Browsing by Author "Burford, RP"

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    Characterisation and properties of low temperature ALD TiO2 films
    (Pielaszek Research, 2007-09-18) Triani, G; Evans, PJ; Campbell, JA; Latella, BA; Atanacio, AJ; Attard, DJ; Burford, RP
    The atomic layer deposition of films under conditions outside the ALD window involves additional processes that have to be accounted for in order to achieve good quality films. [1] In the present study, the growth of ALD TiO2 films on silicon and polycarbonate in the temperature range 80 - 120°C has been investigated in detail for two combinations of pulsing times. Furthermore, both substrate materials were exposed to a low-pressure water plasma to investigate the effect of pre-treatment on the deposited films. A suite of characterisation techniques including XRD, SIMS, RBS, AFM, XTEM and spectroscopic ellipsometry was used to probe the physical and chemical properties of the films. In addition, microtensile testing of the films enable the interface energy and toughness to be determined. These measurements showed water plasma treatment prior to deposition increased the interface energy and interface toughness from 11 to 26 Jm-2 and 1.24 to 1.96 MPa.m1/2 respectively. The contact angle of the TiO2 films was measured to assess their wettability. These tests involved subjecting the films to single and cumulative exposures of UV radiation followed by measurement of the contact angle. For an 85 nm film on polycarbonate, the contact angle decreased from 60° for the as-deposited surface to 10° following a 15 minute exposure. A 25 nm film yielded a similar decrease though this was only achieved after a 50 minute exposure. 1.M. Ritala and M. Leskelä, in Handbook of Thin Film Materials, Volume 1: Deposition and Processing of Thin Films, H.S. Halwa (ed.), Chap. 2, Academic, NY, 2002. © 2007 Pielaszek Research
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    Effects of selected process parameters on the morphology of poly(ethylene terephthalate) preforms and bottles
    (Wiley-Blackwell, 2007-10-05) Hanley, TL; Sutton, D; Karatchevtseva, I; Cookson, DJ; Burford, RP; Knott, RB
    Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) studies and polarized optical microscopy were undertaken to explore possible morphological explanations for the poor mechanical strength in the petaloid bases of poly(ethylene terephthalate) bottles. With a standard commercial production line, one set of injection-molded preforms was over-packed by 1.1 wt % to investigate the effect on the molecular morphology with respect to a set of control samples. Both sets of preforms showed highly crystalline and oriented areas corresponding to the injection gate region. The main body of the control preform was amorphous, and although the overpacked preform was essentially amorphous, there was some evidence for weak crystallinity. The SAXS patterns of the bottle petaloid base blown from the corresponding preforms produced similar SAXS patterns for overpacked and control bottle bases, indicating that the commercial process is robust at least to this degree of overpacking. Optical microscopy showed detailed crystalline features around the gate region and thin crystalline layers sandwiched between a quenched skin layer in direct contact with the cold mold walls and the main flow of material into the mold. © 2007, Wiley-Blackwell.
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    Low temperature atomic layer deposition of titania thin films
    (Elsevier, 2010-04-02) Triani, G; Campbell, JA; Evans, PJ; Davis, J; Latella, BA; Burford, RP
    This paper presents a comprehensive study of atomic layer deposition of TiO2 films on silicon and polycarbonate substrates using TiCl4 and H2O as precursors at temperatures in the range 80–120°C. An in-situ quartz crystal microbalance was used to monitor different processing conditions and the resultant films were characterised ex-situ using a suite of surface analytical tools. In addition, the contact angle and wettability of as-deposited and UV irradiated films were assessed. The latter was found to reduce the contact angle from ≥ 80° to < 10°. Finally, the effect of surface pre-treatment on film toughness and adhesion was investigated and the results show a significant improvement for the pre-treated films. © 2010, Elsevier Ltd.
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    Pyrolysis behaviour of titanium dioxide-poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) composite materials
    (Elsevier, 2009-10) Holmes, R; Campbell, JA; Burford, RP; Karatchevtseva, I
    Inorganic–organic hybrid materials are studied due to the unique properties they exhibit. As these materials become more widely applied, particularly as precursor materials for forming inorganic materials, it is essential that the pyrolysis behaviour is understood. Transparent yellow hybrid materials consisting of titanium dioxide and poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) were prepared using sol–gel processing techniques. The hybrids maintained their transparency up to the highest achieved inorganic loading of 57 wt.%. These materials were characterised using thermogravimetric analysis in which the organic component was pyrolysed. The resultant chars were then investigated using optical microscopy, x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy. The inorganic loading had an effect on char formation, with higher loadings leading to the formation of pyrolysis intermediates which were less apparent in samples of lower inorganic content. The pyrolysis intermediates were found to be carbon-rich. © 2009, Elsevier Ltd.
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    Real-time SANS study of interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) formation
    (Elsevier B. V., 2006-11-15) Burford, RP; Markotsis, MG; Knott, RB
    Interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) are a combination of two or more polymers in network form, with at least one polymer polymerised and/or crosslinked. The nanostructure was investigated for sequential IPNs formed from (i) either radial or linear poly(styrene-co-butadiene-co-styrene) (SB4/SBS) copolymer, and (ii) polystyrene (PS). For polymer network I, the SB4/SBS copolymer self-assembled into ordered micro-domain structures, which acted as a template for the resultant IPN. The formation of the IPN was studied using real-time small angle neutron scattering. For the linear SBS IPN, the time-zero pattern showed an ordered lamella structure and as polymerisation and crosslinking progressed, the first-order peak increased in amplitude (factor ×4) and higher-order peaks appeared. The position and width of the first-order peak did not change significantly, indicating that the size and spacing of the domains did not change. The increase in molecular organisation can be attributed to (i) sharpening of phase boundaries, (ii) annealing of domain positions, and/or (iii) increasing the contrast by material moving between domains. Investigations of phase transformation kinetics may aid in the design of specific structures for nanotechnology applications, as well as traditional engineering applications. Crown copyright © 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V
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    Real-time SANS study of interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) formation
    (The Bragg Institute, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, 2005-11-27) Burford, RP; Markotsis, MG; Knott, RB
    Interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) are a combination of two or more polymers in network form, with at least one polymer polymerised and/or crosslinked. The nanostructure was investigated for sequential IPNs formed from (i) either radial or linear poly(styrene-co-butadiene-co-styrene) (SB4/SBS) copolymer, and (ii) polystyrene (PS). For polymer network I, the SB4/SBS copolymer self-assembled into ordered micro-domain structures, which acted as a template for the resultant IPN. The formation of the IPN was studied using real-time small angle neutron scattering. For the linear SBS IPN, the time-zero pattern showed an ordered lamella structure and as polymerisation and crosslinking progressed, the first-order peak increased in amplitude (factor x4) and higher-order peaks appeared. The position and width of the first-order peak did not change significantly, indicating that the size and spacing of the domains did not change. The increase in molecular organisation can be attributed to (i) sharpening of phase boundaries (ii) annealing of domain positions, and/or (iii) increasing the contrast by material moving between domains. Investigations of phase transformation kinetics may aid in the design of specific structures for nanotechnology applications, as well as traditional engineering applications. © The Authors