Transactions on GIGAKU: Scope and Policy
Nagaoka University of Technology publishes an online, open access journal titled “Transactions on
GIGAKU”, which is focused on the science and technology related to GIGAKU*. The mission ofthis journal is to spread out the concept of GIGAKU and the fruits of GIGAKU to the global world
and to be a strong network for innovations in science and technology and for development of next
generations of high-level human resources. This journal, therefore, covers research and education
activities related to GIGAKU in broad areas.
*

See ‘What is GIGAKU?’ below.

‘What is GIGAKU?’GIGAKU is a term composed of two Japanese word-roots; GI and GAKU. The word GI〔技〕
literally stands for all kinds of arts and technology, and GAKU 〔学〕 stands for scientificdisciplines in general when used as a suffix.
The term was originally coined to describe the fundamental philosophy of education and research of
Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT) when it was established in 1976. Through this term thefounders of NUT intended to express their recognition that all technical challenges in the real world
require a scientific approach. And NUT has a relentlessly pursued GIGAKU since then.
Thirty-five years have passed and all surrounding conditions have changed dramatically during those
years. We are witnessing rapidly globalizing economics and huge scale changes in demographic,
industrial and employment structures. All those changes seem to necessitate the further evolution of
GIGAKU. In response to this, NUT recently announced its new “Growth Plan” and a reneweddefinition of the term is given;
GIGAKU is a science of technologies, which gives us an angle to analyze and reinterpret diverse
technical processes and objects and thus helps us to advance technologies forward. By employing abroad range of knowledge about science and engineering, management, safety, information
technology and life sciences, GIGAKU provides us with workable solution and induces future
innovations.

July 2012
Koichi Niihara, President of Nagaoka Univesrsity of Technology

1Editors (2014 to 2015):
Editor-in-chief:
Prof. Yoshiro Ito
Head of Library, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka Japan
Co-Editors:
Prof. Nobuhiko Azuma
Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka Japan
Prof. Yoshiki Mikami
Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka Japan
Prof. Yasuo Utsumi
Sendai National College of Technology, Sendai Japan
Prof. K. Bhanu Sankara Rao
Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Technology, Gandipet, Hyderabad India

Submission and Publishing“Transactions on GIGAKU” publishes original papers focusing on education, science, andtechnology related to GIGAKU. Proposals for special issues aligned with conferences are strongly
encouraged*, and guest editors are welcomed. Papers submitted are peer-reviewed before publication.
Publication charge is free for all submitted papers.
* Please contact to Editor-in chief, itoy@mech.nagaokaut.ac.jp
Copyright
The copyright of the papers published in Transactions on GIGAKU is transferred to Nagaoka
University of Technology. (See our copyright transfer form for details.)

Contactjoho-kiban@jcom.nagaokaut.ac.jp(Revised January 2014)2

Editorial board of special issue of The 2nd International GIGAKU
Conference in Nagaoka (IGCN),Vol2. of Transactions on GIGAKU
Guest Editor
Dr. Masao Fukuda, Professor, Department of Bioengineering, Nagaoka University ofTechnology, Japan

Guest Co-Editors
Dr. Tomoyuki Honma, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical, Nagaoka
University of Technology, Japan
Dr. Akira Kawai, Professor, Department of Electrical, Electronics and Information
Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
Dr. Tadachika Nakayama, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical, Electronics
and Information Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
Dr. Motohiro Tagaya, Assistant Professor, Department of Materials Science andTechnology, Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
Dr. Takashi Yamaguchi, Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Systems
Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
Dr. Takashi Yukawa, Professor, Department of Management and Information Systems
Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
Dr. Masahide Suzuki, Professor, Department of Nuclear System Safety Engineering,
Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
Dr. Naoko Lee Iizuka Associate Professor, Department of General Education,
Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan
Dr. Yuichi Otsuka, Associate Professor, Department of System Safety, Nagaoka
University of Technology, Japan3

Transactions on GIGAKU
Volume 2, No. 1, October 2014
The 2nd International GIGAKU Conference in Nagaoka (IGCN)(June 21-23, 2013, Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, Japan)
The IGCN is designed and organized to provide a cross-border, cross-sector,
cross-disciplinary forum for those researchers, educators, and industrial leaders who are
creating and practicing GIGAKU in various technology domains in various countries.
Some papers presented in the IGCN are published in this first volume of Transactions
on GIGAKU.
Table of contents
1. Pages 02001/1-7
Electronic Approach to Alloy Design
Masahiko Morinaga
2. Pages 02002/1-6
Structural Analysis of TiO2 Particles Synthesized from Ti-EDTA•NH4 Complex
Keiji Komatsu, Yasuhiro Hasebe, Tetsuo Sekiya, Atsushi Nakamura, Shigeo
Ohshio, Hiroki Akasaka, Ikumi Toda, Hidetoshi Saitoh
3. Pages 02003/1-8
Effect of Overlapped Clearance on Out-of-plane Cutting Characteristics ofWhite-Coated Paperboard Subjected to Straight Punch/Die Shearing
Pusit Mitsomwang, Shigeru Nagasawa
4. Pages 02004/1-7
Evaluation of relationship between radius of curvature at vertex of 3D bonded structure
and intensity of stress singularity based on stress analysis using element free GalerkinmethodTakahiko Kurahashi, Yasuyuki Tsukada, Hideo Koguchi
5. Pages 02005/1-8
Fluid Control MEMS Constructed with Functional Polymer Materials
Akira Kawai
6. Pages 02006/1-6
A SU-8 Photoresist Film as Electrical Stable Layer in Liquid Environment
Yuta Noguchi, Akira Kawai
4

7. Pages 02007/1-6
Effect of Mechanical Stress on Electrolyte Film for Flexible Sheet Type Direct
Methanol Fuel Cell
Yosuke Sakurai, Akira Kawai
8. Pages 02008/1-6
Amorphous Hydrogenated Carbon Films Deposited with Benzene by Plasma Enhanced
Chemical Vapor Deposition
Xiaolong Zhou, Ikumi Toda, Keiji Komatsu, Hiroyuki Muramatsu, Shigeo
Ohshio, Hidetoshi Saitoh
9. Pages 02009/1-6
Luminescence of Activator-Doped Alunite Synthesized under Hydrothermal Condition
Shingo Kimura, Yuichiro Kuroki, Tomoichiro Okamoto, Masasuke Takata
10. Pages 02010/1-10
Study on Generation and Measurement Methods for Analysis on Solid-Plasma
Transition Process
Takashi Kikuchi, Toru Sasaki, Yasutoshi Miki, Fumitaka Tachinami, Hirotaka
Saito, Ryota Hayashi, Nobuyuki Anzai, Takuya Takahashi, Tsukasa Aso,
Kazumasa Takahashi, Nob. Harada, Weihua Jiang, Kenji Kashine, Akira
Tokuchi
11. Pages 02011/1-8
Vibration Isolation Stand for Transporting the Injured using Pleasure Boat
Yoshiaki Mitsuma, Shigehiro Toyama, Fujio Ikeda, Hiroaki Seta
12. Pages 02012/1-7
Small-Size MHD Experiments and simulation at WNCT and NUT
Shinji Takeshita, Naoya Ikoma, Yusuke Sasaki, Toru Sasaki, Takashi Kikuchi,
Nobuhiro Harada
13. Pages 02013/1-8
Usability Evaluation of Steering System for Pleasure Boat with Eye Tracking Device
Kohei Iihama, Shigehiro Toyama, Fujio Ikeda, Hiroaki Seta,Nobuo Ezaki
14. Pages 02014/1-8
Experimental Study on Turn Operation of 3D Quasi-Passive Dynamic Walking Robot
Fujio Ikeda, Shigehiro Toyama, Yuki Hirasawa
15. Pages 02015/1-6
Recent Progress In The Intense Pulsed Power Generator "Etigo-Ii
Kenji Kashine, Takashi Kikuchi, Toru Sasaki, Ryota Hayashi, Fumihiro
Tamura, Arata Watabe, Takahiro Kudo, Tsukasa Aso, Kazumasa Takahashi,
5

Nob. Harada, Weihua Jiang, Akira Tokuchi
16. Pages 02016/1-10
An Assessment of Radionuclide Transport in the Atmosphere -A Case Study ofHypothetical Reactor Accident in Ninh Thuan Province, VietnamHo Quoc Dung, Mikami Yoshiki
17. Pages 02017/1-6
Investigation of reaction selectivity for oxygen reduction in the presence of methanol at
sputtered Co-C-N electrocatalyst
Sayoko Shironita, Yosuke Matsumoto, Minoru Umeda

6

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02001/1-7

Electronic Approach to Alloy Design

Masahiko Morinaga
Toyota Physical & Chemical Research Institute,41-1 Nagakute, Aichi 480-1192, Japan*E-mail: morinaga@toyotariken.jp
Electronic approach to alloy design has recently made great progress. A
unified approach based on the atomization energy concept is reviewed
focusing mainly on the understanding of the chemical bond in hydrides
without using the standard concept of covalent and ionic bonds. Namely,
the atomization energies, EH for hydrogen atom and EM for metal
atom in each hydride are evaluated by using the energy density analysisof the total energy, and then a EH vs. EM diagram is constructed. All
the hydrides, including metal hydrides and complex hydrides can belocated on this diagram, despite the significant differences in the nature of
the chemical bond among them. Also, it is found in hydrocarbons, CmHn
that the cohesive energy depends only on m and n. Furthermore,
following this approach, the catalytic effect of metal oxides (e.g., Nb2O5)
can be estimated quantitatively on the dehydrogenation reaction of MgH2,
expressed as, MgH2 →Mg + H2. In addition, this approach is applied to avariety of transition metal-based compounds such as borides, carbides,
nitrides, oxides and fluorides to make a new platform for the design offunctional compounds.

1. Introduction
Nowadays, total energy calculation is so common in every field of materials science. However,as predicted by Wigner and Seitz [1], information of the chemical bond between atoms in solids isstill limited along the total energy calculation alone. The Mulliken population analysis [2] is also
widely used in the field of molecular orbital calculations, and the nature of the chemical bond
between atoms is interpreted using the standard concept of covalent and ionic bonds. However,along this analysis it is still difficult to compare quantitatively the chemical bond strengths among avariety of materials, because both covalent and ionic interactions are operating in most materials. To
solve this problem, the chemical bond should be estimated quantitatively in an energy scale.
Recently, Nakai has proposed a new analyzing method of the total energy called energy density
analysis (EDA) [3]. In this method, the total energy of a system, computed by the Kohn-Sham-type
density functional theory (DFT) [4], is partitioned into atomic energy densities, and thecharacteristics of the chemical bond are understood in terms of each atomic energy density instead of
the total energy. Recently, we have applied this method to the analysis of the chemical bond between
atoms in various hydrides and hydrocarbons for hydrogen storage [5,6] and also in oxides [7,8]. In
this analysis, the atomization energy for each constituent atom is newly defined by subtracting theatomic energy density from the total energy of the isolated atom, and used for comparing
quantitatively the nature of the chemical bond between atoms among a variety of materials in anenergy scale. Such an atomization energy analysis is more quantitative than the analysis of covalentor ionic bonds in any materials. The usefulness of this approach is proved through the quantitative
analysis of the catalytic effect of metal oxides on the dehydrogenation reaction of MgH2 [9,10].
In this paper, this approach using atomization energy concept is reviewed in a consistent way.

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2. Calculation Method
2.1 Geometry optimization and energy density analysis
The positions of hydrogen in the hydrides are sometimes difficult to be determined
experimentally. So, the crystal structures of crystalline hydrides are optimized by the total energy
minimization using a plane-wave pseudopotential method [11]. Also, the molecule structures ofhydrocarbons are optimized using the AM1 method [12]. The electronic structures are obtained by
the DFT calculation with the BLYP functional. For hydrides, the energy density analysis (EDA) is
performed under the periodic boundary condition (PBC) by liking the original code for the EDA
with Gaussian03. Similar calculations except for the PBC are also performed for hydrocarbons. It is
confirmed from a series of calculations that the differences between calculated and experimental
cohesive energies are less than 0.4 eV for binary hydrides and 0.2 eV for hydrocarbons [5].
2.2 Atomization energy
For binary hydrides, MH, the respective atomic energy densities of M and H are related closely
to the nature of the chemical bond relevant to M and H atoms in MH [5]. When the energy of theatom) is taken as a reference, the atomization energy, EH (orisolated neutral atom, E Hatom (or E MEM ) is defined as,whereE H  E Hatom  E Hhydride ,

(1)

atom
hydrideEM  EM
 EM
,

(2)

hydrideEMandE Hhydride

are the atomic energy densities for M and H in MH, respectively. In

case of the ternary hydrides, (M1M2)Hn, EM is defined as (EM1  EM2 ) / n , that is the average
atomization energy of M1 and M2 to be counted per hydrogen atom. Even in the other type ofternary hydrides, EM is defined in a similar way.
The cohesive energy, Ecoh , of the hydride per hydrogen atom is defined as,
Ecoh  E M  E H .
(3)
Thus, EM and EH are the components of Ecoh . The cohesive energy is the energy gained byarranging the atoms in a crystalline solid, as compared with the gas state. The atomization energy isa measure of the chemical bonding effect of the element on the stability of the hydride. By settingthat Y  EH and X  EM , we obtain a relation, Y   X  Ecoh . So, Ecoh is expressed as apoint of intersection of this line and the Y-axis at X = 0.
For hydrocarbons expressed as a chemical formula, CmHn, EH and EC are defined as,
E H  E Hatom  E Hhydrocarbon ,(4)

E C  ( E Catom  E Chydrocarbon )  (m n) .

(5)Here, EC is the average atomization energy of carbon per hydrogen atom in CmHn [5].

3. Atomization Energy Diagram for Hydrides and Hydrocarbons
A E H vs. EM diagram is hereafter called “atomization energy diagram”. The advantage ofusing the atomization energy is to know a role of each constituent element in the hydride formationthat is never able to be obtained from the total energy calculation alone.
For a variety of crystalline hydrides, such as binary hydrides, perovskite-type hydrides, metal
hydrides, complex hydrides, and hydrocarbons as well, an atomization energy diagram is constructed
on an energy scale, as shown in Fig.1. It is stressed here that every hydride can be shown in one
figure, although there are significant differences in the nature of the chemical bond among thehydrides and hydrocarbons. Ecoh , given in Eq. 3 lies in the range of 3 – 9 eV. As a whole, this range

2

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02001/1-7

of Ecoh is much smaller compared with the ranges of atomization energy, 0 eV < E H <18 eV and–11 eV< EM <5 eV. Thus, each atomic state is well controlled or balanced in the hydrides and –11
eV< EM <5 eV. Thus, each atomic state is well controlled or balanced in the hydrides andhydrocarbons so as to make Ecoh as large as possible. Among the hydrides, a binary hydride, AlH3
(No.3), shows the smallest cohesive energy, 3.2 eV, so it releases hydrogen at a low temperature [13],but the re-hydrogenation reaction never occurs in the moderate condition because of its poor stability.
This is also seen in a complex hydride, Mg(AlH4)2 (No.17), where both Ecoh and E H values are
small [14].

Fig. 1

Atomization energy diagram for hydrides and hydrocarbons.

It is evident from Fig.1 that hydrides of transition elements (e.g., NbH2 (No.12)) have high E H
values. The region of complex hydrides is overlapped with that of the hydrides of the more common
elements on this diagram. Also, the locations of metal hydrides are distributed over the wide range of
E H , and some of them are located near the region of complex hydrides. In fact, Mg2NiH4 (No.32),
Mg2CoH5 (No.31) and Mg2FeH6 (No.30) are sometimes treated as complex hydrides instead of
metal hydrides [15]. In Fig.1, Mg2FeH6 and Mg2CoH5 are located near the lower and upper region ofcomplex hydrides, respectively. However, Mg2NiH4 is located in the region between the hydrides oftransition elements and the complex hydrides, indicating the coexistence of the characteristics ofboth metal and complex hydrides in Mg2NiH4. Thus, the atomization energy diagram reflects
important characteristics of the chemical bonds in hydrides.
For a variety of hydrocarbons, CmHn, including alkanes, cycloalkanes, alkenes, alkines andarenes, E H and EC are plotted against m/n, as shown in Fig.2. Here, EC is the atomizationenergy weighted by a factor, m/n, following Eq.5. EC is therefore the component of the cohesiveenergy partitioned into the carbon per hydrogen atom. As is evident from Fig.2, EC increases
linearly with the m/n ratio. This indicates that the slope expressed as, ( ECatom  EChydrocarbon ) , is almost
constant, regardless of the type of hydrocarbons. Also, EC is expressed approximately as,3

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02001/1-7

EC (eV)  7.46  (m n)  4.46 .

(6)

On the other hand, E H is a constant, 6.76 eV, regardless of the type of hydrocarbons. So, thecohesive energy per hydrogen atom in hydrocarbons, Ecoh , can be expressed as,
Ecoh (eV)  7.46  (m n)  2.30 .

(7)This simple relationship is satisfied in all the hydrocarbons. Thus, by using the atomization energies,EC and EH , the nature of the chemical bonds in any hydrocarbons can be understood without
using the usual concept of single or multiple C-C bonds.

Fig. 2

Change in EC and EH with m/n in various hydrocarbons, CmCn.
EC and EH are expressed by solid and open symbols, respectively.

4. Application to Quantitative Evaluation of Catalytic Effect
The hydrogen desorption reaction of magnesium hydride (MgH2), MgH 2  Mg  H 2 , isaccelerated by mixing some metal oxides (e.g., Nb2O5). To explain this catalytic activities of metaloxides, the atomization energy diagram, EM vs. EO , is calculated for binary metal oxides,
MxOy [7], as shown in Fig.3. The contribution of each element in the oxide to the cohesive energy isunderstood from this figure. For example, the cohesive energy is nearly same between NbO2 andAl2O3 (NbO2: Ecoh =10.1 eV, Al2O3: Ecoh =10.7 eV). However, they are located in the very
different positions in Fig.3. NbO2 has a large EO value, but a very small EM value, indicatingthat the oxide ions in NbO2 make a significant contribution to the cohesive energy. On the other
hand, in case of Al2O3, the EO value is almost zero, but instead the EM value is very large. This
indicates that the metal ions in Al2O3 contribute mainly to the cohesive energy. In this way, using theatomization energy diagram, the role of each constituent element in the stability of metal oxides canbe understood in a straightforward manner.
The catalytic effect of metal oxides, MxOy, on the hydrogen desorption reaction has beenmeasured experimentally with the MgH2 specimens doped by 1mol% MxOy [16]. It is theoretically4Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02001/1-7

Fig.3

Atomization energy diagram for metal oxides.

estimated in a quantitative way using atomization energy concept [9]. As shown in Fig.4, themeasured hydrogen desorption rate increases monotonously with increasing y  EO values ofmetal oxides. This y  EO value is the energy of oxide ions in one molecule unit of MxOy. The
result shown in Fig.4 indicates clearly that the oxide ions in MxOy interact mainly with hydrogenatoms in MgH2. In other words, the y  EO value is a measure of the magnitude of the O-Hinteraction operating between MxOy and MgH2, and hence it is indeed a good parameter to show thecatalytic activities of metal oxides. The presence of the O-H interaction is confirmed experimentally
through the observation of the O-H stretching mode in the FT-IR spectra during the dehydrogenationof the Nb2O5-catalyzed MgH2 as shown in Fig.5 [10]. Namely, the spectrum is rather strong in (a) for
H non-released specimen, but it becomes weak gradually from (b) for 2.3% H released specimen to(d) for all H released specimen with the progress of the dehydrogenation reaction in it.

Fig.4 yCorrelation
rate theof measured
MgH2 withmetal oxide
EO vs. desorption
Fig.4
of y  EO withdesorption
rateof MgH2 with 1 mol%
MxOy oxide catalysts.
catalysts.

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Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02001/1-7

Fig.5

FT-IR spectra of MgH2 with 1 mol% Nb2O5 in the region of 2600
to 4000 cm-1 where the O-H stretching mode works dominantly.

This approach is also found to be useful for the quantitative evaluation of the catalytic effect ofmetal chlorides (e.g., TiCl3) on the decomposition reaction of NaAlH4, expressed as, NaAlH4 →1/3Na3AlH6 + 2/3Al + H2 [17].
5.

Atomization Energy Diagram for Transition Metal-based Compounds

20
7

15
10
5

X

ΔE (X=B,C,N,O,F,S) (eV)

8

0

11
1

12

24

Borides

Ecoh= 25eV

I

13
30 2
18
14
45
31 22 2117
19 23 20
38 28

E
4 9
X  E M
41 65
34
3
35
40 15
39 48
47 46 27 26 10
37
33
42
29
36 32
44 43
25
O

-5

B
C
N
O
S
F

-10
-10

-5

Ecoh= 5eV0

5

ΔE (eV)

10

15

M

Fig.6

1. TiB
2. TiB2
3. Cr2B
4. CrB
5. CrB2
6. CrB4
7. Fe2B

16. CrN(NaCl)
17. Fe4N
18. Fe3N
19. FeN

Oxides
20. TiO
21. Ti2O3
22.TiO2(anatase)
23. TiO2
8. FeB(rutile)24. Ti2O
Carbides 25. CrO
9. TiC
26. Cr2O3
10. CrC
27. CrO2
11. Fe4C
12. Fe2C
28. CrO3
29. FeO
Nitrides 30. Fe3O4
13. Ti2N
31. Fe2O3
16
14. TiN20 15. CrN(orthorhombic)

Fluorides
32. TiF2
33. TiF3
34. CrF2
35. Cr2F5
36. CrF3
37. CrF4
38. FeF2
39. FeF3
Sulfides40. TiS
41. TiS2
42. TiS3
43. CrS
44. Cr2S3
45. FeS(β)
46. FeS(γ)
47. FeS2(pyrite)48. FeS2(marcasite)

Atomization energy diagram for transition metal-based compounds.

6

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02001/1-7

The transition metal based-compounds such as borides, carbides, nitrides, oxides, fluorides andsulfides possess a variety of physical properties such as superconductivity (e.g.,LaFeAsO1-xFx),
ferroelectricity (e.g.,BaTiO3), ferromagnetism (e.g.,Nd2Fe14B) and proton conductivity (e.g., SrTiO3).
It is a real challenge to treat all these compounds by using the same calculation method of electronic
structures, and to compare the characteristics of each compound in view of non-metal elements (e.g.,
B, C, N, O, F, S etc). The analysis of the atomization energy is suitable for this purpose, since any
compounds are treatable in an energy scale even when the chemical bond characters are very
different among the compounds. The atomization energy diagram is now being made for 3dtransition metal-based compounds. A part of the results is shown in Fig.6 [18]. A final goal of thisstudy is to develop a new method for the design of functional compounds, while keep standing on
the common ground of non-metal elements rather than metal elements.

6. Conclusion
A unified approach based on the atomization energy concept is proposed for treating thechemical bond in hydrides and hydrocarbons. Also, this is found to be useful for the understandingof the bond character in the oxides and other compounds. It is concluded that this is a powerfulelectronic approach to design and develop new materials and to support the technical innovation forsolving the energy and environmental issues in the 21st century.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to express sincere thanks to Prof. H. Yukawa, Prof. M. Yoshino of Nagoya
University and Prof. H. Nakai of Waseda University for their collaboration on this study. This study
was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of Education, Culture,
Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, and from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
References
[1]
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]

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R. S. Mulliken, J. Chem. Phys. 23 (1955) 1833.
H. Nakai, Chem. Phys. Lett., 363 (2002) 73.
W. Kohn and L. J. Sham, Phys. Rev. 140 (1965) A1133.
Y. Shinzato, H. Yukawa, M. Morinaga, T. Baba and H. Nakai, Acta Materialia, 55 (2007) 6673.
Y. Shinzato, H. Yukawa, M. Morinaga, T. Baba and H. Nakai, Advances in Quantum
Chemistry,54 (2008) 145.
[7] Y. Shinzato, Y. Saito, M. Yoshino, H. Yukawa, M. Morinaga, T. Baba and H. Nakai, J.
Phys .Chem. Solids, 72 (2011), 853.
[8] H. Hirate, H. Sawai, Y. Saito, H. Yukawa, M. Morinaga and H. Nakai, Journal of the American
Ceramic Society, 93 (2010) 3449.
[9] H.Hirate, Y.Saito, I.Nakaya, H.Sawai, Y.Shinzato, H.Yukawa, M.Morinaga, T.Baba andH.Nakai, Int J Quant Chem., 109 (2009) 2793.
[10] H. Hirate, H. Sawai, H. Yukawa and M. Morinaga, Int J Quant Chem., 111 (2011) 2251.
[11] J.P. Perdew, K. Burke and Y. Wang, Phys. Rev. B, 54 (1996) 16533.
[12] M.J.S. Dewar and W. Thiei, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 99 (1977) 4899.
[13] J. Graetz, and J. J. Reilly, J. Alloys Compd., 424 (2006) 262.
[14] K. Komiya, N. Morisaku, Y. Shinzato, K. Ikeda, S. Orimo, Y. Ohki, K. Tasumi, H. Yukawa
and M. Morinaga, J. Alloys Compd., 446 (2007) 237.
[15] K. Yvon, Chimia, 52 (1998) 613.
[16] G. Barkhordarian, T.Klassen and R.Bormann, J. Phys. Chem. B, 110 (2006) 11020.
[17] H. Hirate, Y. Saito, I. Nakaya, H. Sawai, H. Yukawa, M. Morinaga and H. Nakai,
Int J Quant Chem., 111 (2011) 950.
[18] M.Morinaga, Y.Saito, K.Ito, H.Yukawa, M.Yoshino and H.Nakai, Bulletin of the Society for
Discrete Variational X, 24 (2011) 85.
(Received: 26 June, 2013, Accepted: 17 October 2013)7

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02002/1-6

Structural Analysis of TiO2 Particles Synthesizedfrom Ti-EDTA•NH4 Complex
Keiji Komatsu1*, Yasuhiro Hasebe1, Tetsuo Sekiya1, Atsushi Nakamura1,2,
Shigeo Ohshio1, Hiroki Akasaka1, Ikumi Toda1, Hidetoshi Saitoh1
1
Department of Materials Science and Technology, Nagaoka University of Technology,
2
Chubu Chelest Co. Ltd., 3-3-3 Hinagahigashi, Yokkaichi, Mie 510-0886, Japan,*E-mail: Keiji_Komatsu@mst.nagaokaut.ac.jp

Porous TiO2 particles with micro-scale particle size were synthesized from a
Ti-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)•NH4 complex using a commercial
flame spray apparatus. In addition, crystal structure, surface morphology, andorganic constituents of the synthesized particles were investigated. A calibration
curve method was used for quantitative analysis of the crystalline phases of thesynthesized particles. The crystalline phase and the morphology of the particles
varied after annealing in an electric furnace. Visual observation revealed that theporous TiO2 particles were black in color and had a diameter of approximately 100
m before annealing, and their color turned white after annealing. The weight ratioof the rutile phase of the particles increased from 61.9% to 84.3%, while that of
the anatase phase decreased from 38.1% to 15.7% with increasing annealing
temperature. Fourier transform infrared spectra confirmed that no organic
constituent originating from the Ti-EDTA•NH4 complex existed in the synthesizedparticles after annealing.

1. Introduction
Titanium oxide (TiO2) has attracted significant research interests owing to its use in a wide range ofapplications, such as photocatalysts [1,2] and solar cells [3]. In addition , electric devices[4], medical anddental [5] applications for TiO2 were reported. The synthesis of TiO2 usually involves a liquid or gas
phase, and the resulting TiO2 can vary from being particle-like (micron- and nanosized) to film-like inmorphology [6-8]. For example, highly oriented polycrystalline TiO2 films have been fabricated byatmospheric chemical vapor deposition [9]. Characteristics of TiO2, such as its electric properties, dependon its crystal structure and the method used to synthesize it.
The structural transition behavior of TiO2 is important from the viewpoint of commercial applications.
TiO2 exists in three types of crystal phases: anatase, rutile, and brookite [10]. From a thermodynamic
point of view, rutile is the stable phase, while anatase and brookite are metastable phases. Given the wide
applicability of TiO2, the structural behaviors of the anatase and rutile forms of TiO2 have been
investigated in great detail by adding other elements to these phases [11] and subjecting the mixture to
tests involving annealing [12,13] and the application of pressure [14]. The results of these analyses havesuggested that the structural behaviors of the different forms of TiO2 depend on the synthesis method
used.
Recently, a new synthesis technique based on metal-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)
complexes was developed for fabricating metal oxide films [15]. Y2O3 films were fabricated on astainless steel (SUS) substrate using a Y-EDTA complex powder and a commercial flame sprayer. The
metal-EDTA complexes generally decompose at 300–400°C in air, resulting in the formation of the metaloxide owing to oxidation. In another method, hollow metal oxide particles were fabricated from solutionsof metal-EDTA complexes using a spray drying apparatus [16]. The thus-fabricated metal oxide particles
are, owing to their suitable compositions, used for material design for phosphor synthesis [17,18]. A
scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of the surface of the Y2O3 film fabricated from Y-EDTA
complex powder is shown in Fig. 1. The Y2O3 particles of a flat morphology are seen in the image; theseparticles are indicated by the square labeled (a). The flat morphology was the result of the decompositionand oxidation of the Y-EDTA complex. In addition to the flat particles, spherical Y2O3 particles ofdiameters of 1–3 m are also be observed; see the square labeled (b). These results suggest that it should
be possible to fabricate dense, spherical TiO2 particles on a large scale from Ti-based EDTA complexes1Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02002/1-6

such as Ti-EDTA•NH4.
In this study, we synthesized the TiO2 particles from the Ti-EDTA•NH4 complex using the flame
spray apparatus. The structure of the TiO2 particles after being subjected to annealing treatments wascharacterized; the characterization was described and discussed. Figure 2 shows a schematic of thereaction process that takes place when the metal-EDTA complex is introduced into a flame. First, theprecursor melts and thermally decomposes, resulting in the production of the gaseous CO2, H2O, and NO2(Process 1 in Fig. 2). Metal ions, which are released from the chelating ligand, are then oxidized to metaloxide particles, which then undergo rapid cooling. These cooled particles then solidify rapidly (Process 2
in Fig. 2). The thus-synthesized TiO2 particles were then annealed at 400–600°C in an electric furnace.
The crystal structure, surface morphology, and the phase composition of the particles were then analyzed.
Metal-EDTA Splay gun
complexes

1)Thermal decomposition of
the metal-EDTA complex andformation of CO2, H2O, NO2

2) Formation of metal oxide
particles with rapid cooling /solidification

MXOY
M
Metal oxide
particles
Reaction process of the metal-EDTA complexes in flame

Fig. 1 SEM image of the surface of a Y2O3
film fabricated from a Y-EDTA complex. (a)Y2O3 particles with splatted morphologies (b)Y2O3 particles with spherical morphologies.

Fig. 2 Schematic of the reaction occurring
when a metal-EDTA complex is introduced
into a flame.

2. Experimental
First, the crystalline Ti-EDTA•NH4 complex (Chubu Chelest Co., Ltd.), used as the precursor for thesynthesis of the TiO2 particles, was prepared. The prepared complex powder was then used to fabricate
the particles. A schematic diagram and a photograph of the equipment used to prepare the TiO2 particles
are shown in Fig. 3. The conventional flame spray apparatus, consisting of a feed unit (5 MPE, Sulzer
Metco) and a spray gun (6P-II, Sulzer Metco), was used to perform reactive spraying. This apparatus isgenerally used commercially for depositing metal films using an acetylene flame. The Ti-EDTA•NH4 wasthen placed into the feed unit and transported by N2 gas into the spray gun when the vibrator in the feed
unit was turned on. A mixture of H2 and O2, with the gases flowing at the rates of 70 and 90 L/min,
respectively, was used as the flame gas. When the Ti-EDTA powder was introduced into the flame, the
EDTA decomposed thermally and the Ti present in the powder reacted with oxygen. The TiO2 particles
formed were then sprayed into a stainless container (Tokyo Screen Co., Ltd.) and collected. The spraynozzle was moved progressively in a longitudinal direction. The deposition duration was approximately 6s in each area. Next, the obtained TiO2 particles were annealed at 400–600C for 1 h in an electric
furnace.
The particle size distribution of raw Ti-EDTA powder was analyzed using a particle size analyzer(MT-3300, Nikkiso). The crystal structure of the synthesized TiO2 particles was determined using an
X-ray diffractometer (M03XHF22, MAC Science Co., Ltd.) employing Cu Kα radiation. The calibration
curve method was applied for the quantitative determination of the phase composition of the particles.
The calibration curve was prepared using commercial anatase TiO2 powder (purity: 99%, Sigma
Aldrich). Commercial TiO2 powder was annealed at 1000C for 10 h in the muffle furnace. First,
as-prepared TiO2 powder was annealed to obtain the two types of TiO2 phases, rutile and anatase. The
annealed powders were then mixed with the commercial TiO2 powder in the following percentages byweight: 0%，20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%. The surface and cross-sectional morphologies of the TiO2
particles were observed using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) (JSM-6700F, JEOL
Ltd.). The organic matter remaining in the films after the annealing process was investigated through2

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02002/1-6

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy (IMPACT-410, Nicolet) using the attenuated totalreflection method.
Powder feeding machine

Stainless container(holed in used equipments)
EDTA・Ti・NH4 complex
95 cm

Carrier gases(nitrogen)
N2
30 cm

Stainless container

Spray gun
H2

O2
Flame

Combustion gases(hydrogen / oxygen)

Spray gunFig. 3 Schematic diagram and photograph of the apparatus used to synthesize the TiO2 particles.

180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
-20
-40

0
-10
-20
-30
-40
-50
-60
-70
-80
-90
-100
0

Heat flow (mV)

Weight change (% )3. Results and Discussion
Figure 4 shows an SEM image of the crystal particles of the Ti-EDTA•NH4 complex. The particles of
the complex were box-shaped and had a diameter of 50–200 m. From the results of the measurement of
the particle size distribution, the average diameter of the particles (median diameter D50) was found to be
189.3 m. The thermogravimetric (TG)-differential thermal analysis (DTA) profiles of the Ti-EDTA•NH4
complex are shown in Fig. 5. Endothermic peaks can be seen at approximately 300C; the maximum wasnoticed at approximately 470C. These results suggest that the decomposition of the Ti-EDTA•NH4
powder and the oxidation of Ti were both induced by the H2-O2 flame. The temperature of the H2-O2
flame was less than 1727C(2000K).

100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900

Temperature (℃)

Fig. 4 SEM image of the crystals of the
Ti-EDTA•NH4 complex.

Fig. 5TG-DTA profiles
Ti-EDTA•NH4 complex.

of

the

Photographs of the synthesized TiO2 particles, before and after being annealed at 400–600C in the
muffle furnace, are shown in Fig. 6. Before being annealed, the color of the particles was black. As aresult of the annealing treatment, the particles progressively turned white. As the annealing temperature
was increased, the black particles first turned grayish black, then yellow, and then finally white. The
initial black appearance is likely owing to the absence of oxygen and organic constituents (containedcarbon atom species, such as the –COOH and -COO groups) in the as-fabricated particles. During thesynthesis process, hydrogen gas, which was used as one of the combustion gases, acted as a reductant. We
measured the weight of each sample before and after the annealing process to determine the reason for theabsence of oxygen and organic constituents in the annealed particles. A decrease in weight ofapproximately 65% was confirmed. It is assumed that the organic constituents reacted with oxygen during
the annealing treatments and were released from the particles in the form of CO2.

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Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02002/1-6

Fig. 6 A photograph of the particles synthesized from the Ti-EDTA•NH4 complex (a) Before being
annealed, (b) after annealing at 400C, (c) after annealing at 500C, and (d) after annealing at 600C.

Fig. 7 SEM images of the particles synthesized from the Ti-EDTA•NH4 complex. (a) Before being
annealed (low magnification), (b) after annealing at 400C for 1 h (low magnification), (c) after annealing
at 500C for 1 h (low magnification), (d) after annealing at 600C for 1 h (low magnification), (e) before
annealing (high magnification), (f) after annealing at 400C for 1 h (high magnification), (g) after
annealing at 500C for 1 h (high magnification), and (h) after annealing at 600C for 1 h (highmagnification).
Figure 7 shows SEM images of the synthesized TiO2 particles before and after being annealed at
400–600C. It was confirmed that all the particles (i.e., both the unannealed and the particles annealed at
different temperatures) were porous in structure (Figs. 7(a)-(d)). In addition, nonspherical, agglomerated
secondary particles approximately 100 m in diameter were observed. These secondary particles werecomposed of primary spherical particles that were 100 nm–1 m in diameter (Figs. 7(e)-(h)). No facets ofthe crystalline planes were observed. These results indicated that the obtained particles werepolycrystalline in nature.
Figure 8 shows the XRD profiles of the synthesized TiO2 particles before and after annealing at
400–600C. The profiles were matched with the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD)
database. All profiles contained diffraction peaks characteristic of anatase TiO2 (ICDD Card No.
00-021-1272) and rutile TiO2 (ICDD Card No. 00-021-1276). The peaks at 2 = 27.4, 25.3, and 54.3°
were assigned to the diffractions from the (110), (211), and (102) planes of anatase TiO2 crystals,
respectively. The peak at 2 =36.0° was assigned to the diffraction from the (101) plane of rutile TiO2
crystals. The other diffraction could be assigned to diffractions from anatase and rutile TiO2 crystals. The
intensities of the diffraction peaks changed with an increase in the annealing temperature, suggesting thatthe dominant crystalline phases of the particles changed with the annealing temperature. Hence, we
performed a quantitative analysis of the obtained profiles to determine the weight ratios of the anataseand rutile phases in the synthesized particles. Table 1 shows the results of this quantitative analysis. The
weight ratio of the rutile phase in the TiO2 particles increased to 84.3% from 61.9%, while that of theanatase phase decreased to 15.7% from 38.1%. This suggests that metastable anatase TiO2 transformed
into stable rutile TiO2.
Figure 9 shows the FTIR spectra of the synthesized TiO2 particles before and after annealing at

4

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02002/1-6

400–600C. A small absorption peak was observed in the FTIR spectrum of the unannealed particles; thisindicates the existence of the carbon-hydrogen bonds (C–H (st.)) in the particles. Existence of the organic
constituent decreased owing to annealing. Thus, it was concluded that TiO2 particles were synthesizedfrom a Ti-EDTA•NH4 complex using the H2-O2 flame.

CH3 (st.)CH2 (st.)Absorbance （a. u.）

(a)
4000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

3500

3000

2500

2000

1500

1000

3000

2500

2000

1500

(b)
4000

(c)
4000

(d)

Fig. 8 XRD profiles of the synthesized metaloxide particles. (a) Before annealing, (b)after annealing at 400C, (c) after annealing
at 500C, and (d) after annealing at 600C.

4000

3500

4000

3500

3000 2500 2000 1500
Wavenumber （cm-1)

1000

1000

Fig. 9 FTIR spectra of the synthesized metal oxide
particles. (a) Before annealing, (b) after annealing
at 400C, (c) after annealing at 500C, and (d) after
annealing at 600C.

Table 1 Results of the quantitative analysis of the XRD profiles of the synthesized metal oxide particles.
Weight ratio of eachcrystalline phase (％)
Sample details

Anatase

RutileBeforeannealing
Annealed at
500℃ for 1 h
Annealed at
600℃ for 1 h

38.1

61.9

36.7

63.3

15.7

84.3

4. Conclusions
TiO2 particles with diameters on the micrometer scale were synthesized from a Ti-EDTA•NH4
complex with particles 50–200 m in size by H2–O2 flame generated using the commercial flame sprayapparatus. The synthesized TiO2 particles were subjected to annealing treatments and their structure was
elucidated. It was found that the particle characteristics of appearance, crystal structure, and organic
constituent changed owing to the annealing treatment. The unannealed particles, which were black incolor, progressively turned white after being annealed; however, their porosity remained unaffected. A
quantitative analysis of the XRD profiles of the particles revealed that weight ratio of the rutile phase of
the TiO2 particles increased to 84.3% from 61.9, while the anatase phase content ratio decreased to 15.7%
from 38.1%. Further, almost no organic components were present in the annealed TiO2. Thus,
anatase/rutile TiO2 particles were successfully synthesized from the Ti-EDTA•NH4 complex. The crystal
structure of the synthesized particles changed after the annealing treatment.

5

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References[1] N. Rajalakshmi, N. Lakshmi, and K.S. Dhathathreyan, Inter. J. Hydrogen Energ., 33 (2008) 7521.
[2] U.I. Gaya and A. H. Abdullah, J. Photochem. Photobiolo. C: Photochem. Rev., 9 (2008) 1.
[3] J. Y. Kim, S. H. Kim, H.-H. Lee, K. Lee, W. Ma, X. Gong, and A. J. Heeger, Adv. Mater., 18(2006) 572.
[4] M. D. Pickett, D. B. Strukov, J. L. Borghetti, J. J. Yang, G. S. Snider, D. R. Stewart, and R.
S.Williams, J. Appl. Phys., 106 (2009) 074508.
[5] G. A. Crawford, N. Chawla, and J. E. Houston, J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater., 2 (2009 ) 580.
[6] S. M. Gupta and M. Tripathi, Cent. Eur. J. Chem., 10 (2012) 279.
[7] H. B. Wu, H. H. Hng, and X. W. (David) Lou, Adv. Mater., 24 (2012) 2567.
[8] T. Nonoyama, T. Kinoshita, M. Higuchi, K. Nagata, M. Tanaka, K. Sato, and K. Kato, J. Am. Chem.
Soc., 134 (2012) 8841.
[9]

S. Tokita, N. Tanaka, S. Ohshio, and H. Saitoh, Jpn. J. Ceram. Soc., 111 (2003) 433.

[10] M. Landmann, E. Rauls, and W. G. Schmidt, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter., 24 (2012) 195503.
[11] L. Yue, W. H.-Qiang, and W. Z. -Biao, J. Env. Sci. 19 (2007) 1505.
[12] Y. Jian, P. Limei, X. Xiangxin,W. Mei, and Q. Tai, J. Rare Earths, 27 (2009) 2040.
[13] Y. Cui, J. Sun, Z. Hu, W. Yu, N. Xu, N. Xu, Z. Ying, and J, Wu, Surf. Coat. Tech., xxx (2012)xxx–xxx (In Press)[14] V. Swamy, L. S. Dubrovinsky, N. A. Dubrovinskaia, F. Langenhorst, A. S. Simionovici, M.
Drakopoulos, and V. Dmitriev, Hans-Peter Weber, Solid State Comm., 134 (2005) 541.
[15] H. Akasaka, M. Ohto, Y. Hasebe, A. Nakamura, S. Ohshio, and H. Saitoh, Surf. Coat. Tech.，205(2011) 3877.
[16] H. Saitoh, R. Satoh, A. Nakamura, N. Nambu, and S. Ohshio, J. Mater. Sci., 37 (2002) 4315.
[17] H. Saitoh, K. Kawahara, S. Ohshio, A. Nakamura, and N. Nambu, Sci. Tech. Adv. Mater., 6 (2005)
205.
[18] K. Komatsu, T. Shirai, A. Nakamura, A. Kato, S. Ohshio, N. Nambu, I. Toda, H. Muramatsu, and
H. Saitoh, Ceram. Inter., 39 (2013) 7115.
[19] Y. Lu, Mi. Hirohashi, and K. Sato, Mater. Tran., 47 (2006) 1449.
(Received: 27 June, 2013, Accepted: 24 October, 2013)6

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02003/1-8

Effect of Overlapped Clearance on Out-of-plane Cutting
Characteristics of White-Coated Paperboard
Subjected to Straight Punch/Die Shearing

1)

Pusit Mitsomwang1, Shigeru Nagasawa1,*
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology,1603-1 Kamitomioka, Nagaoka 940-2188, Japan*E-mail: snaga@mech.nagaokaut.ac.jp

This paper describes out-of-plane cutting characteristics of a 0.43 mm
thickness white-coated paperboard subjected to a straight punch/die shearing
apparatus under overlaping/negative clearance condition. A Load cell and a
CCD camera were installed in the cutting system to observe the cutting load
resistance and the side-view deformation of the white-coated paperboard.
Through the experiment, it was revealed that (i) the use of negative clearance
resulted in the higher maximum cutting resistance, compared to aconventional positive clearance; (ii) separation/breaking of the paperboard in
the case of negative clearance occured at a shallower indentation depth thanthat of the positive clearance; (iii) the probability of whisker-like dust
occurence at the sheared edge of the worksheet as well as the length of thegenerated dust were reduced by using the negative clearance. (iv) At thesheared zone, the use of the negative clearance resulted in suppression of anin-plane tensile state of stress. This suppression seems to prevent thegeneration of long whisker-like dust.

1. Introduction
Coated paperboard is considered to be a fundamental material for the packaging industry due toits advantages such as high strength-to-weight ratio, surface smoothness, cost-effectiveness,
recyclability and so on. The manufacture of coated paperboard is generally started from converting
timber to fibers by a crushing process. These fibers are mixed with water, and some additives are
sometimes added to improve the strength and/or decrease the absorbance of the paperboard. Then,the mixture is pumped onto wires to form a paperboard web. At this stage, bonding between thefibers occurs. After this, the water content of the paperboard web is gradually reduced by drying
processes. The dried paperboard is then subjected to a calendering process to improve surface
flatness. Finally, the surface of the paperboard is coated with some chemicals such as clay. Throughthe coating, features such as smoothness of the surface, final printing quality of the paperboard, etc.
are improved [1].
To convert coated paperboard to packaging, either a flat bed die cutting system or a rotary cutter
is employed. Since the coated paperboard is a fibrous-laminated material, to produce a clean/smart
finish on the cut edge of the coated paperboard is more difficult than in the case of several kinds ofmetallic and polymer materials. Some examples of the difficulties include delamination of
paperboard, dust generation, imperfect edge cut, etc. In the present, there are some researches
concerned with the converting processes of paperboard. Nagasawa, S. et al. studied about cutting
problems of a paperboard subjected to a wedge indentation. Through a blade tip thickness variation
ranging from 30160 µm, it was found that the probability of thread-dross occurrence and also thewidth of the thread dross were dramatically increased when increasing the tip thickness of the blade[2]. Apart from the wedge indentation, cutting characteristics of a coated paperboard subjected topunch/die shearing were investigated. It was reported that the cut edge of the paperboard wasdeteriorated under a too large punch/die clearance [3]. Moreover, there was a technical reportconcerning the effect of moisture content of paperboard on dust generation in the cutting process.
Too low a moisture content caused the coated paperboard to be too fragile. As a result, the dust1

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02003/1-8

tended to be generated easily [1]. Regarding the problem of dust generation, the development of asmart cutting technique/method seems to be a big challenge that packaging engineers are facing.
Punch/die shearing under overlapping/negative clearance condition has been applied andinvestigated as a cutting process for some metallic and resin materials. Through this clearance
condition, a high compressive pressure is supposed to be applied to the material located between thepunch and die [4]. By using this clearance, the quality of the cut edge in terms of smoothness,flatness and size of roll-over zone were found to be improved [5-6].
For cutting off paperboard, the shearing under negative clearance seems to also be an attractive
cutting method. Even though this clearance condition is sometimes applied in rotary cutting systems
for converting paperboard into a blank form, effects of the negative clearance on cutting
characteristics including generation of dust seem to have never been investigated and clarified.
Therefore, in this study, a white-coated paperboard was subjected to a straight punch/dieshearing set. Two cases of negative punch/die clearance were chosen for cutting off the worksheet.
Cutting characteristics of the worksheet were investigated, and compared with experimental results
carried out using a conventional positive clearance.
2. Material and Apparatus
A white-coated paperboard which had a thickness of 0.43 mm was chosen for the experimental
investigation. The basic weight of the white-coated paperboard was 350 gm-2. The specimen was
prepared to have a length lP and a width wP of 70 and 20 mm, respectively. The relationships
between stress-strain in the machining (M.D.) and cross (C.D.) directions of the white-coatedpaperboard are illustrated in Fig. 1. These relationships were tested by an uni-axial tensile test basedon the JIS-P8113 standard.
To cut off the worksheet, the straight punch/die shearing apparatus shown in Fig. 2 was used.
This punch/die set consisted of a main punch, dies, strippers and counter punch. The main punch anddies were made from cold-work tool steel (JIS-SKD11) which had a hardness of 58~60 HRC. Table
1 lists the surface roughness of each tool component. These values of surface roughness were
measured using a three dimensional laser scanning microscope. During shearing, the main punch
was moved downward into the die cavity using the pushing force from the movable cylinder of apress machine. The movement of the counter punch and strippers was controlled by their attachedbacking springs. For the strippers, the stiffness of the backing springs was 4.5 Nmm-1, while it was
5.0 Nmm-1 for the counter punch’s backing spring. In the cutting system, a load cell (Capacity: 20kN) and a high speed camera were installed in order to investigate the load resistance F andside-view deformation of the worksheet during shearing.
Feed
direction

True stress  / MPa

50.0
40.0
30.0

Tensile strength(M.D.)

Load cell

Tensile strength(C.D.)

SpringSpringPaper- Stripper
board

20.0
10.0

MoveablecylinderBreaking strain(M.D.) and (C.D.)

Die

0.0
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
True strain 

Main
punch

Counterpunch

Stripper Coating
layer

Die
SpringFig. 1 Stress-strain relationships of whitecoated paperboard

Fig. 2 Schematic of punch/die set

In the experimental investigation, the feed velocity of the upper punch V was fixed to be 0.05mms-1. The cutting line/direction was chosen to be perpendicular to the machining direction of thepaperboard. Negative punch/die clearance c/tS was varied as -0.105 and -0.35. In addition, toinvestigate the difference of cutting characteristics between the negative and conventional/positive2Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02003/1-8

clearance, the positive clearance c/tS = 0.035 was also investigated. The definition of the negativeand positive clearances is shown in Fig. 3. The number of testing specimens was 10 pieces for eachclearance case. The cutting experiment was carried out in a temperature and relative humidity
controlled room. The temperature and relative humidity were controlled as 231 C and 501 %,respectively. The paperboard specimens were also kept in the room for approximately 24 hours
before the experiment.
Table 1 Surface roughness of tool component
Tool component

Surface roughness Ra of average(min. - max.) / µm

Main punch

0.46 (0.43 - 0.49)

Die

0.61 (0.60 - 0.63)

Stripper0.50 (0.48 - 0.52)

Counter punch

0.53 (0.48 - 0.61)

Feed
direction

Feeddirection

Punch

Punch
tS

Worksheet
-c

c

Die
(a) Negative clearanceStandard : Based on the JIS-B0601:2001tS

Worksheet
Die(b) Positive clearance

Fig. 3 Definition of clearances

3. Results and Discussions
3.1 Cutting Load Resistance and Deformation Characteristic of Worksheet
Fig. 4 shows the relationship between cutting line force f (f = F/(2wS)) and normalizedindentation depth d/tS. Since there was a slight fluctuation (dispersion) in the cutting line force,
upper and lower bounds of the cutting line force for each clearance case were plotted. In thisrelationship, d/tS was defined to be zero at the position where the lower surface of the main punch
touched the coated surface of the paperboard.

40
c/t
15micron_Up
0.035, L.B.
S = 0.035, U.B. 15micron_Low

Cutting line force f / kNm-1

35

fPeak (c/tS = -0.105)-0.035 L.B.
c/t
-15micron_Up
S = -0.035 U.B. -15micron_Low
c/t
L.B.
-45micron_Up-45micron_Low
S = -0.105 U.B. -0.105

30
25
20
15
10

dBreak/tS (c/tS= -0.105)
dPeak/tS (c/tS = -0.105)

5
0
0.0

0.1

0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
Normalized indentation depth d/tS

0.9

1.0

Fig. 4 Relationship between cutting line force and indentation depth for c/tS
From this figure, the following features of the cutting line force were revealed: (i) for the shallow
indentation depth, 0 < d/tS  0.2, the tendency of the cutting line force for all of the clearance cases
was rather the same, and it seemed to be not affected by the punch/die clearance. (ii) For 0.2 < d/tS <dPeak/tS, the increase of the cutting line force from d/tS  0.2 to the peak point of cutting line force
fPeak in the case of largest negative clearance c/tS = -0.105 was the most rapid. When the positive
clearance c/tS = 0.035 was used, the increase of the cutting line force was slower than that of thecases of negative clearance c/tS = -0.105 and -0.035. (iii) Considering the peak point of the cutting
line force fPeak, it was significantly increased when increasing the negative clearance from c/tS =3

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02003/1-8-0.035 to -0.105. For the case of positive clearance c/tS = 0.035, fPeak was lower than that of thenegative clearance c/tS = -0.035. Regarding the peak position of the cutting line force dPeak/tS, it wasalso affected by the punch/die clearance. Namely, dPeak/tS occurred at the shallowest indentation
depth (dPeak/tS  0.66) in the case of c/tS = -0.105, and it occurred at dPeak/tS  0.68 and 0.70 in thecases of c/tS = -0.035 and 0.035, respectively. (iv) The breaking position of the worksheet dBreak/tS
was significantly affected by the punch/die clearance. It occurred at d/tS  0.68 and 0.69 in the casesof c/tS = -0.105 and -0.035, respectively, while this breaking position was postponed to d/tS  0.72
when the positive clearance c/tS = 0.035 was used.
Fig. 5 illustrates the representative side-view photographs of the worksheet at the indentation
depth d/tS  0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 0.9 ~ 1.0. From this figure, for d/tS  0.25 and 0.5, the deformation of
the worksheet was rather similar in all of the clearance cases. Namely, the roll-over (wearing) state
was observed on the upper and lower surfaces of the worksheet, as drawn as dashed-yellow cures.
When the indentation depth was reached the breaking position of the worksheet, d/tS  0.68 ~
0.72, the videos recorded by the high speed camera revealed that the deformation of the worksheet at
this final breaking state was different when the punch/die configuration was changed. This
deformation will be described later.
After the separation state of the worksheet, at the indentation depth d/tS  0.75 in the case of
positive clearance c/tS = 0.035, the edges of the outer and inner portions of the worksheet came into
contact with the side edges of the punch and die, respectively. But, in the cases of negative clearance
c/tS = -0.105 and -0.035, both of the outer and inner portions appeared to be detached from the sideedges of the tools. At the deep indentation range d/tS  0.9 ~ 1, the deformation characteristics of theworksheet with respect to the clearance were quite similar to those observed at d/tS  0.75.
d/tS  0.25
Punch
Roll-overzone

d/tS  0.25

d/tS  0.25

d/tS  0.50

d/tS  0.50

d/tS  0.75

d/tS  0.75

Edge ofinner port.

Edge ofouter port. Edge of
inner port.

Roll-overzone

Died/tS  0.50
Roll-overzone

Roll-overzone

d/tS  0.75
Edge ofouter port.
Edge ofinner port.
d/tS  0.90
Side edgeof punch

Edge ofouter port.

Outerdetached
gap

d/tS  1.0

Inner
gap

Side edgeof die(a) c/tS = -0.105

d/tS  0.90(b) c/tS = -0.035(c) c/tS = 0.035
0.5 mmFig. 5 Representative side-view deformation of white-coated paperboard for c/tS
In order to describe the deformation of the paperboard at the final breaking state in each of theclearance cases, the material/fiber flow at the shearing zone was analyzed using an image-based
binary process. At each interesting indentation depth, a reference photograph was taken. Also,
another photograph taken at a deeper indentation depth of +18 µm were prepared and processedusing the LABVIEW version 2011. Fig. 6 shows the binary-stated deformation of the worksheet at
d/tS  0.25, breaking position and 0.75 for all of the clearance cases. As shown in this figure, theblack-gray zone represents the area where the material/fiber is flowed under a high velocity state. On

4Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02003/1-8

the other hand, a lower-velocity flow of the material or a dead zone is represented by the plain-grayzone.
At the shallow indentation depth, d/tS  0.25, the dead state indicated by the plain-gray zone wasobserved at the center shearing zone in the case of the largest negative clearance c/ts = -0.105. At thissame state, a slight flow state of the material was observed at the center shearing zone in the case of
c/ts = -0.035 and 0.035.
Through the investigation of the recorded video and the binary-stated analysis result at the
breaking state of the paperboard, the final breaking behavior of the worksheet appeared to be
characterized by the punch/die configuration. In the case of positive clearance, at this final breaking
state, the outer and inner portions of the worksheet were separated. However, many uncut fibers of
the paperboard that were pulled from these portions by the downward movement of the main punch
were detected. This pulling is represented by the high-velocity-flow zone shown in Fig. 6 (c) at
breaking position. On the other hand, in the cases of negative clearance (Fig. 6 (a) and (b) at
breaking position), the paperboard tended to be completely cut without any threads due to the pulling
phenomenon.
After the final breaking position, as shown in Fig. 6 (a) ~ (c) at d/tS  0.75, the movement of theouter portion from the center of the shearing zone was observed in the case of the negative clearance,
while the outer portion seemed to be stationary when the positive clearance was used.
In order to further explain and discuss about the cutting mechanisms of the paperboard undersuch clearances, the conceptual schematics were introduced as shown in Fig. 7.

d/tS 
0.25
Dead
state

d/tS 
0.25

Punch

Die

Paperboard

At
break

VPos InnerportionDie
Bending
moment

At
break

Punch
Paperboard

d/tS  0.50
Punch

VPos
d/tS 
0.75

d/tS  0.25

d/tS  0.50
Paperboard
Die

No detachedgapd/t  0.75

Detached
gap

S

flow

flow

(a) c/tS = -0.105(b) c/tS = -0.035

Dead
state
(c) c/tS = 0.035

Punch

Paperboard

VPos

Fig. 6 Binary-stated value of material flow forof worksheet for c/tS

VNeg

Die

Die
d/tS 
0.75

d/tS 
0.75

Outer
portionHigh vel.
flow

Flow
suppression

Flowsuppression

d/tS 
0.25
flow

flow

At
break

d/tS  0.25
Punch

Die

(a) Positive clearance

Die

Punch
High.
pressure
state

d/tS  0.75
Punch

VNeg

(b) Negative clearance

Fig. 7 Conceptual schematic of material
flow behavior for positive and negative
clearancesFirst, considering the positive clearance case illustrated in Fig. 7 (a), the material volume VPos islaid in the punch/die clearance. When the main punch reaches a certain depth such as d/tS  0.5, thevolume V(pos) tends to flow towards the left-lower direction. At this indentation state, an in-planetensile state caused by the bending moment at the shearing zone is introduced in the outer and inner
portions. And, since these portions are not strongly clamped by the stripper and the counter punch,
the in-plane tensile state seems to contribute to the fiber debonding and fiber pulling phenomena.
After that, although the main punch is pushed downward to a deep indentation depth, such pulled
fibers could not be cut off. Consequently, they become the threads adhered at sheared edges. The
investigation results of the generated thread are shown and explained in section 3.2.
Next, in the case of the negative clearance configuration shown in Fig.7 (b), since the bending
moment at the shearing zone is not occurred or it is remarkably suppressed due to the existence ofthe compressed volume VNeg (as shown in Fig. 7 (b) at d/tS  0.5), the in-plane tensile state of stress5

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02003/1-8

is not introduced in the outer and inner portions. As a result, the debonding and the pulling
phenomena of fibers tend to be suppressed. In other words, the paperboard is cut off by out-of-plane
shearing stress.
In the negative clearance case, after the worksheet is separated, the high pressure state of thecompressed VNeg seems to result in the rejection of the outer and inner portions out of the center
shearing zone. This is confirmed by the occurrence of the detached gaps. However, as shown in Fig.
7 (a) and (b) for d/tS  0.75, since the inner portion of the worksheet was restricted by the die cavity,
the outer detached gap appeared to be larger than that of the inner gap.
3.2 Investigation of Dust Generation
After shearing, the generation of dust on the cut worksheet was investigated. The investigation
was performed from the top-view at the three positions (investigation area A, B and C) along thesheared edge as shown in Fig. 8. Here, the left portion of the worksheet was chosen. Fig. 9 shows
the representative photographs taken at the area A, B and C for c/tS = -0.105, -0.035 and 0.035. As
shown in this figure, a lot of threads were observed at the sheared edge in the case of positive
clearance c/tS = 0.035. Based on the physical feature of the threads, in this investigation, they arereferred to as “whisker-like dust”. By using the negative clearances c/tS = -0.105 and -0.035, thewhisker-like dust was almost not observed.
Investigation
Central portion
area A
Left portion
20
mm

B

Paperboard
M.D.

Shearededge

Right portion

C

Fig. 8 Investigation areas along sheared edge of worksheet

Cut edge
White-coated side

Cut edge
M.D.
Area B

Area BCut edge
White-coated side(a) c/tS=-0.105

Whisker-like dust
M.D.
Whisker-like Area B
dust

M.D.

M.D.
Area CArea CCut edge
White-coated side

Area A

Area A

Area A

Whisker-like Area C
dust

M.D.

M.D.
(b) c/tS=-0.035(c) c/tS=0.035

1 mm

Fig. 9 Representative top-view photograph of cut worksheet
Moreover, from the dust observed at the sheared edge of the cut worksheet, the probability of thedust occurrence was investigated. Fig. 10 shows the relationship between probability of thewhisker-like dust occurrence and the punch/die clearance at each investigated area. In the case of
positive clearance, the dust was observed in all of the specimens and investigation areas (pO = 100%),

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while pO was remarkably reduced to pO = 10 ~ 30% in the cases of negative clearance c/tS = -0.105
and -0.035.
Fig. 11 shows the relationship between averaged length of the whisker-like dust and c/tS. Here,the measurement was performed on the dust which was attached at the cut edge of the left portion of
the sheared worksheet using an image analyzer installed in a digital microscope. As shown in thisfigure, the whisker-like dust generated in the case of the positive clearance was significantly longer
than that of the cases of negative clearance.

100

Area A
Area C

1200

Area B

1000

Length of dust lD / µm

Probability of dust occurence pO / %

120

80
60
40
20

800
600
400
200

0
-0.105-0.035Clearance ratio c/tS

0-0.14 -0.105 -0.07 -0.035
00.035
Clearance ratio c/tS

0.035

0.07

Fig. 11 Averaged length of dust for c/tS
(No. of specimens: 20 pieces)

Fig. 10 Probability of dust occurrence for c/tS
(No. of specimens: 30 pieces)

Whiskerlike dustwD =13.5 mwD =20.7 mwD =32.4 m

M.D.

Cut edge
Coated side
100 µmFig. 12 Representative zoomed-up photograph of sheared edge in case of positive
clearance (at left portion of worksheet)
For the further investigation of the generated dust, the zoomed-up photographs taken at thesheared edge of the cut worksheet were prepared and used for measuring dust width. Here, theinvestigation was done on the generated whisker-like dust in the case of positive clearance. Fig. 12shows the representative zoomed-up photographs of the dust. From the width-measurement result,
the width of the whisker-like dust wD was 17.39 µm in average.
Comparing the whisker-like dust in the current experiment with the dust observed in the previous
study of the paperboard wedge indentation (the width of the thread-like dust  50~150 µm) [2], it
was revealed that their dimensions and geometry were totally different. Also, their generation
mechanisms seem to be completely different.
From the results of the probability of the dust occurrence and the length of the dust, it was
confirmed that the application of the negative clearance was superior for shearing the white-coatedpaperboard. By using such clearances, not only the probability of the whisker-like dust occurrence7Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02003/1-8

was reduced, but also the generation of the long whisker-like dust was suppressed.
4. Conclusions
In this study, the cutting characteristics of white-coated paperboard subjected to a straightpunch/die shearing under a negative/overlapping clearance condition was carried out andinvestigated. Through the experimental investigation, the following conclusions were obtained:(i) Comparing the case of negative clearance with the positive case, the use of the negative
clearance resulted in the higher peak point of the cutting line force, and this peak point appeared tooccur at the shallower indentation depth. Moreover, the breaking/separation of the paperboard in thecase of negative clearance was found to happen at a shallower indentation depth than that of thepositive clearance.
(ii) The material flow behavior at the sheared zone in the negative and positive clearance wasfound to be different. In the case of negative clearance, the material flow in the lateral direction at
the sheared zone was suppressed, while it apparently occurred in the case of positive clearance.
(iii) The material flow behavior appeared to be strongly related to the generation of thewhisker-like dust at the sheared edge of the worksheet. The suppression of the material flow in thecase of negative clearance seemed to prevent the generation of the whisker-like dust.
(iv) The shearing under the negative clearance was confirmed to be superior for shearing thewhite-coated paperboard. It reduced the probability of the whisker-like dust occurrence andprevented the generation of long dust at the sheared edge of the worksheet.
References[1] Ahokas, P. Paperboard Guide (issued by the Stora Enso corp.).
[2] S. Nagasawa, et al., SOSEI-TO-KAKOU., 43-498 (2002).
[3] S. Nagasawa, et al., International Journal of Mechanical Sciences., 52 (2010).
[4] K. Kasuyoshi, United States Patent 3724305., (1970)[5] W.F. Fan, and J.H. Lie, Material Science and Engineering A ., A499 (2009).
[6] P. Mitsomwang, et al., Proceeding of the JSTP spring conf., (2012).
(Received: 2 July, 2013, Accepted: 20 December, 2013)8

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02004/1-7

Evaluation of relationship between radius of curvature at vertex of
3D bonded structure and intensity of stress singularity
based on stress analysis using element free Galerkin method
1)

Takahiko Kurahashi1*, Yasuyuki Tsukada2, Hideo Koguchi2
Department of Materials Science and Technology, Nagaoka University of Technology,2)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology,1603-1 Kamitomioka-cho, Nagaoka 940-2188, Japan*E-mail: kurahashi@nagaoka-ct.ac.jp
In this report, we investigate variation of stress distribution and intensityof stress singularity near the cross point of inclusion and free surface
based on 3D element free Galerkin method (EFGM). We especially focus
on influence of radius of curvature at vertex for stress singularity field. As
for computational model, silicon and resin bonded structure is employed.

1. Introduction
Intensity of stress singularity near interface edge for bonded structures is investigated by a lot of
researchers [1], [2]. Variation of intensity of stress singularity with respect to thickness of adhesive
layer, interface width, slanted side surface have already investigated. As for the computational
methods, the boundary element method (BEM) and the finite element method (FEM) are frequently
used to compute stress distribution. In addition, the element free Galerkin method (EFGM) is also
recently employed for stress analysis[3]. In this study, the EFGM is employed in stress analysis forbonded structures. In addition, eigen analysis based on the FEM is carried out to obtain order ofstress singularity[4]. As the computational model, a structure made by resin with silicon plateinclusion is employed. We especially focus on influence of radius of curvature at vertex for stresssingularity field in this study(See Fig.1).

Photo of Bonded structure modelwith radius of curvature at vertex of inclusion

Resin

Resin

SiliconSiliconTarget modelFig. 1 Image diagram of target model

2. Stress analysis by the EFGM and analysis of order of singularity by the FEM
The characteristics of the EFGM is that the interpolation function at evaluation point is given by
the information in the domain influence (See Fig 2.). Example of the interpolation function is written
as Eq. (1).

1Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02004/1-7

u x   q1 x u1  q 2 x u 2  q3 x u 3    q n x u n  q x  u ,

(1)

T

where
indicates shape function, andindicates number of referred nodes in the domain
influence. In addition, forth order spline function is employed as the weighting function in the
EFGM. Procedure of discretization is same as the traditional FEM. Detail of discretization is shownin reference [3].

Fig. 2 Domain influence
In addition, if the order of singularity is expressed by  , the stress distribution is written as

 ij  1 / r   1 / r 1 p  r p 1 . Here, p indicates characteristic root. Because the stress is expressed as
gradient of the displacements ui , the relationship the displacements and distance r is given ui  r p
by

the integration of  ij  r p 1 . If displacements for each element are expressed by interpolation

function shown in Eq. (2) and the interpolation function is substituted to equation of the principle ofvirtual work, a characteristic equation is finally derived as shown in Eq. (3).
 r 
u r r , ,    0 
r 

p

8

h u ,(2)

 p A  pB  Cx  0 ,

(3)

i

ri

i 1

2

where ui is expressed by u i  u o , and ui and u o represent spherical displacements at an arbitrary
point in the spherical surface. In addition, hi indicates the shape function. In the Eq. (3), p

indicates characteristic root and vector x denotes superposed displacement vector in entire

domain, and matrices A  , B and C represent the coefficient matrices derived by finite

element procedure. Detail of this formulation is shown in reference [4].

3. Numerical experiments
3.1 Variation of intensity of stress singularity K1φφ with respect to radius of curvature R
In this study, a structure made by resin with silicon plate inclusion shown in Fig.3 is employed asa numerical model. Nodal distribution around target area and material properties are shown in Fig.4

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and Tab.1. In case of computational model of R=0, order of stress singularity λ at vertex on siliconsurface is obtained as 0.436. In this study, the radius of curvature R at vertex of silicon plate ischanged as shown in Tab.2.
In case that tensile stress, 10MPa, is applied to top surface, stress distribution σφφ on surface insilicon plate with respect to angle φ is shown in Fig.5. It is seen that gradient of stress distribution
σφφ is almost same for each angle φ. Next, comparison of stress distribution σφφ on silicon surface atangle direction φ=315° is carried out. The result is shown in Fig.6. It is found that stress value
decreases with increasing the radius of curvature R, and constant stress region of σφφ near point O,
i.e., stress singularity disappearance region, increases with increasing the radius of curvature R.
Furthermore, it is seen that gradient of stress distribution changes at the point distance r fromsingularity point O is approximately equal to the radius of curvature R at vertex. In addition,
relationship between intensity of stress singularity K1φφ and radius of curvature R is shown in Fig.7.
The intensity of stress singularity K1φφ can be obtained by least square approximation for results
shown in Fig.6 by fitting equation σφφ= K1φφr－0.436. From this result, it is found that intensity ofstress singularity K1φφ almost linearly decreases with increasing the radius of curvature R.
10MPa
0.6mm
Resin
Target area
6mm

1.2mm
Silicon plate

0.6mm
4mm

Fig. 3 Computational model

φ
O

R
r

Fig. 4 Nodal distribution in target area

Table 1 Material properties3

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02004/1-7

SiliconResin

Young’s modulus (GPa)

166

5.49

Poisson’s ratio

0.26

0.32

Table 2 Computational conditions
Radius of curvature R (μm)

0.000

3.125

6.250

12.500

Number of nodes

27,607

15,467

16,423

21,727

Fig. 5 Variation of stress distribution σφφ on silicon surface
with respect to angle φ (R=0mm)

4Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02004/1-7

Fig. 6 Variation of stress distribution σφφ on silicon surface at angle direction φ =315°
with respect to radius of curvature R

Fig. 7 Relationship between intensity of stress singularity K1φφand radius of curvature R

3.2Variation of intensity of stress singularity K1φφ with respect to Young’s modulus of resin
It is known that the variation of Young’s modulus of resin E2 with respect to temperature is larger
than that of Young’s modulus of silicon E1. It appears that intensity of stress singularity K1φφ changes
by Young’s modulus of resin E2 in state of temperature variation. Therefore, in case of computationalmodel, R=3.125μm, relationship between intensity of stress singularity K1φφ and Young’s modulus ofresin E2 is investigated. First of all, order of singularity λ is listed in Tab.3. It is seen that order ofsingularity λ gradually decreases with increasing Young’s modulus of resin E2. Fig.8 shows variationof stress distribution σφφ on silicon surface at angle direction, φ =315°, with respect to each Young’s

5

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modulus of resin E2. It is found that value of stress σφφ decreases with increasing Young’s modulus ofresin E2. In addition, variation of intensity of stress singularity K1φφ with respect to Young’s modulusof resin E2 is shown in Tab.4. It is seen that intensity of stress singularity K1φφ decreases withincreasing Young’s modulus of resin E2.
Table 3 Order of singularity λ (In case of R=0 model)
Young’s modulus of resin
E2 (GPa)
Order of singularity λ

0.10

0.50

1.00

5.49

10.00

0.545

0.437

0.429

0.436

0.384

Fig. 8 Variation of stress distribution σφφ on silicon surface at angle direction φ =315°
with respect to Young’s modulus of resin
Table 4 Variation of intensity of stress singularity K1φφwith respect to Young’s modulus of resin E2 (In case of R=3.125μm model)
Young’s modulusof resin E2 (GPa)Intensity of stresssingularity K1φφ

0.10

0.50

1.00

5.49

10.00

42.5×107
Pa・mm0.545

27.0×107
Pa・mm0.437

23.3×107
Pa・mm0.429

13.3×107
Pa・mm0.436

9.8×107
Pa・mm0.384

6Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02004/1-7

4. Conclusions
In this study, we investigated about the relationship between intensity of singularity K1θθ andradius of curvature R for computational model of a structure made by resin with silicon plateinclusion. As numerical methods, the EFGM is applied to stress analysis, and the finite element
eigen analysis is applied to obtain order of singularity at vertex on silicon surface. Conclusions inthis study are shown below.
Examinations for change of radius of curvature around singularity point
・ Stress value σφφ decreases with increasing the radius of curvature R.
・ Constant stress region of σφφ near point O, i.e., stress singularity disappearance region, increases
with increasing the radius of curvature R.
・ Intensity of stress singularity K1φφ almost linearly decreases with increasing the radius ofcurvature R.
Examinations for change of Young’s modulus of resin in case of R=3.125μm model
・ Value of stress σφφ decreases with increasing Young’s modulus of resin E2.
・ Intensity of stress singularity K1φφ decreases with increasing Young’s modulus of resin E2.
Conventionally, the stress value at vertex on interface of bonded structure had been treated as
infinity. But, in this study, it was found that the stress value at vertex converges to unique value incase that there is curvature at vertex on interface of bonded structure. In addition, it was found that
gradient of stress distribution changes at the point distance r from singularity point O isapproximately equal to the radius of curvature R at vertex. Therefore, if the relationship between theradius of curvature R at vertex and convergence value of stress value σφφ at r=0 can be obtained bynumerical experiments for a lot of computational models with micro scale curvature at vertex, it
appears that stress value σφφ at r=0 can be estimated for the bonded structure model with micro scalecurvature at vertex.
In addition, evaluation of stress component in silicon region was carried out. To evaluate
strength on interface of silicon and resin joint model, it is also necessary to obtain stress distribution
in resin region. However, there is a case that stress distribution in resin can’t be appropriately
obtained, if nodes in resin region are not enough. In this study, width of nodal distribution was set
almost same around singular point in silicon and resin regions, and stress singularity analysis was
carried out, because the main objective in this study was to evaluate stress singularity in 3D bonded
structure model considering radius of curvature at vertex of silicon. Therefore, in future, it isnecessary to investigate stress distribution in resin, and to evaluate strength on interface aroundvertex in the target model considering radius of curvature at vertex of silicon.
References[1] T. Kurahashi, A. Ishikawa and H. Koguchi, Evaluation of Intensity of Stress Singularity for 3D
Dissimilar Material Joints Based on Mesh Free Method, 11th International Conference on the
Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Procedia Engineering, 10, (2011) 3095-3100 .
[2] Hideo Koguchi, Kazuhisa Hoshi, Evaluation of joining strength of silicon-resin interface at avertex in 3D joint structures, InterPACK2011, (2011).
[3] T.Belytschko, Y.Y.Lu and L.Gu, Element-free Garerkin methods, Int. J. Numer. Meth. Engrg.,
37(5), (1994) 229-256.
[4] S.S.Pageau and S.B.Bigger,JR, Finite element evaluation of free - edge singular stress fields inanisotropic materials, Int.J.Numer.in Engng., 38, (1995) 2225-2239.
(Received: 24 June, 2013, Accepted: 03 December, 2013)7

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Fluid Control MEMS Constructed with Functional Polymer Materials
Akira Kawai*
Department of Electrical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology,1603-1 Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan*E-mail:kawai@nagaokaut.ac.jp
This paper reviews shortly that a polymer material indicates higher durability
and resistance properties against to reactive gases, acid and alkaline
solutions. Fluid control MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems) withmicro diaphragm pumping system used for reactive gas control isconstructed. A resist film made of novolac resin as a diaphragm material isemployed. An Au/Si/resist multilayer structure as a diaphragm of 1mm
diameter is formed by optical lithography and anisotropic wet etching
techniques. A micro channel structure of 50m width is also fabricated by
employing a polymer thick film. The mechanical strength of a diaphragm istested by applying static load using a probe system. By applying 20V bias
between diaphragm and base electrodes, Coulomb attractive force acts tooperate the diaphragm motion. As the fluid flow control, a silane-coupling
vapor gas of HMDS (hexamethyldisilazane) is employed. A contact angle ofwater indicates hydrophobic of a glass substrate by HMDS vapor control
using the MEMS.

1. Introduction
Recently, micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) has been studied widely inmotion sensor, power harvesting and biomedical control.[1-3] Particularly, liquid-gas
interface control is one important technology in order to realize and advance thesefunctional devices. Moreover, it is required to prevent corrosion and deteriorate of device
elements by exposing to reactive gases and liquid solutions. In this regard, the author has
focused on durability and resistance of polymer materials under reaction with fluid
solutions. In this paper, a fluid control MEMS composed with micro pumps and channels
made of polymer materials are developed. The mechanical strength and durability ofpolymer film are evaluated by using a probe system.[4] By using the fluid control MEMS,
the silane-coupling gas flow of HMDS (hexamethyldisilazane) is controlled. By measuring
a contact angle of water droplet on a glass substrate, precise control of fluid flow using thefluid MEMS is confirmed.
2. Design and Operation of Diaphragm Pump
2.1 Diaphragm pump structure
A multilayer structure of Au/Si/resist multilayer is formed for an element of diaphragmpumping device. The Si micro diaphragm is formed by anisotropic wet etching.[5] The Au
film is used for an electrode for applying an electrical field between a diaphragm and abase electrode. A resist film of i-line novolac resin type is coated on a Si micro diaphragm.
The fluid pump system is composed with a diaphragm, a channel and an external control
unit. The diameter of diaphragm is designed to be 1mm. Figure 1 shows a schematic
diaphragm of Au/Si/resist multilayer. The thickness of this multilayer diaphragm is
0.05/50/5m. The width of micro channel is 50m. As shown in Fig.2, micro diaphragms
are arranged along with micro channel. By compressing a fluid in micro channel by thediaphragm in order, a certain fluid flow occurs. In this study, the twelve diaphragms arearranged and operated to control a reactive gas flow. Figure 3 shows a photograph of micro
diaphragm. The circular shape of Si diaphragm can be formed by the anisotropic wet
etching .[5] By setting a shift value on etching mask, various curved shape can be formed
on a Si(100) single crystal.

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Fig.1
Diaphragm structureof Au/Si /resist multilayer
film.

Fig.2
Fluid
flow
operation by compressionof diaphragms in orderunder Coulomb force.

1mm

Fig.3
A photograph of micro
diaphragm formed by anisotropic
wet etching.

2.2 Operation test of micro diaphragm
Figure 4 shows a deflection test of micro diaphragm by using a probe system. An
atomic force microscope system SPA-300 (Seiko Instrument Inc.) was used. By applying acertain load, the deflection rate of diaphragm can be determined. In the experiment, byapplying the constant load from 2 to 7mN, a slight deflection of diaphragm can bemonitored along with diameter direction. Figure 5 shows a slight deflection of diaphragm
under applying normal load. As increasing applying load, the deflection of diaphragmincreases. The deflection rate can be estimated to be 1000N/m, which is mostly same as aspring constant of the probe system.

Profile
meter

Load

Scanning

Diaphragm

2

Fig.4 Displacement test of micro
diaphragm by using probe system.
A certain load can be applied to adiaphragm along with a diameter
direction.

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Fig.5 Deflection of diaphragmalong with diameter direction
under various applying load.
By an inclination of probe
apex,
displacement
curve
becomes asymmetry.

3. Fabrication of Fluid Control MEMS
The fluid control MEMS is composed by micro diaphragm and micro channel. The
multilayer diaphragm structure is fabricated as shown in Fig.6.
(1) A SiO 2 layer is formed by thermal oxidation of Si(100) substrate at 960 degree C for 2hin air. The thickness of SiO 2 layer was 45nm.
(2) By optical lithography, a circular resist mask was formed on the SiO 2 film surface asshown in Fig.7. A certain value of size shift was applied in order to obtain circularshape.[5](3) The SiO 2 mask layer was etched in 0.5wt% HF aqueous solution.
(4) The resist layer was removed by immersing into acetone.
(5) The Si(100) substrate was etched in EPW etchant for anisotropic etching. The
diaphragm structure of 30m thickness was fabricated.
(6) The resist film of 4.2m thickness was coated by spin coating on the back side of Si
diaphragm. The baking temperature of resist film was 90 degree C for 2min. The Au filmof 50nm thickness was coated on the etched Si surface by DC sputtering method.
Figure 8 shows a flow-chart for micro channel fabrication. Micro channel was formed
on a glass substrate. As an electrode, an Au film was formed on the glass substrate. The
sputtering gas purity was Ar(99.999%). The ionic current and accelerating voltage was 1
kV. As the base and side layers of micro channel, SU-8 resist was employed by standard
process condition. The width and height of micro channel were 50 and 5 m. The Au
electrodes were connected to external electric lines.
As shown in Fig.9, the fabrication of the fluid control MEMS was completed byadhering the diaphragm system and micro channel system under heat treatment at 240
degree C. The alignment of these two systems was carried out under controlling
microscope. Figure 10 shows photographs of micro channels after adhering process. It isclearly observed that the alignment of channel and diaphragm is well -controlled. The
curved channel was formed smoothly by anisotropic wet etching technology. Figure 11
shows a photograph of fluid control MEMS after assembling on a package. By connecting
to external electric lines, control signal can be applied onto the pumping system.

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Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02005/1-8① Thermal oxidation

1mm

SiO 2 layer

Si wafer

Fig.7 Optical microscope image ofresist mask for circular diaphragm.

② Optical lithography
Resist mask

③ SiO 2 etching in HF aq. solution① Au spattering
HF
Spattered Au film

④ Resist film removal

Glass② Polymer coating

AcetonePolymer layer⑤ Anisotropic etching
EPW③ Resist patterning
Resist pattern⑥ Polymer coating

channelPolymer film

Fig.6 Process flow-chart of micro
diaphragm structure.

Fig.8 Process flow-chart of microchannel. An Au film was set at
opposite position of micro diaphragm.

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Resist film
SU-8 pattern

Polymer channel

500μ m

Fig.10 Photographs of microchannel aligned with diaphragm
center. The straight micro channel
is formed in order to connect the
micro diaphragms. The crossshape channel acts to mix andseparate two fluids.

Fluid control MEMS

Fig.9
Fabrication of Fluid control
MEMS. The registration of two layers is
controlled precisely.

Fig.11 Photograph of fluid
control MEMS after assembling.
A number of electric lines areused for applying electric field topumping system. Each electricline is connected to one
diaphragm electrode. The baseelectrode of micro channel is set
to ground level.

4. Operation of Fluid Control MEMS
Figure 12 shows a precise design of fluid control MEMS as shown in Fig.11. The inlet
and outlet for fluid are designed at the both sides of MEMS. The connecting electrodes forexternal electric source are formed at a side of each diaphragm.
Figure 13 shows an operation diagram for fluid flow. By operating a series ofdiaphragms in order, fluid can flow smoothly in one direction. By controlling an electricpulse signal, the diaphragms can be operated as previously programmed. Figure 14 showsa diaphragm motion estimation under applying electrostatic force. By applying cyclic
signals of 20V between two electrodes, a fluid can flow in micro channels smoothly. The
pumping frequency can be changed. By programming the signal period for diaphragms,
mixing and separation of two fluids can be controlled.

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Fig. 12 Total design of Fluid control MEMS

Fig. 13 Fluid flow control of MEMS by
operating a series of diaphragm in order.

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Fig. 14 Diaphragm deflection
under applying electrostaticforce. The electric voltage up
to 30V is applied between twoelectrodes.

Fig. 15 Slane-coupling reaction with
HMDS on SiO 2 surface.

.

Fig. 16 A schematic of HMDS vapor flow
control by using the MEMS.

In this paper, it is attempted to control HMDS vapor flow by using the fluid control MEMS.
As well-known, HMDS vapor is employed to control a surface wetting properties. Figure
15 shows a fundamental reaction of silane- coupling treatment on a SiO 2 surface. Figure 16
shows a schematic of fluid control MEMS structure. The HMDS vapor is introduced fromthe inlet position. By applying a programmed electric signal to each diaphragm, the HMDS
vapor can be introduced to outlet position of the MEMS.

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The contact angle method using pure water is sensitive to surface property changes such ashydrophilic and hydrophobic. As shown in Fig.16, the three positions of substrates at a
vicinity of the outlet are used for evaluating the HMDS treatment. The position 1 is an Au
electrode. The positions 2 and 3 are glass substrates. After flowing HMDS vapor by using
the fluid control MEMS, the contact angles of pure water were measured for 30 min.
Figure 17 shows the measurement results of contact angle at the test poi nts. At the position
1, it is clearly observed that the contact angle increases as the operating time increase s.
The degree of HMDS treatment at position1 is higher than those of positions 2 and 3.

Fig.17 Contact angle evaluation of sample surfaces after operating fluid control MEMS.
Moreover, on standby mode, the contact angles are lower than those under operation in all
positions. The sensitivity of contact angle method for surface wetting change is ext remely
high comparing with another analysis method. The monolayer change of sample surface
can be detected by using the contact angle method. Therefore, it is clearly confirmed thatthe reactive HMDS vapor flow can be controlled by using the fluid control MEMS.

5. Conclusions
The fluid control MEMS composed with diaphragm system and micro channel arefabricated. The resist materials are employed as the walls at which the reactive fluid iscontacting. The contact angle method is employed to evaluation of the HMDS treatment. It
is confirmed that the HMDS vapor flow can be controlled by using the MEMS.
Acknowledgements
The author appreciates to Mr. Takashi Yamaji for the helpful through the experiment.
This work was supported from the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Ministry of
Education, Science, Sports, Culture and Technology, Japan, and by Program for High Reliable
Materials Design and Manufacturing in Nagaoka University of Technology.
References[1] S. Hayamizu, K. Higashino, Sensors and Actuators, A 103 (2003) 83.
[2] O. C. Jeong, S. Konishi, Sensors and Actuators, A 135 (2007) 849.
[3] J. L. Charest, M. T. Eliason, Biomatrrials, 27 (2006) 2487.
[4] A. Kawai, Microelectronic engineering 83 (2006) 659.
[5] J. Miyazaki, A. Kawai, J. Photopolymer Science and Technology, 22(6) (2009) 731.
(Received: 5 July, 2013, Accepted: 18 October, 2013)8

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A SU-8 Photoresist Film as Electrical Stable Layer
in Liquid Environment
Yuta Noguchi, Akira Kawai
Department of Electrical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology,1603-1 Kamitomioka, Nagaoka 940-2188, Japan
E-mail: kawai@nagaokaut.ac.jp

This paper reviews shortly that evaluation of a SU-8 photoresist film
characteristic in terms of electrical stability as material of bio device.
Surface potential VSU-8 of a SU-8 film is measured and compared tobiopotential Vbio of plant leaf cells. Each potential is measured by making a
metallic electrode contact. In both measurements, maximum value isindicated at a moment of contact, and then potential value is decreased withincreasing measuring time. From quantitative analysis, factors of eachpotential, such as equilibrium, potential variation width and time constant are
estimated. Factors of surface potential of a SU-8 film are similar at every
point. However, there are widely varied in biopotential. As conclusion,
reproducibility of electrical characteristic of a SU-8 film surface is indicated.
We believe that stability of a SU-8 film exhibits promising characteristics fora bio device substance.

1. Introduction
Biocompatible materials have been investigated extensively in various bioscience andengineering fields. In particular, polymer materials, such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) andpolytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), have been yielded in practical applications, e.g., an artificial bloodvessel, a cell culture substratum [1,2]. With regard to biomaterial, it is critical to have no interaction
with a living tissue by contacting a biocompatible material. Interface characterization of abiomaterial has often discussed in terms of surface bonding state and protein adsorption capacity[3,4]. In this study, we focus on SU-8 photoresist which is epoxy-based negative photoresist as aninterface material. In general, a monomer of SU-8 photoresist has eight epoxy functionalities; highdegree of cross-linking after UV exposure can be obtained [5]. Therefore, a SU-8 film is stable interms of mechanical and chemical interaction. Moreover, SU-8 photoresist has recognized as a
candidate of biocompatible material by the Food and Drug Agency (FDA) of the United States [6].
In fact, a drug delivery MEMS (MicroElectroMechanical System) device, a microfluidic device anda probe for neuronal recording applications by SU-8 photoresist were reported [7-9].
The aim of this study is to evaluate electrical stability of a SU-8 photoresist film for bio device
surface. VSU-8 as a surface electrical potential of a SU-8 film and Vbio as biopotential of plant cells
are measured by using a pair of tungsten needles. Then, the potentials are fitted by an exponentialfunction model, and factors of potential (equilibrium value, time constant and potential variation
width) are determined quantitatively. As conclusion, reproducibility of electrical characteristic of a
SU-8 photoresist film surface is indicated. The SU-8 photoresist with surface electrical stability andmicromachining is applicable to the surface layer of bio devices.

2. Experiment
2.1 Sample preparation
A double SU-8 layer structure for experimental sample was prepared in order to form a flat andlow detect surfaces. Table 1 shows a sample fabrication process. First, a glass plate (Matsunami
Glass, S1111, 0.9mm thickness) was sawn by 26mm×26mm square. Then the glass was ultrasoniccleaned by dipping into acetone, ethanol and deionized water for 5min respectively. Then, SU-83005 photoresist liquid was dropped on the glass surface. The spin rate was ramped in two steps up

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to 3000 rpm. Prebaking was carried out for 10min at 95°C on a hotplate. The glass was cooled down
to room temperature after baking. Then, whole area of aSU-8 film was exposed to 365nm UV lightat 6.0mW/cm2 for 8s utilizing a UV spot light system (Yamashita denso, Hypercure-200). After the
exposure, a SU-8 film was cross-linked by performing a two-step post exposure bake (PEB) process
on a 65°C hot plate for 1min and for 4min at 95°C. A SU-8 film was soaked in SU-8 developer for
5min in similar to the standard SU-8 lithography process. After soaking, hardbaking was carried out
at 200°C for 10min. Then an upper SU-8 film was formed on the bottom SU-8 film with the sameprocedure parameters. Figure 1 shows a fabricated SU-8 film on a glass plate.
As shown in Fig.2a, pothos (Epipremnum aureum), a kind of foliage plants, was employed as aliving tissue because pothos is easy to daily cultivation. The pothos cells were prepared as follows: aleaf of pothos was cut then stored under ambient conditions for 1h before the measurement. Then, apiece (10mm×10mm) was clipped from the leaf, and peeled epidermis to expose mesophyll cells asshown in Fig.2b. Figure 2c shows an optical micrograph of pothos cells. It was observed that the sizeof one cell was 40 to 50m. The distance of tungsten electrodes was adjusted to be the size of 3cells
as shown in Fig.2d.
Table 1 SU-8 film fabrication process.

Fig.1 SU-8 film fabricated by lithography process.

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Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02006/1-6(a) A pothos leaf(b) Cell exposing method(c) Cell of a pothos leaf(d) Electrode needles

Fig.2 Plant sample preparation for this experiment and optical microscope images of pothos cells.
2.2 Potential measurement system
A potential measurement system is illustrated in Fig.3. In order to measure surface potential
VSU-8 of a SU-8 film and biopotential Vbio of pothos cells, we employed a pair of tungsten needle aselectric electrodes. Curvature radius of the needle is 20m which is smaller than a pothos cell size
(50m). VSU-8 or Vbio were defined as potential difference between the needles. Terminals of a digital
multimeter (KENWOOD DL-712, the input impedance is larger than 11M) were connected to theneedles.
A liquid drop of deionized water (below 0.06×10-4 S/cm) was put on the sample surface. The
electrodes were immersed in dropped deionized water for 60s and the potential difference between theneedles was set to zero by adjusting the contact area of the needle and water. Then the electrodes weremoved slowly to make a contact with a SU-8 film surface or pothos cells. The distances between two
tungsten electrodes were set at 409m for a SU-8 film or 100m for pothos cells. In order to monitor
the large variation of in initial stage, the measurement interval was adjusted to be 1s until 60s ofcontacting time. After 60s, the data were recorded in interval 10s. Three different positions, A, B and
C for a SU-8 film, a, b and c for pothos cells were selected.

Fig.3 Potential measurement system (cross-sectional view).

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3. Results and Discussion
3.1 Results of potential measurement
Figure 4 shows characteristic of surface potential VSU-8 on the measuring time of a SU-8 film.
Initial change of the potential from t=0s to 60s is expanded and shown in Fig.4b. At every measured
position (A, B, and C), VSU-8 indicates a maximum value just after making an electrode contact.
Then VSU-8 exponentially decreases with the measuring time. At last, the potential VSU-8 reaches tothe equilibrium value about +21mV at 300s.
Figure 5 shows characteristics of biopotential Vbio on the measuring time of pothos cells. Figure
5b shows initial change of Vbio from t=0s to 60s. We focus on that dynamic change of Vbio generates
during the measuring time of electrodes at position a for 6s and position c for 32s. Vbio reaches to theequilibrium value in exponential function as same as VSU-8. The equilibrium value is about -21mV at
300s.

(a) Time region: 0s to 300s(b) Time region: 0s to 60s (expansion)

Fig.4 Characteristics of surface potential VSU-8 on measuring time of a SU-8 film.

(a) Time region: 0s to 300s(b) Time region: 0s to 60s (expansion)

Fig.5 Characteristics of biopotential Vbio on contact time of 3-plant-cell.

4Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02006/1-6

Table 2 Potential change factors of VSU-8 and Vbio.

3.2 Quantification
In order to analyze quantitatively of VSU-8 and Vbio, we made a proposal by follow-approximatedmodel (1),

 t
 t
V (t )  Veq  ΔV exp    Veq  V0  Veq exp  
 
 

(1)

where Veq is equilibrium values at t=300s and V is difference between V0 at t=0s and Veq. The
symbol of  denotes the time constant. V and  can indicate stability of potential. Table 2
summarized these fitting parameters of VSU-8 and Vbio. In the following discussion, sign of factors
are neglected and just focused on absolute value.
In regard to equilibrium value Veq, Veq of each potential is determined around 20mV. This value
seems that related to zeta potential between probe needle and deionized water. V of surface
potential of a SU-8 film is mostly same among A, B and C. However, the potential range V of Vbio
indicates quite different among the measurement position a, b and c. The time constant  of VSU-8 is
42s on average from electrodes contact, on the other hand,  of Vbio is not same value at eachposition. With regard to non-reproducibility and dynamic potential change of biopotential, it seems
that signal transfer between plant cells is related. Ion concentration difference inside and outside of acell is one major factor of signal transfer [10,11].
As a result, reproducibility of electrical characteristic of a SU-8 photoresist film surface isindicated. The reproducibility can be thought of as one of surface stability.

4. Conclusion
In order to evaluate of electrical stability of a SU-8 photoresist film for bio device surface, wemeasure surface potential VSU-8 of a SU-8 film and compared to biopotential Vbio of plant leaf cells.
VSU-8 indicates exponential decreasing and gets at +21mV as equilibrium state. Contrariwise, inregard with Vbio, dynamic change is observed in initial region of the measurement. Then Vbio gets at
equilibrium -21mV. Quantitative analysis of potential measurement data is performed and factors ofeach potential, such as equilibrium, amount of change and time constant are estimated. Factors of
surface potential of a SU-8 film are similar at every point. However, there are widely varied inbiopotential.
As a result, reproducibility of electrical characteristic of a SU-8 photoresist film surface isrevealed by comparing measurement result of plant cells. The reproducibility can be thought of as
one of surface stability. We believe that stability of a SU-8 film exhibits promising characteristics fora bio device substance.
Acknowledgments
The present work was partially supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grant-in-Aid
for Scientific Research (JSPS KAKENHI B: 23360150) and Grant-in-Aid for challenging
Exploratory Research (MEXT KAKENHI 23656235).

5

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02006/1-6References[1]
C. M. Hwang, W. Y. Sim, S. H. Lee, A. M. Foudeh, H. Bae, S. H. Lee, A. Khademhosseini,
Biofabrication, 2 (2010) 045001.
[2]
M. Chen, P. O. Zamora, P. Som, L. A. Pena, S. Osaki, J. Biomater. Sci. Polymer Edn, 14(2003) 917-935.
[3]
F. Walther, T. Drobek, A. M. Gigler, M. Hennemeyer, M. Kaiser, H. Herberg, T. Shimitsu, G.
E. Morfill, R. W. Stark, Surf. Interface Anal., 42 (2010) 1735–1744.
[4]
G. Blagoi, S. Keller, A. Johansson, A. Boisen, M. Dufva, Appl. Surf. Sci., 255 (2008)
2896-2902.
[5]
A. del Campo, C. Greiner, J. Micromech. Microeng., 17 (2007) R81–R95.
[6]
B. P. Chaudhri, F. Ceyssens, P. D. Moor, C. V. Hoof, R. Puers, J. Micromech. Microeng., 20(2010) 064006.
[7]
G. Voskerician, M. S. Shive, R. S. Shawgo, H. Recum, J. M. Anderson, M. J. Cima, R. Langer,
Biomaterials, 24 (2003) 1959–1967.
[8]
B. Bohl, R. Steger, R. Zengerle, P. Koltay, J. Micromech. Microeng., 15 (2005) 1125–1130.
[9] A. Altuna, L. Menendez de la Prida, E. Bellistri, G. Gabriel, A. Guimerá, J. Berganzo, R. Villa,
L. J. Fernández, Biosens. Bioelectron., 37 (2012) 1–5.
[10] T. Ohyabu et al., Bioelectrical potential of plant and communication, Kaibundo, (2009) 8-9(in Japanese).
[11] J. Fromm, S. Lautner, Plant, Cell & Environment, 30 (2007) 249–257.
(Received: 26 July, 2013, Accepted: 24 February 2014)6

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02007/1-6

Effect of Mechanical Stress on Electrolyte Film for Flexible Sheet Type
Direct Methanol Fuel Cell
Yosuke Sakurai, Akira Kawai
Department of Electrical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology
1603-1 Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata, 940-2188, Japan
E-mail: kawai@nagaokaut.ac.jp

This paper discuss shortly that effect of mechanical stress on flexible
Sheet Type Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (FS-DMFC). FS-DMFC isattractive as a portable power source for flexible devices. In thisregard, it is inevitable that the FS-DMFC will operate under externalmechanical loads. In addition, the mechanical stress should act todeteriorate the FS-DMFC. FS-DMFC is fabricated on the flexible
substrate. Then compressive load and tensile load are applied to theelectrolyte film. Contrary to our expectation, the effect ofcompressive load in an electrolyte film is observed as enhancementof electro motive force. By applying compressive load to anelectrolyte film, proton ionic conductivity would be enhanced. On theother hand, a tensile load acts to decrease electro motive force.
Therefore the electrolyte film should be designed as a laminatedstructure in order to enhance proton ionic conductivity of electrolyte
film by compressive load from the both top and bottom films.

1. Introduction
Recently, Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC) is recognized as a candidate of portable powersource [1]. Many challenging aspects of the minimization of DMFC focused on Sandwich structurewith electrolyte and microfabricated silicon current collectors [2], micro fuel cell with hydrogengenerator [3], flexible sheet type DMFC array with micro hole array [4]. Especially, we focused on
the flexible sheet type DMFC (FS-DMFC) due to the facility of minimization and application for
flexible devices. In this case it is expected that certain amount of tapping or bending stresses areapplied to the FS-DMFC.
This paper focuses on deterioration of proton ionic conductivity of an electrolyte film inducedby mechanical load. The compressive load and tensile loads can be applied to an electrolyte film.
Our results raise the possibility that external compressive film stress enhances proton ionic
conductivity of an electrolyte film. However external tensile load decreases proton ionic
conductivity. The cell structure should be designed as a laminate structure in order to improve theproton ionic conductivity by the film stress.

2. Experiment
2.1 Fabrication of flexible Sheet type DMFC (FS-DMFC)
A schematic of a FS-DMFC structure is shown in Fig.1. This device is composed with two Pt
electrodes and Nafion electrolyte (DE2020, DuPont). This device has an ability of electricity
generation by applying a fuel.
The structure of FS-DMFC was fabricated in the flowchart as shown in Fig.2.
(a): A PET film (Apica Co., Ltd) was cut by a cutter in a size of 15mm x 30mm.
(b): Slight amount of contamination on a PET film was removed by immersing in deionized water(DIW). Then a PET film was cleaned for 6min by an ultrasonic cleaning system (EC-4515,
Twinbird Co., Ltd).
(c): A piece of glass of 0.9±0.1m thick was prepared in size of 15mm ×3mm, which was used as amask of Pt film sputtering.

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Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02007/1-6(d):

A Pt film as a catalyst layer of approximately 100nm thick was sputtered at 250W for 150minby using a RF sputtering system (PDM-303, Samco Inc.). The purity of Pt sputtering target(JEOL Ltd.) was 99.99%. The purity of sputtering Ar gas was 99.9999% and flow rate was
4sccm.
(e): A glass plate on the PET film was removed, and then the Pt films for anode and cathode wereformed.
(f): Electrolyte (Nafion®) solution of 0.03±0.01cc was dropped on a center of the PET film byusing a dropper.
(g): Electrolyte solution is dried at 25±2˚C for 1h. The films of 37±10m thick for compressive
test and 93±20m thick for tensile test were formed.

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of the FS-DMFC
structure.

Fig.2 Fabrication process flowchart of FS-DMFC.

2.2 Electric generation Measurement
The FS-DMFC was operated in 25±2˚C by applying 3wt% methanol aqueous solution of 0.2cc.
The fuel was dropped on the anode Pt film. A certain amount of oxygen molecule was allowed todiffuse the cathode electrode from ambient air. The electro motive force E between two electrodes
was measured by using an electric circuit as shown in Fig.3. The circuit was composed by avariable resister (TYPE 2786, Yokogawa Electric Works, Ltd.) and the FS-DMFC. The load voltage
VR was measured by using a digital multi-meter (DL-712, Kenwood).
The electric generation power P of the FS-DMFC is estimated by the following equations.

PRR  R 0 

Pmax 

2

E2

(1)

2
E max
4R0

(2)

where R is resistance of variable resister, R0 is internal resistance of the FS-DMFC and E is electro2Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02007/1-6

motive force of the FS-DMFC. The values of Pmax and Emax indicate maximum when R = R0. In orderto obtain the maximum electric generation power, the variable resister was adjusted from 100 to
100k. The electric generation area of the FS-DMFC was designed as the interface area between Pt
electrode and the electrolyte film to be 0.225cm2.

Fig.3 Measurement circuit of the electro motive force of FS-DMFC.

2.3 Compressive load
External compressive load was applied to a part of electrolyte film surface directly as shown in
Fig.4. The loading experiments were carried out under (i) partially immersion and (ii) fully
immersion conditions of the fuel on the electrolyte film as shown in Fig.4.

Fig.4 Schematic diagram of compressive load test. Compressive load was applied by adding acertain strain (20m) to a center of the electrolyte film with a load meter.

2.4 Tensile load
As shown in Fig.5, the FS-DMFC was easy to bend by human fingers. External tensile load wasapplied by wrapping the FS-DMFC around a cylinder of 14mm diameter repeatedly in dry condition
as shown in Fig.6. Therefore, tensile load was applied to the electrolyte film directly in 0, 50, 100,
200, 300, 500, 700 and 1000 times. The electro motive force E was measured after removing tensile
load of each loading times.

Fig.5 Photograph of bending of the
FS-DMFC by human fingers.

Fig.6 Schematic diagram of tensile load.

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Electric power density P [W/cm2]

3. Results
3.1 Compressive load effectFigure.7 shows the typical electric generation properties of DMFC. The result shows that the
FS-DMFC indicates higher electric power density by immersing the electrolyte film in the fuel fully,
comparing with the partial one. Moreover time dependency of the electric power density undercompressive load is shown in Fig.8. By immersing electrolyte film with the fuel fully, it is clearlyobserved the retention property of the electric power density is enhanced by applying thecompressive load.

Pmax

1.4
1.2
1.0

(ii) Full immersion

0.8
0.6
0.4

(i) Pertial immersion

0.2
0
0

20

40

60

80

100

External resistance R [k]Electric power density P [W/cm2]

Fig.7 Typical electric generation of the FS-DMFC.

1.4

Compressive load
LoadingRelease

1.2
1.0
0.8

(ii) Full immersion

0.6
0.4
0.2

(i) Pertial immersion

0

Before 0
5101520
applying
Passage time [min]load
Fig.8 Electric generation of FS-DMFC by applying external compressive load.

3.2 Tensile load effectFigure.9a shows an electric power density curve of applying times of tensile load. Fig.9b shows
the maximum electric power density and internal resistance as a function of loading times increase.
The maximum electric power density linearly decreases with increasing the applying load times. Theinternal resistance of the FS-DMFC increases slightly with the tensile loads. The result shows that
repetitive tensile load causes decrease of electric generation property.

4Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02007/1-6

Electric power density P W/cm2]

1.0

Pmax

0.8
0
50
100
300
200
500
700

0.6
0.4

1000 times
0.2
0
20

0

40

60

80

100

120

40

0.8

R0

30

Pmax

0.6

20
0.4
10

0.2

Internal resistance R0 [k]

1.0
Pmax [W/cm2]

Maximum electric power density

External resistance R [k](a) Maximum power density of tensile load

0

0
0

200

400

600

800

1000

Tensile load times [time](b) Dependency on tensile loading times.
Fig.9 Electric generation of FS-DMFC by applying tensile load.

4. Discussion
4.1 Improvement of electric power density under compressive load
The electric power density difference in Fig.7 reflects clearly the fuel supply volume difference.
By immersing the electrolyte film of fuel fully, it is supposed that the fuel can be supplied sufficientvolume which causes the higher electric power density comparing with the partial one. The
compressive load should act to compress the electrolyte film. This phenomenon probably causes
higher sorption of water molecule due to condensation of sulfonic acid groups [5]. Therefore theexternal compressive load would act to improve the retention property of the electrolyte film.

4.2 Decrease of electric power density under tensile load
In this experiment, nano scale void would be formed and proton ionic conductivity would
become low. In the literature, the peak stress of tensile load is localized at a water/electrolyte film

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interface [6]. It can be supposed that bonding of sulfonic acid groups is expanded due to the stressconcentration. Therefore the internal resistance R0 of the electrolyte film can be increased and theelectro motive force E can be decreased under tensile load.

4.3 Effective structure of the electrolyte film
Figure.10 shows a schematic diagram of effective structure of an electrolyte film. Our results
raise the possibility that compressive stress acts to enhance a proton ionic conductivity in anelectrolyte film. Then it is well-known that a film on the substrate generates significant film stress. It
can be considered that compressive stress generated by pressing from both the top and bottom films
enhances a proton ionic conductivity in the electrolyte film due to condensation of sulfonic acidgroups. Then the electrolyte film laminated by the porous films is effective for a DMFC operation.

Porous film
Electrolyte film
Porous film
Fig.10 Schematic diagram of laminated electrolyte film.

5. Conclusion
A relationship between mechanical stress and electric generation property of an electrolyte film
is discussed. Electric generation property should be enhanced by external compressive stress andshould be decreased by tensile stress. Therefore it is needed to design the electrolyte film as alaminated structure.

Acknowledgments
The present work was partially supported KAKENHI B:23360150) and Grant–in–Aid forchallenging Exploratory Research (MEXT KAKENHI 23656235).

References[1] C. K. Dyer, J. Power Sources, 31 (2002) 106.
[2] N. Sabate, J. P. Esquivel, J. Santander, J. G. Hauer, R. W. Verjulio, I. Gracia, M. Salleras, C.
Calaza, E. Figueras, C. Cane, L. Fonseca, Microsystem Technologies. DOI:
10.1007/s00542-013-1781-4[3] L. Zhu, K. Y. Lin, R. D. Morgan, Vikhram V. Swaminathan, H. S. Kim, B. Gurau, D. Kim, B.
Bae, R. I. Masel, M. A. Shannon, J. Power Sources, 185 (2008) 1305.
[4] T. Ito, K. Kimura, M. Kunimatsu, Electrochem. Comm., 8 (2006) 973.
[5] H. Zhang, P. K, Shen, J. Hydrogen Energy., 37 (2012) 4657.
[6] Y. Qi, Y-Hung lai, Polymer, 52 (2011) 201.
(Received: 26 July, 2013, Accepted:4 April 2014)6

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02008/1-6

Amorphous Hydrogenated Carbon Films Deposited with Benzene by
Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition
Xiaolong Zhou*, Ikumi Toda, Keiji Komatsu, Hiroyuki Muramatsu,
Shigeo Ohshio, Hidetoshi Saitoh
Department of Materials Science and Technology, Nagaoka University of Technology,1603-1 Kamitomioka-cho, Nagaoka 940-2188, Japan*E-mail: hts@nagaokaut.ac.jp

Amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C:H) films have been synthesized by aplasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method with benzene
as a source gas. A phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5) dehydration units and thechamber baking treatment were introduced into the CVD system tosynthesize high purified a-C:H films, and the effects of H2O on the structure
and the chemical composition for a-C:H films were investigate1001d. The
true density values for the a-C:H films were in the range of 1.18-1.23 g/cm3
measured by X-ray reflection. These processes reduced the –OH termination
structure of the films. The depth profile for the a-C:H films revealed thatelemental composition of oxygen and hydrogen atoms were decreased
significantly in the bulk regions of films. These results suggest thatelimination of H2O is an important factor for synthesizing highly purified
a-C:H films by the PECVD method.

1. Introduction
Amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C:H) films have widely received interests by many
researchers for their unique properties in mechanical and electrical applications [1-3]. In this field,hydrocarbons as the source gas such as methane (CH4), ethylene (C2H4), acetylene (C2H2), hexane(C6H14) and benzene (C6H6) as reported in [4-9] are used for synthesizing a-C:H films. The kind ofsource gas has a significant effect on the a-C:H film properties in a plasma enhanced chemical vapor
deposition (PECVD) method. It is verified that C6H6 is useful for the raw material in obtaining ahigh deposition rate on low particle energy in these source gases. For instance, the deposition rate of
the film synthesized with benzene is an approximately 85 nm/min because of the low ionization
potential of 9.2 eV. In contrast, CH4 forms the film with a deposition rate of a 8 nm/min due to ahigh ionization potential of 12.4 eV. Robertson reported that decomposition of C6H6 by the PECVD
method fabricated thick a-C:H films in a short time because of their high deposition rate [1].
Contamination of water (H2O) is one of the main problems for synthesizing high purified thea-C:H films. Firstly, H2O is easily contaminated into benzene because of high solubility of water inbenzene, 1.8 g/L at 26oC [10]. Secondly, H2O in carrier gas also becomes impurity, which affectvarious characters of the resultant a-C:H films such as density, stability, and mechanical property.
Models for the effect of H2O on the a-C:H films by the PECVD method are shown in Fig. 1. If H2O
is contaminated into the CVD chamber, hydroxyl (-OH) groups are formed on the a-C:H films
surface, which may also cause adsorption of additional water on the surface of the a-C:H films, as
shown in Fig. 1(a). This phenomenon has a significant effect on the a-C:H film properties. In orderto obtain a-C:H films with high purity and quality, we have to eliminate -OH groups from the a-C:H
films, as shown in Fig. 1(b). Since phosphorus pentoxide (P2O5) has strong water absorption ability,
water is effectively eliminated from source and carrier gases by using P 2O5 dehydration units. In
addition, absorption of H2O into the chamber wall is also a problem. When the leak valve is opened
after an experiment, substantial air enters into the chamber. Therefore, the possibility internal surfaceof the chamber may be adsorbed water. Chamber-baking treatment is a standard experimental
technique to eliminate water adsorbed on the internal surface of the CVD chamber. Thus, acombination of the P2O5 dehydration unit and the chamber-baking treatment may be an effective

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experimental technique to obtain highly purified a-C:H films.

Fig. 1 Models for the effect of H2O on a-C:H films by PECVD method(a) with H2O and (b)without H2O.
In this study, a-C:H films were synthesized by the PECVD method using C6H6 as a raw material.
To investigate the effects of H2O on the deposition of the a-C:H films, the P2O5 dehydration units
and the chamber-baking treatment were added in the process of a-C:H film deposition. We
demonstrated the effects of H2O on the properties of the a-C:H films based on the true density values,
surface structure, and cross-sectional elemental distributions

Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of PECVD apparatus

2. Experiment
The Si (100) surface-deposited with a-C:H films by the PECVD technique with radio-frequency
at 13.56 MHz as shown in Fig. 2. The Si substrates were cut size of 1 × 1 × 0.6 mm3. Then, thesamples were rinsed by distilled water, acetone and ethanol solution before coating. The pure argongas (Taiyo Nippon Sanso, purity of 99.9999%) and benzene liquid (Wako Pure Chemical Industries,
purity >99%; liquid at room temperature) were used as carrier and source gasses, respectively. In theexperiment, a two-necked flask whose volume as 100 ml was used for containing liquid benzene. A
combination of a rotary Pump (RP) and a turbo Molecular Pump (TMP) was used to exhaust air inthe chamber whose volume was 2 L. Prior to the film synthesis, the following steps was made. First,
the chamber was evacuated to 1.5 × 10-4 Pa by using above pumping system. Second, we have madethe Ar carrier gas fill into the two-necked flask with a flow rate of 20 cm3/min for 3 min with the exit
valve of benzene closed, and then, have closed the valve of carrier-gas inlet with the exit valve of2

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02008/1-6

benzene opened for 5 min. The second process was repeated three times to eliminate fully theresidual air at the top of the two-necked flask. When the pressure was less than 13.3 kPa (the vapor
pressure of benzene is 13.3 kPa, at 26.1 oC), benzene was vaporized, and then argon gas with a flowrate of 20 cm3/min carries benzene with a flow rate of 5 cm3/min. The flow of Ar and benzene wereregulated by a mass flow controller (MFC) and a mass flow meter (MFM), respectively.
All these gases were passed through the P2O5 dehydration units, and were introduced into the
CVD chamber with pressure about 20 Pa using the above pumping system. In the experiment withthe chamber-baking treatment, the ribbon heater was wrapped around the chamber and thetemperature was raised to about 100 oC for 30 min before the film deposition, and this temperature
was kept during the film deposition. The radio-frequency electromagnetic wave with a power of 45
W was introduced during the film deposition. The deposition time was 10 min for each film. The
benzene and argon valve was closed immediately after the end of films deposition, when the power
was turned off the plasma disappeared. The above pumping system continued work for 1 hr toexhaust these gases, at the same time the chamber wall was cooled to room temperature. But theresidual benzene would be still adsorbed into the pipeline and chamber wall a little. In order toobserve the influence of water on the films, also the films were synthesized under the conditions ofpresence or absence of the P2O5 dehydration units and the chamber-baking treatment as shown in
Table 1.
The true density of the a-C:H films estimated by the X-Ray reflectivity (XRR) method(M03XHFMXP3, Mac science) as reported in [13] and shown in Fig. 3. The XRR data wereobtained using a CuKα X-ray source (wavelength of 1.54 Å) under the conditions of a scan range(2θ) of 0.184°-2.500° and a step size of 0.004°. The XRR is one of the most widely used analyticalmethods [11-13] which has many attractive characteristics such as non-destructiveness and ability ofquantitative measurements of the crystal structure under the ambient conditions.

Fig. 3 XRR data and simulation for sample A
An analysis of the structural changes of the films was made by using Fourier transform infrared(FT-IR) spectroscopy (NICOLET 6700, Thermo Fisher Scientific). All the spectra were obtained
from 500 to 4000 cm-1 with 100 scans for each spectrum. Glow-discharged optical-emission
spectroscopy (GDOES) is one of the effective tools to analyze the elemental distribution in the depth
direction of the film, where the time profiles of the atomic transitions are measured with short time
periods by Ar-ion sputtering induced by the glow-discharge plasma [14-16]. The depth profiles ofcarbon (λ=165.7 nm), hydrogen (λ=121.6 nm), oxygen (λ=130.2 nm) and silicon (λ=288.2 nm) of
the films were measured using GDOES (HORIBA, GD-Profiler 2).
3. Results and Discussion
Table 1 shows the true density of samples A-D. The true densities of samples were 1.18, 1.20,

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1.22 and 1.23 g/cm3, respectively. As results, it is obvious that the sample A has true density lessthan the sample B, C and D, while the true densities of sample C and D are the similar. However, thechamber baking process effect to the increasing of the true density. In addition, the observed
differences in the film densities suggested that the structure and chemical composition of a-C:H
films depend on the desiccation procedures.
Table 1 The H2O elimination conditions and true density for samples A-D
SampleDehydration unit

A
×

B
○

C
○

D
×

Chamber baking
True density( g/cm3)

×

×

○

○

1.18

1.20

1.22

1.23

The FT-IR spectra of the a-C:H films were shown in Fig. 4. Sample A indicated the stretchingvibration peaks assigned to be the hydroxyl (-OH) group around 3300 cm-1[18]. The -CH group was
also observed in a region of about 3000 cm-1[17,19]. In addition, adsorption of H2O in the sample
A-D was confirmed in a region of about 1500 cm-1.

Fig. 4

FT-IR spectra of the a-C:H films, samples A-D

These results indicated two facts. The first is that the intensity of the –OH absorption band issignificant when films were deposited under the condition without the P2O5 dehydration units andchamber-baking treatment. The second is that films with the P2O5 dehydration units or with thechamber-baking treatment (sample B, C and D) show clear absorptions due to the -CH group andsignificant decrease of those of the -OH group. In addition, samples B and C exhibits low intensityof the OH group, whereas sample D had a significantly high intensity of this group (though less thanthat in A whose origin can be attributed to the H2O adsorbed onto wall of chamber).
The results can be explained by physical and chemical processes that take place during
deposition of the a-C:H films. H2O molecules contaminated into the CVD chamber will bedissociated to form OH and H radicals during the discharge process. Therefore, the –OH groups
were formed on the a-C:H films surface in the cases of samples A and D. The immediate cause of thesignificant increases of the CH absorption peaks of samples C and D was the benzene residue on thesurface of a-C:H films according to the IR spectrum of benzene which has the significant CH groupabsorption peaks in a region of about 3000 cm-1 [20].
The essential point of the phenomenon of the inclusion of benzene molecules into the samples C
and D seems to be a thermal gradient between the substrate and the chamber wall. For sample C andD, the temperature of the chamber inner wall is higher than the substrate; thermal gradient is4

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02008/1-6

generated between the wall and the substrate causing the thermal flow of benzene molecules into thesubstrate from the chamber inner wall. On the other hand, if the wall is not heated, the thermal
gradient does not generate, and the flow of benzene molecules into the substrate will be negligible ornot. This is the case of sample A and B.

Fig. 5 GDOES profile of the a-C:H film of sample A

Fig. 6 IO/IC and IH/IC values estimated from the GDOES profiles of samples A-D
Fig. 5 shows a GDOES profile for the a-C:H film of sample A. Four elemental depth
distributions, carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), and silicon (Si), were obtained. The emission ofthese elements were detected in the observed time range of 2-60 s. Maximum emission intensities for
C, H and O atoms were obtained in the ranges of 3-20 s. In contrast, the detection for Si atom began
at 15 s, and its intensity increased gradually. Then, the maximum intensity of emission from Si atom
was obtained after 20 s. These observations indicate that the etching times in the rages of 2-60,
15-20, and 20-60 s correspond to the bulk region of film, the boundary region, and the silicon
substrate, respectively. Therefore, the analysis is significant in the range of 2 - 15 s.
We estimated the intensity ratio of hydrogen to carbon (IH/IC) as well as that of oxygen to carbon(IO/IC) for samples A-D. Fig. 6 shows the IO/IC and IH/IC values estimated from the GDOES profiles5Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02008/1-6of the a-C:H films. For instance, the value for sample D was smaller than that of sample A. The IO/IC
values were reduced from 0.3 to less than 0.1. Moreover, the IH/IC values were also decreased from
0.12 to 0.05. These decreases in the IO/IC and IH/IC values suggest that elemental composition ofoxygen and hydrogen atoms were decreased significantly using P2O5 dehydration units andchamber-baking treatment

4. Conclusions
The a-C:H films were successfully deposited on the Si (100) by the PECVD technique using
benzene diluted with Ar gas. The effect of elimination of H2O from the reaction system on thephysical and chemical structures of a-C:H films were demonstrated using the P2O5 dehydration units
and the chamber-baking treatment. The true densities of the samples were in the range of 1.18-1.23
g/cm3. The compositional analysis method (GDOES) revealed that the hydrogen and oxygen atoms
contained in the a-C:H films were decreased significantly.
References[1] J. Robertson, Mater. Sci. Eng. R 37 (2002) 129−281.
[2] S. M. Chiu, S. C. Lee, C. H. Wang, F. C. Tai, C. W. Chu, D. Gan, J. Alloy. Compd., 449(2008) 379−383.
[3] N. Dwivedi, S. Kumar, H. K. Malik, Govind, C. M. S. Rauthan, O.S. Panwar, Appl. Surf. Sci.,
257 (2011) 6804−6810.
[4] H. Akasaka, N. Gawazawa, S. Kishimoto, S. Ohshio, H. Saitoh, Appl. Surf. Sci., 256 (2009)1236−1239.
[5] Y. Yamauchi, M. Kuzuya, Y. Sasai, S. Kondo, Thin Solid Films, 519 (2011) 6693−6697.
[6] H. Ito, K. Koshimura, S. Onitsuka, K. Okada, T. Suzuki, H. Akasaka, H. Saitoh, Plasma Chem.
Plasma P., 32 (2012) 231−248..
[7] G. A. Abbas, S. S. Roy, R. Papakonstantion, J. A. McLaaughlin, Carbon, 43 (2005) 303−309.
[8] G. A. Abbas, J.A. McLaaughlin, E. Harkin-Jones, Diam. Relat. Mater., 13 (2004) 1342−1345.
[9] A. Erdemir, I. B. Nilufer, O.L.Eryimaz, M. Beschliessr, G.R. Fenske, Surf. Coat. Tech.,120-121(1999) 589−593.
[10] Material Safety Data Sheet, Benzene MSDS, http:// www3.kanto.co.jp/ catalog/ msds/
J_04084PDF.
[11] S. B. Singh, A. K. Poswal, M. Pandey, R. B. Tokas, N. Chand, S. Dhara, B. Sumdaravel, Surf.
Coat. Tech., 203 (2009) 986−991.
[12] N. Paik, Diam. Relat. Mater., 14 (2005) 196−200.
[13] A. Libassi, A. C. Ferrari, V. Stolojan, B. K. Tanner, J. Robertson, L. M. Brown, Diam. Relat.
Mater., 9 (2000) 771−776.
[14] R. E. Galindo, R. Gago, D. Duday, Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 396 (2010) 2725−2740.
[15] J. L. Endrino, M. Allen, R. E. Galindo, H. Zhang, A. Anders, J. M. Albella, Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory, 2007.
[16] K. Petrikowski, M. Fenker, J. Gabler, A. Hageman, S. Pleger, L. Schafer, Diam. Relat. Mater.,
33 (2013) 38−44.
[17] M. H. Ahmed, J. A. Byrne, Appl. Surf. Sci., 258 (2012) 5166−5174.
[18] R. Pena Alonso, F. Rubio, J. Rubio, J. L. Oteo, J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol., 71 (2004) 827−845.
[19] S. M. Smith, S. A. Voignt, H. Tompkins, A. Hooper, A. A. Talin, Thin Solid Films, 398-399(2001) 163−169.
[20] Y. Shen, Q. Zhao, X. Y. Li, D. L. Yuan, Y, Hou, S. M. Liu, J. Hazard. Mater., 241-242 (2012)472−477.
(Received: 8 October, 2013, Accepted: 29 November, 2013)6

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Luminescence of Activator-Doped Alunite Synthesized under
Hydrothermal Condition
Shingo Kimura1, Yuichiro Kuroki1, Tomoichiro Okamoto1,*, and Masasuke Takata1, 2
1
Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan
2
Japan Fine Ceramics Center, Atsuta-ku, Nagoya 456-8587, Japan*E-mail: okamoto@vos.nagaokaut.ac.jp
A novel luminesecent material, “copper-doped hydronium alunite((H3O)Al3(SO4)2(OH)6:Cu)” exhibited a blue luminescence. One of theoriginality of this phosphor is that the host crystal structure consists ofcrystal water (hydronium ions and hydroxyl radicals). Various
activator-doped hydronium alunite and potassium alunite weresynthesized under hydrothermal conditions. Mn-doped hydronium andpotassium alunite were non-luminescent because concentrations of Mn
contained in the samples were low. Cu-doped hydronium alunite
exhibited a blue luminescence peak at wavelength of 428 nm, while
Cu-doped potassium alunite did not. It might be suggested that the blue
luminescence requires the existence of not only Cu+ ion but also H3O+ ion.
Ce-doped hydronium and potassium alunite showed an ultraviolet
luminescence peak at wavelength of 314 nm. XPS measurements
revealed that the ionic state of the cerium ion exhibiting ultraviolet
luminescence was trivalent.
1. Introduction
Potassium alunite, KAl3(SO4)2(OH)6, is one of the most abundant sulfate minerals. It contains
potassium and aluminum with hexagonal crystal system (space group of R-3m). Fig.1 shows the
crystal structure of hydronium alunite. The general formula for alunite is AB3(SO4)2(OH)6, where A
can be K+, Na+, Rb+, Tl+, Ag+, NH4+, H3O+, Ca2+, Pb2+, Sr2+, Ba2+, Hg2+, Ce3+, and B can be Al3+,
Fe3+ or minor Cu2+, Zn2+ [1,2]. Natural Potassium alunite is generally potassium deficient; this iscommonly compensated by the hydronium ion (H3O+) [2,3]. Potassium alunite in which K has been
completely substituted by H3O+ is often called hydronium alunite ((H3O)Al3(SO4)2(OH)6) and it does
not occur naturally.
Our
researchgroup
demonstrated
that
copper-dopedhydronium
alunite((H3O)Al3(SO4)2(OH)6:Cu) as a novel phosphor was successfully synthesized under hydrothermal
conditions [4,5]. The blue cathodoluminescence (CL) and photoluminescence (PL) peaks
at about 420 nm was observed from the phosphor [5]. In our previous study, it wasreported that the luminescence is related to the presence of Cu+ ion and structural
water (OH+ and/or H3O+ ions) [5]. In this study, we focused on the effects of the crystal water in
A-site(H3O+)
onthe
luminescence properties. The
relationshipamongcrystalstructure, chemical compositionand luminescence property is
discussed from the results of
X-ray
diffraction,
X-ray
fluorescenceanalysis,
cathodoluminescence and X-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy.
In this paper, H- and K-alunite
denote hydronium and potassium
alunite, respectively.
Fig. 1 Crystal structure of hydronium alunite.

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2. Experiment
The powders of K2SO4 and Al2(SO4)3∙15H2O were used as starting materials. Also, MnSO4∙4H2O,
CuSO4∙5H2O and Ce2(SO4)3∙5H2O were used as activators (M). The sulfates were dissolved in
distilled water. The molar ratio of K : Al : M was set to 1 : 3 : 0.5. The concentrations of potassium,
aluminum and activators were 0.083, 0.250 and 0.042 mol / l, respectively. The mixture of solutionsof 10 ml was sealed into a pressure vessel with a quartz inner tube which has the volume of 26 ml.
The solutions were heated using an electric furnace with a rate of 1.5oC / min, maintained at 240oC(red point in Fig.2) for 60 min and then cooled to room temperature in the furnace. The obtained
products were filtered and dried at 80oC for 4 h.

Fig. 2 The phase diagram of the water.
The powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns were obtained using a Rigaku MultiFlex
diffractometer (Cu Kα radiation) with a graphite monochromator. The elemental compositions in theobtained products were analyzed using a wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometer(XRF, Rigaku, ZSX Primus II). The cathodoluminescence (CL) was measured at room temperatureusing a system consisted of a grating monochromator, optical fiber and a liquid-nitrogen-cooled
CCD detector (HORIBA, MP-32M-0MT). The accelerating voltage and electron beam current were
20 kV and 1.5 nA, respectively. In order to determine the valency of the activator ions, X-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) profiles were measured using JEOL JPS-9010TR with the Mg K
line running at 10 kV and 10 mA as an excitation source. The XPS binding energy was calibratedusing C (1s) at 284.6 eV.
3. Results and Discussion
Figure 3 shows XRD patterns of the products. All obtained products had the alunite type crystal
structure. In addition, peaks due to other phase such as boehmite (-AlO(OH), ICDD; 083-1505)
were not detected. It was difficult to identify each sample because the XRD pattern of K-alunite(KAl3(SO4)2(OH)6, ICDD 072-1630) is quite similar to that of H-alunite ((H3O)Al3(SO4)2(OH)6,
ICDD 016-0409). Therefore, the elemental composition analysis of the samples was carried out
using XRF.
Table 1 shows elemental compositions for the products obtained by XRF. The theoretical values
were calculated as follows: for H-alunite, (H3O)Al3(SO4)2(OH)6, three Al atoms, two S atoms and O
atoms of 15 were taken as 100 mol % (Hydrogen cannot be detected). The products obtained fromthe solutions containing Al and activator ions showed almost the same as theoretical compositions.
Also, the products prepared from the solutions including K ion also showed almost the same astheoretical compositions of the K-alunite. The concentration of the activators in the samples werelower than initially added amount of activator ions (2.4 mol %). From the combination of the resultsof XRD and XRF, it was found that the single-phase activator-doped H- and K- alunite weresuccessfully prepared under hydrothermal conditions.
In XRD patterns of Mn- and Cu-doped alunite, distinct peak shift was not observed because theconcentrations of these activator ions contained in the samples were very low. Therefore, it wasdifficult to decide the site of activator ion. On the other hand, the peak positions for Ce-doped2

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02009/1-6

alunite were higher angle than that for non-doped alunite. Keith et al. reported that the A site is
substituted by Ce ion[1]. In this study, shift to the higher angle side of the diffraction peaks is
considered to be the substitution of Ce ion (Ce3+ : 1.03 Å) for the A site ions (H3O+ : 1.24 Å, K+ :1.33 Å), supporting the claim of Keith et al.

ICDD
072-1630
KAl3(SO4)2(OH)6
ICDD
016-0409(H3O)Al3(SO4)2(OH)6Fig. 3 XRD patterns of the obtained products.
Table 1 Molar ratio of elemental compositions for the obtained products.
H-alunite
AlSO

K-alunite
M

K

Al

mol %

S

O

M

mol %

Theory

15

10

75

0

5

15

10

70

0

Mn - doped

14.98

10.62

74.40

0.01

4.25

13.61

9.48

72.66

0.01

Cu - doped

14.92

10.19

74.85

0.04

4.54

13.84

9.70

71.79

0.13

Ce - doped

14.79

10.74

73.24

1.23

3.83

13.54

10.30

71.94

0.39

3

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02009/1-6

Figure 4 shows CL spectra of the products. Mn-doped H- and K-alunite were non-luminescentbecause the concentrations of Mn contained in the samples were low (Table 1, same as detection
limit ~ 0.01 mol %).
In our previous reports, Cu-doped H-alunite showed the blue luminescence peak at wavelengthof 428 nm. However Cu-doped K-alunite in which copper concentration was higher than Cu-doped
H-alunite was non-luminescent. This result is a very important to understand a role of H3O+ ion in
the A-site for the luminescence property of the Cu-doped H-alunite. It was suggested that a blue
luminescence requires the existence of not only copper ion but also hydronium ion. On the other
hand, both of H- and K-alunite doped with cerium showed an ultra violet luminescence peak atwavelength of 314 nm. CL intensity of Ce-doped H-alunite was about 3 times higher than that of
K-alunite, reflecting that concentration of cerium in H-alunite (1.23 mol %) was higher than that of
K-alunite (0.39 mol %). The contribution of the presence of H3O+ ion is considered to be low for the
luminescence due to Ce3+.

(a)

(b)

Fig. 4 Cathodoluminescence spectra of the obtained products of H-alunite and K-alunite.

In our previous report, XPS measurement revealed that the blue luminescence was caused by the
Cu+ ion [4]. For the ultra violet luminescence, it is necessary to reveal the valency of the Ce ion.
Figure 5 shows XPS spectra of the Ce 3d 5/2 electrons after removal of background. Peaks were fittedusing Gaussian function. As a result, it was found that XPS Ce 3d5/2 profiles had the two peaks due
to Ce3+ and Ce4+. Therefore Ce-doped H- and K-alunite are thought to contain the Ce3+ and Ce4+ ions.
It is well known that fluorescence of Ce3+ ions is originated from 5d-4f transition because thetrivalent cerium ion with one 4f electron is optically active [6]. Therefore, it was revealed that theultra violet luminescence peaked at 314 nm is caused by the 5d-4f transition of Ce3+ ions.

4Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02009/1-6(a) (H3O)Al3(SO4)2(OH)6:Ce(b) KAl3(SO4)2(OH)6:Ce
Fig. 5The X-ray photoelectron spectra of the Ce 3d5/2 electrons of (a) H-alunite((H3O)Al3(SO4)2(OH)6:Ce) and (b) K-alunite (KAl3(SO4)2(OH)6:Ce).

5

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02009/1-6

4. Conclusion
Synthesis of various activator-doped alunite was attempted under hydrothermal conditions. XRD
and XRF measurements revealed that the single-phase activator-doped H- and K-alunite weresuccessfully prepared under hydrothermal conditions.
(1) Mn-doped H- and K-alunite were non-luminescent because concentrations of Mn contained in
the samples were low.
(2) Cu-doped H-alunite exhibited the blue luminescence peak at 428 nm, while Cu-doped
K-alunite did not. The blue luminescence requires the existence of not only Cu+ ion but also
H3O+ ion.
(3) Ce-doped H- and K-alunite showed an ultra violet luminescence peak at wavelength of 314 nm.
Luminescence intensity of Ce-doped H-alunite was about 3 times higher than that of K-alunite.
XPS measurements revealed that the ionic state of the cerium ion exhibiting ultraviolet
luminescence was trivalent.
References[1] K. M. Scott, Am. Mineral. 72 (1987) 178[2] G.A. Lager, G.A. Swayze, C.-K. Loong, F.J. Rotella, James W. RichardsonJr., R.E. Stoffregen,,Can. Mineral. 39 (2001)1131[3] Parker L R, Am. Mineral. 47 (1962) 127[4] Y. Kuroki, N. Iwata, T. Okamoto and M. Takata, Ceram. Inter., 38S (2012) S567
[5] Y. Kuroki, N. Iwata , T. Okamoto and M. Takata, IOP Conf. Series, 21 (2011) 012004[6] G. Q. Xu, Z. X. Zheng, W. M. Tang, Y. C. Wu, J. Lumin., 126 (2007) 475(Received: 12 August, 2013, Accepted: 24 October, 2013)6

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02010/1-10

Study on Generation and Measurement Methods for Analysis on
Solid-Plasma Transition Process
Takashi Kikuchi1,∗ , Toru Sasaki1 , Yasutoshi Miki1 , Fumitaka Tachinami1 , Hirotaka Saito1 ,Ryota Hayashi1 , Nobuyuki Anzai1 , Takuya Takahashi1 , Tsukasa Aso1 , Kazumasa
Takahashi1 , Nob. Harada1 , Weihua Jiang1 , Kenji Kashine2 , Akira Tokuchi1,31)
Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1 Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan
2)
Yuge National College of Maritime Technology, Kamijima 794-2593, Japan
3)
Pulsed Power Japan Laboratory Ltd., Kusatsu 525-0027, Japan*E-mail: tkikuchi@vos.nagaokaut.ac.jp
To evaluate property data of warm dense matter (WDM) and solid-plasma transition regime, weinvestigate the generation and measurement methods by a pulsed power discharge with isochoric
heating. In this paper, both numerical and experimental approaches were proposed, and wereapplied to the evaluation for WDM. To evaluate the optical properties, a fast spectroscope,
which consists of a 16-channel photodiode array, a 4-channel voltage adder, and a ﬂat diﬀraction
grating, was developed for spectroscopic ellipsometry. The numerical model based on a timedependent one-dimensional thermal diﬀusion equation including a radiation transfer equation
was considered, and the calculation result was compared to the experimental one. Also, thecalculation results by a multi-group analysis of the radiation predict the radiation energy density
proﬁle for the experimental approaches.

1

Introduction

Warm dense matter (WDM) is in a transition regime from a solid to plasma, and the property data areimportant to control implosion dynamics in a fuel pellet of inertial conﬁnement fusion (ICF) [1], to clear
interior of giant planets (e.g. Jupiter) [2], and so on. To irradiate an energy driver such as intense lasers,
high power X-ray, and high-current heavy ion beams, the material phase of the fuel pellet changes fromsolid to plasma conditions.
Since the WDM regime is in an extreme high pressure situation, it is diﬃcult to create stationary
condition with a measurable setup. Consequently, the properties in the WDM regime are unclear such as
the equation of state, the transport properties of both electrons and ions, and the optical properties. To
understand the physical properties, the quantum molecular dynamics or ab-initio simulations have predicted
the optical properties and the equation of state in WDM regime [3–5]. Desjarlais [4] has predicted the low
density WDM in disagreement with the Drude model. Yoneda [6] and Widmann [7] have experimentallydemonstrated the ultrashort-pulse ellipsometric pump-probe experiments and the pump-probe transmission
experiments, respectively. However, these experimental results have obtained by the single wavelength ofa probe light. Thus, the experimental data were insuﬃcient to evaluate the numerical results.
Pulsed power discharge devices were used to generate the extreme state of matter from a solid toplasma [8–10]. For the generation of WDM with a well-deﬁned condition, the apparatus with isochoric
heating using a sapphire hollow capillary as a rigid body wall was proposed by using a table-top pulsedpower device [11]. In the experimental apparatus, the emission from the heated sample was observable
due to the transparent sapphire capillary. Because of usable transparent tamper as a sapphire, the method
easily observed optical properties for WDM with well-deﬁned density-temperature condition. The lifetimeof generated WDM in this method is longer than that for laser experiments. For the prolonged timescale,a spectroscopic ellipsometry is possible to apply the method.
The spectroscopic ellipsometry is generally used as the condense matter physics [12]. To observe theoptical property, the ellipsometer requires four sensitive spectrometers, in which observe the reﬂectivity
and the phase for each polarization. In case of WDM generated by the pulsed-power discharges, the typical1Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02010/1-10

timescale of emission from WDM is several tens of microseconds [11]. The spectrometer with fast responseis required to analyze the optical properties observed by the spectroscopic ellipsometry. In this study, toevaluate the optical properties in WDM, we propose a semi-empirical multi-group analysis approach. The
WDM spectrum is assumed by black or gray body radiations. Thus, the optical properties in WDM are
broadly observed by the spectroscopic ellipsometry from experimental observation.
In our previous studies [13–16], we numerically investigate to generate the WDM by using pulsed
power discharge devices to obtain the properties of the WDM. In comparisons with the experimental
observation and the numerical estimation, the reliability of the optical properties for WDM is possible toevaluate. To demonstrate the spectroscopic ellipsometry for the experimental observation, the fast multigroup spectroscope as several MHz is required to use the conventional system. Therefore, we develop the
fast-conventional spectroscope by using planner focused grating and fast photodiode array. In this study,
the numerical model based on the thermodynamics and the radiation transport is developed to obtain thethermal and optical properties of the WDM.
To understand the radiation transport in WDM and the dense plasma, it is important to know the
optical properties of the medium, such as opacity, absorption coeﬃcient, dielectric constant, and refractive
index. The imaginary part of the refractive index k(λ), which depends on the wavelength λ, is obtainedby k = λ0 /4πτ , where λ0 is the wavelength in vacuum and τ is the optical depth, respectively. The opticaldepth is deﬁned by τ = 1/κν , where κν is the frequency ν dependent absorption coeﬃcient. Consequently,
the absorption coeﬃcient κν can be given by the refractive index measured in a medium. In this study,
we propose and investigate the semi-empirical approach for the optical properties of WDM in comparison
with the experimental and numerical results.

2

Semi-empirical Approach for Radiation Transport in WDM using
Spectroscopic Ellipsometry

We propose the semi-empirical multi-group analysis approach for the radiation transport in WDM.
To evaluate the optical properties in WDM, we develop the spectroscopic ellipsometry system with theisochoric heating of foamed material using pulsed-power discharges as shown in Fig. 1. In this setup, thetypical parameters of generated WDM were reported by Ref. [11]. Because the generated WDM is opticallythick from self-emission spectrum, the observing optical properties for WDM are suitable for the reﬂection
method. Thus, we select the reﬂection method as the spectroscopic ellipsometry in this study.

Fig. 1 Spectroscopic ellipsometry system with isochoric heating of foamed material using pulsed-power
discharge.

The principle of spectroscopic ellipsometry [12] is required to measure the polarization state such as2

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02010/1-10

the polarization angle Ψ = tan−1 (rp /rs ) and the phase diﬀerence ∆ = ∆p − ∆s . The relations of complex
refractive index are
[
( 2
)]
2
2
2
tan
θ
cos
2Ψ
−
sin
2Ψ
sin
∆
i
n2 − k 2 = sin2 θi 1 +,(1)(1 + sin 2Ψ cos ∆)2nk =sin2 θi tan2 θi sin 4Ψ sin ∆,(1 + sin 2Ψ cos ∆)(2)where, n and k are the real and imaginary parts of the complex refractive index, and θi is the incident angle.
To obtain Stokes parameters of the polarization angle Ψ and the phase diﬀerence ∆, four spectroscopes are
required to measure the spectroscopic ellipsometry.
Figure 1 shows the constructing spectroscopic ellipsometry for observing WDM generated by the pulsedpower discharge device. The structure of generated WDM is cylindrical symmetry. The spectroscopic
ellipsometry consists of a probe light with linearly polarized light, amplitude and phase detectors fromreﬂected polarization light. The incident angle θi is set to be 30 deg. The probe light is a polarized highintensity discharge lamp. The reﬂected probe light is focused to the conventional lens of φ80 mm. The
generated WDM has black or gray body emission. To neglect the self-emission from the WDM, we also
observe the spectrum of WDM at the diﬀerent angle.

3

Fast Multi-group Analyzing Spectroscope of Ellipsometry to Observe
Optical Properties for WDM

In the previous section, the spectroscopes for spectroscopic ellipsometry observing the optical properties
of WDM were required to be a few MHz of frequency response. To measure the detailed spectrum, theconventional spectroscopes are too slow due to the slower reading of charge-coupled-device (CCD) signals.
On the other hand, the fast spectroscopes such as one mounted on the steak camera or the fast ﬂaming
intensiﬁed CCD are expensive.
In the WDM observation, the emission spectrum of WDM is almost broad such as black or graybody, and becomes the strong emission intensity. To observe the WDM emission, the spectroscopes are
required to be simple, controllable observation region, and constructible design. Consequently, we developa spectrometer based on a data logger and a plane focusing grating.
Figure 2 shows the schematic diagram of spectroscope for ellipsometry [24]. The spectroscope consists of
50 µm of slit, the plane-focusing grating (SHIMADZU: E0600-01TR), 16-channel photodiode array (HAMAMATSU: S4111-16R) with a merging circuit as a 4-channel voltage adder, and a data logger (YOKOGAWA:
SL1000). Because the data logger can observe 16 channels and the all spectroscopes are paralleled operation, the detection signals should be merged by the voltage adder. The frequency response and detection
yield of the photodiode detector are determined by the possibility of the spectroscopic ellipsometry.
We evaluate the frequency response of the 4-channel voltage adder. The 4-channel voltage adder consistsof three Op-Amps (ANALOG DEVICES: AD8130), which are operable up to ±12 Vp-p. It also reveals
that the output voltage evolution after merged signals includes high frequency noise. However, the highfrequency noise can be neglected from the viewpoint of the emission duration of the generated WDM. The
gain of 4-channel voltage adder is in the plateau up to 1 MHz. In the high frequency regime, the gain of
4-channel voltage adder increases. From these results, the 4-channel voltage adder is required to be set as
the low pass ﬁlter up to 10 MHz.

4

Numerical Modeling for WDM generated by Isochoric Heating with
Pulsed Power Discharge

In this study, we solve simultaneously the time-dependent one-dimensional thermal diﬀusion equation3

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02010/1-10

Data logger

Fig. 2 Schematic diagram of spectroscope for ellipsometry.

with cylindrical symmetry conﬁguration for the WDM generation in the compact pulsed power discharge
experiment [11].
In the experimental setup [11], we can assume to calculate the phenomena in the foam/plasma ignoring
the hydrodynamics, because the ﬂuid dynamics of the sample plasma is limited by the capillary. For thisreason, we only calculate the thermodynamics in the foam/plasma without the ﬂuid dynamics of plasma.
In the apparatus, a foamed copper is used as a sample, and is surrounded with a hollow sapphire capillary.
The computational box is adjusted in the experimental setup [11], and is shown in Fig. 3. The inner region

5 mm

Sample(Foamed Metal)

10 mm

Calculation
RegionSapphire
Hollow
Capillary

8 mm

Fig. 3 Computational box for time-dependent one-dimensional thermal diﬀusion and radiative transfer
equations with cylindrical symmetry conﬁguration [13–16].

(0 < r < 2.5 mm) is the foamed copper as a sample, and the outer region (2.5 mm < r < 4 mm) is thesapphire as a rigid capillary. The capillary length Lcap is 10 mm.
The density of the foamed copper surrounded in the hollow capillary is 0.1 times the solid density(8920 kg/m3 ). The mass density of the sapphire is 3970 kg/m3 as the solid. Since the sample is a foamed
material, we assumed that the skin eﬀect can be ignored. As a result, the discharge current distribution isassumed as uniform in the copper region.
The initial temperature is set as 300 K by a room temperature in the whole computational region. The
conventional thermal property data of copper in solid, liquid, and gas phases are given by Refs. [17–20].
In the sapphire region, the material parameters for numerical simulation are 42 W/m·K for the thermal
conductivity and 750 J/kg·K for the speciﬁc heat, as room temperature values.

4Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02010/1-10

4.1

Thermal Diﬀusion

The temperature T of the sample is the function of spacial position and time t, and the thermodynamics
is given by∂T= ∇ · (κ∇T ) + SJ − Sr ,
ρ Cv
(3)
∂t
where ρ is the mass density of the sample, Cv is the speciﬁc heat, κ is the thermal conductivity, SJ is thesource term due to Joule heating, and Sr is the source term due to the absorption and emission of radiation,
respectively. The source term due to Joule heating is obtained by
SJ =

Pin
,
Vfoam

where Pin is the input power from the pulse power supply and Vfoam is the volume of the sample.
The above equation is rewritten by
(
)
∂T
1 ∂
∂T
ρ Cv
=
rκ
+ SJ − Sr ,
∂t
r∂r
∂r

(4)

(5)

along the radius r in the cylindrical coordinate.

4.2

Thermodynamic Property

The initial temperature is set as 300 K by a room temperature in the whole computational region. The
conventional thermal property data of copper in solid, liquid, and gas phases are given by Refs. [17–20].

4.3

Radiative Transfer

The radiative transfer equation is solved by the diﬀusion approximation [21]. Although, the WDM regime
is expected to be quite thick optically, the radiation generated in the interior of the WDM region is notable to pass through the WDM region. For this reason, the diﬀusion equation for the radiation energy
density E g is modiﬁed by∂E g= (4π B g − c E g ) κgP ,(6)∂talong the radius r in the cylindrical coordinate with a multi-group approximation in the frequency domaingroup g [22]. Here, E g is the radiation energy density at g th group,∫ νg+1Eν dννE g = ∫g νg+1
,
(7)
dν
νg
∫ νg+1

and
g

κP =

κν Bν dν∫ νg+1
,
Bν dν
νg

νg

is the Planck absorption coeﬃcient at g th group [23], and the blackbody intensity is∫ νg+1Bν dννg
B = ∫g νg+1
.
dν
νg

4.4

(8)

(9)

Opacity

According to the measuring instrument in the experimental setup [24], the frequency domain is divided
and grouped as Table 1.
The κν (1/cm) is the frequency ν dependent absorption coeﬃcient [25],κν = 7.13 × 10−16ni (Z ∗ + 1)2 exp {−(ξ − χ)},T 2 χ3

5(10)

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02010/1-10

Table 1 Relation between group number and frequency domain for multi-group approximation of radiationenergy density. Here, the wavelength λ of radiation is deﬁned as the speed of light c divided by the frequency
ν.
Group g
1
2
3
4
5
6

Wavelength λ> 800 nm800 ∼ 680 nm
680 ∼ 520 nm
520 ∼ 370 nm
370 ∼ 340 nm< 340 nmwhere ni is the ionic density (1/cm3 ), Z ∗ is the mean ionization degree (0.5 is assumed from the previous
experimental result [11]), χ = hν/T , and ξ = I0 /T . h is the Planck constant, I0 is the mean ionization
potential (7.73 eV for Cu), and T is the temperature with unit eV in this equation.
The radiative transfer with the ﬂux limited diﬀusion approximation [26] is calculated by∂E gc ∂E g
=−
,
∂t
r ∂r

(11)

in the sapphire region.

4.5

Input Power

Figure 4 shows the input power history, which is given by the corresponding experimental data [11, 24].

Input Power Pin [MW]

80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0

10

20

30

Time t [µs]Fig. 4 Input power history by pulsed power discharge experiment.

5

Experimental and Numerical Results

The numerical simulation conﬁrmed that the sample was achieved to be the temperature generating
WDM [13, 14], and the result could be compared with the experimental result [11].
Figure 5 shows the typical time evolution of WDM emission intensity Iν acquired by the streak camera
for ablating foam experiment from 8.5 to 13.5 µs [11] and the histories of radiation energy density obtained6

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02010/1-10

by the numerical simulations [15, 24]. The radiation energy densities as shown in Fig. 5 were evaluated
1200

0.7
Radiation Energy
Density w/ Skin Effect

0.6

1000
800

0.5
0.4

600

intensity

0.3

400

Intensity [a.u.]

Radiation Energy Density [J/m3]

0.8

0.2
Radiation Energy
Density w/o Skin Effect

0.1
0
0

5

10

15

20

25

200
0
30

Time [μs]Fig. 5 Histories of radiation energy density by numerical simulation and emission intensity by experiment [15].

at the outer boundary of the sapphire capillary. The emission intensity given by the experiment implies
the oscillated distribution in time. Consequently, the radiation energy density obtained by the numericalsimulation qualitatively corresponded to the experimental result.
The results indicated that the emission duration from WDM generated by in this system is estimatedto be about 4 µs. Thus, the required frequency response of detector as the spectroscopes is estimated to
be order of a few MHz.
Figure 6 shows the radiation energy density distributions as a function of time at each frequency group
given by the numerical simulation of time-dependent phenomena in the copper foam and the sapphire
capillary regions. The radiation energy density distribution at each frequency group corresponds to thetemperature distribution [14].
Figure 7 shows the numerically obtained radiation energy density observed at edge of capillary (r =4 mm) as a function of time at each frequency group. The previous experiment indicated that the sample
temperature achieved to be around 5000 K [11]. From Wien displacement law [27], the wavelength of the
maximum black-body emission, which is given by λW = 2.5 × 10−7 /T (where the unit of T is eV), isestimated at 580 nm for 5000 K. In this calculation, the wavelength of 580 nm is included in the domain
at g = 3, and the calculation result in Fig. 7 is conﬁrmed with the experimental result.
The radiation energy density is described by∫
1Eν =Iν dΩ,(12)c 4π
to integrate the emission intensity Iν by the solid angle Ω. In the case of uniform distribution of WDM, Eν =4πIν /c is assumed by the isotropic emission from the WDM. As a result, the radiation energy density can becompared to the emission intensity measured by using the fast multi-group analyzing spectroscope proposedin the previous section. When the emission intensity measurement with the multi-channel spectroscopy
system is completed, the radiative transfer calculation can be conﬁrmed with the experimental results, andthe calculation result will support the experimental results through the radiation distribution.

6

Conclusion

In this study, it was considered that both the numerical and experimental approaches were applied to7Radiation Energy Density E g [J/m3](a) g = 2
800 ~ 680 nm
3 x 10-15
2 x 10-15

3 x 10-15

1 x 10-15

2 x 10-15-15

1 x 10030

01Radiation Energy Density E g [J/m3]

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02010/1-10

20
2Radius r [mm]103Time t [μs]3 x 10-15
2 x 10-15

3 x 10-15

1 x 10-15

2 x 10-15-15

1 x 10030

01Radiation Energy Density E g [J/m3](b) g = 3
680 ~ 520 nmg

Radiation Energy Density E [J/m3]

4 0

20
2

Radius r [mm]103Time t [μs]g(c) g = 4
520 ~ 370 nm

Radiation Energy Density E [J/m3]

Radiation Energy Density E g [J/m3]

4 0

2 x 10-15
2 x 10-15

1 x 10-15

1 x 10-15
0
30

0
1

20
2

Radius r [mm]103Time t [μs](d) g = 5
370 ~ 340 nm

1 x 10-15
1 x 10-15
0
30

0
1

Radiation Energy Density E g [J/m3]

Radiation Energy Density E g [J/m3]

4 0

20
2

Radius r [mm]103Time t [μs]4 0Fig. 6 Radiation energy density distributions as a function of time at each frequency domain grouped, (a)for g = 2, (b) for g = 3, (c) for g = 4, and (d) for g = 5, respectively.

8

Radiation Energy Density Eg [J/m3]

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02010/1-10

g=3

10-16

g=2

0

g=4
g=5
30

0

5

10

15

20

25

Time t [μs]Fig. 7 Radiation energy density numerically observed at edge of capillary (r = 4 mm) as a function oftime at each frequency grouped. The dotted line indicates the radiation energy density for g = 2, thedashed-dotted curve indicates the radiation energy density for g = 3, the dashed line shows the radiationenergy density for g = 4, and the solid curve shows the radiation energy density for g = 5, respectively.

the generation and evaluation for WDM. To evaluate the properties in WDM and solid-plasma transition
process, we proposed the multi-group analysis approach from both the experimental observation and thenumerical simulation. The optical properties of WDM are observed by the fast spectroscopic ellipsometry.
To evaluate the multi-group optical properties, we developed the simple and fast spectroscope, in which
consists of the 16-channel photodiode array, the 4-channel voltage adder, and the ﬂat diﬀraction grating.
The results indicated that the frequency response of the 4-channel voltage adder is to conﬁrm detection
eﬃciency of spectroscope from radiation energy density, and it was considered that the constructed detector
is enough for spectroscopic ellipsometry.
To clear the thermal and optical properties of WDM, the numerical simulation of time-dependent onedimensional thermal diﬀusion with radiative transfer was carried out in the compact pulsed-power discharge
device. The numerical model was described to include the multi-group approximation for the radiationenergy density. The radiation energy density can be compared to the emission intensity measured by using
the fast multi-group analyzing spectroscope. Using the numerical model, the radiation energy density
depended on the frequency was shown with the experimental condition.
For the evaluation of the optical and thermal properties in the WDM regime, the numerical model developed will be applied in the various experimental conditions, and the calculation results will be conﬁrmed
with the experimental results in our near future work.
Also, to investigate the properties of WDM in the timescale of ICF implosion process, we plan theexperiment by using the intense pulsed power generator ”ETIGO-II”, which has large amount of output
power in short time. And in the plan, the numerical simulation developed in this study will be eﬀective
tool to support the solution of the phenomena obtained by the experiment.

Acknowledgment
This work was supported from MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientiﬁc Research, and by Program for High
Reliable Materials Design and Manufacturing in Nagaoka University of Technology, and by JSPS Grant-inAid for Challenging Exploratory Research No.25630418. This work was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid
for Young Scientists (B) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (23740406).

9

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02010/1-10

References[1] S. Atzeni and J. Meyer-Ter-Vehn, The Physics of Inertial Fusion: Beam Plasma Interaction, Hydrodynamics,
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[2] J.J. Fortney, N. Nettelmann, Space Sci. Rev., 152 (2010) 423.
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[10] T. Sasaki, T. Suzuki, Y. Amano, Y. Miki, T. Kikuchi, Nob. Harada, and K. Horioka, IOP Conf. Series: Material
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[11] Y. Amano, Y. Miki, T. Sasaki, T. Kikuchi, and Nob. Harada, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 83 (2012) 085107.
[12] E. Collett, Surf. Sci., 96 (1980) 156.
[13] T. Kikuchi, T. Sasaki, Nob. Harada, W. Jiang, and A. Tokuchi, ”Numerical Analysis for Low-Temperature
and Dense Plasma Generation using Pulsed Power Discharge Devices”, Plasma 2011, Kanazawa, Nov. 22-25,(2011) 23P162-R.
[14] T. Kikuchi, H. Saito, R. Hayashi, T. Sasaki, and Nob. Harada, ”Numerical Analysis and Experimental Evaluation for Low-Temperature and Dense Plasma Generation using Pulsed Power Discharge Device”, NIFS -PROC,
94 (2013) 80.
[15] T. Kikuchi, Y. Miki, H. Saito, R. Hayashi, T. Takahashi, T. Sasaki, T. Aso, and Nob. Harada, Proceedingsof 4th Euro-Asian Pulsed Power Conference and 19th International Conference on High-Power Particle Beams(EAPPC2012 / BEAMS2012), September 30 - October 4, 2012, Karlsruhe, Germany, P2C-3, Paper 320.
[16] T. Kikuchi, H. Saito, Y. Miki, R. Hayashi, T. Takahashi, T. Sasaki, T. Aso, and Nob. Harada, ”Numerical
Analysis for Evaluation of Thermal and Optical Properties in Warm Dense Matter Generated by Pulsed Power
Discharge”, NIFS -PROC, 93 (2013) 1.
[17] C.Y. Ho, R.W. Powell, and P.E. Liley, ”Thermal Conductivity of the Elements”, JPCRD, 1(2) (1972) 279.
[18] C.Y. Ho, R.W. Powell, and P.E. Liley, ”Thermal Conductivity of the Elements: A Comprehensive Review”,
JPCRD, 3(Suppl. 1) (1974) 1.
[19] NIST Standard Reference Database Number 69, http://webbook.nist.gov/chemistry/[20] M.W. Chase, NIST-JANAF Thermochemical Tables, Fourth Edition, J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data, Monograph 9(1998).
[21] J.I. Castor, Radiation Hydrodynamics (Cambridge University Press, 2007).
[22] S. Atzeni and J. Meyer-Ter-Vehn, The Physics of Inertial Fusion: Beam Plasma Interaction, Hydrodynamics,
Hot Dense Matter (Oxford Univ., N.Y., 2004) Chap. 7.3.
[23] L. Drska and M. Sinor, Computer Phys. Communications, 997 (1996) 1.
[24] H. Saito, Y. Miki, T. Takahashi, T. Sasaki, T. Kikuchi, T. Aso, and Nob. Harada, ”Study on Optical Properties
for Warm Dense Matter Generated by Pulsed-Power Discharge Device”, 11th APCPST (Asia Pacific Conferenceon Plasma Science and Technology) and 25th SPSM (Symposium on Plasma Science for Materials), Kyoto,
October 2-5, 1-P67, 2012.
[25] A. Mancic, J. Robiche, P. Antici, P. Audebert, C. Blancard, P. Combis, F. Dorchies, G. Faussurier, S. Fourmaux,
M. Harmand, R. Kodama, L. Lancia, S. Mazevet, M. Nakatsutsumi, O. Peyrusse, V. Recoules, P. Renaudin,
R. Shepherd, and J. Fuchs, High Energy Density Phys., 6 (2010) 21.
[26] C.D. Levermore and G.C. Pomraning, Astrophysical Journal, 248 (1981) 321.
[27] J.D. Huba, NRL Plasma Formulary (Naval Research Laboratory, 2011).

(Received: 2 September, 2013, Accepted:20 December 2013)10

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Vibration Isolation Stand for Transporting
the Injured using Pleasure Boat
Yoshiaki MITSUMA1, Shigehiro TOYAMA1*, Fujio IKEDA1, Hiroaki SETA2
1)
Nagaoka National College of Technology, Nagaoka, Niigata, Japan 940-8532
2)
Toba National College of Maritime Technology, Toba, Mie, Japan 517-8501*E-mail: toyama@nagaoka-ct.ac.jp

In various places of Japan, huge earthquakes are expected to occur.
Transportation of the injured from the isolated islands of Japan is an exigent
requirement. Using pleasure boats is considered as one of the transportation
method. Because shallow draft of pleasure boats enables to easily reach andleave damaged coasts of the islands. Few pleasure boats have automatic
control system with fins and hydrofoils to stabilize the vibration of their hulls
in the same way as large ships. The vibration of pleasure boats, which could
aggravate wounds of the injured, should be suppressed by vibration isolation
stands. This paper investigates two methods to reduce the natural frequencyof vibration isolation stands, so that the proposed stand is ready for
low-frequency vibration by waves. One of the methods is using the tri-linear
spring mechanism to realize a low stiffness in equilibrium. The other method
is using rotational inertia mechanism with a clutch to increase the apparent
sprung mass.

1. Introduction
In the various places of Japan, huge earthquakes, such as the 2011 off the pacific coast of Tohoku
earthquake, are expected to occur. The government of Japan is planning emergency responses andinstituting policies to meet such anticipated disasters [1]. As an emergency response, thetransportation of the injured from the isolated islands of Japan is an exigent requirement. The use ofpleasure boats such as the training boat “Asama”, which belongs to Toba National College of
Maritime Technology and is shown in Fig. 1, is considered as a valid transportation method, since
the shallow draft of pleasure boats enables to easily reach and leave the damaged coasts of theislands. Although large ships have automatic control systems with fins and hydrofoils to stabilize thevibration of their hulls, few pleasure boats have such a stabilization system. If the injured werecarried on pleasure boats without taking any stabilization measures, the vibration of the boats could
aggravate their wounds. Therefore, vibration isolation stands should be investigated for pleasureboats. The vibration isolation stands of high standard ambulances have been studied [2], [3] andhave been put to practical use. These stands, however, are inappropriate for use in pleasure boats,
due to the low-frequency and high-amplitude vibration by waves. Apparently, no research has been
carried out on vibration isolation stands for pleasure boats.
This paper proposes two mechanisms to reduce the natural frequency of vibration isolation stands,
so that the proposed stand is ready for the low-frequency vibration. One of these mechanisms is a
tri-linear spring mechanism, which exhibits low stiffness in equilibrium. The other is a rotational
inertia mechanism to increase the apparent sprung mass. A clutch mechanism of the rotational
mechanism and its control law are proposed by a consideration of excitation condition for therotational inertia mechanism.

1Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02011/1-8

Fig. 1 Training boat “Asama”
2. Vibration isolation characteristics of typical passive type stand2.1 Standard of vibration isolation
While pleasure boats are moving straight, their main hull vibration is pitching motion. The
pitching motion is assumed to be a vertical vibration whose largest amplitude is 0.105[m], and the
maximum frequency of the spectrum is 5.2[rad/s], according to a number of our experiments andmultiple references [4-6]. Based upon the level of ride quality and the reported experience ofseasickness [7], [8], it can be seen that the condition of the subjects took a turn for the worse when
their vertical acceleration exceeded 0.3[m/s2].
Based on these results, a standard of vibration isolation is defined so that the vertical accelerationof the injured, who are transported on the proposed stand, must not exceed 0.3[m/s2] for the verticalvibration. Therefore, the gain characteristics of the transfer function G(s) , from the acceleration of
the installation floor of the proposed stand to the acceleration of the injured, need to satisfy thefollowing inequality.

0.3
  5.2 [rad/s]
(1)0.105 2
Figure 2 graphs Eq. (1). In this figure, slant line area shows an undesirable zone to be unsatisfied
with Eq. (1). If the gain characteristics of the transfer function for the propose stand reaches the slantline area, the hull vibration can negatively effects the injured.
G( j ) 

Fig. 2 Standard of vibration isolation from acceleration of
installation floor to acceleration of the injured
2.2 Typical model of passive type vibration isolation standSeveral kinds of the vibration isolation stand have been examined for the standard. One of those isa typical passive model for vibration isolation stands, as shown in Fig. 3. In this model, m is the
sprung mass including the injured, k is the spring constant, and c is the viscous damping coefficient.
Then, transfer function G(s) , from the acceleration a f of the installation floor of the proposed
stand to the acceleration a s of the injured, is described as follows.

G(s) 

cs  km s  cs  k
2

The natural frequency  n of the passive type stand is given as follows.

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k(3)mFigure 4 shows the tendency of change for the gain diagram of the transfer function Eq. (2) when theviscous damping coefficient c varies. From this figure, it can be seen that the gain around the natural
frequency is decreased by the increase in the viscous damping coefficient c, though the gain in thehigh frequency range is increased. It is difficult for the passive type stand to satisfy the standard withadjustment of the viscous damping coefficient c. Therefore, some mechanisms of reducing thenatural frequency itself are required.

n Fig. 3 Passive type vibration isolation standFig. 4 Gain diagram of Eq. (2) when viscousdamping coefficient c varies

3. Tri-linear spring mechanism
3.1 Tri-linear spring characteristics
As a method to reduce the natural frequency of the propose stand, the bi-linear spring characteristics,
which decrease stiffness in equilibrium as shown in Fig. 5, have been studied [9]. The characteristics

can secure both support stiffness of the injured and low stiffness in equilibrium. Excessive
acceleration, however, can be caused by bumping against the stopper at the time of over stroke,
because the low stiffness can produce more compression deflection than necessary. To solve thisproblem, this paper proposes the use of the tri-linear spring characteristics, as shown in Fig. 6. The
high degree of stiffness, which is given to the both sides of the low stiffness area near theequilibrium position, can absorb the kinetic energy of the injured on the proposed stand before
hitting the stopper. Figure 7 shows a spring mechanism with such spring characteristics [10]. The
outer case places restrictions on the motion of the slide board in the range hb. The pre-compression
force P01 is given by the helical compression spring I, whose spring constant is k1. Until the load P
exceeds P01, only the helical compression spring II, whose spring constant is k2, is compressed.
When the load P exceeds P01, both spring I and spring II are connected in series, and the equivalentspring constant becomes k1k 2 k1  k 2  . In the case that the spring constant k1 is equal to the spring
constant k2, the equivalent spring constant becomes the minimum k1 2 . After the load P exceeds
P02 and the slide board travels hb, only spring II is compressed by the load P. These tri-linear springcharacteristics can be described as follows.

k2 x k  k2
x  x01   P01
P 1
k
k
 1 2
 k 2 x  x02   P02

0  x  x01 x01  x  x02 x02  x  xlim (4)where xlim is the maximum deflection of the spring mechanism, l1 is the free length of spring I, theother parameters are described as follows.

x01 

3

P01
k2

(5)

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k1  k 2
P02  P01   x01
k1k 2

(6)

P01  k1 l1  hr 

(7)

P02  k1 l1  hr  hb 

(8)

x02 

Fig. 5 Bi-linear spring characteristics

Fig. 6 Tri-linear spring characteristics

Fig. 7 Fundamental mechanism of tri-linear spring
3.2 Tri-linear spring mechanism
In order to secure the stroke of the proposed stand, the helical compression springs of thefundamental spring mechanism shown in Fig. 7 need to have a long free length. These long springs
need to be guided, though, either in a tube or over a rod, to minimize buckling. However, friction
against the tube or rod could prevent smooth motion of the proposed stand, and these guides could
limit the carrying space. Therefore, a different mechanism that employs only helical extension
springs is proposed here. Figure 8 shows the proposed tri-linear spring mechanism. The principle ofits action is the same as that of the fundamental spring mechanism shown in Fig. 7. In Fig. 8, it canbe seen that the iron wires and pulleys can position the extension springs horizontally. It can thus beexpected that the laid springs would reduce the overall height of the proposed stand.

Fig. 8 Proposed tri-linear spring mechanism
Figure 9(a) shows prototype of the proposed spring mechanism. Figure 9(b) shows thecomposition of the prototype, and Fig. 9(c) shows the arrangement of the extension springs in the4Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02011/1-8

slide board. The other extension springs arranged under the installation board are arranged like thoseof the slide board. By the parallel connection of four extension springs, which have a free length of
0.269 [m] and a spring constant of 1500 [N/m], the spring constants k1 and k2 are each set as 6000
[N/m] for the weight of the injured. That is, the equivalent spring constant near the point ofequilibrium is 3000 [N/m]. The normal stroke x02  x01 near the equilibrium is designed as 0.377[m], and the length x01 and xlim  x02 for absorbing the kinetic energy at the time of over stroke aredesigned as 0.08 [m]. Figure 10 shows the experimental results for the spring characteristics of the
prototype with the proposed tri-linear spring mechanism. From this figure, it can be seen that the low
stiffness for the normal stroke and the high stiffness against over stroke can be realized in the design,and that each stroke length of the tri-linear spring characteristics can be achieved as desired.

(a) Outside of experimental setup(b) Composition of experimental setup(c) Arrangement of extension springs in slide board
Fig. 9 Prototype of proposed tri-linear spring mechanism

Fig. 10 Characteristics of prototype with proposed tri-linear spring mechanism
4. Rotational inertia mechanism
4.1 Fundamental rotational inertia mechanism
As a method to reduce the natural frequency, applying of the rotational inertia mechanism into the
proposed stand is considered. A simple mechanism of the ball screw type dampers [11], which use
function of rotational inertia as shown in Fig. 11, is investigated. The displacement z of the ballscrew shaft is transformed into the rotation angle  of the flywheel with the moment of inertia J.
The resistance force F satisfies the following equation.

5

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F

J
 i 2 Jz
L 2 (9)where i  2 L and L is the lead of the ball screw shaft. From Eq. (9), it can be seen that theresistance force F of the rotational inertia mechanism is proportional to the acceleration z of theload column. That is i 2 J refers to the inertial mass.
To verify the effectiveness of the rotational inertia mechanism, let us assume a model of a passive
vibration isolation stand with a rotational inertia mechanism as shown in Fig. 12. In Fig. 12, m is the
sprung mass including the injured, k is the spring constant of the support spring in equilibrium, y isthe displacement of the injured, and d is the displacement of the floor. Then, the equation of motion
for the stand model is described as follow.

my  i 2 J y  d  k  y  d (10)Further, the transfer function G(s) , from the acceleration of the installation floor of the proposed
stand to the acceleration of the injured, is described as follows.
G(s) 

i 2 Js 2  km  i J  s  k
2

2

(11)

The natural frequency  n of the propose stand with rotation inertia mechanism is described asfollows.

n km  i2J(12)From this equation, it can be seen that the propose stand with rotational inertia reduces the natural
frequency  n . Because apparent sprung mass of the propose stand increases by the inertia mass i 2 J
in comparison to the typical passive type stand, which consists of the linear spring and a viscousdamper as described in Eq. (3).

Fig. 11 Typical structure of rotational inertia
mechanism

Fig. 12 Passive model with fundamental
rotational inertia mechanism

Fig. 13 Gain diagram of passive model with fundamental rotational inertia mechanism

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Figure 13 shows an example of the gain diagram of the transfer function Eq. (11) varies with themoment of inertia J. From this figure, it can be seen that the gain characteristics in the highfrequency range is increased, though the natural frequency  n is reduced by the increase in the
moment of inertia J. Therefore, the propose stand requires new mechanism to reduce the gain in thehigh frequency range.
4.2 Proposed rotational inertia mechanism and its control law
From Chapter 4.1, the gain characteristics of the passive model with the fundamental rotational
inertia mechanism are investigated. As a result, it can be seen that the gain characteristics increases
in the high frequency range, although the natural frequency is reduced. The result causes the relative
degree of the transfer function in Eq. (11) is zero. If the resistance force F of the ball screw shaft is
proportional to the acceleration y , the numerator polynomial of Eq. (11) is k, the relative degree ofthe transfer function is one. As a result, the mechanism can reduce both the gain around the natural
frequency and that in the high frequency range at the same time.
The resistance force F could work as an excitation force corresponding to the phase condition
between the acceleration y and the relative acceleration y  d . Therefore, taken note of the phasecondition, a new mechanism installing a clutch in the rotational inertia mechanism in order to cut off
flywheel and its control law are considered. Figure 14(a) shows state of cutting off the clutch, so thatthe rotational inertia mechanism cannot occur the excitation force. Figure 14(b) shows state ofconnecting the clutch. Then, the resistance force occurs in proportion to the acceleration. The control
law to cut off the flywheel with the clutch is described as follows.



i 2 J y  d
F 

0

 
yy  d  0

y y  d  0(13)

To verify the effectiveness of the rotational inertia mechanism with clutch, the gain diagram wascalculated by numerical simulation, as shown in Fig. 15. Table 1 shows the parameter values in the
numerical simulation. From this figure, it can be seen that the gain decreased by 7dB degree in thehigh frequency range. However, it can be seen that the gain is not improved dramatically in all
frequency range, although new mechanism can solve the gain characteristics of high frequency
range.

(a) cut off clutch(b) connect clutch
Fig. 14 Rotational inertia mechanism with clutch
Table 1 Simulation parameters
Sprung mass including the injured m
70 [kg]Spring constant with proposed
3000 [N/m]tri-linear spring mechanism k
Lead of ball screw shaft L
0.02 [m]Moment of inertia J
1.4  102 [kg·m2]

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Fig. 15 Gain diagram of passive stand with proposed rotational inertia mechanism
5. Conclusion
Two methods to reduce the natural frequency of the vibration isolation stands were proposed. The
one method is the tri-linear spring mechanism with extension springs. The prototype of the tri-linear
spring mechanism shows the desired spring characteristics. Also, installing the rotational inertia inthe vibration isolation stands was investigated as the other method in order to decrease the natural
frequency. From simulation results, it can be seen that the proposed rotational inertia mechanismwith clutch can improve the gain around the natural frequency and the gain in high frequency range
at the same time. However the gain is not improved dramatically in all frequency range.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) No. 23710210 from theJapan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), for which the authors express their deepest
gratitude.
References[1] Cabinet Office, Government of Japan, White Paper on Disaster Management, (2010)[2] T. Ono and H. Inooka, 2 Degree-of-freedom Actively-controlled Bed for Ambulances,
Transactions of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Series C, Vol. 71, No. 711,
pp.3152-3158, (2005)[3] G. Kawashima, Study for Active Controlled Pendulum Type Bed for Vehicle (Prevention of thePatient Sliding on the Bed), Transactions of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Series
C, Vol. 68, No. 670, pp.1626-1632, (2002)[4] S. Toyama, H. Seta and F. Ikeda, Development of Semi-active Suspension System for Boat Seat,
Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Motion and Vibration Control, pp.712-717,(2006)[5] M. Hineno and Y. Yamauchi, Spectrum of Ocean Waves, The Society of Naval Architects ofJapan, Vol. 609, pp.160-180, (1980)[6] T. Fossen, Marine Control Systems, Marine Cybernetics, (2002)[7] T. Gotou, Oscillating Limit from Human Body Response, The Society of Naval Architects ofJapan, Vol. 583, pp.10-20, (1978)[8] Y. Ikeda and R. Shigehiro, Evaluation Method of Ride Comfort for Vessels, The Kansai Society ofNaval Architects RAN, Vol. 20, pp.17-22, (1993)[9] M. Ueda, K. Ohmata, R. Yamagishi, J. Yokoo, Vertical and Three-Dimensional Seismic

Isolation Tables with Bilinear Spring Force Characteristics : For Which a Λ-Shaped Link
Mechanism Is Used (Mechanical Systems), Transactions of the Japan Society of MechanicalEngineers, Series C, Vol. 73, No. 735, pp.60-67, (2007)[10] M. Kunieda, Practical Mechanics, Rikougaku-sha, (1999)[11] K. Ohmata and H. Shimoda, Studies on Ball Screw Type Damper with Flyball Governor : 1stReport, Case in Which Ball Nut Is Attached to Primary Mass, Transactions of the Japan Societyof Mechanical Engineers, Series C, Vol. 51, No. 467, pp.1472-1481, (1985)(Received: 23 June, 2013, Accepted: 31 July, 2013)8

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02012/1-7

Small-Size MHD Experiments and Simulation at WNCT and NUT
Shinji Takeshita1,*, Naoya Ikoma1,
Yusuke Sasaki , Toru Sasaki2, Takashi Kikuchi2, Nobuhiro Harada2
1)
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Wakayama National College of Technology,
77 Noshima, Nada, Gobo, Wakayama 640-0023, Japan2)
Department of Electrical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology,1603-1 Kamitomioka-cho, Nagaoka 940-2188, Japan*E-mail: takeshita@wakayama-nct.ac.jp
2

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and study small-size MHD
power generation experiment and simulation of pulse MHD accelerationin Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT) and Wakayama National
College of Technology (WNCT). As results, in the simulations for pulse
MHD acceleration in NUT, the acceleration effect of electrodes length of
5 mm was stronger than for the case of electrodes length of 5 mm, and thegain of thrust efficiency of 8 % was obtained at the MHD channel exit.
Because high negative current density distribution on the electrodes
induced increase of the gas pressure, the plasma was shifted to thedownstream of the MHD channel with time variation, and Lorenz force
was not generated effectively for electrodes length of 50 mm. On theother hand, high negative current density was only generated on theelectrodes at the center of the MHD channel. It means Lorenz force was
generated effectively for the case of electrodes length of 5 mm. In
preliminary study of MHD power generation experiment in WNCT, it isfound output voltage of 0.1 V with plasma injection.

1. Introduction
Recently, space missions, for example, the cargo shipments to International Space Station (ISS),
planetary exploration vehicles and artificial satellites, are actively pursued. The researchers have toselect the best propulsion system corresponding to the destination, the mission term and the runningcost. For example, chemical rocket is suitable for the launching because it has high thrust and it ispossible to reach the space for a short time. However in space exploration outside the solar system,
the high thrust is not needed and we must choose the propulsion system which has high specificimpulse. As one of representative case, ion thruster, which was the propulsion system of “Hayabusa”
explorer, achieved to move about 60 hundred million km [1].
A magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) accelerator is one of the candidates for next generation
propulsion system, for example, R. J. Rosa proposed new concept propulsion system, which is MHD
generator with nuclear technology extracts output power to apply combustion gas [2]. In addition,
Holt et al studied MHD generator which applied liquid fuel and O2 gas mixture as working gas [3].
Propulsion principle of MHD acceleration is performed by interaction of magnetic field and current.
Figure 1 is indicated principle of the MHD acceleration. Firstly, plasma flows in the channel with auniform magnetic field, and then if we supply electrical field to beat internal electromotive force (i.e.
u×B) by the plasma itself, Lorenz force F is generated by the current density J and the magnetic
field B (i.e. J×B). Therefore plasma is accelerated by Lorenz force eventually.
Conventional MHD experiments need huge budget and human resource because it is necessary
to set up combustion gas plasma sources superconducting coils, power supplies and MHD channelsof large size etc. In fact, a small number of research institutes only could carry out by MHD
generation/acceleration experiments all over the world.
In Nagaoka University of Technology (NUT), they have been studying small-size MHD

1

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experiments and simulation since 2008 [4]-[11], and clarifying plasma behavior and its
characteristics in both by MHD experiments and simulations. The advantages of small-size MHD
experiment are low cost, simple instruments, and it is possible to observe plasma behavior even if in
the small-size MHD channel because governing equations are quite same and fundamental properties
are not varied. Although Moeller et al have also studied small-size pulse MHD acceleration
experiment, this work focused on application to nuclear electric propulsion system [12]. Moreover
one of our concepts is to utilize solid rocket fuel. It means MHD accelerator combined with solid
rocket engine to operate flow control.
The purpose of this paper is to study the approach of MHD experiments and simulations at NUT
in particular relationship of applied magnetic flux density and acceleration effects for pulse MHD
acceleration, and preliminary study of MHD experiment in Wakayama National College ofTechnology (WNCT), and its results.

Fig. 1 Principle of MHD acceleration

2. MHD Experiment and Simulation at NUT
Here, we introduce in both pulse MHD acceleration experiment and the numerical simulation at
NUT. The aim of this section is to verify the relationship of applied magnetic flux density andacceleration effect for the experiments and behaviour of the plasma for the experiment as pulse
current is supplied on simulation. The configuration of small-size MHD channel at NUT is indicatedin Fig. 2, and the channel length is 75 mm, and its cross sectional area is constantly 20×20 mm2 inthe channel. In addition, the electrodes are set in the middle of the channel. Applied magnetic flux
density is supplied by neodymium magnets. Pulse forming network (PFN) is shown in Fig.3. This
circuit consists of a three-stage ladder LC circuit, a matching load, a power supply and the load
(MHD channel). It has a possibility that the output current is varied by the plasma resistance.
Therefore matching load of 2  is inserted to the circuit. Figure 4 shows waveform of input pulse
current, whose peak is −1.2 kA and width is 200 s, is applied to the MHD channel. In Fig. 5, theprofiles of applied magnetic flux density of experimental data and simulation curve are indicated.
The peak value is about 0.2 T at the MHD channel of 40 mm however the profile in simulation is
fitting by Gaussian distribution and the peak value is shifted to the channel length of 35 mm.
Moreover plasma source is obtained by the fuel of an Estes Corp. model rocket engine C6-0.
As a numerical simulation model for 1D simulation, these governing equations are applied asfollow [9]. Analytical scheme is upwind scheme, in addition, analysis condition is indicated Table 1.
Inlet gas velocity of 300 m/s, inlet gas temperature of 1900 K and mass flow rate of 1.293 kg/m3 are
kept at the channel inlet as initial condition. As boundary condition, free outflow condition by
advection equation at channel exit is applied, in addition wall temperature, collision to the wall ofchannel and viscosity are not considered in this simulation.
In this simulation, electrodes lengths of 5 and 50 mm are applied. This current density is also
varied to −12.0 MA/m2 for the case of 5 mm, and −1.2 MA/m2 for the case of 50 mm at that sametime, and then the effect of self-magnetic field by high current is not considered. Moreover appliedmagnetic flux density is also varied because acceleration effect by Lorenz force is directly linked
applied magnetic flux density and current density.

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continuity equation;



u
 uz
  ztzz ,where  is density and uz is gas velocity of z-direction.
momentum equation;u z
1 P J y Bxu
 uz z  

t
z
 z
 ,

where P is gas pressure and Bx is magnetic flux density of x-direction.
energy equation;2uH H  P  J y uz H  P  z
t
z

z ,

where H is enthalpy, Jy is current density of y-direction (Faraday current density), and  is gas
conductivity,
equation of state;P  RTg,
where R is gas constant, and Tg is gas temperature,and equation of enthalpy;

1 2H    c v Tg  u 2 .
Here, we note fluid of x-direction and y-direction are assumed uniformity distribution, and gas
velocity of z-direction, gas pressure, density and enthalpy are varied temporally and spatially by
above governing equations.

Fig. 3 Pulse current generating circuit using bypulse forming network (PFN)
Applied Magnetic Flux Density[T]Fig. 2 Experimental setup of MHD acceleration

Current[kA]

0.2
-0.2
-0.6
-1
-1.4
0

50

100

Time[μs]

150

200

0.25

Simulation
Experiment

0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0

Fig. 4 Waveform of input pulse current

10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Channel Length[mm]Fig. 5 Distribution of applied magnetic flux
density3

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Table 1 Analysis condition
Channel length (m)

0.075
2

Cross sectional area of channel (mm )20×20Electrode length (mm)5,50

Inlet gas velocity (m/s)

300

Inlet gas temperature (K)1900
3

Inlet mass flow rate (kg/m )1.293

Applied magnetic flux density (T)0-2.0 (peak)

3. Results and Discussion
The profiles of outlet gas velocity for simulation are shown in Fig. 6. Both profiles of outlet gas
velocity was accelerated by increased applied magnetic flux density, in particular, for the case ofcurrent density of −12.0 MA/m2 (electrodes length of 5 mm), the inclination of acceleration was
more significant. And then it is accelerated to 510 m/s for the case of magnetic flux density of 2 T.
Here, both gas velocities for the case of applied magnetic flux density of 0 T was also increased toabout 400 and 480 m/s. Because joule heating induced increasing of gas pressure by the equation ofstate, and then fluid density is also decreased. Therefore gas velocity is finally increased bycontinuity and momentum equations.

Velocity at Outletof MHD Channel[m/s]520

Applied Magnetic Flux Density

50mm

480
440
400
360

2
：-12.0MA/m
2： -1.2 MA/m

0
0.5
1
1.5
2
Applied Magnetic Flux Density[T]5mmFig. 7
Current density distribution forelectrodes length of 50 mm
Maximum Thrust Efficiency[%]Fig. 6 Relationship of outlet gas velocity andapplied magnetic flux density
Applied Magnetic Flux Density

50

8% gain
40

2T
0T

30
20

2% gain

10
0
-12.0
-1.2
Applied Current Density[MA/m2]

Fig. 8 Current density
electrodes length of 5 mm

distribution

forFig. 9 Relationship of applied magnetic flux
density, current density and thrust efficiency

4

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Current density distribution with time variation is indicated Figs.7 and 8 respectively. Here, wenote that negative high current density is operated to Lorenz force to accelerate the plasma
effectively (see in Fig.4), and applied magnetic flux density in both cases is 2 T at the center of
MHD channel. For the case of electrodes length of 50 mm (current density is −1.2 MA/m2), negative
current density about −1.5 to −2.5 MA/m2 was generated from channel length of 12 to 62 mm at 0 s.
As time goes by, negative current density was shifted to downstream of the MHD channel, and after
about 70 s, high negative current density was concentrated from channel length of 45 to 62 mm.
This is because pressure gradient by joule heating generated and propagated to the upstream anddownstream of MHD channel, in addition, and then flow-in of the plasma prevented to the
midstream of MHD channel. Moreover, the peak of applied magnetic flux density was the center of
MHD channel. Accordingly, Lorenz force was not generated effectively. On the other hand, the caseof length of electrodes is 50 mm (current density is −12.0 MA/m2), negative current density about−10 to −20 MA/m2 was generated about from the center of the MHD channel. This current density
distribution was just agreed with the peak of applied magnetic flux density, thus we could estimate
easily Lorenz force was also generated effectively. In Fig.9, this figure shows thrust efficiency forthe cases of −1.2 and −12.0 MA/m2, and then gain of thrust efficiency of 8 % was obtained for thecase of −1.2 MA/m2.
4. Preliminary Study of MHD Experiment at WNCTWe carried out preliminary MHD power generation experiment which starts just from this year.
As plasma source, we employed electron gas torch by Style Index Corp. PRINCE GT100. Because
this gas combustion temperature is between 2100 and 2400 K, the price is affordable price, long time
driven is available and it has the possibility to driven without seed material due to suitable hightemperature for conservation of plasma condition. The purpose of this experiment at WNCT is to
extract the output power from plasma by gas torch directly as electrical energy using more simplified
and portable facilities. If it is achieved, we are able to perform also MHD acceleration experimentwith the plasma by gas torch using by repetitively pulse power technology. It means it has possibility
to perform continuity operation for MHD experiment. Moreover, this experiment will apply in open
lecture of WNCT for local junior high and elementary school students to induce interest to thescience.
In Fig.10, experimental setup at WNCT is shown. As experimental condition, specification of
MHD channel is almost same with the experiment at NUT (see in Table 1), applied magnetic flux
density is 0.307 T (peak) and external load of 15 k is connected with the electrodes of the MHD
channel. Gas combustion in the MHD channel is shown in Fig.11, and we can understand theplasma is generating from gas torch slightly.

Fig. 10 Experimental setup in WNCTFig. 11 MHD power generation experimentusing by gas torch

5Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02012/1-7

Fig. 12 Output voltage by plasma without seedmaterial for external load of 15 k

Fig. 13 Output voltage by plasma without seedmaterial for external load of 63 M

As a result, output voltage obtained is shown in Fig.12. The duration of plasma generation was
about 1 sec and magnitude of the voltage is gained from −100 to 100 mV at that duration. This is asign of power extraction because the amplitude of the output voltage vibrated sharply. However,normal MHD output power should be direct current. The cause is induced by various factors forexample, difference in temperature, lack of plasma volume, thermal noise etc., here we derived
plasma resistance by waveform of plasma discharge for CR discharge circuit, and external load of 63
M is set again. As a result, in Fig.13, output voltage of about 0.1V is obtained finally.

5. Conclusion
In this paper, small-size MHD experiments and simulation at NUT and WNCT are introduced
and studied. Particularly, MHD simulation for the relationship of applied magnetic flux density andacceleration effects for pulse MHD acceleration at NUT, and preliminary study of MHD experiment
at WNCT, and we obtained as follow.
In the simulations for pulse MHD acceleration at NUT, the acceleration effect of shorter
electrodes length (electrodes length of 5 mm) was stronger than for the case of longer electrodes
length (electrodes length of 5 mm), the gain of 8 % was obtained at the MHD channel exit. Because
high negative current density distribution between the electrodes induced increase of the gaspressure, the plasma was shifted to the downstream of the MHD channel with time variation, andLorenz force was not generated effectively for the case of electrodes length of 50 mm. On the other
hand, high negative current density was only generated between the electrodes at the center of the
MHD channel, it means Lorenz force was generated effectively for the case of electrodes length of 5mm.
In preliminary study of MHD power generation experiment at WNCT, it was found the sign ofoutput power with plasma injection. Although this output signal contained hard noise signal and it
was vibrated to positive and negative, however to derive external resistance, and output voltage of
0.1 V is obtained.
Acknowledgments
This research is partly supported by College of Technology - NUT joint research aid. We would
like to express us gratitude to Nagaoka University of Technology. In addition, we would like toanonymous reviewers for their valuable moments on the paper.
Nomenclatureuz:

gas velocity of z-direction (m/s)

:density (kg/m3)

J y:current density of y-direction (A/m2)

P

static gas pressure (Pa)6

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02012/1-7

Tg:static gas temperature (K)H:enthalpy (J/m3)

B x:

applied magnetic flux density of z-direction (T)R:

gas constant (J/mol/K)

cv

specific heat at constant volume (J/kg/K)

References[1] S. Hosoda, and H. Kuninaka, J. Plasma Fusion Res., 86 (2010) 5.
[2]

R. Rosa, AIAA/SAE/ASME 18th Joint Propulsion Conference, (1982) AIAA-1982-1212.

[3] J. Holt, and D. Swallom, Annual Intersociety Energy Conversion and Engineering Conference,(1975)A75-45920.
[4] A. Kubo, K. Suwa, T. Sasaki, T. Sasaki, T. Kikuchi, and N. Harada, 17th International
Conference on MHD Energy Conversion, (2009)4-6.
[5] N. Harada, A. Kubo, T. Suzuki, W.Watahiki, T.Kikuchi and T. Sasaki, 41st Plasmadynamics
and Lasers Conferences, (2010) AIAA-2010-4305.
[6] Y. Takai, Y. Naganuma, S. Takayanagi, T. Sasaki, T. Kikuchi, and N. Harada, 50th AIAA
Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition,(2012)AIAA-2012-0357.
[7] S. Takeshita, Y. Sasaki, T. Sasaki, T. Kikuchi, and N. Harada, Kosen Education Forum 2012,(2012)PO_A27(Japanese).
[8] Y. Takai, S. Takayanagi, T. Tanaka, T. Sasaki, T. Kikuchi, T. Aso, and N. Harada, IEEJ Trans.
FM, 132(2012)12 .
[9] Y. Takai, S. Takayanagi, T. Tanaka, T. Sasaki, T. Kikuchi, T. Aso, and N. Harada, 51th AIAA
Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition,(2013)AIAA-2013-0176.
[10] Y. Sasaki, T, Sasaki, T. Aso, T. Kikuchi, and N. Harada, IEEJ National Convention 2013,(2013)1-086 (Japanese).
[11] N. Harada, J. Ikewada, and Y. Terasaki, 33rd AIAA Plasmadynamics and Lasers Conference,(2002) AIAA-2002-2175.
[12] T. Moeller, D. Keefer, and R. Rhodes, IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science,(2004)4P52.
(Received: 23 June, 2013, Accepted: 6th April, 2014)7

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02013/1-8

Usability Evaluation of Steering System for Pleasure Boat
with Eye Tracking Device
Kohei IIHAMA1, Shigehiro TOYAMA1, Fujio IKEDA1, Hiroaki SETA2, Nobuo EZAKI2
1)
Nagaoka National College of Technology, Nagaoka, Niigata, Japan 940-0532
2)
Toba National College of Maritime Technology, Toba, Mie, Japan 517-8501*E-mail: toyama@nagaoka-ct.ac.jp

The reason for the increase in the number of maritime accidents are therise of beginner captains and complicated maneuverability of pleasure boats.
Although good usability should be secured against the complicatedmaneuverability of manual hydraulic steering systems, which are widely used
for pleasure boats, is not satisfactory. Ahead of the developing steer-by-wire(SBW) system that could improve the usability dramatically, an evaluation
method to quantitate the usability has already been proposed. The evaluation
method decides to value effectiveness, effciency and satisfaction, which are
selected as the evaluated standards based on ISO 9241-11, in a task
programmed into a simplified ship simulator. This paper proposes new
evaluation criteria adding gaze of the subjects into the those selected
standards of the previous method. The availability of the new evaluation
method is verified through some experiments with the simplified ship
simulator. As a result, it can be seen that the new evaluation method canjudge the usability more clearly than the previous method.

1. Introduction
The number of maritime accidents of pleasure boats has a trend to increase in recent years [1]. The
factors of the trend are rise of beginner captains and complicated maneuverability of pleasure boats.
If especially beginner captains steer pleasure boats, it is necessary to secure good usability ofsteering system. It is, however, hard to say that the usability of manual hydraulic steering mechanism,
which is widely used in pleasure boats, is superior. One of the reasons is that reaction torque of thehelm through steering systems is not so rich that captains can feel nonlinear characteristics at normalpressure of rudder. Another reason is not so quick steering, since the helm lock to lock is generally
4–7 turns. As a method of improving the usability, steer-by-wire (SBW) system as developed for
airplanes and automobiles [2]-[12] can also be considered for pleasure boats [13], [14].
Ahead of developing SBW system, an evaluation method to quantitate the usability has alreadybeen proposed by us [15]. The evaluation method sets subjects a task programmed into a simplified
ship simulator. In trials of the task, effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction, which are selected as
the evaluated standards based on ISO 9241-11, are valued. This paper proposes new evaluation
criteria adding gaze of the subjects into those evaluated standards, so that the usability can be judged
more clearly than the previous method. The availability of the new evaluation method is verified
through some experiments with the simplified ship simulator.

2. Simplified ship simulator
Figure 1(a) shows the components of the simplified ship simulator programmed a task toevaluate the usability of steering systems. The simplified ship simulator can execute high safety andreproducible experiments. The ship simulator composes HILS (Hardware In the Loop Simulation),
which is a technique used the development and test of complex real-time embed system. As the
hardware of the HILS, manual hydraulic steering system such as a helm pump (NE1073-00,
Nippatsu Telefrex Inc.), a hydraulic cylinder (NE1009-00, Nippatsu Telefrex Inc.) and a ruddermechanism are employed as shown in Figure 1(b) and 1(c). The helm lock to lock is 5.4 turns. The
simulation software “NAUTIS” from VSTEP, which is widely used in voyage training, is installed
as the software of the HILS. The simulator can output some simulation data such as ship motions,1Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02013/1-8

rudder angle and propeller revolution in real-time. The measurement signal of the rudder angle withthe potentiometer is sent to the rudder angle indicator and the simulation PC. Also, the propeller
revolution signal with the throttle lever is sent to the simulation PC. Then, the simulation software“NAUTIS” calculates the ship motion corresponding to those inputs. Based on the computation, theship motion is described on the three monitors from a view point of captain.

indicator(a) Components(b) Steering mechanism(c) Hydraulic cylinder and rudder mechanism

Fig. 1 Simplified ship simulator
3. Eye tracking system “View Tracker”
Figure 2 shows “View Tracker” from Ditect inc., which is employed as a head mount type eye
tracking system in this research. Measuring pupil motion with reflection light from a cornea, the eye
tracking system can digitize and visualize the point of gaze. The view camera acquires a scenery
image, and the pupil camera acquires the pupil image with the reflecting mirror. Figure 3(a) and 3(b)show an example of digitizing the eye tracking data. Figure 3(a) graphs the pupil position and thepoint of gaze. Figure 3(b) shows steady gaze time by area in the scenery image.

Fig. 2 Eye tracking system “View tracker” [16]2Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02013/1-8(a) Pupil and point of gaze(b) Steady gaze time by are
Fig. 3 Example of digitizing eye tracking data with “View tracker”
4. Evaluation method of usability
4.1 Experimental environment and task
In order to compare with the previous evaluation method of usability, the experimentenvironment and the task of the new evaluation method are set in the same way. The experimental
environment is formed from simulation with the simplified ship simulator. The experimental task isavoiding an obstacle and resuming the original course safety and urgently in poor visibility of adense fog as shown in Fig. 4. Before the simulation, the guidance of subjects are carried out toexplain the simulation object, the outline of the manual hydraulic steering system, the turning
principle of pleasure boats, the simplified ship simulator, and the simulation task.
Avoiding the obstacle is judged by the following condition (t )   a (t ) ,where  (t ) is the course of the pleasure boat, and  a (t ) is the angle with the segment Og  Oe
for the y axis as shown in Fig. 4.
Resuming the original course is judged by the following conditions.

 (t )  8[deg] , (t )  0.5[rev] ,where  (t ) is the revolutions of the helm, and those inequalities are empirically defined.

Og: Hull center of gravity: Extreme point of obstacle

Fig. 4 Experimental task for evaluation of usability3

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02013/1-8

4.2 Basic evaluation criteria by previous method
Referencing to the standard of usability in ISO 9241-11, the previous evaluation method decides
some basic criteria on effectiveness (responsiveness and safety) and efficiency [15]. Those criteria
are evaluated quantitatively for Phase 1 (avoiding the obstacle) and Phase 2 (Resuming the originalcourse).
The responsiveness of the effectiveness is quantitated by DRAR (Delay Rate of Avoiding andResuming) as follows.
DRAR  CL  RD ,(1)

where CL and RD are given as follows.
CL (Avoidance time)Predict time to collision at the finding time of the obstacleRD 

Resuming timePredict time to arrive at the end of evaluation area 

 100

 100

(2)

(3)

The safety of the effectiveness is quantitated by RRC (Risk Rate of Capsizing) as follows.
RRC  CP1  CP2(4)

where CP1 and CP2 are given as follows.
CP1 

Maximum roll angle in Phase 1  100 ,Limit roll angle

(5)

CP2 

Maximum roll angle in Phase 2  100 ,Limit roll angle

(6)

and the limit roll angle is empirically fixed on 21 [deg].
The efficiency is quantitated by RSRO (Revolution Speed of Operating) as follows.

RSRO 

HR1  HR2
×100 ,
 Maximum helm revolution speed of helm ×(tr  ta )(7)

where the maximum revolution speed of the helm is empirically fixed on 0.5 [rev/s], and HR1 andHR2 are the integrated revolution angle of turning the helm for each Phase as follows.
tf

HR1    (t ) dt ,0

tr

HR2   θ(t ) dt .
ta

(8)

(9)

tf is the complete time of avoiding the obstacle, ta is the start time of resuming the original course,
and tr is the complete time of that.
4.3 New evaluation criteria with eye tracking system
This paper proposes new evaluation criteria with eye tracking system so as to add to the basic
criteria shown in the previous section, so that the usability can be judged more reliably and clearly4Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02013/1-8

than the previous method. Figure 5 shows some important points including two nautical instrumentsof the simplified ship simulator in the scenery image with the eye tracking system. The point X1 isthe center, the point X2 is a radar screen, which shows the position and the course of pleasure boats,and the point X3 is a rudder angle indicator. These points exist in the right side of the scenery image,and subjects do not need to pay attention to the left side under the task. Because the guidance before
the simulation explains to subjects the situation that there is not any ships, and subjects canrecognize the distance to the obstacle even if they keep their gaze on the point X1 in the avoidance ofthe obstacle. Frequently, beginner pilots read those nautical instruments X2 and X3 to recognize themotion of the pleasure boat for their operation, because they do not master the complicatedmaneuverability caused by nonlinear hydrodynamic forces. In especially emergency case such as
avoiding obstacle, such eye movement could degrade the safety.
The safety of the effectiveness for eye tracking data is quantitated by SGR (Steady Gaze Rate) as
follows.
3

 (Steady gaze time)× (Distance from the point X to the point X )
1

SGR 

i

i 2

Simulation time ×  Distance from the point X1 to the point X 2 

×100

(10)

SGR means the rate of total steady time, which is weighted according to the distance for each point,
to the worst case of staying the gaze on the radar screen X2. That is, SGR could be set on 100 if
subjects gaze on the X2 for the all simulation time.
On the other hand, the efficiency for eye tracking data is quantitated by MRG (Moving Rate ofGaze) as follows.

MRG =(Total distance)
 100(Distance from the point X 1 to the point X 3 )×(Simulation time)(Reference time of eye movement)(11)

MRG means the rate of total distance to a reference time, which is set on 700 [msec] [17] in thispaper. If the gaze is frequently moved to the radar screen X2 or the rudder angle indicator X3, MRG
could be evaluated as getting worse.

Center X1

Radarscreen X2

Rudder angle
indicator X3

Fig. 5 Nautical instruments of simplified ship simulator in scenery image of captains

5. Verification experiment of new evaluation method
The verification experiments of the new evaluation method were performed to typical threesubjects in order to investigate how usability of steering system is evaluated. Subject No. 1 was atrained captain, who could achieve the task independent of the nautical instruments. The others,
Subjects No. 2 and No. 3, were untrained captains, who rely on the instruments and do not often
succeed the task. As the experimental condition, the visibility was prepared two patterns, 200 [m]and 300 [m], and the propeller revolution was prepared three patterns, 1200 [rpm], 1500 [rpm], and5

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02013/1-81800 [rpm].
In the case of the visibility 300 [m], there was no large difference between the wakes for eachsubject and the propeller revolution condition. Because they could notice the obstacle so early thateven though Subject No. 2 and No. 3, who were untrained captains, could afford to carry out the taskrelying on the nautical instruments. However, in the emergency case of the visibility 200 [m], there
was a difference of the wakes with the skill level and the propeller revolution condition. Figure 6
shows the wakes for each subject in the case of the visibility 200 [m]. Figure 6(a) shows that Subject
No. 1 of trained captain could achieve the task, which is avoiding the obstacle and resuming theoriginal course safety and quickly. Figure 6(b) shows that Subject No. 2 of untrained captain could
avoid the obstacle, however he could not quickly resume the original course and needed a lot of
operating the helm. Figure 6(c) shows that Subject No. 3 of untrained captain could avoid the
obstacle and could resume the original course so quickly that DRAR could be evaluated better than
Subject No. 1. However, the subject brought too large roll angle to lead poor RRC evaluation, andcould not achieve the task safety. That is, the experimental data of Subject No. 1 should be judged
the steering system to have good usability, and those data of Subject No. 2 and No. 3 should be
judged it to have poor usability.
Table 1 shows the averaged results to be evaluated with the proposed method under theexperimental condition, and Figure 7 presents the results of Table 1 as a radar chart. In this radar
chart, small area means good usability. From these results, it can be seen that adding the new
evaluation criteria to the basic evaluation criteria proposed in the previous method [15] could further
improve the reliability of the evaluation, since the clear difference appears in the area of the radar
chart for each subject. Also, it can be seen that DRAR and RSRO of the basic evaluation criteria not
to be added eye tracking data seldom show a difference for those three subjects, while RRC shows
clear difference. On the other hand, it can be seen that the new evaluation criteria with eye tracking
system can indicate obvious difference for those simulation data. Because Subject No. 2 first tried tooperate without relying on the nautical instruments as well as trained captains, MRG of Subject No.
2 shows the almost same value as that of Subject No. 1. However, a large estimation error occurs
from the end of avoiding the obstacle to the beginning of resuming the original course, since Subject
No. 2 could not master the complicated maneuverability. Then, Subject No. 2 struggled to achieve
the task with relying on those instruments. As a result, SGR of Simulation data No. 2 grew worse andsome wakes are winding as shown in Fig. 6 (b). On the other hand, MRG of Subject No. 3 grewworse, since the untrained captain continued to move their gaze point during the simulation.
Therefore, the new evaluation criteria with eye tracking system could be available for analysis ofpoor usability.

6. Conclusion
This paper proposed an evaluation method of usability for steering system of pleasure boats witheye tracking system. Two of new evaluation criteria for eye tracking data were defined and added tothe basic criteria of the effectiveness and the efficiency, which have been already proposed. The
verification experiments of the new evaluation method were performed. From the results, it can beseen that adding the new evaluation criteria to the basic ones proposed in the previous method could
further improve the reliability of the evaluation. And, it can be seen that the new criteria can indicate
the evaluation of the usability more clearly than the basic ones, and can analyse cause of poor
usability from a view point of the steady gaze time or the eye movement. As a future work applied
this proposed evaluation method, we will investigate an electronic steering system to have somefunctions such as transferring arbitrary reaction torque to captains through the helm. For example, if
captains get information of the rudder angle from the reaction torque, they could keep their gaze infront of them. As a result, decreasing both the moving rate and the steady rate of their gaze to realize
safety operation is highly expected.
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C) No. 25350487 fromJapan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), for which the authors express their deepest
gratitude.

6

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02013/1-8(a)Subject No.1

(b)Subject No.2

(c)Subject No.3

Fig. 6 Wakes for each subject in case of visibility 200m

Table 1 Averaged result of usability for typical three subjects

Subject
No. 1(Trained captain)
No. 2(Untrained captain)
No. 3(Untrained captain)

SGR

MRG

(Efficiency)with eyetracking system(Safety ofeffectiveness)with eyetracking
system(Efficiency)

14.9

23.0

8.5

12.8

49.1

29.5

22.3

28.3

13.8

45.4

31.2

25.9

17.7

25.9

DRAR

RRC

(Responsivenessof effectiveness(Safety ofeffectiveness)

54.9

RSRO

DRAR

RRC

SGR
Subject
No.1
No.2
No.3

RSRO

MRG

Fig. 7 Rader chart for usability evaluation shown in Table 1

7

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[14] F. Ikeda, S. Toyama, H. Seta, N. Ezaki, Improvement of Steering Feeling on Maneuverability
for Pleasure Boat, Journal of System Design and Dynamics, Vol. 5, No.5, (2011), pp. 1119-1126.
[15] K. Iihama, S. Toyama, F. Ikeda, H. Seta, N. Ezaki, Operability Evaluation of Pleasure Boats
Based on Usability as Addressed by ISO 9241-11, Transactions of the Japan Society of
Mechanical Engineers, Series (C), Vol. 79, No. 801, (2013), pp.1415-1426.
[16] Eye Tracking System “View Tracker”, www.kk-co.jp/detail/view_.php[17] S. K. Card, T. P. Moran, A. Newell, The model human processor: An engineering model ofhuman performance, Handbook of Human Perception, 1986.
(Received: 23 June, 2013, Accepted: 31 July, 2013)8

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02014/1-8

Experimental Study on Turn Operation of 3D Quasi-Passive Dynamic
Walking Robot
Fujio Ikeda1*, Shigehiro Toyama2, Yuki Hirasawa3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagaoka National College of Technology,
888 Nishikatakai, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-8532, Japan2)
Department of Electronic Control Engineering, Nagaoka National College of Technology,
3)
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology,*E-mail: ikeda@nagaoka-ct.ac.jp
1)

Passive dynamic walking robots can walk down a shallow slope without
actuators and controllers. Most researches of passive bipedal robots have
only be focused on walking on a straight line, although one of theimportant issues of walking robots is to be headed for a target direction as
ones desired. The purpose of this paper is to develop an upper body
driven quasi-passive 3D walking robot which can turn right and left on aflat surface with direction control mechanism. A walking gait of our 3D
robot has a roll motion from side to side of both legs on a frontal plane
which synchronizes a pitch motion of a swing foot on a sagittal plane.
The direction control mechanism has a micro switch to turnover which is
attached on a hip joint above each leg. This mechanism makes use of yaw
motion of the stance leg.

1. Introduction
Recent studies have been focusing on passive dynamic walking that makes active use of robot
dynamics to focus on a smoother walk that closely resembles human walking [1]. Passive walking
robots step forward on a shallow slope and perform without using actuators by repeating an
operation in which the legs fall forward like pendulums [2, 3]. Using the potential energy obtained
from falling forward, the legs make up for the energy lost during collision with the ground surface,
thereby achieving a smooth, natural, continuous walk with high energy efficiency [4, 5]. Manyexperimental robots have been developed using the passive dynamic walking method, and complete
experimental results have been released [6–8]. Further, a number of walking methods based on
passive dynamic walking which can walk on a flat surface with the minimum drive power called
quasi-passive walking have been studied [9]. The many studies that are in progress in this area range
from two-dimensional walking that only considers motion in the sagittal plane to three-dimensional
walking that also considers yaw and roll motions in the frontal plane [10–13].
One of the major challenges of walking robots is to move freely toward a target direction.
Achieving this goal requires walking accompanied by control in the forward direction or right andleft turn operations. However, to the best of our knowledge, all research on passive walking thus far
has only focused on straight-line walking and there is no research on walking styles that enableturning operations. To remedy this situation, we designed and built an experimental robot having theminimum number of actuators needed for flat surface walking; on this robot, we mounted a simple
turn control mechanism. Our aim is to achieve stable, continuous flat surface walking and turnoperations. Our walking robot has an upper-body oscillator that generates roll motion in the frontal
plane through motions of pendulum [14]. By synchronizing this roll motion with the swing leg
motion in the sagittal plane, the robot achieves continuous three-dimensional walking. Toggling asimple switch installed in the waist area of the legs enables the active use of the yaw motion
generated by the stance leg to produce turn operations and move the robot in the desired direction.
Firstly, straight-line walking tests of our robot have enabled us to determine the appropriate
parameters for synchronizing the roll motion in the frontal plane and the swing leg motion in the1Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02014/1-8maWalking direction
rf

rs

mf
IGf





ms
IGs

Rf

(a) Pitch motion on sagittal view(b) Roll motion on frontal viewFig. 1 Schematics of our 3D walking robot and notations for physical parameters.
Table 1 Value of the parameters for the physical model of our 3D walking robot.
Parameter

Unit

Value
2

IGs

kg･m

ms

kg

rs

m

ma

kg

Parameter3

6.6 100.45
0.21
0.0~0.25

Unit

Value
2

IGf

kg･m

mf

kg

rf

m

Rf

m

5.2 10 2
1.4
0.29
0.50

sagittal plane, as well as achieve stable continuous walking on a flat surface. Then, we have tested
the right and left turn operations by toggling the abovementioned switch and have verified theeffectiveness of the turn performance.

2. Preliminary Analysis of Straight-line Walking
It is necessary to match the step period of roll motion of frontal plane with the period of theswing leg’s pendulum motion of a sagittal plane as much as possible for achieving stable continuous
walking [15]. So we use numerical simulations to coordinate these periods of roll and pitch motion
for purely passive version of a robot without actuation in following way. First the step period of therobot is estimated through numerical simulations whose motion is constrained to the sagittal plane.
The step period is measured from one swing foot collision through the other foot collision. Then acenter position of rotation for roll motion is coordinated by adjusting positions of each bar attached
on a foot sole so as to let the step period of pitch motion and roll motion be the same.
2.1. Pitch motion of swing leg on sagittal plane
The swing leg can swing like a pendulum supported by the stance leg which are shown in Figure
1 (a). The equation of motion, in terms of pitch angle  , for this planar model on a sagittal plane isgiven byI  m r   m gr sin   0
2

Gs

s s

s

(1)

s

where I Gs and ms are moment of inertia and mass of a swing leg, rs is distance between thecenter of rotation and the center of mass of a swing leg. We assume the pitch angle  is small and2Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02014/1-8(1) is linearized, then we have the step period Ts asTs  0.53 [ s ] ,s(2)where the natural frequency of the pitch motion iss 

m s grs
I Gs  m s rs

2

,

(3)

which is calculated by the parameters for the physical model of our 3D walking robot in Table 1.

2.2. Roll motion of whole body on frontal plane
To model the dynamics in the frontal plane, we assume that the robot is always in contact withthe ground at exactly one point and that the foot rolls without slipping. The equation of motion
without actuation of an upper-body oscillator, in terms of a roll angle  , for this planar model on
the frontal plane shown in Figure 1 (b) is given byI  m ( R  2R r cos  r )  m R r sin   m gr sin  0 (4)
2

Gf

f

f

2

f

f

f

2

f

f

f

s

s

where I Gf and m f are moment of inertia and mass of a whole body of the robot, r f is distance
between the center of rotation and the center of the mass, R f is a length of pseudo-radius ofrotation. We also assume the roll angle  is small and (4) is linearized, then we have the step
period T f of the form which is given by

Tf 


,
f

(5)

where the natural frequency of the roll motion isf 

m f gr f
I Gf  m f ( R f  r f ) 2.

(6)

In this simulation study, we can change the step period and let it be the same as ones of the pitch
motion as T f  Ts ( 0.53 [s]) . For a given mass and moment of inertia, T f can easily change by
the parameter of the length of pseudo-radius of rotation R f which is adjusted by the position of theeach bar attached on the foot sole.

3. Design and Production of Robot for Turn Operation
We attempted to take advantage of the following two characteristics of the gait produced bypurely passive dynamic walking:1. There is no use of control (not intelligent).
2. Walking is maintained by means of interaction between the robot’s own dynamics and theenvironment.
While making use of above characteristics, we set the design guidelines in order to achieve 3D
quasi-passive dynamic walking on a flat surface as follows:
1. Maintain walking by combining frontal-plane roll motion with the natural swing leg motion in thesagittal plane.
2. Generate a roll motion by using the robot’s upper-body oscillator as a drive unit to maintainwalking.
3. Achieve turn operations by using the swing force of the swing leg to generate yaw motion in the
stance leg.
4. Toggle between straight-line motion and a right and left turn operation with a single switch.
Figure 2 (a), (b) shows the appearance of the robot that we designed using the abovementioned3

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02014/1-8(a) Overview of the robot designed by 3D-CAD(b) Photo of the robot manufactured
by aluminum flamesFig. 2 A straight-legged quasi-passive walking robot actuated by an upper-body oscillator.

gear & DC motor(a) Constant roll motion

pulley & positive motion cam(b) Enlarged drawing of a waist joint
Fig. 3 An actuation mechanism made up of an oscillator and a DC-motor.
design guidelines. To verify the basic characteristics of the robot’s right and left turn motion, therobot was configured with right and left hips having two degrees of freedom in pitch and yaw
motion and waist having one degree of freedom in roll motion actuated by an oscillator, giving it
five degrees of freedom so as to maintain a small number of degrees of freedom.
3.1. Roll motion mechanism actuated by upper-body oscillator
We attached an oscillator to the robot’s upper body to enable its pendulum motion for generating
the roll motion in constant periods which is schematically shown in Figure 3 (a). As shown in Figure
3 (b), we attached a gear head with a gear ratio of 300 to a DC motor (Mabuchi model RS-380PH) toserve as the actuator generating the drive power for the oscillator, and attached the pulley andpositive motion cam in order to convert from rotation motion of the motor to repetitive motion of theoscillator. The oscillation period is determined to 1.0 [s] which is approximately twice the step4

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02014/1-8

center of rotation
wire
tension spring

micro switch to changeover(a) Left turn of yaw motion in frontal view(b) Enlarged drawing of a left hip joint

Fig. 4 Mechanism of the yaw motion control.
oscillator

pulleywire

tension spring(a) Pulley is during an angle of 0 to 90 [deg](b) An angle of 90 to 180 [deg](c) An angle of 180 to 270 [deg](d) An angle of 270 to 360 [deg]Fig. 5 Schematic procedure of one cycle of turning to left with a left leg.
period of un-actuated version of the roll motion T f ( 0.53 [s]) .
3.2. Yaw motion mechanism of stance leg for turn operation
Figure 4 shows the yaw motion generation mechanism that we attached to a left leg to achieve5Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02014/1-8

Attitude angle of the robot body (left axis)
Inclination angle of oscillator (right axis)

Attitude and Inclination [deg]1020Tˆf  0.48 [s]
5

10

0

0

-5

-10

-10
0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

-20
10

Time [s]Fig. 6 Experimental result of a stable gait and it’s verification of step period of roll motion.

poleFig. 7 Sequential photographs of a walking gait on the route (a).
the case of a left turn operation. The left leg is rotated around the center of rotation shown in the
figure 4(a), and it generates the yaw motion of whole body of the robot. In order to synchronize thisyaw motion to the constant roll motion driven by the upper body oscillator, the pulley attached on
the gear head shown in Figure 3 (b) link to a wire with a pin on the changeover micro switch shownin Figure 4 (b). To turn back the yaw motion, the other side of the pin on the changeover switch is
attached to a tension spring linked to the edge of the body.
Figure 5 shows the front view of the left leg, which is the case of the left turn to describe one
cycle of a turn operation. In order to rotate the leg, the inside pin attached on top of the leg isconnected to the pulley by a wire. In order to reverse the leg, the outside pin is connected to thetension spring linked to the edge of the body. The cycle starts with the left leg making contact withthe ground, when the pulley’s angle is during from 0 to 90 degrees as shown in Figure 5 (a). During
the stance-leg phase of the left leg shown in Figures 5 (a)–(c), the turn mechanism is pulled by astring as the pulley rotates to 270 degrees. This pulling process makes the stance-leg rotated right
direction which is equivalent to the body’s yaw motion rotated left direction. In Figure 5 (c), the left
leg starts to leave the ground around 270 degrees of pulley’s angle. Next the string is loosened as thepulley rotates until the operation returns to the state of 360 degrees of pulley’s angle shown in Figure
5 (d). The tension spring installed on the edge pulls the left leg back to reverse direction andreturning to its original state shown in Figure 5 (a). The left turn of a constant angular velocity is

6

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achieved by repeating this operation. To generate a right turn operation, the same movement isperformed on the right leg.
4. Experiment4.1. Straight-line walking test
The behavior of the actuated version of the robot is slightly different from the purely passive
version of the robot presented in section 2. Due to forced vibration of the oscillator on the upper
body, the oscillation period of roll motion is deviated and the center of gravity point of whole bodyis fluctuated. These deviations are likely to disturb the stable gait of passive walking. To keep thestable waking of the actuated robot, we adjust the step period of roll motion Tf by adding an auxiliary
mass ma to the top of the oscillator for the sake of convenient design and construction. We carefully
observe stable walking situations starting from a state without an auxiliary mass and graduallyadding more auxiliary mass in increment of 50[g] to determine an appropriate value of ma bytrial-and-error method. Our testing showed that an auxiliary mass of 150[g] resulted in the motion
having the roll motion period Tf and the swing leg motion period Ts approximately synchronized,
achieving stable continuous walking. The time histories of the attitude angle of the robot body andthe inclination angle of oscillator are measured, the results obtained from this testing are shown in
Figure 6. The step period of the actuated version of the roll motion is Tˆf  0.48 [s] is about 9%
smaller than the un-actuated version. This error between the experimental and theoretical value aremainly assumed to be caused by following two factors. First is because that the rotation angle isbeyond over a small range of linearity and linearity assumption in equation (4) is not guaranteed.
Second is affected by deformation of the plastic rod and small plates which are attached under theeach sole of the foot (see Figure 2(b)) in order to achieve a stable gait. These factors are not taken
into consideration in equations of motion and further study is required.
4.2. Direction control example of turn operation
Walking ability of right and left turn are tested for two types of walking route which the
instructions are described as follows, and evaluated these turn performance.
(a) Firstly walk along straight-line, secondly turn left, and lastly walk along straight-line again.
(b) Turn right and left (S-shaped route) are repeated several times.
Figure 7 shows sequential photographs of a walking test on a type (a) route. The walking robot
could achieve a turn radius of 650 mm as the mean value of several trials of stable walking. This
length is similar to the height of the experimental robot 600 mm tall.

5. Conclusion
We presented an experimental robot that can walk on a flat surface through 3D quasi-passive
dynamic walking and can perform turn operations by having a simple turn control mechanism
mounted on it. The robot achieved stable, continuous walking on flat surface in experimental
walking tests. We also tested the robot’s right and left turn operations by toggling theabovementioned switch and verified the effectiveness of the robot’s turn performance. We found outthat our robot with turn mechanism has these characteristics,(a) Simple mechanism; turning operation can change by one micro switch,(b) Only one actuation; one actuation source by synchronizing yaw and roll motions.
We also found out that our future works remain as follows,(a) Improve performance of stability and velocity of straight walking,(b) Propose the mechanism to change the turn radius of curvature.
References[1] T. McGeer, “Passive dynamic walking”, International Journal of Robotics Research, Vol. 9, No.
2 (1990) pp. 62-82.
[2] S. Collins, A. Ruina, R. Tedrake and M. Wisse, “Efficient bipedal robots based on
passive-dynamic walkers”, Science, Vol. 307, No. 5712 (2005) pp. 1082-1085.

7

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02014/1-8[3] A. Goswami, B. Thuilot, and B. Espiau, “Compass-like biped robot-part I: stability andbifurcation of passive gaits”, Technical Report 2996, INRIA (1996).
[4] M. Garcia, A. Chatterjee, A. Ruina, and M. Coleman, “The simplest walking model:stability,
complexity, and scaling”, Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, Vol. 120, No.2 (1998), pp.
281-288.
[5] K. Osuka, “Passive Dynamic Walking as base of Walking Mechanics” (in Japanese), Systems,
Control and Information, Vol. 49, No. 10 (2005) pp. 393-398.
[6] M. J. Coleman and A. Ruina, “An uncontrolled walking toy that cannot stand still”, PhysicalReview Letters, Vol. 80, No. 16 (1998), pp. 3658-3661.
[7] Y. Ikemata, A. Sano and H. Fujimoto, “Robust Passive Walking Based on a Global Stabilization
Principle of Fixed Point”, Vol. 26, No. 2 (2008), pp. 178-183.
[8] S. Collins, M. Wisse and A. Ruina, “A three-dimensional passive-dynamic walking robot with
two legs and knees”, International Journal of Robotics Research, Vol. 20, No. 7 (2001) pp.
607-615.
[9] M. Wisse and R. Q. vander Linde, “Delft Pneumatic Bipeds”, Springer-Verlag (2007).
[10] A. D. Kuo, “Stabilization of lateral motion in passive dynamic walking”, International Journalof Robotics Research, Vol. 18, No. 9 (1999) pp. 917-930.
[11] M. Wisse, A. L. Schwab and R. Q. vander Linde, “A 3D passive dynamic biped with yaw androll compensation”, Robotica, Vol. 19, (2001) pp. 275-284.
[12] R. Tedrake, T. W. Zhang, M.-F. Fong and H. S. Seung, “Actuating a simple 3D passive dynamic
walker”, Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Vol. 5(2004) pp. 4656-4661.
[13] T. Narukawa, K. Yokoyama, M. Takahashi and K. Yoshida, “Design and construction of asimple 3D straight-legged passive walker with flat feet and ankle springs”, JSME Journal of
System Design and Dynamics, Vol. 3, No. 1 (2009) pp. 1-12.
[14] M. Haruna, M. Ogino, K. Hosoda and M. Asada, “Yet another humanoid walking - passive
dynamic walking with torso under simple control” (in Japanese), Proceedings of the 2001
IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (2001) pp. 259-264.
[15] T. Kinugasa, T. Haji, M. Iribe, T. Kobayashi, S. Fujimoto and K. Yoshida, “3-D Passive
Dynamic Walker Made of Cardboard for Robot Education” (in Japanese), Journal of the Robotics
Society of Japan, Vol. 31, No. 2 (2013) pp. 154-160.

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Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02015/1-6

Recent Progress In The Intense Pulsed Power Generator "Etigo-Ii"
Kenji Kashine1*, Takashi Kikuchi2, Toru Sasaki2, Ryota Hayashi2, Fumihiro Tamura2,
Arata Watabe2, Takahiro Kudo2, Tsukasa Aso2, Kazumasa Takahashi2, Nob. Harada2, Weihua
Jiang2, Akira Tokuchi3
1)
Yuge National College of Maritime Technology, 1000 Yuge, Kamijima 794-2593, Japan
2)
Nagaoka University of Technology,1603-1 Kamitomioka-cho, Nagaoka 940-2188, Japan
3)
Pulsed Power Japan Laboratory Ltd., Kusatsu 525-0027, Japan
and Nagaoka University of Technology, Nagaoka 940-2188, Japan*E-mail: kashine@mech.yuge.ac.jp
This paper reviews the application study using the intense pulse generator
ETIGO-II in Nagaoka University of Technology.
The nominal voltage specifications of ETIGO-II are 1 MV, 50 ns (FWHM),
and capable load current is up to 1 MA.
Using this particular and unique pulse generator, we study the several
applications such as the intense pulsed ion beam and electron beamtechnologies.
Moreover, we have been working on the preliminary studies of Inertial
Confinement Fusion (ICF).
In this paper, we introduce the flyer acceleration and high pressure generationby using the ablation plasma which is generated by the intense pulsed ion
beam.
In addition, we introduce the study on the volumetric warm dense matter(WDM) of foamed metal using the ETIGO-II.

1. Introduction
In a nuclear fusion power plant, inner protective walls of the reactor chamber are exposed to theseveral radiations such as the alpha particles, X-ray and the high energy plasmas. Therefore, thematerials of the inner protective wall are under extremely high temperature condition. To secure thefusion reactor safety, researching the material characteristics under the high energy plasma condition
are important.
When an intense pulsed ion beam or electron beam irradiates a solid target, the beam energy
deposits a target material within a depth of the range. Therefore, the surface of the solid targets is
evaporated to high temperature and density ablation plasma in less than 100 ns [1]. Using this hightemperature ablation plasma, we can research on the characteristics of the materials used for the
inner protective wall of the reactor chamber.
In addition, the ablation plasma has very high pressure that pushes the target toward the opposite
direction of the plasma expansion. Due to the high energy density of the plasma, its pressure may
exceed GPa [2-3]. This pressure and impact on solid target have many interesting physical issues
especially in material applications [4-6].
The intense pulsed generator ETIGO-II was constructed at the Nagaoka University of Technology.
The nominal voltage specifications of ETIGO-II are 1 MV, 50 ns (FWHM), and capable load current
is up to 1 MA. This facility can generate the positive or negative single pulse, so we can treat the ion
beam or electron beam by changing the diode which is located at the load section of ETIGO-II.
This paper consists of 5 sections. The constructions and specifications of ETIGO-II are pointed
out in section 2. The ion beam applications, especially the foil acceleration are described in section 3.
The pulse-heating applications which have been researched in our laboratory are discussed in section
4. Section 5 is the summary of this paper.
2. Pulse generator ETIGO-II

1

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02015/1-6

The pulse generator ETIGO-II has been operated at the Extreme Energy-Density ResearchInstitute (EDI) in Nagaoka University of Technology.
Figure 1 shows the photograph and cross sectional view of ETIGO-II. The energy storage
capacitor (ESC) to impedance conversion line (ICL) is coaxial structure with the water dielectric.
The Marx generator, with a stored energy of 160 kJ, produces a high voltage pulse of 3 MV for
about 1 μs. A 12-channel water gap switch is used to decrease the inductance. Using an impedance
conversion line, for conversion from 1.7 Ω to 6.5 Ω, a high voltage pulsed power output wasachieved with a voltage of ~3 MV, current of ~460 kA, pulse width of ~50 ns (FWHM), and energyof ~70 kJ.
Unfortunately, this facility was damaged by the earthquake in 2004 (Chuetsu earthquake). After
this disaster, we fixed the whole devises and system of ETIGO-II, and the impedance conversion line
was changed from 6.5 Ω to 1.7 Ω. The present nominal specification is 1 MV, 590 kA, 50 ns(FWHM). The polarity of pulse can be changed easily, so we are able to treat the ion beam diode andelectron beam diode, respectively.

Energy-Storage Capacitor (ESC)

Impedance-Conversion Line (ICL)
Output SW.

Marx Generator

Diode
1m

Main SW.

Pulse-Forming Line (PFL)

Fig. 1 The photograph and cross sectional view of ETIGO-II.

3. Ion beam application
Intense pulsed ion beams have been found to be very efficient in producing high-density ablation
plasma. Using this ablation plasma, we can carry out a variety of applications, such as the
preparation of thin films and the synthesis of ultrafine nano-size powders [7-8]. In this paper, we
pick up the foil acceleration experiment by using the magnetically insulated ion beam diode (MID)[9].
The configuration of a MID is shown in Figure 2. The MID consists of an anode with thinpolyethylene sheet on the surface as an ion source, and a cathode that has slits over the area thatfaces the anode. The cathode serves as the one-turn coil to generate the insulation magnetic field aswell. Before the high voltage pulse is applied between the electrodes, a current was driven throughthe cathode that generates a magnetic field between the anode and the cathode. This magnetic field ishigh enough to prevent electron from crossing the diode gap even at the peak diode voltage. As aresult, the energy fed to the diode can efficiently be used to accelerate the ion beam that is extracted
from the diode region through the cathode slits. The generated ion beams are practically made of
proton. The ion beam energy density of MID is ~100 J/cm2 at the beam focusing point.
In the foil acceleration experiment, an aluminum foil target was used. Experimental set up of the
foil acceleration which use the MID is shown in Figure 3. The specification of the aluminum target
is 10 x 10 mm and thickness of 50 μm. The target was set behind the aperture (φ7 mm) located at thebeam focusing point. The target which would become the flyer was observed by the high speed
camera.

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Figure 4 shows the high speed photographs for target with thickness of 50 μm. The flight
distance of flyer was 5 mm and the time of inter flame was 500 ns. From this observation, we
obtained the velocity of flyer was ~1.7 km/s in maximum. Supposing the flyer had a constantacceleration, the ablation pressure was estimated to be 0.4 GPa at the instant of beam irradiation.
Chamber
AnodeHigh-speed
CameraCathodeI

TargetAperture

Ion BeamDamper

Ion beam

Target(flyer)Aperture
5 mmWindow

Fig. 2

Configurations of a MID.

Fig. 4

Fig. 3 Experimental set up of the foil acceleration.

High speed photographs for target with thickness of 50 μm.

To increase the velocity of the flyer, we experimented with a 2-layer target. In this experiment,
the gold was coated on the aluminum target with the thickness of 50 μm by a sputtering device. The
thicknesses of the gold coating were 0.5 μm, 1.0 μm, 1.5 μm and 2.0 μm. The MID diode was used
and the beam energy density was 120 J/cm2. Figure 5 shows the average velocity of the flyer as afunction of gold thickness. From Fig.5, we see that the average foil velocity of 2.1 km/s is achieved
at a gold thickness of 1.5 μm. This velocity is about 20% higher than that of non-coated target. The
results were explained as follows.
When the pulsed ion beam was irradiated to the target, the target is separated into two parts. One
is the ablation plasma which is produced by the deposition of the incident beam energy within the
short range inherent to the ion beam in solids. The other part is a flyer above the range. The
equations of momentum and energy conservation can be written as
∙
∙
(1)
∙
∙
E
(2)
Here, m1 is the mass of the ablation part, m2 the mass of the flyer, v1 the velocity of the ablatedpart, v2 the velocity of the flyer, and E the energy of the irradiated beam. From these equations, we
obtained the following equation.
∙(3)

This equation suggests that the flyer velocity increases with increasing the mass of the ablated3

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02015/1-6

part, and that the peak point appears at a certain value of m1. In our experiments, the ablated part ispractically gold which the mass is heavier than that of flyer. Thus, it has been found that the foil
velocity is enhanced by the heavier element coated on the lighter target such as aluminum.

3

2

t

v ( km/s )MID (120J/cm ), Al 50µm

2

1

0
0
Fig. 50.5
1
1.5
2
Au thickness ( µm )2.5

Average velocity of the flyer as a function of gold thickness.

4. Recent study using the ETIGO-II
The main characteristic of the ETIGO-II is treating the amount of pulse current which exceeds
several hundreds of kiro-amperes in a hundred nano-seconds. Therefore, this device can be used not
only for generating the particle beams but also for heating by the pulsed current for conductor load.
In the inertial confinement fusion (ICF), a foamed material is used for an ablator layer and an
X-ray converter in a fuel target [10-11]. The foamed material becomes plasma through the warm
dense matter (WDM) state during the implosion process [12].
Investigating the characteristic of WDM state is necessary for the numerical simulation in the
implosion process of the ICF study. In the measurement of the WDM of foamed material in
implosion process, the temperature increases up to 105 K with a few 10 ns is required [13]. In thisstudy, we generate the volumetric WDM of foamed metal using an ETIGO-II in short time, and the
input energy is controlled by the electron beam diode.
Figure 6 shows the arrangement of the load section for the WDM generation. This experiment isunderway. A sample of the foamed metal is setting between the center feeder and electron beam
diode. The foamed metal is packed into a hollow sapphire capillary (φ5mm x 10mm).

Outer feeder

Plane disk
cathodeMesh anode

ICL
Center feeder
e-BeamElectronInsulator
Vacuumisolation

Capacitancevoltage divider

Observation
window

Rogowski coilFig. 7 Typical output waveforms of load section.
Arrangement of the load section for
the WDM generation.
To estimate the input energy for the foamed metal, the electron beam diode was used as the

Fig.6

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terminal without sample of foamed metal. The electron beam was generated by using the disk
cathode and mesh anode. The capacitance voltage divider was used for measuring the output voltage.
The Rogowski coil was used for measuring the output current. To suppress the electrical breakdown,
the inner pressure of the diode chamber was around 10-2 Pa.
Figure 7 shows the typical output waveforms of load section using the electron beam diodewhich gap distance was 50 mm. The pulse width was ~100 ns, and the peak voltage and current were-1.1 MV and -70 kA, respectively. Using these waveforms, the peak power and input energy for the
foamed metal up to 50 ns were estimated to be ~10 GW and ~300 J. In the numerical simulations,the temperature increase of the foamed metal of copper was estimated to be 4500 K up to 50 ns [14].
This result indicates that ETIGO-II can generate WDM of foamed metal to the extent comparable tothe implosion timescale in ICF.

5. Conclusion
We presented the result of a various studies by using the pulse generator ETIGO-II.
In the ion beam application, the foil acceleration experiment was carried out. With ion beamenergy density of 100 J/cm2, the aluminum foil target was accelerated to the velocity of ~1.7 km/s by
the pressure of ablation plasma. The estimated ablation pressure is 0.4 GPa at the condition of
constant acceleration. At an instant of beam irradiation, we consider that the rapid velocity change
had been occurred. To estimate the realistic ablation pressure, we need a detailed observation.
To increase the velocity of the flyer, the 2-layer target which the thin layer of gold was coated on
an aluminum target was used. The velocity of the 2-layer target is about 20% higher than that ofnon-coated target. These studies have made a significant contribution to a shock-induced experimentsuch as a meteor’s collision.
In the recent application using ETIGO-II, we presented the pulse heating experiment for WDM
study. To control the heating current, the electron beam diode was used. The input energy for the
foamed metal was estimated by the output waveforms of diode voltage and current. Using thesewaveforms, the peak power and input energy for the foamed metal sample until 50 ns were estimatedto be ~10 GW and ~300 J. In the numerical simulations, the temperature increase of the foamed
metal of copper was estimated to be 4500 K up to 50 ns. This result indicates that ETIGO-II cangenerate WDM of foamed metal comparable to the implosion timescale in ICF.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported from the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the MEXT, Japan,
and by Program for High Reliable Materials Design and Manufacturing in Nagaoka University ofTechnology.

References[1] K. Yatsui, Laser & Part. Beams, 7 (1989) 733.
[2] N. Harada, H. Shinkai, W. Jiang and K. Yatsui, Proc. 12th Int. Conf. High-Power Particle
Beam, 2 (1998) 1048.
[3] K. Yatsui, H. Shinkai, K. Kashine, W. Jiang, M. Kagihiro and N. Harada, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys.,
40 (2001) 955.
[4] Y. Shimotori, M. Yokoyama, H. Isobe, S. Harada, K. Masugata and K. Yatsui, J. Appl. Phys.,
63 (1988) 968.
[5] K. Kashine, T. Suzuki, H. Suematsu, W. Jiang, K. Yatsui and Y. Tanabe, Trans. MRS-J, 28(2003) 417.
[6] K. Kashine, H. Suematsu, W. Jiang and K. Yatsui, Trans. IEEJ, 124 (2004) 47.
[7] K. Yatsui, X. D. Kang, T. Sonegawa, T. Matsuoka, K. Masugata, Y. Shimotori, T. Satoh, S.
Furuuchi, Y. Ohuchi, T. Takeshita and H.Yamamoto, Phys. Plasmas, 1 (1994) 1730.
[8] K. Yatsui, C. Grigoriu, H. Kubo, K. Masugata and Y. Shimotori, Appl. Phys. Lett., 67 (1995)
1214.

5

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02015/1-6[9] K. Yatsui, A. Tokuchi, H. Tanaka, H. Ishizuka, A. Kawai, E. Sai, K. Masugata, M. Ito and M.
Matsui, Laser & Part. Beams, 3 (1985) 119.
[10] S. Atzeni and J. Meyer-ter-vehn, “The Physics of Inertial Fusion: Beam Plasma Interaction,
Hydrodynamics, Hot Dense Matter” (Oxford Univ. Press, N.Y.), Chap. 9. (2004)[11] Y. Iizuka, S. Kawata, T. Kodera, A. I. Ohoyski, T. Kikuchi, NIMA, 606 (2009) 165.
[12] R. P. Drake, Phys. Plasmas, 16 (2009) 055501.
[13] T. Kikuchi, T. Someya, S. Kawata, IEEJ Trans. FM, 125 (2005) 515.
[14] R. Hayashi, K. Kashine, A. Tokuchi, T. Sasaki, T. Aso, T. Kikuchi, W. Jiang, and Nob.
Harada, EAPPC 2012 / BEAMS 2012, (2012) P2D-10.

(Received: 23rd June, 2013, Accepted: 15th October, 2013)6

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02016/1-10

An Assessment of Radionuclide Transport in the Atmosphere
A Case Study of Hypothetical Reactor Accident
in Ninh Thuan Province, Vietnam
Ho Quoc Dung1,*, Mikami Yoshiki1
Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1 Kamitomioka-cho, Nagaoka 940-2188 Japan*E-mail: hoquocdung@gmail.com

1)

Vietnamese government has a nuclear energy program with the goal ofbuilding 14 units of nuclear power plants (NPPs) by 2030. The
implementation of long-term nuclear energy program in Vietnam opens up
many challenges such as the legal and technical infrastructure, humantraining and management skill, nuclear safety and security. Recently,
Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan has raised the international publicconcern about nuclear safety issue in many countries, especially for a
newcomer like Vietnam.
, estimating the consequence of severe nuclear reactor accident iscurrently the most common and essential part for estimating these
consequences and for proposing the policies to protect the public health andsafety.
One of the first stages in PCA scheme is to analyze the early radionuclide
doses that cause harm to human health. An assessment of early dose of asevere nuclear accident starts with identifying an accident scenario andestimating the transport of radioactive materials to the atmosphere combining
with meteorological conditions at the release time. In this research, asimulation model, namely, Simplified Wind Transport Model (SWTM) is
proposed to estimate the transport of radioactive materials based on thehistorical wind data collected in Ninh Thuan meteorological station. Thismodel can simulate the centerline of the radionuclide plume during transport
process in the atmosphere. Based on that, the areas that will be affected byradioactive materials in case of NPP accident can be predicted.
The results of this assessment are the quantitative distribution ofradionuclide to the public at a certain area. This result is the practicalinformation for the local government to create emergency plan to protect the
public in case of accidental releases of radionuclide materials to theenvironment.

1. Introduction
Vietnamese government has a nuclear energy program with the goal of building 14 reactor units by
2030. The implementation of long-term nuclear energy program in Vietnam opens up many challenges
such as the legal and technical infrastructure, human training and management skill, nuclear safety. For
prevention and mitigation the consequences of a severe nuclear reactor accident, Probabilistic
Consequence Assessment (PCA) is currently the most common and essential tool for estimating theconsequences of nuclear accidents and for proposing the policies to protect the public health andsafety[1].

1Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02016/1-10

PCA models are an integral part of Level 3 Probabilistic Safety Assessment of nuclear installations.
They are used to assess the consequences of potential accidental releases to the atmosphere, taking into
account the range of environmental conditions at the time of the accident and the probability associatedwith these conditions. These methods describe the behavior of radioactive material through theenvironment following a release to the atmosphere and calculate the subsequent dose distributions andhealth effects in the population [2].
Radionuclide released to the atmosphere as a fine aerosol or gas will create a plume which is carried
downwind. During this transport process, it expands horizontally and vertically owing to diffusion andturbulent eddies in the atmosphere. Both transport and diffusion processes are called as “dispersion”.
The starting point of a consequence assessment is modeling the behavior of radionuclide released in theatmosphere. In this step, the radionuclide concentration profiles (crosswind and vertical) and downwindtransport of the dispersing plume evaluation are needed. The atmospheric dispersion models are used toestimate or to predict the downwind concentration of radionuclide from accidental NPP. Currently, themost commonly used dispersion models are Gaussian-plume models which are based on mathematical
approximation of plume behavior. The Gaussian-plume formulae are derived assuming ‘steady-state’conditions. That is, the Gaussian-plume dispersion formulae do not depend on time, although they dorepresent an ensemble time average. The meteorological conditions are assumed to remain constantduring the dispersion from source to receptor, which is effectively instantaneous. Emissions andmeteorological conditions can vary from hour to hour but the model calculations in each hour are
independent of those in other hours. Due to this mathematical derivation, it is common to refer toGaussian-plume models as steady-state dispersion models. However, because they incorporate a
simplistic description of the dispersion process, and some fundamental assumptions are made, the results
by Gaussian-plume may not accurately reflect reality. These formulae provide a better representation ofreality if conditions do not change rapidly within the hour being modeled (i.e. conditions are reasonably
steady and do not deviate significantly from the average values for the hour being modeled). Therefore,
these models should only be applied under certain conditions.
More recently, better ways of describing the spatially varying turbulence and diffusion characteristics
within the atmosphere have been developed. The new generation dispersion models adopt a moresophisticated approach to describe diffusion and dispersion using the fundamental properties of theatmosphere rather than relying on general mathematical approximation. This enables better treatment ofdifficult situations such as complex terrain and long-distance transport. These advanced dispersion
models maybe grouped into three categories (Particles, Puffs, and Grid Points) depending on the way the
air pollutants are represented by the model [3]. Particle models represent the pollutant release as a streamof particles, which are transported by the model winds and diffuse randomly according to the model
turbulence. Particle models are computationally expensive, needing at least 105 particles to represent a
pollutant release, but may be the best type to represent pollutant concentrations close to the source. The
random walk is applied for each particle in three-dimension space. The simulation of more than 105
particles takes the highest computational expenditure in comparison with the other model. However, thismodel simulates atmospheric dispersion similar with the behavior of radionuclide release to theatmosphere. Therefore, the output of particle model is very close to the real radionuclide released. In
Puffs model, pollutant releases can also be represented by a series of puffs, which are also transported by
the model winds. Each puff represents a discrete amount of pollution, whose volume increases due toturbulent mixing Each puff simulate the air dispersion as the Gaussian shape. In other words, each puff
simulates air dispersion like Plume model. The computational expenditure for Puff models is normallyhigher than 5 to 10 times compared with Plume model. It depends on the times of changing weather
condition in releasing period. Puff models are far less computationally expensive than particle models,
but are not as realistic in their description of the pollutant distribution. Grid Points model simulates theconcentration of pollutant on a (regular) three-dimensional grid of points. This is the cheapest
formulation computationally, but difficulties arise when the scale of the pollutant release is smaller than
the grid point spacing.

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Meteorological data is one of the most important inputs into any air dispersion model. Ground-level
concentrations of contaminants are primarily controlled by two meteorological elements: wind direction
and speed (for transport), and turbulence and mixing height of the lower boundary layer (for dispersion).
The meteorological data requirements for steady-state Gaussian-plume models and advanced dispersion
models vary considerably. Steady-state Gaussian-plume models require meteorology data from a single
surface station. They assume that the single station data are applicable to the whole modeling domain up
to the top of the boundary layer and that conditions do not vary with height. Advanced dispersion models,
including Puff, Particle and Grid Points models, allow meteorological conditions to vary across themodeling domain and up through the atmosphere. This is a much more complex situation than forsteady-state modeling and thus requires much more complex meteorological data. This includes inputs
from surface networks (land and sea) and upper air stations. Because the meteorological datarequirements vary greatly between these model types, the choice of which dispersion model to use candepend on questions regarding the expected meteorological conditions.
In four atmospheric dispersion models Gaussian Plume, Grid Point, Puff and Partial model, theoutput of latter model is the more realistic in determining the air concentration at different critical time,
geography and meteorology. Moreover, the later model needs more complexity in computation to
calculate the result. The table 1 shows the summary comparison among these models in different aspects.
Table 1 The comparison among Gaussian Plume, Particles, Puffs and Grid Point Models
Gaussian
Grid Points
Particles Model
Puffs Model
Plume Model Model
Computational expenditure Low
Moderate
Very HighHigh
Meteorological data
SimpleComplex
Complex
Complex
Meteorological condition
Steady-state Non-steady-state Non-steady-state Non-steady-state
Model result (the output
Lightly
Close
Very Close
Close
close to the reality)
Close
Impact range
Short range
Long range
Long range
Long range(<50 km)(>50km)(>50km)(>50km)2. Research Objectives
This research is intended to propose a model for predicting the potential areas that will be affected byradioactive materials in case of hypothetical NPP accident in Ninh Thuan province, Vietnam, based on
the situation of meteorological data availability. Currently, there is one surface meteorological station
located near Ninh Thuan NPP sites. In this station, the historical meteorological data is the surface
meteorological data of single site. It did not collect the upper air (i.e. anything above the height of a
tower) meteorological data. Therefore, the available meteorological data lacks some importantparameters. In that, the most important lacking parameter is solar radiation parameter that is fundamental
for calculating the atmospheric stability class. This is the critical input data for Gaussian Plume Modeland others model. Therefore, because of the lacking of meteorological data on Ninh Thuan NPP sites,
neither Gaussian-plume model nor any other advanced dispersion models can be used in this case.
Moreover, Gaussian-plume models which requires the modest set of input data among these othermodels, are usually only applicable to near-field (within 50 km from the source) calculations. Meanwhile,
this research aims to estimate the affected area in the range of 300 km radius far from the NPP site.
Therefore, even the Gaussian plume model is not suitable to apply in this case.
In this research, a simulation model, namely, Simplified Wind Transport Model (SWTM) is proposed
to estimate the transport of radioactive materials based on the historical wind data. This model canovercome the limitation on the meteorological data on the investigated NPP site and improve the rangeof calculation.
SWTM can simulate the centerline of the radionuclide plume during transport process in the3Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02016/1-10

atmosphere. Base on that, the areas that will be affected by radioactive materials in case of NPP accident
can be predicted. The results of the assessment by using SWTM are the quantitative distribution ofradionuclide to the public at a certain area. This result is the practical information for the local
government to create emergency plan to protect the public in case of accidental releases of radionuclide
materials to the environment.
3. Data and Methodology
3.1. Research Sites
Ninh Thuan, located in the southern part of Vietnam Central Coastal region, borders Khanh Hoa
Province in the north, Binh Thuan Province in the south, Lam Dong Province in the west, East Sea in theEast. The province has total natural surface of 3,360 km2, 7 administrative units including 1 City and 6
districts. The City of Phan Rang - Thap Cham, as provincial City, constitutes a political, economic andcultural center of the province, distant from Ho Chi Minh City by 350 km, from international Cam Ranhairport by 60 km, from the City of Nha Trang by 105 km and from Da Lat by 110 km with favorable
conditions for circulations in service of socio-economic development.

Temperature (oC)

35
30
25
20

Niigata
Ha NoiHo Chi Minh
Ninh Thuan

15
10
5
0
Jan

Feb

Mar Apr May Jun

Jul

Aug Sep

Oct Nov Dec

Fig. 1 Monthly mean air temperature

Precipitation (mm)350

Niigata

300

Ha Noi250

Ho Chi Minh

200

Ninh Thuan

150
100
50
0
Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov Dec

Fig. 2 Monthly total of precipitation
Ninh Thuan has a typically tropical monsoon climate, with the features of draught, heat, much wind,strong evaporation; annual average temperature around 26- 27oC; annual average rainfall of 700-800 mm
in Phan Rang City and gradually increasing to more than 1,100mm in mountainous areas; humidity
around 75-77%. There are two different seasons: rainy season (from September to November) and dry

4Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02016/1-10

season (from December to August). By making a comparison of the monthly temperature andprecipitation among Ninh Thuan and other domestic cities (Hanoi in the north and Ho Chi Minh City inthe south) and especially with Niigata (where Kashiwazaki, the largest NPP in Japan is located), theoverview of Ninh Thuan’s geographical features can be clearly represented. It shows that thetemperature in Ninh Thuan stays very high while the rainfall level is very low. That explains why Ninh
Thuan can be seen as one of the hottest and the driest places in Vietnam.
3.2. Simplified Wind Transport Model
During the NPP accident, radioactive materials released to the atmosphere in unsteady weather
condition. The radionuclide plume can divided into a series of radionuclide puffs [4]. Puff initializes acollection of puffs representing a sample of the eruption cloud and calculates transport, turbulent
dispersion and fallout for each puff. In Lagrangian form, given a time step Δt, the position vector foreach particle is updated from time t to time t + Δt by the equation [5]:(1)Ri(t + Δt) = Ri(t) + V(t) Δt + Z(t) Δt + Gi(t) Δt
where Ri is the position vector of the ith puff at time t, V is the local wind velocity, Z is a vector
representing turbulent dispersion and Gi is the terminal gravitational fallout vector, dependent on
the ith puff's size. If the concentration of radionuclide or mass part is not rejected from calculating, theabove equation become: Ri(t + Δt) = Ri(t) + V(t) Δt. This can calculate the next position of puff
according to the shorten formulation and required data is just wind data. Based on the shorten
formulation, the Simplified Wind Transport Model (SWTM) is produced to trace the position of released
puffs.
The SWTM focuses on simulating the centerline of radioactive material plume under un-steadyatmosphere condition. Specifically, SWTM layouts the connection line of the central point of puffs. The
released point O is from NPP sites. A distance Si of radioactive materials moving in the period of time Δti
under the average wind velocity Vi equals to Vi times with Δti (SV ∆t ). A wind direction isdefined as angle θi. A wind vector W composes two components: the distance Si and the moving period
Δti. Fig. 3 defines an example centerline by Simplified Wind Transport Model, which contains the
combination of all wind vectors.

North

→
…

θi
West

t0
East

t1
Δt1

T
→
ti-1

…

ti

Δti-1 Δti

tn
Δtn

South
Fig. 3 Example of Simplified Wind Transport Model

Fig. 4 Conceptual diagram of the discrete time scale andthe travel time for the ith wind vector

According to the wind velocity V and wind direction θ (e.g. θ=0 means wind blows from west to5Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02016/1-10

east; θ=90 means wind blows from south to north), the center of the ith released puff reaches:x
V ∆t cosθ xyV ∆t cosθ yz0
The equation of SWTM is the set of component wind vectors:⋯ W
SWTM = W W
The flowchart of simplify wind transport model
Define starting released timeand released period

Wind data

Category in todifferent seasonsWind
vectors

Creating
SWTM bycombining windvectors

Combinationof all SWTMs

By using SWTM, the endpoint of release puff can be determined after period of time T released ofradionuclide. In other words, the boundary area that will be affected by radionuclide material can bedetected by the endpoint of SWTM. By combining SWTM at different condition of weather on thewhole year, the overview picture about how radionuclide distributed can be determined. Based on thedensity of endpoint SWTM, each area around the NPP has the different frequency in appearing theendpoints SWTM.
Table 2 The comparison of required meteorological data for SWTM and others
SWTM
Gaussian
Grid Points
Particles
Puffs
Model
Plume Model
Model
Model
Model
Simulate the Transport
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Simulate the Disperse
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Surface Meteorological Data
Wind
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Rainfall
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Atmospheric Stability
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Upper-air Meteorological Data
No
Yes
Yes
Yes

3.3. Data
3.3.1. Seasonal Wind PatternsMeteorological data is collected from Phan Rang meteorological station, nearby the Ninh Thuan NPP.
Based on the statistic of wind, the weekly wind direction pattern in one-year average is created. Fig. 5
shows that from the first week of the year to week 14, and from week 39 to 52, the main wind direction
blows from northeast. This time period is named as winter season. From week 20 to 38, the wind ismainly from the southwest direction. It is defined as summer season. One another period is the transition
period between winter and summer season from week 14 to week 20. During this period, there is thecalm wind and light wind in many directions. It is then classified as season transition period.

6

Frequency

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N

NNE

NE

ENE

E

ESE

SE

SSE

S
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%

SSW

SW

WSW

W

WNW

NW

NNW

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 47 49 51 Week
SeasonWinter Season
Winter Season
Summer Season
Transition
SeasonWinter Season Transition
Summer Season
Winter Season
Fig. 5 Weekly Wind Direction Patterns
It is because that the distribution of radionuclide is affected by wind speed and wind direction, thepurpose of categorization wind into different seasons is to see more clearly the boundary and the main
distribution trend of radionuclide in different period time of a year. Based on the categorization, the firstprediction can be derived from the feature of seasons is that the radionuclide transport line will mainly
shape on the southwest sector of NPP sites in winter season. In summer season, radionuclide is predicted
to release in the northeast of NPP sites. Because of many wind directions with low speed in season
transition period, it is predicted that radionuclide will distributed near around NPP sites in case that theaccident happens.
3.3.2. Hourly Wind Patterns
The hourly wind direction pattern in one-year average is also created. Basically, wind directionchanges to the opposite direction between daytime and nighttime because of the different of heattransferring in land and sea. However, in case of Ninh Thuan, the graph shows that, in winter season,
from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM (nighttime), the main wind direction is northeast and north. In the daytime,
the wind direction is not significant different compared with the nighttime.
100%

90%

90%

80%

80%

70%

70%

Frequency

100%

Frequency

60%
50%
40%
30%
20%

60%
50%
40%
30%
20%

10%

10%

0%

0%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

1

Hour

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Hour

Fig. 6 Hourly Wind Direction in Winter Season

Fig. 7 Hourly Wind Direction in Season Transition
Period7

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100%
90%

Frequency

80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Hour

Fig. 8 Hourly Wind Direction in Summer Season
For summer season, for the whole day, the main wind direction is southwest. Besides that, there aresome southeast winds at the noontime.
In season transition period, even in daytime or nighttime, there are many wind directions. The windvelocity in this period also is lower than in winter and summer season. Therefore, it is difficult to findthe hourly wind pattern in a day average in this period.
4. Application and Discussion
Atmospheric dispersion model can be divided into two parts: transport and disperse part. Currently,
Puff model can used to overcome the limitation of Plume model and has it owns advantage features. It is
the model represent for traditional atmospheric dispersion model and the advanced dispersion model.
Puff model can simulate transport and disperse part. Therefore, the result of this model is not only thetransport direction of radionuclide but also the concentration (mass) of radionuclide. This is theadvantage of Puff model because it cover all part of dispersion process. However, Puff model result justcan be visualized at single weather condition. Other while, the overview picture of how radionuclide
released and distributed in one year can be created by combination of many dispersion simulation results
at different weather conditions. By using SWTM, the combination of many SWTM result is solved by
the set of wind transport vectors. On the other hand, Puff model requires many meteorological indicatorsthat did not collect in Phan Rang meteorological station. By rejecting the disperse part, Puff model
becomes SWTM, that can simulate only the transport and the meteorological data requires for this model
is wind data. The other meteorological indicators do not need for simulate SWTM such as temperature,
rainfall, cloud cover rate, etc. In conclusion, SWTM can overcome the limitation on meteorological dataand can combine the set of atmospheric dispersion result to visualize the overview picture of how
radionuclide distributed in the whole year.
Based on the hourly wind pattern in daily average, wind pattern in winter and summer seasons canbe detected. These patterns can represent for all wind conditions. In this research, one application of
SWTM is produced by combine all SWTM endpoints. SWTM endpoint is the final point of released puff,
it also the final affected area by radionuclide released. Each SWTM starts at 7AM and the released
period time is one day (24 hours). This application can show the boundary distribution of radionuclide indifferent season of a year.
A hypothetical nuclear reactor acceded assumes that it happens in Ninh Thuan NPP. The figures from
9 to 11 present the distribution of end puff after 24 hours release of radionuclide in the atmosphere byusing SWTM with the starting time at 7 AM. The distribution of end puff is represented by plotting in
the two-dimensional Cartesian system. The point where the two coordinate axis meet, namely origin, i.e.
ordered pair (0,0) represent the location of Ninh Thuan NPP. The color of each scatter point reflects thefrequency of end puff reach to each pixel. The lighter color is the lower frequency of puff reach to eachpixel. In these figures, each pixel presents for an area of 20km x 20km.
The blue color area shows the safe place that didn’t appear any end puffs through the period from8

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1996 to 2006. During eleven-year period, there are 4020 days; it means that 4020 simulation of SWTM
are created to detect the boundary distribution of radionuclide application. The yellow color has thefrequency appears of SWTM endpoint from 1 to 9. The red and dark red color has the double and triple
frequency compared with yellow color at scale of 10 to 19 and 20 to 29 respectively. The highest
frequency of SWTM endpoint is the dark green area with that frequency is higher than 30.

Fig. 9 The distribution of end puff released to theatmosphere after 24 hours in winter season

Fig. 10 The distribution of end puff released to theatmosphere after 24 hours in summer season
Frequency appear of end puffs

Ninh Thuan NPPHigh Population area
Fig. 11 The distribution of end puff released to theatmosphere after 24 hours in season transition period
Figure 11 shows that, in summer, the end point of radionuclide distributes mainly in the east sea areaby the northeast direction. However, the winter season reflects different results. There is a high densityof puff ending at southwest area. The southwest area covers the high population density City such as Ho
Chi Minh City, Vung Tau City, Can Tho City and Binh Duong… In season transition period, even that
there are many different wind directions, the distribution of end puffs are mainly in the sea. However, asmall number of puffs can reach to Ho Chi Minh City. In summary, in case that the accident happens, therisk of harm to the public will be lower in summer and season transition period than in winter season.
Simplified Wind Transport Model is proposed to estimate the transport of radioactive materials basedon the historical wind data collected in Ninh Thuan meteorological station. This model can simulate thecenterline of the radionuclide plume during transport process in the atmosphere. One of the big
advantages of SWTM model is that it can be applied even under the limitation of meteorological data.
Specifically, only wind data is sufficient as the input data to model the transport of radionuclide.
Moreover, the computational requirement is very low. It can quickly simulate thousands of the9Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02016/1-10

radionuclide transport and output the results in a short time. It can solve some of the demerit points ofother models, such as the Gaussian-plume model and other advanced dispersion models which require acomplex set of meteorological data and take a significant length of time for simulation. The otheradvantage is the combination feature of SWTM, it is easy to combine the result of thousand SWTM
result and visualize it one scatter chart.
However, along with its merit as a simplified and fast simulation model, the limitation of SWTM isthat it not take account the dispersion of radionuclide. In case that the complex set of meteorological
data is ready, of course, the application of other advanced models should be carried out for the moresophisticated expected results. However, in the opposite situation where the meteorological data is not
sufficient, estimating the transport of radioactive materials released to the atmosphere still can be
implemented by SWTM. Based on the result of SWTM, the local government will have more evidence
to predict the distribution of radionuclide in case of NPP accident, and to identify the period that it isnecessary to increase level of accident alarm to the public.

References[1] Ralph R. Fullwood, “Probabilistic Safety Assessment in the Chemical and Nuclear Industries”, ISBN
0-1239-0812-4, pages 1-34
[2] Toshimitsu Homma, Kenichi Tomita and Sinji Hato, “Uncertainty and sensitivity studies with theprobabilistic accident consequence assessment code OSCAAR”, Nuclear Engineering and Technology,
Vol.37, No.3, June 2005
[3] Ministry for the Environment, New Zealand, “Good Practice Guide for Atmospheric Dispersion
Modelling”, ISBN 0-478-18941-9[4] Suzanne M. Viessman and Sethu Raman, Atmospheric Environment Vol. 22, No. 5, pages 839-851,
1988[5] Searcy, C., Dean, K., Stringer, W., 1998, PUFF: A Lagrangian Trajectory Volcanic Ash Tracking
Model, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research (80) 1-16
(Received: 23 June, 2013, Accepted: 31 July, 2013)10

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02017/1-6

Investigation of reaction selectivity for oxygen reduction in thepresence of methanol at sputtered Co-C-N electrocatalyst
Sayoko Shironita, Yosuke Matsumoto, Minoru Umeda*
Department of Materials Science and Technology, Faculty of Engineering,
Nagaoka University of Technology
1603-1, Kamitomioka, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan*E-mail: mumeda@vos.nagaokaut.ac.jp

The mixed reactant direct methanol fuel cells (MRFC) is expected to become
one of the smallest fuel cells for mobile electronic applications. For its
realization, a reaction selectivity is indispensable for each anode and cathodecatalyst, where a methanol-oxygen mixture is fueled. In this study, we
prepared a Co-C-N electrocatalyst for an MRFC cathode using a reactive
sputtering equipment. The oxygen reduction selectivity of the prepared
Co-C-N electrocatalyst was assessed in an acidic solution containing O2 andCH3OH. The substrate temperature furing the sputtering deposition wasvaried from room temperature to 773 K. As a result, the oxygen reduction
current increased with an increase in the substrate temperature. The prepared
Co-C-N electrocatalyst at 773 K had a high activity and selectivity for theoxygen reduction in the presence of methanol.

1. Introduction
Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) are expected to be highly efficient convertors of chemicalenergy to electric energy [1-4], and have attracted much attention because of low-temperature
operation, small size, and light weight. However, a methanol crossover phenomenon has prevented
the practical utilization of DMFCs. This phenomenon causes both a loss of fuel and a decline inpower as a result of methanol transmission through the electrolytic membrane from the cathode side
to anode side.
Some techniques, such as laminar flow fuel cells (LFFC) [5], FlowCath® technology [6], andmixed reactant direct methanol fuel cells (MRFC) [7-9], have been developed to solve this problem
of methanol crossover. In particular, the MRFC utilizes a methanol and oxygen mixture as fuelwithout a separator, thereby solving the issues of fuel loss and power decline. Additionally, theremoval of the separator is an effective way to reduce the weight and size of the fuel cell. However,in order to facilitate the practical utilization of MRFCs, it is important for the electrocatalysts to havemethanol oxidation selectivity at the anode and oxygen reduction selectivity at the cathode.
Thus far, Pt-based catalysts have been widely used for the anode and cathode of DMFCs becauseof their high catalytic activities for both oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and methanol oxidation
reaction (MOR). However, in the presence of both methanol and oxygen, the methanol oxidation
current and the oxygen reduction current mix, which results in a reduction of power generation. It istherefore necessary to develop electrocatalysts that have selectivity for the MOR at the anode and for
the ORR at the cathode of the MRFC.
Our previous study reported that the methanol oxidation current at a Pt-C co-sputteredelectrocatalyst under an O2 atmosphere is higher than at a Pt electrode as the anode catalyst [10]. For
reaction selective cathode catalysts, there have been several reports of Pt/Ru, Pt/Sn, and RuxSey as
possible electrocatalysts [11], but these do not produce a high current density for the ORR.
Unexpectedly, a commercially available Pt/C electrocatalyst was shown to have reaction selectivity
for ORR [12]. However, it is difficult for a Pt-based cathode to reduce the MOR current to zero.
We have focused our attention on the cathode catalyst for the MRFC, which requires a high ORR
activity and negligible MOR activity. Non-platinum electrocatalysts, e.g., RuxSey [11], a carbon
alloy [13, 14], M1-CNO [15], M1-CNO (M1=Ta, Zr) [16], M2-C-N [17], and M2-C-N-B (M2=Co,

1

Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02017/1-6Fe) [18] appear to be suitable cathode catalysts. Multi-target sputtering can be a powerful technique
for the preparation of cathode materials, and allows for the easy control of cathode composition[19-21]. In particular, reactive sputtering enables one to introduce N atoms to a metal-based catalyst
layer from N2 gas. In this study, we report that a Co-C-N electrocatalyst prepared by reactive
sputtering at 773 K displayed high ORR activity in the presence of methanol.

2. Experiment
Co-C-N thin-layer electrocatalysts were prepared by a reactive sputtering method using aload-lock type sputtering system (ULVAC, CS-200S). A Co disk and two C disks of 8-mm diameter
were used as the sputtering target. An Au flag electrode of 8-mm diameter and 0.05-mm thickness
was used as the sputter-deposition substrate for the electrochemical measurements and for thephysical characterizations. The substrate was washed by ultrasonic agitation first in acetone and thenin Milli-Q water for 10 minutes each before being placed in the sputtering system. The reactive
sputtering procedure is as follows: a rotating holder equipped with the substrate was installed in a
vacuum chamber, and the chamber was evacuated to a base pressure of 3.0 × 10−4 Pa. The substrate
was etched at an output of 200 W for 120 s in order to clean its surface. Subsequently, Ar(99.9999%) and N2 (99.999%) gases (volume ratio is 11:1) were introduced into the chamber to apressure of 5.0 Pa, and Co and C were simultaneously sputtered onto the substrate. During the
sputtering, the substrate holder was rotated at 10 rpm, and the substrate temperature was controlledfrom room temperature (r.t.) to 773 K.
The prepared Co-C-N surface was observed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM:
JSM-6060A, JEOL Ltd.) at 20 kV, and its composition was analyzed by energy dispersive
spectroscopy (EDS: JED-2300, JEOL Ltd.). The bulk structure was measured by X-ray diffraction(XRD: XD-D1, Shimadzu Corporation) using CuK radiation at 30 mA, 30 kV, in the 2 range from
20 to 80 degrees.
The electrochemical measurements were performed using a potentiostat (HAB-151, Hokuto
Denko Corporation) and a three-electrode glass cell consisting of the prepared Co-C-N
electrocatalyst as the working electrode, a Pt wire as the counter electrode, and Ag/Ag2SO4 as thereference electrode. A supporting electrolyte of a 0.5 mol dm−3 H2SO4 solution was prepared bydiluting concentrated H2SO4 (special grade of Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.) with Milli-Q
water. All electrode potentials in this study were referenced to the normal hydrogen electrodepotential (NHE) at the same temperature. Prior to the measurements, the working electrode waselectrochemically cleaned by a potential cycle of 0–1.0 V vs. NHE at the rate of 10 mV s−1 in a
N2-saturated 0.5 mol dm−3 H2SO4 solution (N2: 99.999%) for 60 min so that the electrode surface
was stabilized. The last cycle of the voltammograms was recorded as the background cyclic
voltammograms (CVs).
Oxygen reduction at the prepared Co-C-N electrocatalyst was evaluated from thecurrent-potential (i-E) curves obtained in the O2-saturated 0.5 mol dm−3 H2SO4 solution. The i-E
curves were measured at the sweep rates of 0.1 and 10 mV s−1. To investigate reaction selectivity, thei-E curves were obtained in an O2-saturated 0.5 mol dm−3 H2SO4 + 1 mol dm−3 CH3OH (special
grade of Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.) solution at the sweep rate of 10 mV s−1. All current
values were normalized to a current density using the geometric surface area of the electrode, and allelectrochemical measurements were conducted at 298±1 K.
3. Results and Discussion
The Co-C-N electrocatalysts were prepared by the reactive sputtering at various substratetemperatures and characterized by XRD, SEM, and EDS. The prepared Co-C-N electrocatalysts arepresented as CoxCyNz, with the subscripts referring to atomic ratios that were calculated by EDS
measurement. Within the figures, the substrate temperature is included in parentheses after eachelectrocatalyst. Figure 1 shows the XRD patterns of the prepared Co-C-N electrocatalysts, indicatingthat the Co-C-N catalyst has an amorphous phase with a broad peak at approximately 26 degrees
originating from the natural graphite carbon (002) [22]. There is no peak of the metallic Co phase.
Therefore, the prepared layer contains both Co and N in the C phase. However, our previous study
had shown that the Pt-C co-sputtered electrode had a Pt and C phase-separated structure [10].

2Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02017/1-6

Co

0.34

Co

Intensity / a.u.

0.09

Co

Co

Co

20

30

0.10

0.09

0.16

C

C

0.66

0.32

(r.t.)

N0.59 (r.t.)

C

N0.56 (423 K)

C

N0.57 (573 K)

C

N0.43 (773 K)

0.34

0.34

0.41

40
50
60
2 / degree

7080Fig. 1 XRD patterns of the sputtered Co-C and the Co-C-N electrocatalysts prepared atr.t., 423 K, 573 K and 773K.
The SEM images of the prepared Co-C-N electrocatalysts in Fig. 2 show that the surfaces of theelectrocatalysts are smooth and clear of any particles. The changes in Co-C-N composition for thedifferent electrocatalysts as seen in Figs. 1 and 2 were a result of changing only the substratetemperature, while keeping other conditions constant. The reaction between N2 gas and thedepositing materials during the sputtering process is therefore dependent on the substratetemperature.
(a)

(b)

50 m

50 m

(c)

(d)

50 m

50 m

Fig. 2 SEM images of the sputtered Co-C-N electrocatalysts; (a) Co0.09C0.32N0.59 (r.t.), (b)Co0.10C0.34N0.56 (423 K), (c) Co0.09C0.34N0.57 (573 K), and (d) Co0.16C0.41N0.43 (773 K).
Figure 3 demonstrates the background CVs of the prepared Co-C-N electrocatalysts. There is no
current peak based on the adsorption/desorption of the H or OH species similar to that observed at
the Pt electrode. Because the electric double-layer capacity increases from the background CVs in
Fig. 3, it can be inferred that the surface area of the electrocatalysts is increasing with the increase in
substrate temperature. Therefore, substrate temperature was found to influence the electrochemical
surface area of the electrocatalyst. In addition, no Co dissolution was observed from the backgroundCVs. Consequently, the prepared Co-C-N was found to be an electrochemically stable electrode.

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Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02017/1-6

0.1

Current density / mAcm -2(a) Co C N (r.t.)
0.09 0.32 0.59(b) Co C N (423 K)
0.10

0.34

0.56

(e)

(a)

(b)

0
(c)
(d)

(c) Co C N (573 K)
0.09 0.34 0.57(d) Co C N (773 K)
0.16 0.41 0.43(e) Co C (r.t.)
0.34

-0.1

0

0.66

0.4
0.8
Potential / V vs. NHE

Fig. 3 Background cyclic voltammograms of the sputtered Co-C and the Co-C-N
electrocatalysts prepared at r.t., 423 K, 573 K and 773K in a N2-saturated 0.5 mol dm−3
H2SO4 solution. Sweep rate: 10 mV s−1.
Figure 4 shows ORR voltammograms obtained in the O2-saturated 0.5 mol dm−3 H2SO4 solution
without any methanol. The results show that the diffusion limited current increases with increasing
substrate temperature. Also, the onset potential of the prepared Co-C-N at 773 K was found to besignificantly enhanced when compared to the other electrocatalysts. Consequently, the ORR
activities were found to be improved with the increase of substrate temperature from r.t. to 773 K.

Current density / mAcm -2

0
(a)
(b)
(c)

-0.2
(d)
(a) Co

0.09

-0.4

0.32

N

0.59

(r.t.)(b) CoCN(423 K)(c) CoCN(573 K)

0.10

0.09

(d) Co

0.16

0

C

0.34

0.34

C

0.41

0.56

0.57

N

0.43

0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
Potential / V vs. NHE(773 K)

1/ mV
RHE Co-C-N electrocatalysts
Fig. 4 Voltammograms of oxygen Potential
reduction at
the vs.
sputteredprepared at r.t., 423 K, 573 K and 773K in an O2-saturated 0.5 mol dm−3 H2SO4 solution.
Sweep rate: 10 mV s−1. Voltammograms were measured at r.t.
In comparison, Fig. 5A shows that Pt electrocatalysts have a high activity for both methanoloxidation and oxygen reduction, which are represented by curves (i) and (ii), respectively.
Accordingly, in the presence of both methanol and oxygen, a mixed curve (iii) is observed as both
MOR and ORR simultaneously occur. However, analysis of the activity of the prepared Co-C-N
electrocatalyst at 773 K shows only the ORR property in the presence of methanol, seen in curve (iii)of Fig. 5B. This result strongly suggests that only the ORR occurs, without any accompanying MOR.
A comparison of curves (iii) in both Figs. 5A and 5B, the ORR currents of the Pt and Co-C-N
electrocatalysts are observed to be < 0.65 V vs. NHE and at < 0.85 V vs. NHE, respectively.

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Transactions on GIGAKU 2(1)(2014)02017/1-6

Therefore, the ORR activity of the Co-C-N electrocatalyst was observed to be superior to that of thePt electrocatalyst in the presence of methanol.
2
(i)

A: Pt

Current density / mAcm -2

(iii)

0
(ii)
B: Co

0.16

C

0.41

N

0.43

(773 K)

0
(i)

(iii)

-0.2
(ii)

-0.4
0

0.2

0.4 0.6 0.8
1
Potential / V vs. NHE

1.2

Fig. 5 Voltammograms of oxygen reduction and methanol oxidation at A) the sputteredPt and B) the sputtered Co-C-N (773 K) electrocatalyst in (i) N2-saturated 0.5 mol dm−3
H2SO4 + 1 mol dm−3 CH3OH, (ii) O2-saturated 0.5 mol dm−3 H2SO4, and (iii)O2-saturated 0.5 mol dm−3 H2SO4 + 1 mol dm−3 CH3OH. Sweep rate: 10 mV s−1.
Voltammograms were measured at r.t.
Finally, in order to compare the ORR mechanism between the prepared Co-C-N electrocatalyst
and Pt electrode, Tafel plots of the two electrodes are shown in Fig. 6. Two slopes of 60 and 120 mV
decade−1 are obtained in the Tafel plots of the Co-C-N electrocatalyst as well as the Pt electrode.
Therefore, we postulate that the ORRs at the Co-C-N electrocatalyst and the Pt electrode occur via
the same mechanism. Based on these results, the Co-C-N sputtered electrocatalyst was found topossess characteristics that would allow it to function as an effective MRFC cathode catalyst.
0
120 mV decade -1
60 mV decade -1

log |i| / mAcm -2

-1

Pt

-2

-3

-4
0.5

Co0.16C0.41N0.43 (773K)

0.7
0.9
Potential / V vs. NHE

1.1

Fig. 6 Tafel plot of oxygen reduction reaction at the sputtered Pt and the sputtered
Co-C-N electrocatalysts (773 K) in an O2-saturated 0.5 mol dm−3 H2SO4 solution. Sweep
rate: 0.1 mV s–1.

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4. Conclusions
We succeeded in preparing Co-C-N electrocatalysts using a reactive sputtering technique. The
ORR catalytic activity of the prepared electrode was found to be dependent on its composition andthe substrate temperature. The Co0.16C0.41N0.43 electrocatalyst prepared at 773 K showed the highest
ORR activity and ORR selectivity in the presence of methanol in this study. The ORR mechanism of
the Co-C-N electrocatalyst was postulated to be the same as that of the Pt electrode.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by an Adaptable and Seamless Technology Transfer Program throughTarget-driven R&D Grant (AS231Z02288C) from the Japan Society and Technology Agency (JST),Japan.
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