Angioplasty over the years has proven to be an excellent substitute for open heart surgery where an artery/vien, blocked by atherosclerosis, is expanded using a stent. Metallic and coated metallic stents have been used for angioplasty. Metal stents might induce blood clotting, release cytotoxic heavy metal ions which are potential inducers of allergies, clotting, immune reactions and hyperproliferation of smooth muscle cells and also lead to protein absorption which activates clotting factors. Biodegradable polymers have also been tried as stent materials, but the loss of radial strength over time is a big problem associated with them. The use of a hybrid stent, consisting of biodegradable polymer and biocompatible stainless steel, is proposed. The use of such a system would require excellent adhesion between the stent metal and the biodegradable polymer. This study presents the electrochemically induced micromechanical interlocking to enhance adhesion between 304 stainless steel and high density polyethylene. High density polyethylene was used instead of biodegradable polymer for initial investigation. Electrochemical etching on the stainless steel wire was accomplished by immersing a stainless steel wire in a sodium carbonate electrolyte while applying a known voltage through the wire. The electrochemical etching of the stainless steel wire resulted in pitting under suitable conditions. The etching time, voltage and electrolyte concentration were varied to achieve different pit sizes and pit distributions on the stainless steel wire. An image analysis was conducted using an image analysis software to find the exact pit size and pit distribution on the stainless steel wire from electrochemical etching. A statistical model based on design of engineering experiments was derived. Etched and the unetched wires were molded with high density polyethylene and a mechanical test was conducted to measure the force required to pull the wire out of the polymer and verified using calculations based on the pit size and pit distribution of the pits on the surface of the wire. Electrochemical etching produced burr free surface features. It was observed that the pH level in the electrolyte contributes to the pit size and pit distribution. The results of the statistical model were consistent with the experimental values and it was possible to optimize the electrochemical etching parameters for maximum pit size and pit distribution. It was also observed that while voltage and etching time contribute to pit size and pit distribution, the electrolyte concentration does not have significant effect on the pit size and pit distribution. The calculated pull out force and measured values were off by 22.7%. The lower value of calculated force could result from neglecting some of the smaller pits while performing the image analysis. The average adhesive strength of the etched samples was 276% higher than that of the unetched samples.

No description available.

Uma maneira de quantificar a resistência da interface de materiais compósitos é medindo a tensão necessária para separar o filme do substrato. Esta tensão é frequentemente usada como um parâmetro de projeto para desenvolver estes materiais. Entretanto, muitos métodos de medição da adesão não são capazes de eliminar as falhas de coesão das falhas de adesão filme/substrato. Neste trabalho um novo método de medição de adesão é proposto com o objetivo de eliminar a interferência da falha de coesão por cisalhamento, inerente ao filme delaminado, da medida da tensão normal de adesão feita por método padrão. O novo método provou ser eficiente e seus resultados mostraram serem mais precisos que os do método normalizado. Foram testados os seguintes compostos obtidos por evaporação de cobre usando canhão de elétrons através do processo de deposição física de vapor (PVD), formando um filme metálico sobre quatro substratos poliméricos: polipropileno (PP), poliamida 6 (PA 6), poliestireno de alto impacto (HIPS) e poli(tereftalato) de etileno (PET). A análise de espectroscopia de retroespalhamento Rutherford foi utilizada para caracterizar os filmes e o ângulo de contato para caracterizar a interface. As superfícies dos polímeros foram modificadas através de flambagem e lixamento para validar os resultados do novo método. Finalmente os polímeros delaminados através dos métodos padrão e proposto foram observados por microscopia óptica e eletrônica de varredura (MEV), comprovando assim, que somente no método novo ocorre a separação da interface metal-polímero livre da influência da falha coesiva do filme de cobre. / One of the methods to quantify the interface strength of composites is to measure the tensile stress necessary to separate a film from the substrate surface. Such value is often used as a project parameter to develop the composite. However, most of methods cannot avoid the interference of the cohesion bulk failures from the film/substrate adhesion measures. In this work a new method is proposed in order to eliminate the influence of the cohesion shear failure inherent to the delaminated film of the normal adhesion stress measured by the standard method. The new method has proved to work and their results have become more accurate than the standard pull-off method. The experiment consisted in delaminate a copper film deposited by physical vapor evaporation (PVD) through electron gun on four polymers: polypropylene (PP), polyamide 6 (PA 6), high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The Rutherford backscattering spectrometry was used to characterize the films and the contact angle analysis to characterize the interfaces. The polymer surfaces have also been modified to verify the adhesion strengths of the copper film through sanding and flaming processes to validate the new method. Finally the substrates delaminated were analyzed for both methods, standard and proposed, through optical and scanning electron microscopies, proving that only the new method is effective in pulling-off the metal/polymer interface without the cohesive failure influence of the copper film.

Despite tremendous achievements, the field of conjugated polymers is still in its infancy, mimicking the more mature inorganic, i.e. silicon-based, technologies. We may though look forward to the realisation of electronic and electrochemical devices with exotic designs and device applications, as our knowledge about the fundamentals of these promising materials grow ever stronger. My own contribution to this development, originating from an idea first put forward by my tutor, Professor Magnus Berggren, is a design for a switchable polymer-based diode. Its architecture is based on a modified version of a recently developed highly-rectifying diode,12 where an intermediate molecular layer has been incorporated in the bottom contact. Due to its unique ability to switch its internal resistance during operation, this thin layer can be used to shift the amount of (forward) current induced into the rectifying structure of the device, and by doing so shift its electrical characteristics between an insulating and a rectifying behaviour (as illustrated below). Such a component should be of great commercial interest in display technologies since it would, at least hypothetically, be able to replace the transistors presently used to address the individual matrix elements. However, although fairly simple in theory, it proved to be quite the challenge to fabricate the device structure. Machinery errors and contact problems aside, several process routes needed to be evaluated and only a small fraction of the batches were successful. In fact, it was not until the very last day that I detected the first indications that the concept might actually work. Hence, several modifications might still be necessary to undertake in order to get the device to work properly.

In order to optimize the synthesis of metal nanoparticle-polymer systems, there are certain processes which must be understood. Perhaps the most important one is the selective interfacial interaction between the block copolymer and the growing metal nanoparticles. To investigate this interaction, four different approaches were taken. The first approach looked at the strength of interaction between the competing blocks of the copolymer and the metal nanoparticles surface. The second approach looked at the effect of polymer architecture on the metal nanoclusters. The third approach looked at the polymer composition and solvent effects on the phase behavior of the metal nanocluster-block copolymer nanocomposite. Finally, the influence of the metal precursor on the rate of the decomposition was examined. It was found that adsorbed layers of PS on the cobalt nanoparticles are completely displaced by PMMA when the solvent is a common good solvent. An adsorbed layer of only PMMA is also obtained through competitive adsorption from a common good solvent. However, in a selective solvent that is poor for PS, sequential adsorption leads to the formation of mixed layers. In homopolymer solutions, the cluster size reaches a minimum at a finite chain MW. In the case of diblock copolymers, the only parameter (for a fixed copolymer concentration) controlling the cluster size in suspensions of di-block copolymers is the molecular weight of one block, in this case PMMA, and is indifferent to other parameters including the molecular weight of the other block (PS) or the solvent quality. It was also found that the spatial distribution of the metal clusters synthesized in-situ coincided with the morphology dictated by thermodynamically-driven microdomain structure of the block copolymer. Moreover, the overall final morphology of the nanocomposite is locked into place while in solution, and fast solvent evaporation does not cause this morphology to change. Finally, results showed that the rate of nanocomposite synthesis occurred faster in the PS suspensions compared to PMMA, indicating that chemical bonds between PMMA and the cobalt nanoclusters slowed the thermal decomposition of the metal precursor. So the PMMA chains provided sites for nucleation, but did not necessarily aid particle growth.

This study aims synthesis of metal/polymer one dimensional nanostructures by micelle formation, reduction, and electrospinning route, and to analyze the morphological characteristics of composite nanofibers. The study was carried out in three main steps. First, the reverse micelle structures were established between the anionic surfactant and the metal ion. The surfactant acts as an agent to bind metal ions together so that the arrangements of metal ions can be controlled in the solution. As the surfactant concentration increases, reverse micelles grow and reverse wormlike micelle structures are observed. Wormlike micelles are elongated semi flexible aggregates which form a spherocylinder form repeating units. Metal ions are in the core and surrounded with the surfactant. The polymer attached to the wormlike structure acts as a shield and prevents phase separation in a hydrophilic medium. Different polymer and surfactant concentrations were tried to determine the optimum polymer and surfactant concentrations for reverse micelle formation. The size analyses of the reverse micelle structures were done by dynamic light scattering technique. In the second step, metal ions in the micelles were reduced by using hydrazine hydrate to obtain metal cores in the center of wormlike micelles. Finally, electrospinning was carried at room temperature and in air atmosphere. The characterization of nano composites was done by Scanning Electron Microscopy. It was found that the size of the reverse micelle structures affects the distribution of metal nano partices in polymer nano fibers. In order to distribute the metal nano particles homogeneously, the optimum size of reverse wormlike micelles was found to be between 420 and 450 nm.

<p>Despite tremendous achievements, the field of conjugated polymers is still in its infancy, mimicking the more mature inorganic, i.e. silicon-based, technologies. We may though look forward to the realisation of electronic and electrochemical devices with exotic designs and device applications, as our knowledge about the fundamentals of these promising materials grow ever stronger. </p><p>My own contribution to this development, originating from an idea first put forward by my tutor, Professor Magnus Berggren, is a design for a switchable polymer-based diode. Its architecture is based on a modified version of a recently developed highly-rectifying diode,12 where an intermediate molecular layer has been incorporated in the bottom contact. Due to its unique ability to switch its internal resistance during operation, this thin layer can be used to shift the amount of (forward) current induced into the rectifying structure of the device, and by doing so shift its electrical characteristics between an insulating and a rectifying behaviour (as illustrated below). Such a component should be of great commercial interest in display technologies since it would, at least hypothetically, be able to replace the transistors presently used to address the individual matrix elements. </p><p>However, although fairly simple in theory, it proved to be quite the challenge to fabricate the device structure. Machinery errors and contact problems aside, several process routes needed to be evaluated and only a small fraction of the batches were successful. In fact, it was not until the very last day that I detected the first indications that the concept might actually work. Hence, several modifications might still be necessary to undertake in order to get the device to work properly.</p>

Uma maneira de quantificar a resistência da interface de materiais compósitos é medindo a tensão necessária para separar o filme do substrato. Esta tensão é frequentemente usada como um parâmetro de projeto para desenvolver estes materiais. Entretanto, muitos métodos de medição da adesão não são capazes de eliminar as falhas de coesão das falhas de adesão filme/substrato. Neste trabalho um novo método de medição de adesão é proposto com o objetivo de eliminar a interferência da falha de coesão por cisalhamento, inerente ao filme delaminado, da medida da tensão normal de adesão feita por método padrão. O novo método provou ser eficiente e seus resultados mostraram serem mais precisos que os do método normalizado. Foram testados os seguintes compostos obtidos por evaporação de cobre usando canhão de elétrons através do processo de deposição física de vapor (PVD), formando um filme metálico sobre quatro substratos poliméricos: polipropileno (PP), poliamida 6 (PA 6), poliestireno de alto impacto (HIPS) e poli(tereftalato) de etileno (PET). A análise de espectroscopia de retroespalhamento Rutherford foi utilizada para caracterizar os filmes e o ângulo de contato para caracterizar a interface. As superfícies dos polímeros foram modificadas através de flambagem e lixamento para validar os resultados do novo método. Finalmente os polímeros delaminados através dos métodos padrão e proposto foram observados por microscopia óptica e eletrônica de varredura (MEV), comprovando assim, que somente no método novo ocorre a separação da interface metal-polímero livre da influência da falha coesiva do filme de cobre. / One of the methods to quantify the interface strength of composites is to measure the tensile stress necessary to separate a film from the substrate surface. Such value is often used as a project parameter to develop the composite. However, most of methods cannot avoid the interference of the cohesion bulk failures from the film/substrate adhesion measures. In this work a new method is proposed in order to eliminate the influence of the cohesion shear failure inherent to the delaminated film of the normal adhesion stress measured by the standard method. The new method has proved to work and their results have become more accurate than the standard pull-off method. The experiment consisted in delaminate a copper film deposited by physical vapor evaporation (PVD) through electron gun on four polymers: polypropylene (PP), polyamide 6 (PA 6), high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The Rutherford backscattering spectrometry was used to characterize the films and the contact angle analysis to characterize the interfaces. The polymer surfaces have also been modified to verify the adhesion strengths of the copper film through sanding and flaming processes to validate the new method. Finally the substrates delaminated were analyzed for both methods, standard and proposed, through optical and scanning electron microscopies, proving that only the new method is effective in pulling-off the metal/polymer interface without the cohesive failure influence of the copper film.

Uma maneira de quantificar a resistência da interface de materiais compósitos é medindo a tensão necessária para separar o filme do substrato. Esta tensão é frequentemente usada como um parâmetro de projeto para desenvolver estes materiais. Entretanto, muitos métodos de medição da adesão não são capazes de eliminar as falhas de coesão das falhas de adesão filme/substrato. Neste trabalho um novo método de medição de adesão é proposto com o objetivo de eliminar a interferência da falha de coesão por cisalhamento, inerente ao filme delaminado, da medida da tensão normal de adesão feita por método padrão. O novo método provou ser eficiente e seus resultados mostraram serem mais precisos que os do método normalizado. Foram testados os seguintes compostos obtidos por evaporação de cobre usando canhão de elétrons através do processo de deposição física de vapor (PVD), formando um filme metálico sobre quatro substratos poliméricos: polipropileno (PP), poliamida 6 (PA 6), poliestireno de alto impacto (HIPS) e poli(tereftalato) de etileno (PET). A análise de espectroscopia de retroespalhamento Rutherford foi utilizada para caracterizar os filmes e o ângulo de contato para caracterizar a interface. As superfícies dos polímeros foram modificadas através de flambagem e lixamento para validar os resultados do novo método. Finalmente os polímeros delaminados através dos métodos padrão e proposto foram observados por microscopia óptica e eletrônica de varredura (MEV), comprovando assim, que somente no método novo ocorre a separação da interface metal-polímero livre da influência da falha coesiva do filme de cobre. / One of the methods to quantify the interface strength of composites is to measure the tensile stress necessary to separate a film from the substrate surface. Such value is often used as a project parameter to develop the composite. However, most of methods cannot avoid the interference of the cohesion bulk failures from the film/substrate adhesion measures. In this work a new method is proposed in order to eliminate the influence of the cohesion shear failure inherent to the delaminated film of the normal adhesion stress measured by the standard method. The new method has proved to work and their results have become more accurate than the standard pull-off method. The experiment consisted in delaminate a copper film deposited by physical vapor evaporation (PVD) through electron gun on four polymers: polypropylene (PP), polyamide 6 (PA 6), high impact polystyrene (HIPS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The Rutherford backscattering spectrometry was used to characterize the films and the contact angle analysis to characterize the interfaces. The polymer surfaces have also been modified to verify the adhesion strengths of the copper film through sanding and flaming processes to validate the new method. Finally the substrates delaminated were analyzed for both methods, standard and proposed, through optical and scanning electron microscopies, proving that only the new method is effective in pulling-off the metal/polymer interface without the cohesive failure influence of the copper film.

Low density polyethylene (LDPE) and Hytrel (a thermoplastic elastomer) were used as polymeric matrices in polymer + metal composites. The concentration of micrometric (Al, Ag and Ni) as well as nanometric particles (Al and Ag) was varied from 0 to 10 %. Composites were prepared by blending followed by injection molding. The resulting samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and focused ion beam (FIB) in order to determine their microstructure. Certain mechanical properties of the composites were also determined. Static and dynamic friction was measured. The scratch resistance of the specimens was determined. A study of the wear mechanisms in the samples was performed. The Al micro- and nanoparticles as well as Ni microparticles are well dispersed throughout the material while Ag micro and nanoparticles tend to form agglomerates. Generally the presence of microcomposites affects negatively the mechanical properties. For the nanoparticles, composites with a higher elastic modulus than that of the neat materials are achievable. For both micro- and nanocomposites it is feasible to lower the friction values with respective to the neat polymers. The addition of metal particles to polymers also improves the scratch resistance of the composites, particularly so for microcomposites. The inclusion of Ag and Ni particles causes an increase in the wear loss volume while Al can reduce the wear for both polymeric matrices.