Papers by Author: Hartmut Neuhäuser

Abstract: Thin layers of the OLED related polyphenylene-vinylene (PPV) deposited by a precursor on micro-fabricated Si cantilevers were studied by applying the vibrating-reed technique during repeated temperature cycling between 100 and 520 K. By means of the Langmuir-Blodgett method for film production, the dependence of damping and elastic modulus on well defined values of film thickness (16 to 69 nm) was determined. Simultaneous measurements of these quantities showed four damping peaks during heating around 130 K (called γ), 250 K (β), 350 K (β’), and 400 K (called C). Three of them (γ, β’, C) disappeared after heating to the highest temperature (520 K) indicating their presence in the precursor only. The activation parameters of the relaxation peaks (γ, β, β’) were estimated and assigned to specific atomic movements in the molecule. Peak C occurs during the conversion process of precursor to polymer. Earlier results are essentially substantiated, indicating only slight differences to those for layers produced previously by spin coating. The observed thickness dependence of damping for the γ and β peaks suggests a weaker contribution of molecules in the surface region than of those in the bulk, while the β’ peak is supposed to result from molecules in the interface region between layer and substrate.

Abstract: Several ternary Fe – Ge - C alloys with Ge contents ranging between 3 and 27 at. % have been studied. The structure, anelastic, thermodynamic and kinetic phenomena in Fe - 3, - 12, - 19/21 and – 27 Ge have been examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), heat flow (DSC), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), optical-light and scanning electron microscopy, and internal friction (IF) methods. The Fe - 3Ge and Fe - 12Ge alloys form b.c.c. solid solutions. A Snoek-type internal friction (P1) peak is recorded in the Fe - 3Ge alloy with parameters similar to those for α-Fe: Н = 0.86 eV, Δ = 0.015, β = 0.72 and τ0 = 2 × 10-15 s, showing that Ge atoms have little influence on the diffusivity of carbon in iron. The Fe - 12Ge alloy, with a Curie point around 1008 K, has several IF peaks: a broad Snoek-type (P1 and P2), the P3 peak caused by structural changes in as quenched specimens during annealing, and a P4 (Zener) peak at higher temperature (Tm ≈ 773 K at f = 2 Hz, β ≈ 0.7). The Fe - 21Ge alloy has bcc or bcc plus hexagonal structure depending on heat treatment. The structure of the Fe3Ge-type alloy (Fe - 27Ge) consists mainly of hexagonal phases, i.e. hexagonal ε (D019), β (B81), and cubic ε′ (L12), and exhibits corresponding magnetic ordering transitions below 873 K which are not well-reflected in the common Fe - Ge phase diagrams. In particular a high stability of the hexagonal ε phase at room temperature is noted. A broad internal friction relaxation peak with Δ = 0.0036, H ≈ 1.8 eV and τ 0 = 2 ⋅ 10-17 s is found in Fe – 27 Ge and is classified as a double Zener peak in the ε and β two-phase mixture.

Abstract: By means of the vibrating reed technique, measurements of internal friction have been performed in the temperature range of 120 K < T < Tg (= glass temperature) on two amorphous alloys, each produced as ribbon and bulk material. The different contents of free volume result in an only slight shift of the onset of irreversible structural relaxation to lower temperatures (i.e., lower activation energies) for the ribbons, while considerably different amounts of structural relaxation occur. After correcting for the thermoelastic effect, the reversible structural relaxation, i.e., an approximately exponential increase of damping with rising temperature, is well described by KWW kinetics (β ≈ 0.3). For the Zr-based alloy only, a clear relaxation peak occurs in the range from 270 K to 320 K (for the first flexural vibration mode between 100 Hz and 400 Hz) induced by hydrogenation. In addition, the effect of plastic deformation on the damping behavior by cold rolling of the bulk materials has been examined.