As the thickness of silicon solar wafer and solar cells becomes thinner, the cells are subjected to high stress due to the thermal coefficient mismatch induced by metallization process. Handling and bowing problems associated with thinner wafers become increasingly important, as these can lead to cells cracking and thus to high yield losses. The goal of this work to provide experimental underst...

During the past few decades, materials design has shifted emphasis to pursue low cost, quality, light weight, environment friendliness, and performance. Aluminium matrix composites are important class of engineering materials used in aerospace, automotive, engineering, defence and other industries because of their lower density, higher specific strength, and better physical and mechanical prope...

Spray-drying of clear precursor solution containing inorganic-organic hybrid species and EO(n)PO(m)EO(n) triblock copolymer at low temperature, followed by treatment in acetone to remove the triblock copolymer, afforded spherical particles of aluminium organophosphonate (AOP) with uniform mesopores.

Using anodic aluminium oxide films as collectors, all four well known carbon forms, diamond, graphitic, fullerenic and amorphous particles, are identified inside a candle flame, suggesting a new nucleation mechanism for diamond growth and fullerene formation in a combustion synthesizing process.

We report the design and testing of a tunable and nonlinear mechanical metamaterial, called locally resonant granular chain. It consists of a one-dimensional array of hollow spherical particles in contact, containing local resonators. The resonant particles are made of an aluminium outer spherical shell and a steel inner mass connected by a polymeric plastic structure acting as a spring. We cha...