INVESTIGATION OF POROUS SILICON BY SCANNING-TUNNELING-MICROSCOPY AND ATOMIC-FORCE MICROSCOPY

The size and distribution of surface features of porous silicon layers have been investigated by scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy. Pores and hillocks down to 1-2 nm size were observed, with their shape and distribution on the sample surface being influenced by crystallographic effects. The local density of electronic states show a strong increase above 2 eV, in agreement with recent theoretical predictions.

Analysis of the practical force accuracy of electromagnet-based nanoindenters

Two important factors that influence the force accuracy of the electromagnet-based nano-indenters but have not yet attracted much attention are analyzed, and a more reasonable way to estimate the force accuracy is presented in this paper. MTS Nano Indenter (R), with the characteristics of a coil suspended in a uniform magnetic field by two sets of springs acting as an actuator and force measuring unit, is used as an example. One of the two factors is the uniformity of the magnetic field. The other is the stiffness of the supporting spring. Consequently, the practical force accuracy varies considerably from test to test because it firmly depends on the working position of the coil and the displacement stroke. A reasonable estimated accuracy value is of the order of 10 degrees mu N for typical indentation tests with a 10(2) nm indentation depth or a 10 degrees mN test force. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Extracting nanobelt mechanical properties from nanoindentation

A three-spring-in-series model is proposed for the nanobelt (NB) indentation test. Compared with the previous two-spring-in-series model, which considers the bending stiffness of atomic force microscope cantilever and the indenter/NB contact stiffness, this model adds a third spring of the NB/substrate contact stiffness. NB is highly flexural due to its large aspect ratio of length to thickness. The bending and lift-off of NB form a localized contact with substrate, which makes the Oliver-Pharr method [W. C. Oliver and G. M. Pharr, J. Mater. Res. 7, 1564 (1992)] and Sneddon method [I. N. Sneddon, Int. J. Eng. Sci. 3, 47 (1965)] inappropriate for NB indentation test. Because the NB/substrate deformation may have significant impact on the force-indentation depth data obtained in experiment, the two-spring-in-series model can lead to erroneous predictions on the NB mechanical properties. NB in indentation test can be susceptible to the adhesion influence because of its large surface area to volume ratio. NB/substrate contact and adhesion can have direct and significant impact on the interpretation of experimental data. Through the three-spring-in-series model, the influence of NB/substrate contact and adhesion is analyzed and methods of reducing such influence are also suggested. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3432748]

The Effects of Roughness on Adhesion Hysteresis

Adhesion hysteresis is defined as the difference between the work needed to separate two surfaces and that originally gained on bringing them together. Adhesion hysteresis is a common phenomenon in most surface/interface interactions. This paper studies the effects of surface roughness on adhesion hysteresis. We assumed that the surface asperity height distribution is Gaussian. Numerical simulations based on Fuller's model showed that adhesion hysteresis depended upon a single dimensionless parameter, the adhesion parameter, which represents the statistical average of a competition between the compressive forces exerted by the higher asperities, which are trying to separate the surfaces, and the adhesion forces of the lower asperities which are trying to hold the surfaces together. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2010

Peeling behavior of a bio-inspired nano-film on a substrate

A peeling model is proposed to analyze the peeling properties of bio-mimetic nano-films using the finite element method (FEM) and theoretical approach. The influences of the nano-film's adhesion length, thickness, elastic modulus, roughness and peeling angle on the peeling force were considered as well as the effect of the viscoelastic behavior. It has been found that the effective adhesion length, at which the peeling force attained maximum, was much smaller than the real length of nano-films; and the shear force dominated in the case of smaller peeling angles, whereas, the normal force dominated at larger peeling angles. The total peeling force decreased with an increasing peeling angle. Two limiting values of the peeling-off force can be found in the viscoelastic model, which corresponds to the smaller and larger loading rate cases. The effects of nano-film thickness and Young's modulus on peeling behaviors were also discussed. The results obtained are helpful for understanding the micro-adhesion mechanisms of biological systems, such as geckos. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Size-Dependent Adhesion Strength of a Single Viscoelastic Fiber

Nano-fibrillar adhesives can adhere strongly to surfaces as a gecko does. The size of each fiber has significant effects on the adhesion enhancement, especially on rough surfaces. In the present study, we report the size effects on the normal and shear strength of adhesion for a single viscoelastic fiber. It is found that there exists a limited region of the critical sizes under which the interfacial normal or tangential tractions uniformly attain the theoretical adhesion strength. The region for a viscoelastic fiber under tension with similar material constants to a gecko's spatula is 135-255 nm and that under torque is 26.5-52 nm. This finding is significant for the development of artificial biomimetic attachment systems.