Strain-induced internal fibrillation in looped aramid filaments

By mapping the small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) from a looped poly-(para-phenylene terephtalamide) (aramid, PPTA) filament using a synchrotron X-ray microbeam, we investigate the effects of axially compressive and tensile strain on internal fibrillar structures. Unique observations of oscillations in the highly anisotropic SAXS patterns indicate a regular internal structure. Upon increase of the applied compressive strain, a significant decrease in oscillation frequency is observed in the scattering pattern. With an increase in imposed tensile strain an increase in oscillation frequency in the scattering pattern is observed. One model capable of describing the intensity is a model of stacked cylinders. These cylinders could be part of the fibrillar structure present in the PPTA fibres, which consist of cylinder- to tape-like objects, the presence of which is supported by SEM images. One hypothetical physical interpretation presented here for the appearance of a regular internal structure is the occurrence of fibrillar separation in regions undergoing axially compressive strain, and the appearance of strain relief/slip planes between packs of fibrils in regions undergoing tensile strain. Compaction of these packs upon increase of tensile strain could increase the repetition distance in the structure as multiple packs combine to form a single pack.     

Effective strain rate sensitivity of two phase materials

Analytical expressions are derived for the effective strain rate sensitivity exponent of a two phase material when the behavior of both phases and of the composite itself can be described by power law relations between the stress and strain rates. The material is assumed to be plastically isotropic and obey to von-Mises type creep behavior. Two types of boundary conditions are considered: strain or stress-controlled. The obtained formulas are applied to a geological composite material (mixture of camphor and octachloropropane) with the help of different simple models of two phase composites.     

Membrane Effects in Biaxial Compression Tests

The effects of the confining membrane in laboratory tests on soil specimens have been the subject of numerous experimental, analytical, and numerical studies over the past half-century. This technical note expands the existing knowledge base by presenting a methodology and the associated results from an experimental study that has quantified the effect of the confining membrane in biaxial shear tests conducted on medium sand. The applicability of the method of biaxial tests on clay specimens is also presented. The results show that for both tests on sands and clays, the effect of the membrane on the shear stress on the failure plane are significant and should be accounted for in the interpretation of biaxial shear test results where localization occurs.     

Graph theory augmented math programming approach to identify minimal reaction sets in metabolic networks

Bioprocesses are of growing importance as an avenue to produce chemicals. Microorganisms containing only desired catalytic and replication capabilities in their metabolic pathways are expected to offer efficient processes for chemical production. Realizing such minimal cells is the holy grail of metabolic engineering. In this paper, we propose a new method that combines graph-theoretic approaches with mixed-integer liner programming (MILP) to design metabolic networks with minimal reactions. Existing MILP based computational approaches are computationally complex especially for large networks. The proposed graph-theoretic approach offers an efficient divide-and-conquer strategy using the MILP formulation on sub-networks rather than considering the whole network monolithically. In addition to the resulting improvement in computational complexity, the proposed method also aids in identifying the key reactions to be knocked-out in order to achieve the minimal cell. The efficacy of the proposed approach is demonstrated using three case studies from two organisms, Escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.     

Controllable fabrication of carbon nanotube-polymer hybrid thin film for strain sensing

A strain sensing material based on carbon nanotubes-polymer hybrid film has been fabricated by the vacuum filtration and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) molding transfer methods. The density and thickness of the film is tuned by simply controlling the volume of dilute suspension filtered through the membrane. These composites are resilient under large strain and there is a wide linear range of resistance-strain dependence. We demonstrate that the thin films with thicker CNTs networks exhibit more significant resistance-strain sensitivity under the same stain and the strain sensing material shows reproducible resistance-strain sensitivity depending only on the initial CNTs suspension volume. It may be possible to fabricate strain sensing material in large volume for future smart device applications.     

压缩应力下石墨IG-110热膨胀系数的测量及验证

采用应变电测法测量压缩应力状态下石墨IG-110的热膨胀系数,分析不同压缩应力对IG-110热膨胀系数的影响.结果表明,压缩应力对IG-110的热膨胀系数影响显著.与未加载时相比,分别加载20、30、40 MPa压缩应力石墨试样平行加载方向的平均热膨胀系数由3.71×10~(-6) K~(-1)逐渐增大至4.20×10~(-6)、4.41×10~(-6)、4.78×10~(-6) K~(-1),分别提高约13.2%、18.9%和28.8%;而垂直加载方向的平均热膨胀系数则由4.03×10~(-6)K~(-1)逐渐减小至3.80×10~(-6)、3.79×10~(-6)、3.75×10~(-6)K~(-1),分别降低约5.7%、6.0%和6.9%.压缩应力状态下石墨热膨胀系数的变化可能与应力导致石墨内部微裂纹的张开和闭合有关.     

Essential work of fracture and viscoplastic response of a carbon black-filled thermoplastic elastomer

Observations are reported on a carbon black-filled thermoplastic elastomer in uniaxial cyclic tensile tests with various maximum strains and double-edge-notched-tensile (DENT) tests with various ligament widths at ambient temperature. It is shown that the stress-strain diagrams in DENT tests measured relatively far away from the ligament coincide with those in tensile cyclic tests on un-notched samples. To describe the viscoplastic response of un-notched specimens, constitutive equations are derived, and adjustable parameters are found by fitting the experimental data. It is demonstrated how the energy stored in a DENT sample under tension can be accounted for in calculations of the specific essential work of fracture.     

低弹性模量材料的应变测试

本文对低弹性模量材料应变测试中的有关技术问题进行了系统论述。目的在于用这类材料制造机械零部件的模型以进行应力应变的模拟测试,为高、大、精、尖产品以及特种包装容器的设计获取数据。     

用低周疲劳试验测定45号钢的损伤因子

本文介绍了用控制应变幅的低周疲劳试验测定材料的损伤因子临界值D_c,试样用45号钢制作。发现损伤因子临界值D_c介于拉伸和扭转试验值之间,且与纯剪切的试验结果较为接近。