Date of Award

Winter 2009

Project Type

Thesis

Program or Major

Mechanical Engineering

Degree Name

Master of Science

First Advisor

Brad Kinsey

Abstract

High aspect ratio nanostructures have been successfully fabricated in supercooled Bulk Metallic Glass (BMG) by molding against patterned Silicon. Nanoforming allows for a high rate manufacturing of nanostructures. In past research, two theoretical models to analyze the nanoforming process were created. These models were combined and further developments were made. This model is used to predict the depth of fill for a trench feature at a particular location on the mold based on molding parameters specified. The effects of surface tension of the BMG were also considered. An experimental setup was constructed and experiments were performed in an attempt to investigate the highest achievable aspect ratio for a specified size feature and known molding parameters to compare with the theoretical model. While flow into the trench features did not occur, observations confirmed that the pressures at the centers of molds were higher than at the edges, which agrees with the theoretical model qualitatively.

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