Aluminum micro-coil and micro-loop have been fabricated by utilizing electromigration. In a passivated Al line with a slit at the anode end, atoms accumulated before the slit due to high current density and high substrate temperature are released from the pre-introduced holes in the passivation layer, and form micro-fibers owing to crystallization. The fibers are rotated under the existence of the transverse force induced by the tilted holes during their growth, and the micro-coil and micro-loop are fabricated.

This paper reports a new technique of producing hydrophobic surfaces with WCA as high as 147°. This technique consists of first generating nano-textures on a silicon surface via aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si) and then applying perfluoropolyether (PFPE) on the nano-textured surface (NTS). The resulting PFPE-modified NTS showed significant improvement on both surface hydrophobicity and tribological performances compared to a PFPE-modified smooth silicon surface.

Aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si) was, for the first time, used to produce textured surfaces to increase the wettability of solid substrates. It was found that glass substrates textured by AIC of a-Si technique exhibit highly stable superhydrophilic property. The water contact angle (WCA) of the textured glass surfaces became less than 5° in 0.5 second immediately after the AIC of a-process and remained less than 10° in 1 second even after the samples were stored in air for 192 hours.

In this work, molecular dynamics simulation is performed to explore the long-time (up to 5 ns) behavior of argon crystal in surface nanostructuring with a laser-assisted scanning tunneling microscope. The surface nanostructuring region is limited to tens of nanometers in diameter although the simulated systems are much larger (more than 300,000 of atoms inside). This study is focused on the long-time solidification and crystallization procedure, which is driven by the heat conduction in the material. The effect of the computational domain on the final nanostructuring result is studied in detail. Different laser fluences are used in the simulation to explore how and to what extent the energy input affects the dimension and profile of the surface nanostructure. Meanwhile, spot-like structural defects in the sub-surface region are investigated during the solidification. Additionally, the evolutions of surface melting depth and lowest position in the whole process reveal the impact of different laser fluence on surface nanostructuring from another aspect.

Composites based on high density polyethylene (HDPE), pine flour, and organic clay were made by melt compounding and injection molding. The influence of clay on crystallization behavior, mechanical properties, water absorption, and thermal stability of HDPE/pine composites were investigated. The HDPE/pine composites containing exfoliated clay were made by a two-step melt compounding procedure with a maleated polyethylene (MAPE) as a compatibilizer. Adding 2% clay to a HDPE/pine composite without MAPE decreased the crystallization temperature ( T c ) and rate, and the crystallinity level. When 2% MAPE was added, the T c and crystallization rate increased, but the crystallinity level was lowered. The flexural strength and the tensile strength of HDPE/pine composites increased 19.6% and 24.2% respectively with addition of 1% clay but then decreased slightly as the clay content was increased to 3%. The tensile modulus and tensile elongation were increased 11.8% and 13% respectively with addition of 1% clay but the storage and loss moduli barely change as the clay content was increased to 3%. The impact strength was lowered 7.5% by adding 1% clay, but did not decrease further as more clay was added. The moisture content and thickness swelling of the HDPE/pine composites was reduced by the clay, but did not improve the thermal stability.

This paper reports fabrication and understanding of hydrophobic silicon nano-textured surfaces produced by aluminum-induced crystallization (AIC) of amorphous silicon (a-Si). In this study, the effects of annealing temperature and duration on surface topography and wetting property were investigated. The results showed that surface wetting property directly correlates with the percentage area coverage by the nano-textures, which in turn was determined by the annealing conditions. The largest water contact angle (WCA) obtained from this research is 137°.