Characterization of Ti1-xAlxN coatings with selective IR reflectivity

Ti1-xAlxN thin films were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering. The obtained different stoichiometries give rise to different optical properties as the films change from metallic to dielectric. In this work the IR reflectivity of these coatings is investigated taking into account different application fields for IR selective Ti1-xAlxN thin films. Low Al content coatings present…

Hydrothermal stability of layered silicates in neutral and acidic media: Effect on engineered-barrier safety

Many environmental applications in the inorganic remediation field are based on the swelling and ion-exchange capacities of smectites, even though these can be affected by hydrothermal treatment in water and acidic media. Here a systematic study of the properties of layered silicates that could affect their hydrothermal stability at different pH is described: type of…

Kinetic model for thermal dehydrochlorination of poly(vinyl chloride)

In this paper, a novel method for calculating degradation kinetics is presented. The method has been applied to the thermal dehydrochlorination of two different samples of PVC. It has been observed that this dehydrochlorination is complex and involves two different processes. A model that accounts for the entire dehydrochlorination is proposed. This model involves nucleation…

Generalized Kinetic Master Plots for the Thermal Degradation of Polymers Following a Random Scission Mechanism

In this paper, the f(alpha) conversion functions for random scission mechanisms have been proposed to allow for the construction of generalized master plots suitable for these kinds of mechanisms. The master plots have been validated by their application to simulated data and to the thermal degradation of poly(butylene terephthalate), polyethylene, and poly(tetrafluoroethylene).

Structure of Glancing Incidence Deposited TiO2 Thin Films as Revealed by Grazing Incidence Small-Angle X-ray Scattering

For the first time, grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) analysis is used to characterize the Morphology of TiO2 thin films grown by glancing angle physical vapor deposition (GLAD). According to cross-section scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images, the films consist of near isotilted TiO2 columns of different length and width depending on film thickness. The…

Influence of carbon chemical bonding on the tribological behavior of sputtered nanocomposite TiBC/a-C coatings

The tribological performance of nanocomposite coatings containing Ti-B-C phases and amorphous carbon (a-C) are studied. The coatings are deposited by a sputtering process from a sintered TiB2:TiC target and graphite, using pulsed direct current and radio frequency sources. By varying the sputtering power ratio, the amorphous carbon content of the coatings can be tuned, as…