Faculty Publications
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Item Effect of nickel sulphate to hypophosphite ratio on the electroless deposition of Ni-P coatings on aluminium(Trans Tech Publications, 2014) Jayalakshmi, M.; Bhat, K.U.Electroless Ni-P alloy was deposited on commercial pure aluminium with different nickel source-reducing species ratios. Deposition time was fixed as two hours. The deposits were characterised for changes in morphology and crystallinity. It was observed that increase in nickel source to reducing species ratio produced a deposit with reduced mean nodule size. Also, nodule size distribution was narrow. Deposits with increased ratio showed higher levels of crystallinity. © (2014) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.Item Characterization of ZnO films produced by thermal evaporation and oxidation(Trans Tech Publications Ltd ttp@transtec.ch, 2015) Prabukumar, C.; Jayalakshmi, M.; Bhat, K.ZnO nanostructures such as nanowires and nanorods are beneficial in solar energy harvesting because they provide a structure with a large surface area. Also, they provide a direct pathway to electron transportation, eliminating the scope for grain boundary scattering. In this investigation, thin ZnO films were prepared by thermal evaporation of the Zn metal, which was followed by oxidation. Evaporation parameters and oxidation temperatures were fixed. The oxidation duration was the variable. The effect of oxidation time, on the morphology and structural properties were studied by using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffractometry. The study shows that with increase in oxidation time, the morphology changed to nanorods from initial flake morphology. As a function of oxidation time, the crystallinity and texture became more dominant. By using, I-V characteristic curves, it was found that the morphology changes alter the surface electrical conductivity of the prepared ZnO films. © (2015) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.Item Enhanced cell adhesion on severe peened-plasma nitrided 316L stainless steel(American Institute of Physics Inc. subs@aip.org, 2018) Jayalakshmi, M.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.; Bhat, K.U.Plasma nitriding is an effective technique to enhance the wear resistance of austenitic stainless steels. Recently, severe surface deformation techniques are extensively used prior to nitriding to enhance diffusion kinetics. In the present study, AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel is subjected to peening-nitriding duplex treatment and biocompatibility of treated surfaces is assessed through adhesion of the fibroblast cells. Three-fold increase in the surface microhardness is observed from the un-peened sample to the peened-nitrided sample; with severe peened sample showing intermediate hardness. Similar trend is observed in the number of the fibroblast cells attached to the sample surface. Spreading of some of the fibroblast cells is observed on the sample subjected to duplex treatment; while the other two samples showed only the spindle shaped fibroblasts. Combined influence of surface nanocrystallization and presence of nitride layer is responsible for the improved biocompatibility. © 2018 Author(s).Item Low temperature synthesis of iron pyrite nanorods for photovoltaic applications(Springer New York LLC barbara.b.bertram@gsk.com, 2015) Namanu, P.; Jayalakshmi, M.; Bhat, K.U.Iron pyrite is gaining reputation amongst the various alternatives for silicon as the photovoltaic material in solar cells due to its low cost, strong absorption and relatively high abundance of its constitutional elements. The synthesis of iron pyrite nanoparticles by existing hydrothermal methods with precise control over size, shape and stoichiometry is a difficult task due to the difficulty in controlling the parameters at a higher temperature. Here, we report a novel synthesis method for obtaining iron pyrite nanorods through a low temperature process in a stirred container which is scalable for the large scale industrial production. The nanorods synthesized by the new method consisted of single phase pyrite, possessing an optical band gap of about 1.13 eV. The overall mechanism of nanorod formation is explained by the La Mer model as well as the oriented attachment model. © 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.Item Microstructural characterization of low temperature plasma-nitrided 316L stainless steel surface with prior severe shot peening(Elsevier Ltd, 2016) Jayalakshmi, M.; Huilgol, P.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.; Bhat, K.U.Surface nanocrystallization by severe deformation has proven beneficial as pre-treatment to plasma nitriding. It aids in achieving thicker nitride layers at lower temperatures thus making the process more economical. In austenitic stainless steels, severe deformation leads to formation of strain induced martensite on the surface while plasma nitriding alone forms expanded austenite. However, structural characteristics of surface layer of pre-deformed steel after plasma nitriding is still a matter of debate. In present study, 316L stainless steel was subjected to severe shot peening: followed by plasma nitriding at 400 °C for 4 h. Characteristics of sample surface before and after treatment were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry and transmission electron microscopy techniques. Results showed that, this duplex treatment leads to formation of about 45 ?m thick nitride layer; without CrN precipitation. This is significantly high compared to reported data considering the temperature and duration of nitriding treatment employed. Selected area electron diffraction pattern from topmost surface confirmed the co-existence of austenite and martensite while subsurface layer was predominantly consisting of lath martensite. This indicates that major phase in the nitrided layer is martensitic in nature and nitrogen supersaturation leads to transformation of small fraction of martensite to expanded austenite. © 2016 Elsevier LtdItem Effect of shot peening coverage on surface nanostructuring of 316L stainless steel and its influence on low temperature plasma-nitriding(ASTM International, 2017) Jayalakshmi, M.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.; Bhat, K.U.Air-blast shot peening (ABSP) is a cost effective and industrially viable technique to produce nanostructured surface layer on metallic materials. In the present study, 316L stainless steel samples were subjected to shot peening at different peening coverage, from conventional to severe peening. Nanocrystalline structure was observed on the sample surface after peening and mechanical twins; intersection of multidirectional twins producing rhombic blocks were observed in the subsurface layer. Peening process led to the formation of strain induced martensite (?'), and its fraction was found to increase with the coverage. Depth of nanostructured layer and surface microhardness also increased with the increase in coverage, whereas surface roughness followed an opposite trend. Both peened and un-peened samples were subjected to plasma nitriding at 400°C for 4 h. Uniform and appreciably high case depth of about 45 ?m was observed in severely pre-peened (1000 % coverage) sample after nitriding treatment. No precipitation of CrN was observed. This highlights the marked influence of severe shot peening as a pre-treatment for low temperature plasma nitriding of austenitic stainless steels. © © 2017 by ASTM International.Item Structural and morphological changes with substrate heating in zinc films synthesized by thermal vapor deposition technique(Springer New York LLC barbara.b.bertram@gsk.com, 2017) Sneha, C.; Prabukumar, C.; Jayalakshmi, M.; Bhat, K.U.Zinc oxide (ZnO) films are used in numerous applications such as solar cells, gas sensors, nanogenerators, etc., owing to their large band gap, piezoelectric activity and versatile nanostructures. Deposition of zinc films and their subsequent oxidation is considered as one of the successful methods to obtain nanostructured ZnO films. It has been reported that the structural features of the oxide film depends on the characteristics of parent zinc film; which in turn depends on the deposition parameters. In the present work, zinc films were synthesized by thermal vacuum deposition route. In order to understand the effect of substrate heating during deposition, zinc films were deposited on glass with different substrate temperatures, in the range of room temperature to 180 °C. The structural and morphological properties of as-synthesized films were characterized by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The XRD data confirmed that the as-synthesized films have strong (002) preferential orientation. Notable changes were observed such as change in crystallite size, texture coefficient and strain in the films, upon changing the substrate temperature. The morphology of as-synthesized zinc films found to consist of hexagonal-plate like structures. It was observed that the dimensions of the hexagonal-plates were changed in accordance with the substrate temperature. DSC results indicated a depression in the melting point of zinc films compared to bulk zinc and it is attributed to the nanoscale features constituting the film. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York.Item Effect of substrate temperature on the characteristics of ZnO films produced by a combination of thermal vapor deposition and oxidation processes(Springer New York LLC barbara.b.bertram@gsk.com, 2017) Sneha, C.; Prabukumar, C.; Jayalakshmi, M.; Bhat, S.; Bhat, K.In the present work, ZnO semiconductor films were prepared by following two step processes, namely, thermal vapor deposition of the zinc on the glass substrate followed by oxidative annealing. Substrate temperature during deposition of the zinc was varied. Structural properties and morphology of the ZnO films were investigated by using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy techniques. Hydrophobic nature of the film was confirmed by using contact angle analyser. Hall measurements facilitated the estimation of the carrier concentration, their mobility and their effect on the conductivity. Photoluminescence spectroscopy was used to analyse the lattice defect concentration in the film. Further, the sensor response of the ZnO film to CO gas was analysed. Sensor fabricated with ZnO films which were prepared by oxidizing Zn films deposited at higher substrate temperature were found to possess better response and faster response-recovery time than the film prepared using lower substrate temperature for zinc deposition. © 2017, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.Item Insights into formation of gradient nanostructured (GNS) layer and deformation induced martensite in AISI 316 stainless steel subjected to severe shot peening(Elsevier B.V., 2018) Jayalakshmi, M.; Huilgol, P.; Badekai Ramachandra, B.R.; Udaya Bhat, K.Severe peening is a well-accepted top-down approach to engender surface nanocrystallization in austenitic stainless steels. In the present study, AISI 316 grade austenitic stainless steel is subjected to severe peening through air blast shot peening technique. Study is aimed at analyzing the microstructural features of the peened layer and deformation induced martensite through transmission electron microscopy technique. Gradient nanostructured (GNS) layer formed as a result of high strain rate, multi-directional deformation during severe peening found to extend to about 500 ?m from the surface. Nucleation of deformation induced martensite is not limited to shear band intersections as affirmed by the published literature related to severe peening. It is observed to nucleate at multiple locations in the austenite matrix. Martensite units thus formed, coalesce with each other to form continuous layer of lath martensite layer at about 15–20 ?m from the surface. Upon further deformation, lath morphology transforms to dislocation cell-type; resulting in fine martensite crystallites at the topmost layer of the peened surface. © 2018 Elsevier B.V.