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Organic materials or polymers, which are widely used in electronic devices, are easily damaged by energetic ion or electron bombardment. Therefore, it is difficult to use conventional ion or electron beam processes for etching organic materials. In this study, a gas cluster beam possessing kinetic energy of the order of several hundred eV was used as a novel means to realize high-rate, low-damage etching. Polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) were used as the target organic materials. Using a SF6 cluster beam, the etching depth suddenly increased when the nozzle gas pressure exceeded 0.6 MPa, as in the case of cluster beam formation. When the SF6 gas pressure in the nozzle was 1.2 MPa, the etching rates of PVC and PE were 2.88 μm/s and 1.62 μm/s, respectively. The dependence of the etching effect on cluster size was studied by varying the gas temperature. The etching depth of PVC increased with increasing average cluster size and intensity of the beam. The flow rate of the gas was constant; hence, etching of the organic materials did not occur because of the individual impact of the molecular beam. In fact, it occurred because of the neutral cluster, which had a large total kinetic energy. The energy per molecule of the gas cluster beam is of the order of several tens of meV; hence, high-rate, low-damage etching of organic materials can be potentially achieved.

One of impotent materials issues of Ti-Cr-V based hydrogen storage alloys is to improve cyclic degradation of storage capacity, which has been assumed to be the effect of internal stress. We focused on the sub-micron structure of this material, which can be accumulated during cyclic use. We used 24Ti-36Cr-40V alloy for the specimens, after FZ melting. Powered samples were fabricated by mechanical grinding under Ar environment. Vacuum annealing was carried out for reducing residual stress and lattice defects. PCT properties were tested at 293 K under 4.5 MPa. XRD and TEM were carried out for important samples. In the first cycle, the annealing resulted in the increasing of storage capacity, but in the second cycle the improving was disappeared. Comparing microstructures with and without annealing, complex dislocation structures were observed after cyclic hydrogenation. It is notable that dislocation free structure was some time observed in the fine grains of less than 0.1 micron, which suggests the possibility of fine structure without defect accumulation.

From the irradiation resistance and high-temperature strength, oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) ferritic steels are candidate materials for advanced and fusion reactors. For the development of advanced steels the key issue is to homogenize nano-particles into matrix. Recent studies have indicated that Ti addition can homogenize Y-Ti complex particles into ferrite matrix, but the reason of the effect of additional elements has not been clarified. In this model study, we focus on the effect of additional elements, such as IV and V families and other oxide formers, which can control potentially the distribution of the oxide particles. The materials used in this study were based on Fe-9Cr-Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} alloys which were mechanical alloyed (MA) from the powder of Fe, Cr and Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}, which was added systematically with the element of Ti, Zr, Ta, V, Nb, Hf, Al, Si and others. Usually ODS fabrication process is required for hot extrusion, but we annealed up to 1150 C for simplify the microstructure. To evaluate the distribution of ODS particles; we used TEM equipped with EDS after electro-polishing or FIB techniques. (1) In the case of Si or Al addition, oxides were disappeared after MA process, which means Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}more » and other elements should be in solution at non-equilibrium condition. Two types of oxides of Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} and Al{sub 2}O{sub 3} or SiO{sub 2} developed after the annealing at 850 C, but only complex oxides were developed after the annealing at 1150 C. This result suggests that the oxide formation is independent process for Y and Si or Al. (2) In the case of Ti addition, oxides also were disappeared after MA process, but developed after annealing at 1150 C. This means that Ti can stabilize complex oxides of Y and Ti, and enhance the fine distribution of the oxides comparing with simple Fe-9Cr-Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} alloy. (authors)« less

High-resolution and “environmental cell” microscopy were applied for surveying the reaction of hydrides in Vanadium and Magnesium based alloys, which are candidate for hydrogen storage materials of advanced hydrogen energy systems. For clarify the hydrogenation process, in-situ experiment was carried out by using 200 kV TEM equipped with a newly developed environmental cell, which is enable to observe transmitted image and electron-diffraction under gas reaction under hydrogen environment of 0.1 MPa at room temperature. In case of Vanadium, bending fringe was created under hydrogen-gas of 0.1 MPa, which means that hydrogen reaction is not so quick in this case, and the local stress due to the hydrogen solution caused the fringes. In case of Magnesium, the gas reacted with the powders and showed the swelling, where the surface steps with several ten nm become to more straight, and also SADP showed the formation of MgH2. In-situ experiment for hydrogenation reaction by using the environmental cell has started recently, therefore the precise studies will be continued, as well as its improvement, especially in the transparence films.

Ion-implantation was applied to the surface modification of ZrNi for improving the surface activation of hydrogen absorbing alloys. At the condition of low temperature, only implanted areas showed micro-cracks and pulverization. At high temperature, the reaction was very rapid and both implanted and shielded areas showed the pulverization. The results indicate hydrogen ion-implantation can enhance the activation of this alloy, and the roles of radiation-induced implanted hydrogen and surface film are discussed.