GaN is a monocrystalline material that can be grown using metallo-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD), and has desirable mechanical and semiconducting properties for operating as a sensor. It has a Young’s modulus of 250 to 350 GPa, which shows little decrease with respect to temperature beyond 400°C. GaN also exhibits piezoelectric and piezoresistive effects, meaning that it will generate a charge and its electrical resistance will change when the material is strained respectively. In this PhD, GaN has been used as the base material for pressure sensors that potentially can be used in excess of 400°C and at a pressure in excess of 50 bar (5 MPa), with potential applications in aerospace and oil exploration. The pressure sensor is a circular diaphragm created from a GaN/sapphire wafer, and was designed and tested in order to determine if GaN can act as a sensing material in these environments. In addition to the diaphragm sensor, GaN templates that can potentially be used for sensors were grown using an epitaxial layer overgrowth (ELOG) method. These sensors are potentially more mechanically robust than similar templates etched out of GaN/sapphire wafers because they will have less inbuilt strain due to lower dislocation densities. It was possible to release beams and cantilevers from GaN ELOG templates. Mechanical probe tests were undertaken on these devices to see if they were fully released and robust. GaN single crystal growth requires a substrate material, such as (111) silicon or (0001) sapphire, meaning that the thermal properties of the substrate are important for a device operating in excess of 400°C. GaN high electron mobility transistors are heat sensitive, experiencing a decrease in current between the drain and source terminals as the temperature increases. Therefore a GaN-based sensor needs a substrate with the highest possible thermal conductivity to act as a heat sink, which means removing as much heat as possible from the GaN sensor. Diamond has superior thermal conductivity to both sapphire and silicon, so a novel silicon/polycrystalline diamond composite substrate has been developed as a potential GaN substrate. Polycrystalline diamond (PD) can be grown on 4 inch diameter wafers using hot filament chemical vapour deposition (CVD), on (111) silicon (Si) from which single crystal GaN epitaxy can also be grown. In order for the (111) Si/PD composite substrates to be useful heat sinks, the Si layer needs to be less than 2 m. PD was initially grown on 525 to 625 m thick Si wafers that required thinning to 2 m. Achieving this Si layer thickness is difficult due to the presence of tensile stress in the Si caused by a mismatch in the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs) between Si and PD. This stress causes the wafer to bow significantly and has been modelled using ANSYS FE software. The models show that the bow of the wafer increases when it is thinned, which will eventually cause the Si layer to delaminate at the Si/PD interface due to poor adhesion and a build up for shear stress. When the Si layer is mechanically thinned, the Si layer can crack due to clamping. The experimental wafer bow and micro-Raman measurements validate the model for when the silicon layer is thicker than 100 m and these results show that an alternative processing route is required.

Graphene, a single layer of graphite, owing to its excellent mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties, has evolved as an exceptional nanomaterial in the past decade. It holds great promise in developing various novel applications from biomedical to structural composites. However, several challenges remain in realising the great potential of this material; one being the bulk scale production of graphene. This thesis has been concerned with production of pristine few-layer graphene (FLG) using liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) of graphite in various solvent media and exploring the applications of graphene-based composite coatings as optical Raman-strain sensors. LPE of natural graphite using bath sonication was used to produce highly stable pristine FLG in 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) and N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF). Atomic force microscope (AFM) was used to analyse the exfoliation efficiency and lateral dimensions, while Raman spectroscopy provided an insight about the quality of the graphene flakes. Moreover, the potential for dynamic light scattering (DLS) as an efficient in situ characterisation technique for estimating the lateral dimensions of graphene flakes in dispersions was demonstrated. LPE was also employed to explore various routes to produce pristine graphene in aqueous media which can be used for toxicity studies. Aqueous dispersions were prepared by a solvent exchange method of graphene originally in organic solvents (NMP and DMF) using dialysis, achieving 0.1 v/v% organic solvent levels. Pristine aqueous graphene dispersions were also prepared by directly exfoliating graphite in biocompatible surfactant (TDOC- Sodium taurodeoxycholate) and biomolecules (Phosphatidylcholine and human serum albumin) solutions. Cell culture studies by collaborators revealed that solvent-exchanged and TDOC-exfoliated pristine FLG displayed minimal toxicity and albumin-exfoliated FLG hardly any cytotoxicity, whereas phosphatidylcholine-exfoliated FLG was cytotoxic. Raman spectroscopy is a well-established technique used to study the local deformation of carbon-based composites by following the shift rates of the Raman 2D band with strain. Raman active strain coatings were produced from epoxy composites made with the FLG produced by LPE in organic solvents and by electrochemical exfoliation method. The deformation experiments on these coatings revealed little or no strain sensitivity, due to several factors such as length of flakes, processing history, graphene loading, defects in graphene and alignment of flakes within the composites. As an alternative, composite coatings made from chemical vapour deposition (CVD) graphene were investigated. Excellent strain sensitivity was observed upon various cyclic deformational sequences and Raman mapping over 100 × 100 µm area. In comparison to the commercially available wide area strain sensors, CVD graphene composite coatings with a calculated absolute accuracy of ~ ± 0.01 % strain and absolute resolution of ~ 27 microstrains show promise for wide area Raman-based strains sensors.

Much of North America’s reinforced concrete infrastructure is reaching the end of its service life and careful inspection and assessment is required to ensure the appropriate capacity is maintained in these structures. The research conducted herein seeks to further the development of two new sensor technologies: fibre optic strain sensors and digital image correlation, which have the potential to provide comprehensive performance data for structures to a level of accuracy previously not possible. The research involves determining the accuracy of these sensor systems to monitor both strain and crack widths in reinforced concrete compared to conventional techniques, such as electrical resistance strain gauges. Preliminary work was also undertaken on correcting the sensor results for temperature. It was determined that temperature variations in the range of +21 °C to 20 °C, result in significant strain errors for both sensor systems. Once the results obtained from the sensors systems are corrected for temperature, crack widths are monitored in four small-scale reinforced concrete tension specimens, and strain and crack width behaviour is monitored in four full-scale beams under four point bending. One of the major problems faced when using the digital image correlation technique is out of plane movement which results in significant error. Techniques to lower this error are addressed. In addition, obtaining a more robust understanding of the effects of temperature on crack widths, stiffness, strength and short term creep behaviour of reinforced concrete elements is explored to improve structural monitoring and numerical models used for analysis. Four full-scale beams, two at room temperature and two at 20 °C, were loaded to failure under four point bending. A comparison of the room temperature and low temperature test results show that the cracks tend to close up at lower temperatures in members that are free to expand and contract. This behaviour results in a potential increase in shear capacity for beams at lower temperatures. The low temperature beams also saw a minor increase in strength, but saw no noticeable increase in stiffness. Lastly, short term creep behaviour was reduced in the low temperature beams once the formation of ice occurred. / Thesis (Master, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2012-10-31 11:08:32.631

This PhD dissertation presents the exploration and development of two carbon materials, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon fiber (CF), as either key functional components or unconventional substrates for a variety of MEMS applications. Their performances in three different types of MEMS devices, namely, strain/stress sensors, vibration-powered generators and fiber solar cells, were evaluated and the working mechanisms of these two non-traditional materials in these systems were discussed. The work may potentially enable the development of new types of carbon-MEMS devices. Firstly, a MEMS-assisted electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique was developed, aiming to achieve controlled integration of CNT into both conventional and flexible MEMS systems. Selective deposition of electrically charged CNTs onto desired locations was realized in the EPD process through patterning of electric field lines created by the microelectrodes fabricated using MEMS techniques. A variety of 2-D and 3-D micropatterns of CNTs with controllable thickness and morphology have been successfully achieved in both rigid and elastic systems at room temperature with relatively high throughput. Studies also showed that high surface hydrophobicity of the non-conductive regions in microstructures was critical to accomplish well-defined selective micropatterning of CNTs through this strategy. A patterned PDMS/CNT nanocomposite was then fabricated through the aforementioned approach, and was incorporated, investigated and validated in elastic force/strain microsensors. The gauge factor of the sensor exhibited a strong dependence on both the initial resistance of the device and the applied strain. Detailed analysis of the data suggests that the piezoresistive effect of this specially constructed bi-layer composite could be three folds, and the sensing mechanism may vary when physical properties of the CNT network embedded in the polymer matrix alter. The feasibility of the PDSM/CNT nanocomposite serving as an elastic electret was further explored. The nanocomposite composed of these two non-traditional electret materials exhibited electret characteristics with reasonable charge storage stability. The power generation capacity of the corona-charged nanocomposite has been characterized and successfully demonstrated in both a ball drop experiment and the cyclic mechanical load experiments. Lastly, in an effort to develop carbon-material-based substrates for MEMS applications, a carbon fiber-based poly-Si solar cell was designed, fabricated and investigated. This fiber-type photovoltaics (PV) takes advantage of the excellent thermal stability, electrical conductivity and spatial format of the CF, which allows CF to serve as both the building block and the electrode in the PV configuration. The photovoltaic effects of the fiber PV were demonstrated with an open-circuit voltage of 0.14 V, a short-circuit current density of 1.7 mA/cm2, and output power density of 0.059mW/cm2. The issues of this system were discussed as well.

This research project concerns the construction, testing, and remote health monitoring of the first smart bridge structure in Florida, the East Bay bridge in Gibsonton, Hillsborough County. The East Bay Bridge is a four span, continuous, deck-type structure with a total length of 120' and width of 55'. The superstructure consists of an 18'' cast-in-place reinforced concrete slab, and is supported on pre-stressed pile bents, each consisting of 5 piles. The smart sensors used for remote health monitoring are the newly emerged Fabry --Perot (FP) Fiber Optic Sensors, and are both surface-mounted and embedded in the concrete deck.Static and Dynamic testing of the bridge were performed using loaded SU-4 trucks, and a finite element model for the bridge was developed for the test cases using commercial software packages. In addition, the smart sensors were connected to a data acquisition system permanently installed on-site. This system could be accessed through regular phone lin es, which permits the evaluation of the bridge behavior under live traffic loads.Currently, these live structural data under traffic loading are transmitted to Hillsborough County's bridge maintenance office to assist in the health evaluation and maintenance of the bridge.AASHTO LRFD Design Code has been investigated using analytical and laboratory test but no attempt has been made to verify its relative outlook with respect to Allowable Strength Design (ASD) and AASHTO Standard Specifications (LFD) in a real field test. The likely reason for could have been the lack of accurate and reliable sensing systems.The data collected as well as the analytical studies through out this research, suggest that current LRFD design specifications for deck-type bridges are conservative. The technology developed under this work will enable practical, cost-effective, and reliable systematic maintenance of bridge structures, and the study will provide a unique opportunity for future growth of this tech nology in the state of Florida and in other states and finally, long term collected data can be used to keep the design codes in check.

The goals of this research are to develop and validate the use of distributed fibre optic sensors for use in strain monitoring of buried culverts, and to use full-scale experiments to evaluate the performance of both deteriorated steel and reinforced concrete culverts rehabilitated with grouted slipliners subjected to surface loading. Bench scale experiments were conducted to evaluate the use of fibre optic sensors against conventional strain sensors. Then, fibre optic sensors were attached to a full-scale culvert that was tested in a buried state as a proof of concept. Finally, fibre optic sensors were used in two large scale buried pipe tests to explore the performance of rehabilitated flexible and rigid culverts. A deteriorated steel culvert was tested in a buried state under surface loading, then rehabilitated with a grouted high density polyethylene (HDPE) slipliner while still in a buried state and tested under surface loading at 0.9 m and 0.6 m burial depths. The rehabilitated steel pipe was tested under service loading, and up to 1250 kN of applied load. The results suggested that the grouted annulus stiffened the overall structure, and increased the capacity of the system to over 3 times the fully factored design load. A deteriorated reinforced concrete culvert was tested and rehabilitated in a similar fashion. The grout in the annulus penetrated the cracks at the crown, invert and joint of the concrete pipeline. The lined concrete pipe was tested to 1200 kN under single axle loading, and to 800 kN under single wheel loading. The results suggested that while the concrete pipe was stiffened by the grout, it remained the primary contributor to structural capacity, with the liner contributing little to the capacity. Repair reduced the diameter change by an average of 90%, with the capacity reaching approximately 3.3 and 4.2 times the design loads for single axle and single wheel pair loading, respectively. The maximum response was under single axle loading over the barrels of the concrete pipe. In no instance did the structures reach an ultimate limit state, and the tests were stopped after bearing failure of the soil occurred. / Thesis (Master, Civil Engineering) -- Queen's University, 2013-11-28 17:24:50.815

This dissertation presents a substantial contribution to a new field of material science, the investigation of the magnetic properties of 3D curved surfaces, achieved by using a self-assembled geometrical transformation of an initially planar membrane. Essential magnetic properties of thin films can be modified by the process of transforming them from a 2D planar film to a 3D curved surface. By investigating and controlling the reasons that influence the properties, it is possible to improve the functionality of existing devices in addition to laying the foundation for the future development of microelectronic devices based on curved magnetic structures. To accomplish this, it is necessary both to fabricate high-quality 3D curved objects and to establish reliable characterization methods based on commonly available technology. The primary objective of this dissertation is to develop techniques for characterizing the static and dynamic magnetic properties of self-assembled rolled 3D geometries. The second objective is to examine the origin of shape-, size- and strain/curvature-induced effects. The developed approach based on anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) measurement can quantitatively define the rolling-induced static magnetic changes, namely the induced magnetoelastic anisotropy, thus eliminating the need for microscopic imaging to characterize the structures. The interpretation of the AMR signal obtained on curved stripes is enabled by simultaneous visualization of the domain patterns and micromagnetic simulations. The developed approach is used to examine the effect of sign and magnitude of curvature on the induced anisotropies by altering the rolling direction and diameter of the 'Swiss-roll'. Furthermore, a time-averaged imaging technique based on conventional microscopies (magnetic force microscopy and Kerr microscopy) offers a novel strategy for investigating nanoscale periodic domain wall oscillations and hence dynamic magnetic characteristics of flat and curved structures. This method exploits the benefit of a position-dependent dwell time of periodically oscillating DWs and can determine the trajectory and amplitude of DW oscillation with sub-100 nm resolution. The uniqueness of this technique resides in the ease of the imaging procedure, unlike other DW dynamics imaging methods. The combined understanding of rolling-induced anisotropy and imaging DW oscillation is utilized to examine the dependence of DW dynamics on external stimuli and the structure's physical properties, such as lateral size, film thickness, and curvature-induced anisotropy. The presented methods and fundamental studies help to comprehend the rapidly expanding field of 3-dimensional nanomagnetism and advance high-performance magneto-electronic devices based on self-assembly rolling.

Inkjet-printing of graphene is a desirable additive-manufacturing process for rapid-prototyping and centers around the readily scalable process of liquid-phase exfoliation of graphene. Unfortunately, most common solvents for this process such as N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) or cyclohexanone/terpineol (C/T) are toxic. Dihydrolevoglucosenone, commonly known as Cyrene, is a renewable and fully biodegradable non-toxic solvent that represents an ideal alternative. Here, we demonstrate the potential of Cyrene-based graphene inks through few-layer inkjet printing on flexible substrates to produce non-toxic conductors a strain-mediated mechanism for biosensing. These strain-sensors were used to detect bodily motion for wearable electronics, where gel-based, wet-electrodes are a common feature within the broader class of sensors used in electromyography (EMG). The environmentally friendly and non-toxic nature of this solvent has promise not only for wearables, but also in agricultural and food industries where sensors need to be safe for potential contacts made to food supplies. Moreover, it has demonstrated superior suspension of graphene flakes compared to traditional solvents.