<p dir="ltr">Nanocrystalline materials have unique properties such as high ultimate strength and superior hardness. However, they also exhibit some disadvantages, such as low thermal stability. An effective strategy to address this issue is alloying with other materials. Grain boundaries play a pivotal role in property prediction due to their orientation between grains and the complexity of their structure. The prediction of structure-property relationships for GBs with microstructural complexity represents a difficult challenge.</p><p dir="ltr">To understand the effects of dopants on the material properties of grain boundaries, we constructed some bicrystal models for Al and Mg-doped Al (Al-Mg) alloys. Findings from shearing simulations of these GBs indicate that the GB structure and dopant distribution can influence GB migration. Dopants inhibit GB migration at certain GBs, effectively reinforcing these GBs. Shear-coupled GB migration in pure Al, as well as dopant inhibition of GB Al-Mg alloys, both contribute to the mechanisms of GB migration.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Non-Newtonian fluid models such as the Bingham and Herschel-Bulkley models are used to characterize the flow behavior of many complex fluids and soft solids. The three parameter Herschel-Bulkley model captures the yield stress behavior and the nonlinear power law behavior. In this thesis, the semi-analytical solution of Herschel-Bulkley fluids provided by Covey and Stanmore is used to experimentally characterize the squeeze flow behavior. A ‘Squeeze Flow and Thermal Resistance Tester’ was custom designed to perform velocity controlled squeeze flow experiments. The tester has an additional capability of performing thermal resistance characterization adhering to the ASTM-D5470 standard. A novel framework is described for characterizing the three Herschel-Bulkley parameters (τy, n and ηHB) using the developed tester. </p><p dir="ltr">Thermal Interface Materials (TIMs) are used to efficiently dissipate heat from a heat generating component to a heat sink in an electronic package. Thermal grease is a type of TIM comprising of a base material (e.g. polymer) loaded with highly conducting filler particles (e.g, boron nitride, alumina or sometimes conducting metals such as aluminum or silver). These greases are expected to exhibit Herschel-Bulkley flow behavior. Hence, thermal greases are used as candidate materials for squeeze flow characterization. In addition to the flow characterization, the thermal resistance across these thermal greases are also characterized using the custom designed tester. Characterization of mechanical and thermal behavior of TIMs is crucial to predicting their long-term reliability. </p><p dir="ltr">The effect of in-situ isothermal baking duration and test temperature on flow behavior is studied. The increase in duration of isothermal baking at test temperature of 55◦C showed that the material tends to stiffen with baking duration. The increase in test temperature from 5◦C to 100◦C resulted in a decrease in the power law index n and viscosity ηHB. </p><p dir="ltr">Finally, a numerical simulation strategy for performing squeeze flow simulations is described. The characterized flow parameters from the squeeze flow experiments were used as input material parameters for a dynamic mesh-based numerical simulation of squeeze flow between parallel surfaces. The results of the experimental force response and numerical simulation results were compared and found to be in close agreement. In order to simulate flow of thermal greases in a package undergoing deformation, a non-flat test setup was fabricated and squeeze experiments were performed. Numerical simulations were subsequently performed for the non-flat surface using material parameters extracted from previous experiments and the results were compared. The results from both experiments and numerical simulations showed that the force response of thermal greases under non-flat surfaces was significantly higher than the planar case.</p>

<p><a href="">This work investigates the effect of surface features such as roughness, pits, and cracks on the tribological and fatigue behavior of machine components. It comprises of three main investigations: (i) effect of roughness on non-contacting fatigue, (ii) lubricated contact fluid structure interaction (FSI) behavior in presence of surface cracks, and (iii) the equivalence between non-contacting and contacting fatigue and the effect of roughness.</a></p><p>For the first investigation, a novel microstructure-based approach was developed to model surface roughness. It used a finite element fatigue damage model to predict the effects of roughness on tensile fatigue. AISI 4130 steel specimens with different surface finishes were fabricated and tested in axial fatigue using an MTS machine. The experimental results demonstrated the detrimental effect of roughness on fatigue lives, which was predicted by the model accurately.</p><p>In the second investigation, a partitioned CFD-FEM based FSI solver was developed using Ansys Multiphysics software to model and investigate elastohydrodynamically lubricated contacts typical in gears and cylindrical roller bearings. The FSI model relaxes Reynolds assumptions, and uses Navier-Stokes equations to determine the lubricant flow and utilizes finite element method to model the structural response. The FSI model was evaluated for robustness under various operating conditions. The effect of material plasticity, subsurface features, etc. were also investigated. The model was then extended to investigate the effects of surface cracks in rolling/sliding EHL line contacts. Using CFD based approach enabled the investigation of surface cracks with inclined geometries, overcoming the limitations of standard Reynolds-based solvers. The effects of crack geometry parameters such as crack location, crack length, crack width, crack tip radius and crack orientation on fluid pressure distribution were studied. This investigation identified the crack geometries that affect the contact fatigue behavior by predicting the location and severity of stress concentrations in the material.</p><p>Finally, the relationship between contacting fatigue and non-contacting fatigue was investigated. A test rig was designed and developed to simulate rolling contact fatigue (RCF) surface damage. Experimental investigation revealed that the RCF surface damage stress-life (SN) results can be predicted using torsional fatigue results 10 times faster. A computational contact mechanics model was developed to incorporate the effect of roughness in this prediction, and corroborated against experimental RCF results at different roughness levels.</p>

ITO is widely regarded as the optimal TCO for serving as front window layer in PSK/c-Si tandem solar cells. It is known to effectively mitigate several stability issues present in perovskite solar cells while demonstrating excellent lateral conductivities and optical transparency across the entire solar spectrum. However, due to the damaging effects of traditional magnetron sputtering methods on the underlying cell precursor and the limited range of annealing temperatures viable for maintaining the stability of Perovskite Solar cells, realizing the full capability of ITO layer is constrained. This investigation focuses on developing and optimizing the front Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) layer properties for high-efficiency monolithic Perovskite/PERC tandem solarcells. The study employs two widely employed industrial techniques, Magnetron Sputtering and Screen Printing for the deposition of ITO thin-films and subsequent metallization of Ag front contacts. The sputtering process parameters, namely the carrier speed, O2 : Ar ratio, and the sputter power were varied to obtain an optimized ITO layer, which exhibited a thickness of 53nm, Rsheet of 107 ohm/□, mobility of 37 cm2/V s, and 90 % average optical transparency between 400−1200nm. A low contact resistivity of 5.4mΩ·cm2 was achieved between the ITO and metal contacts which is the lowest reported value for ITO annealed at low temperature (140 °C). Champion cells, featuring Perovskite on Ohmic substrate and 2T perovskite/PERC tandem cells, exhibited high VOC values of 1.116 V and 1.75 V on 0.97 cm2 cell aperture areas and cell efficiencies of 17.2 % and 23.85 %. Additionally, a large area (158.7 cm2) tandem cell was also fabricated which demonstrated an excellent VOC of 1.75 V . The results of this investigation demonstrates the versatility of ITO layer properties achievable at low-temperatures through Magnetron sputtering and underscores the potential of existing commercialized technologies for the fabrication of high-efficiency tandem solar cells. / ITO anses allmänt vara den optimala TCO för användning som frontfönsterskikt i PSK/c-Si tandemsolceller. Den är känd för att effektivt mildra flera stabilitetsproblem som finns i perovskitsolceller samtidigt som den uppvisar utmärkt lateral konduktivitet och optisk transparens över hela solspektrumet. På grund av de skadliga effekterna av traditionella magnetronförstoftningsmetoder på den underliggande cellprekursorn och det begränsade intervallet av glödgningstemperaturer som är användbara för att upprätthålla stabiliteten hos perovskitsolceller, begränsas dock ITO-skiktens fulla kapacitet. Denna undersökning fokuserar på att utveckla och optimera egenskaperna hos det främre Indium Tin Oxide (ITO)-skiktet för högeffektiva monolitiska Perovskite/PERC tandemsolceller. I studien används två allmänt använda industriella tekniker, magnetronförstoftning och screentryckning, fördeponering av ITO-tunnfilmer och efterföljande metallisering av Ag-frontkontakter. Parametrarna för sputteringsprocessen, nämligen bärarhastigheten, förhållandet O2 : Ar och sputterkraften varierades för att få ett optimerat ITO-lager, som uppvisade en tjocklek på 53nm, Rsheet på 107 ohm/□, rörlighet på 37 cm2/V s och 90 % genomsnittlig optisk transparens mellan 400 − 1200 nm. En låg kontaktresistivitet på 5.4mΩ.cm2 uppnåddes mellan ITO och metallkontakterna, vilket är de lägstarapporterade värdena för ITO glödgat vid låg temperatur (140 °C). Champion-cellerna, med perovskit på ohmskt substrat och 2T perovskit/PERC tandemkonfigurationer, uppvisade höga VOC-värden på 1.116 V och 1.75 V på 0.97 cm2 cellaperturområden och cellverkningsgrader på 17.2 % och 23.85 %. Dessutom tillverkades en tandemcell med stor area (158.7 cm2) som uppvisade en utmärkt VOC på 1.75 V . Resultaten av denna undersökning visar mångsidigheten hos ITO-skiktets egenskaper som kan uppnås vid låga temperaturer genom magnetronförstoftning och understryker potentialen hos befintliga kommersialiserade tekniker för tillverkning av högeffektiva tandemsolceller.

<p>Injection to the subcutaneous (SC) tissue is one of the preferred methods for drug delivery of pharmaceuticals, from small molecules to monoclonal antibodies. Delivery to SC has become widely popular in part thanks to the low cost, ease of use, and effectiveness of drug delivery through the use of auto-injector devices. However, injection physiology, from initial plume formation to the eventual uptake of the drug in the lymphatics, is highly dependent on SC mechanics, poroelastic properties in particular. Yet, the poroelastic properties of SC have been understudied. In this thesis, I present a two-pronged approach to understanding the poroelastic properties of SC. Experimentally, mechanical and fluid transport properties of SC were measured with confined compression experiments and compared against gelatin hydrogels used as SC-phantoms. It was found that SC tissue is a highly non-linear material that has viscoelastic and porohyperelastic dissipation mechanisms. Gelatin hydrogels showed a similar, albeit more linear response, suggesting a micromechanical mechanism may underline the nonlinear behavior. The second part of the thesis focuses on the multiscale modeling of SC to gain a fundamental understanding of how geometry and material properties of the microstructure drive the macroscale response. SC is composed of adipocytes (fat cells) embedded in a collagen network. The geometry can be characterized with Voroni-like tessellations. Adipocytes are fluid-packed, highly deformable and capable of volume change through fluid transport. Collagen is highly nonlinear and nearly incompressible. Representative volume element (RVE) simulations with different Voroni tesselations shows that the different materials, coupled with the geometry of the packing, can contribute to different material response under the different kinds of loading. Further investigation of the effect of geometry showed that cell packing density nonlinearly contributes to the macroscale response. The RVE models can be homogenized to obtain macroscale models useful in large scale finite element simulations of injection physiology. Two types of homogenization were explored: fitting to analytical constitutive models, namely the Blatz-Ko material model, or use of Gaussian process surrogates, a data-driven non-parametric approach to interpolate the macroscale response.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Due to the vast increase and versatility of Additive Manufacturing and 3D-printing, in this study, the mechanical behavior of implementing both continuous and short carbon fiber within Nylon and investigated for its effectiveness within additively manufactured prints. Here, 0.1wt% of pure nylon was combined with carbon nanotubes through both dry and heat mixing to determine the best method and used to create printable filaments. Compression, tensile and short beam shear (SBS) samples were created and tested to determine maximum deformation and were simulated using ANSYS and its ACP Pre tool. SEM imaging was used to analyze CNT integration within the nylon filament, as well as the fractography of tested samples. Experimental testing shows that compressive strength increased by 28%, and the average SBS samples increased by 8% with minimal impacts on the tensile strength. The simulated results for Nylon/CF tensile samples were compared to experimental results and showed that lower amounts of carbon fiber samples tend to have lower errors.</p>

The biological translation between biological and electrical signals have inspired scientists over the last decade and has opened new way of therapeutics. The group of Bioelectronics at the Laboratory of organic electronics (LOE) develops systems that utilizes this translation to reduce the gap between electronics and biology. A known example of devices that does this are called iontronic delivery devices. These devices allow very specific transport and delivery of charged compounds. The most basic iontronic delivery device is the organic electronic ion pump (OEIP). The OEIP have been developed and fabricated into many variations, for example the iontronic micropipette which is a device that has been developed at LOE. In this project, the fabrication and characterization of the iontronic micropipette have been developed to find fabrication parameters that generates stable, high performing and reproduceable devices together with good and reproduceable characterization protocols. The iontronic micropipette is fabricated in a cleanroom and characterized in two steps, optically in a microscope and then electrically by transporting ions through the membrane. Two different membrane materials were tested, 2- acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPSA) and Hyperbranched polyglycerols (HPG). The results that were obtained from the fabrication of the AMPSA showed a reproducibility between many devices, but many AMPSA device broke during the fabrication so the protocol for the AMPSA still need improvement. Regarding the A-HPG fabrication, the results were much more positive and the yield from the fabrication were sufficient. The results that were obtained in the characterization of the AMPSA device showed that these devices had a very equal resistance between the device from the same batch. For the A-HPG, it was a much larger spread in the resistance between the device but the resistance were still much lower than for the AMPSA which is more preferable for most applications on living cells. / <p>Examensarbetet är utfört vid Institutionen för teknik och naturvetenskap (ITN) vid Tekniska fakulteten, Linköpings universitet</p>

<p dir="ltr">Uncertainty quantification is a science and engineering subject that aims to quantify and analyze the uncertainty arising from mathematical models, simulations, and measurement data. An uncertainty quantification analysis usually consists of conducting experiments to collect data, creating and calibrating mathematical models, predicting through numerical simulation, making decisions using predictive results, and comparing the model prediction with new experimental data.</p><p dir="ltr">The overarching goal of uncertainty quantification is to determine how likely some quantities in this analysis are if some other information is not exactly known and ultimately facilitate decision-making. This dissertation delivers a complete package, including theory, algorithms, and applications of information field theory, a Bayesian uncertainty quantification tool that leverages the state-of-the-art machine learning framework to accelerate solving the classical uncertainty quantification problems specified by differential equations.</p>

<p dir="ltr">This research aims to address these critical challenges in uncertainty quantification. The objective is to employ data-driven approaches for UQ with physics models.</p>

<p dir="ltr">The need for reducing reliance on fossil fuels to meet ever-increasing energy demands and minimizing global climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions has led to an increase in investments in Variable Energy Resources (VREs), such as wind and solar. But due to the unreliable nature of VREs, an energy storage system must be coupled with it which drives up the investment cost.</p><p dir="ltr">Lithium-ion batteries are compact, modular, and have high cyclic efficiency, making them an ideal choice for energy storage systems. However, they are susceptible to capacity loss over the years, limiting the total life of the batteries to 15-18 years only, after which they must be safely discarded or recycled. Hence, designing a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) should consider all aspects, such as battery life, investment cost, energy efficiency, etc.</p><p dir="ltr">Most of the available studies on cost and lifetime of BESS either consider a steady degradation rate over years, or do not account for it at all, they take constant charge/discharge cycles, and sometimes do not consider ambient temperature too. This may result in an error in estimation of the cost of energy storage. The location where the BESS is supposed to be installed can also impact its life, given that each location has its own power consumption trend and temperature profile. In this work, we attempt to simulate a BESS by considering the ambient temperature, degradation rate and energy usage. This will help in getting an insight of a more realistic estimate of levelized cost of storage and for estimating the thermal energy needed to keep them within a certain temperature range, so that they can last longer.</p>