with a depth and width of 50µm and 200µm respectively. The applicability of the fabricated microfluidic devices was further validated by evaluating the functioning of these devices for blood cell separation at different dilution rates.

Ad astra: Graphic Signalling in the Acrostic Hymn of Nebuchadnezzar II (BM 55469)

This article examines two orthographic features in the Acrostic Hymn of Nebuchadnezzar II. It aims to show that the text makes use of the possibilities of the cuneiform writing system to create various levels of meaning. The first example clarifies structure and content with regard to a difficult passage in the fourth and last stanza of the text, in which a possible change of actors is indicated by an orthographic feature. The second example shows how orthography is used in the first stanza of the text to augment its message. These examples demonstrate how structural elements and micro-features such as orthography were used creatively to enhance the message of the hymn.

Multi-Scale Simulation of Injection Molding Process with Micro–Features Replication: Relevance of Rheological Behaviour and Crystallization

The possibility of tailoring key surface properties through the injection molding process makes it intriguing from the perspective of sustainability enhancement. The surface properties depend on the replication accuracy of micro and nanostructures on moldings; such an accuracy is enhanced with cavity temperature. The simulation of the injection molding process is very challenging in the presence of micro and nanostructures on the cavity surface; this does not allow for the neglect of phenomena generally considered not to influence the overall process. In this paper, a multiscale approach was proposed: in the first step, the simulation of the overall process was conducted without considering the presence of the microstructure; in the second step the outputs of the first step were used as an input to simulate the replication of the microfeature. To this purpose, a lubrication approximation was adopted, and the contribution of the trapped air, which slows down the polymer advancement, was accounted for. A modification of the viscosity equation was also proposed to describe the rheological behavior of isotactic polypropylene at very low temperatures. Concerning the microcavity filling simulation, the modification of the viscosity description at low temperatures consistently describes the process, in terms of polymer solidification. Concerning the replication accuracy, it increases with the cavity surface temperature, consistently with the experimental observations.

Rapid Prototyping of Bio-Inspired Dielectric Resonator Antennas for Sub-6 GHz Applications

Bio-inspired Dielectric Resonator Antennas (DRAs) are engaging more and more attention from the scientific community due to their exceptional wideband characteristic, which is especially desirable for the implementation of 5G communications. Nonetheless, since these antennas exhibit peculiar geometries in their micro-features, high dimensional accuracy must be accomplished via the selection of the most suitable fabrication process. In this study, the challenges to the manufacturing process presented by the wideband Spiral shell Dielectric Resonator Antenna (SsDRA), based on the Gielis superformula, are addressed. Three prototypes, made of three different photopolymer resins, were manufactured by bottom-up micro-Stereolithography (SLA). This process allows to cope with SsDRA’s fabrication criticalities, especially concerning the wavy features characterizing the thin spiral surface and the micro-features located in close proximity to the spiral origin. The assembly of the SsDRAs with a ground plane and feed probe was also accurately managed in order to guarantee reliable and repeatable measurements. The scattering parameter S11 trends were then measured by means of a Vector Network Analyzer, while the realized gains and 3D radiation diagrams were measured in the anechoic chamber. The experimental results show that all SsDRAs display relevant wideband behavior of 2 GHz at −10 dB in the sub-6 GHz range.