Sharif Digital Repository

Magnetic flux leakage technique is used extensively to detect and characterize defects in natural gas and oil transmission pipelines. The amount of magnetic flux introduced into the test sample is an important factor in the resolution of flaw detection. It depends on the power of permanent magnets and the geometrical design of the magnetic yoke. Finite element method (FEM) is the most widely used method of analyzing magnetic yoke due to its power, accuracy and straightforwardness. On the other hand its calculations are so complicated and time consuming, and every single modification in the parameters of the problem requires a new run. In this paper, we present an innovative method to... 

We have studied the mechanical properties of a few-layer graphene cantilever (FLGC) using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The mechanical properties of the suspended FLGC over an open hole have been derived from the AFM data. Force displacement curves using the Derjaguin–Müller–Toporov (DMT) and the massless cantilever beam models yield a Young modulus of Ec ~ 37, Ea ~ 0.7 TPa and a Hamakar constant of ~ 3 × 10 − 18 J. The threshold force to shear the FLGC was determined from a breaking force and modeling. In addition, we studied a graphene nanoribbon (GNR), which is a system similar to the FLGC; using density functional theory (DFT). The in-plane Young's modulus for the GNRs were calculated... 

We have studied the mechanical properties of a few-layer graphene cantilever (FLGC) using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The mechanical properties of the suspended FLGC over an open hole have been derived from the AFM data. Force displacement curves using the Derjaguin-Müller-Toporov (DMT) and the massless cantilever beam models yield a Young modulus of Ec ∼ 37, Ea ∼ 0.7TPa and a Hamakar constant of ∼ 3 × 10 -18J. The threshold force to shear the FLGC was determined from a breaking force and modeling. In addition, we studied a graphene nanoribbon (GNR), which is a system similar to the FLGC; using density functional theory (DFT). The in-plane Young's modulus for the GNRs were calculated from... 

In this paper, two lowest resonant frequencies and sensitivities of an AFM V-Shaped microcantilever made of functionally graded materials are studied. The beam is modeled by Euler-Bernoulli beam theory in which rotary inertia and shear deformation is neglected. It is assumed that the beam is made of a mixture of metal and ceramic with properties varying through the thickness of the beam. This variation is function of volume fraction of beam material constituents. The interaction between AFM tip and surface is modeled by two linear springs which expresses the normal and lateral contact stiffness. A relationship is developed to evaluate the sensitivity of FGM micro cantilever beam. Effect of... 

The purpose of this paper is the enhancement of the AFM sensitivity through the selection of an optimized FGM micro cantilever beam. In this paper, resonant frequencies and sensitivities of first two modes of micro cantilever which is made of functionally graded materials are investigated and a relationship is developed to evaluate the sensitivity of FGM micro cantilever. Effect of volume fraction of materials and surface contact stiffness on the resonant frequencies and sensitivities are studied. The rectangular FGM beam is modeled by an Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. It is assumed that beam is made of a mixture of metal and ceramic with properties varying through the thickness following a... 

The purpose of this paper is the enhancement of the AFM sensitivity through the selection of an optimized FGM micro cantilever beam. In this paper, resonant frequencies and sensitivities of first two modes of micro cantilever which is made of functionally graded materials are investigated and a relationship is developed to evaluate the sensitivity of FGM micro cantilever. Effect of volume fraction of materials and surface contact stiffness on the resonant frequencies and sensitivities are studied. The rectangular FGM beam is modeled by an Euler-Bernoulli beam theory. It is assumed that beam is made of a mixture of metal and ceramic with properties varying through the thickness following a... 

In the current study, a facile green synthesis of silver-gelatin core-shell nanostructures (spherical, spherical/cubic hybrid, and cubic, DLS diameter: 4.1-6.9 nm) is reported via the wet chemical synthesis procedure. Sunlight-UV as an available reducing agent cause mild reduction of silver ions into the silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs). Gelatin protein, as an effective capping/shaping agent, was used in the reaction to self-assemble silver nanostructures. The formation of silver nanostructures and their self-assembly pattern was confirmed by SEM, AFM, and TEM techniques. Further investigations were carried out using zeta-potential, UV-Vis, FTIR, GPC, and TGA/DTG/DTA data. The prepared Ag-NPs... 

This Letter is devoted to the investigation of the tip, substrate and particle flexibility effects on the elastic deformation, the maximum repulsive force and the topography images in tapping mode (amplitude modulation) atomic force microscopy (TM-AFM). Several quantitative comparisons among the different models are presented and the effects of the elastic deformations on TM-AFM measurement are investigated  

This paper focuses on the influences of the tip mass ratio (the ratio of the tip mass to the cantilever mass), on the excitation of higher oscillation eigenmodes and also on the tip-sample interaction forces in tapping mode atomic force microscopy (TM-AFM). A precise model for the cantilever dynamics capable of accurate simulations is essential for the investigation of the tip mass effects on the interaction forces. In the present work, the finite element method (FEM) is used for modeling the AFM cantilever to consider the oscillations of higher eigenmodes oscillations. In addition, molecular dynamics (MD) is used to calculate precise data for the tip-sample force as a function of tip... 

Models capable of accurate simulation of the microcantilever dynamics coupled with complex tip-sample interactions are essential for interpretation of the imaging results in non-contact atomic force microscopy (AFM). In the present research, a combination of finite element and molecular dynamics methods are used for modelling the AFM system to overcome the drawbacks of conventional approaches that use a lumped system with van der Waals interaction. To illustrate the ability of the proposed scheme in providing images with atomic resolution, some simulations have been performed. In the conducted simulations, a diamond tip is interacting with nickel samples having different surface plane... 

Models capable of accurate simulation of microcantilever dynamics coupled with complex tip-sample interactions are essential for interpretation and prediction of the imaging results in amplitude modulation or tapping-mode atomic-force microscopy (AM-AFM or TM-AFM). In this paper, four approaches based on combinations of lumped and finite element methods for modelling of cantilever dynamics, and van derWaals and molecular dynamics for modelling of tip-sample interactions, are used to simulate the precise imaging by AM-AFM. Based on the simulated imaging and force determination, the efficiency of different modelling schemes is evaluated. This comparison is performed considering their... 

The finite element method and molecular dynamics simulations are used for modeling the AFM microcantilever dynamics and the tip-sample interaction forces, respectively. Molecular dynamics simulations are conducted to calculate the tip-sample force data as a function of tip height at different lateral positions of the tip with respect to the sample. The results demonstrate that in the presence of nonlinear interaction forces, higher eigenmodes of the microcantilever are excited and play a significant role in the tip and sample elastic deformations. Using comparisons between the results of FEM and lumped models, how some aspects of the system behavior can be hidden when the point-mass model is... 

In this paper, the atomic-scale interactions between metallic tips and samples in noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) are studied using molecular dynamics simulations. The effects of the tip and sample materials, the surface plane direction and the lateral position of the tip with respect to the sample, on the interaction force and the dissipated energy, are investigated. The simulations conducted demonstrate that, generally, we can classify the possible outcomes for the dynamics due to the tip-surface interactions into four major categories. The first category includes all cases in which there are no considerable instabilities in tip-surface interactions, leading to negligible... 

This paper is devoted to the characterization of the surface defects using a recently developed AFM technique named as frequency and force modulation AFM (FFM-AFM). The simulated system includes a recently developed gold coated AFM probe which interacts with a sample including single-atom vacancy and impurities. In order to examine the behavior of the above system including different transition metals, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with Sutton-Chen (SC) interatomic potential is used. Along this line, an imaging simulation of the probe and sample is performed, and the effects of the horizontal scan speed, the effective frequency set-point, the cantilever stiffness, the tip-sample rest... 

The effect of temperature on the noncontact atomic force microscopy (NC-AFM) surface imaging is investigated with the aid of molecular dynamics (MD) analysis based on the Sutton-Chen (SC) interatomic potential. Particular attention is devoted to the tip and sample flexibility at different temperatures. When a gold coated probe is brought close to the Au (001) surface at high temperatures, the tip and surface atoms are pulled together and their distance becomes smaller. The tip and sample atoms displacement varies in the different environment temperatures and this leads to the different interaction forces. Along this line, to study the effect of temperature on the resulting images, we have... 

This paper is devoted to the characterization of the surface defects using a recently developed AFM technique named as frequency and force modulation AFM (FFM-AFM). The simulated system includes a recently developed gold coated AFM probe which interacts with a sample including single-atom vacancy and impurities. In order to examine the behavior of the above system including different transition metals, molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with Sutton-Chen (SC) interatomic potential is used. Along this line, an imaging simulation of the probe and sample is performed, and the effects of the horizontal scan speed, the effective frequency set-point, the cantilever stiffness, the tip-sample rest... 

In this paper, the hysteresis in the tipsample interaction force in noncontact force microscopy (NC-AFM) is measured with the aid of atomistic dynamics simulations. The observed hysteresis in the interaction force and displacement of the system atoms leads to the loss of energy during imaging of the sample surface. Using molecular dynamics simulations it is shown that the mechanism of the energy dissipation occurs due to bistabilities caused by atomic jumps of the surface and tip atoms in the contact region. The conducted simulations demonstrate that when a gold coated nano-probe is brought close to the Au(0 0 1) surface, the tip apex atom jumps to the surface, and instantaneously, four... 

This paper is devoted to the characterization of the surface defects using a recently developed AFM technique called frequency and force modulation AFM (FFM-AFM). The simulated system includes a recently developed gold coated AFM probe which interacts with a sample including single-atom vacancy and impurities. In order to examine the behavior of the above system on different transition metals, the molecular dynamics (MD) simulation with Sutton-Chen (SC) inter-atomic potential is used. In this study, an online imaging simulation of the probe and sample is performed, and the effects of the horizontal scan speed, the effective frequency set-point, the cantilever stiffness, the tip-sample rest... 

In the present work, characterization of the surface trenches and vacancies with Amplitude Modulation AFM (AM-AFM) using Molecular Dynamics (MD) is simulated and the effects of the tip shape on the resulting images are investigated. The simulated system includes a recently developed gold coated AFM probe which interacts with a sample including a surface trench or a single-atom vacancy. In order to examine the behavior of the above system, including different transition metals, a Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation with Sutton-Chen (SC) interatomic potential is used. Special attention is dedicated to the study of tip geometry effects such as the tip apex radius, the tip cone angle, the probe... 

WO3 thin films were fabricated by sol-gel method using polyethylene glycol (PEG) as dispersing agent. Physical and photoelectrochemical properties of the synthesized nanocrystalline films were studied by varying weight ratio of PEG to tungsten precursor (x). Based on AFM observations and statistical modeling of the WO3 surface, the thickness of the films increased by increasing the amount of x with a nearly linear fashion while the surface roughness reached to a saturated value. However, the film synthesized with x = 4 showed a chaotic surface behavior. Optical analysis revealed that by increasing the x, transmittance of the films decreased while their band gap energies remained unchanged....