Wendy D. Bennett

Stripping analysis into the 21st century : faster, smaller, cheaper, simpler and better

Abstract As we approach the 21st century we have been reassessing the way we conduct electrochemical stripping measurements of trace metals. Such rethinking has led to the replacement of conventional stripping protocols and systems with remotely deployed submersible (`lab-on-cable) stripping probes, easy-to-use microfabricated metal-sensor strips or micromachined hand-held total stripping analyzers. Such developments allow one to move the measurements of trace metals to the field, and to perform them more rapidly, reliably and inexpensively. These advances bring significant changes to the monitoring of toxic metals, and allow stripping analysis to retain its place as one of the most powerful tools for trace analysis.

Microchannel heat exchangers for advanced climate control

This paper presents details of fabrication and performance testing of prototype microchannel heat exchangers. The microchannel heat exchangers are being developed for advanced cooling and climate control applications, and are designed for heat loads of 100 W/cm2. Bulk and surface micromachining techniques are used to fabricate the test devices. Each heat exchanger section consists of over 150 microchannels etched in silicon substrates by either chemical etching or ion milling processes. The channels are 100-micrometers deep, 100-micrometers wide, and spaced 50- to 100-micrometers apart and connected with headers. Other heat exchangers have also been fabricated in copper and aluminum using machining and ion milling processes. Process steps involved photolithographic patterning, deposition of etch masks, ion or chemical etching, electrostatic bonding of the silicon to glass, insulator deposition, lamination of silicon to metals, application of thin heater coatings with busbars, and installation of the inlet/outlet hardware and valves. Recent hear exchangers have the silicon laminated to copper substrates. Performance testing focuses on determining the performance characteristics of the microchannel heat exchangers over a wide range of flow and heat transfer conditions. The working fluid for heat transfer is restricted to water or SUVA refrigerant HCFC-124 (R-124). Testing with water is run under single-phase conditions. The tests with R-124 are run under single-and two-phase flow conditions.

Vacuum-deposited polymer/silver reflector material

Weatherable, low cost, front surface, solar reflectors on flexible substrates would be highly desirable for lamination to solar concentrator panels. The method to be described in this paper may permit such reflector material to be fabricated for less the 50

Properties of reactively deposited SiC and GeC alloys

CNT per square foot. Vacuum deposited Polymer/Silver/Polymer reflectors and Fabry-Perot interference filters were fabricated in a vacuum web coating operation on polyester substrates. Reflectivities were measured in the wavelength range from .4 micrometers to .8 micrometers . It is hoped that a low cost substrate can be used with the substrate laminated to the concentrator and the weatherable acrylic polymer coating facing the sun. This technique should be capable of deposition line speeds approaching 1500 linear feet/minute2. Central to this technique is a new vacuum deposition process for the high rate deposition of polymer films. This polymer process involves the flash evaporation of an acrylic monomer onto a moving substrate. The monomer is subsequently cured by an electron beam or ultraviolet light. This high speed polymer film deposition process has been named the PML process- for Polymer Multi- Layer.

Coatings for large-area low-cost solar concentrators and reflectors

Thin-film silicon carbide (SiCi) and germanium carbon (Ge,Ci) alloy coatings with low Üifrared optical absorption have been fabricated by DC- and RF-reactive magnetron sputtering. The optical and mechanical properties of the coatings depend on composition determined by deposition conditions. The refractive index and optical absorption coefficient of SiCi. alloys were varied from those of amorphous Si to those near diamond-like carbon (DLC) by increasing C content. The band edge shifted below 1.2 eV with C content as high as 0.8. The useful range of the SiCi coatings was extended to wavelengths as low as 1 jim. The useful transparency range of GeCi coatings is from 3 to 12 jim. The refractive index of GeCi coatings was varied from 4.2 of amorphous Ge to near 3.4 by increasing x from 0 to 0.5. The optical absorption coefficient was a complex function of composition and C-H, Ge-H, and Ge-C bonding. Mechanical stress in both materials was generally moderate, and increased with increasing C content for the GeC alloys and decreased with increasing C for the SiC alloys. The wide range of optical properties obtainable for both coating types makes them useful in many types of multilayer designs. Abrasion-resistant infrared (IR) multispectral antireflection coatings on zinc sulfide (ZnS) were demonstrated using Geij•9C and DLC layers.

Microchannel laminated mass exchanger and method of making

Large-optics coating facilities and processes at Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) that were used to develop large-area high-performance laser mirrors for SDIO are now being used to fabricate a variety of optical components for commercial clients, and for novel applications for other DoD clients. Emphasis of this work is on technology transfer of low-cost coating processes and equipment to private clients. Much of the technology transfer is being accomplished through the CRADA (Cooperative Research and Development Agreement) process funded by the Department of Energy (DOE).