Cyclic fatigue of silica refractories – effect of test method on failure process

Silica refractories serving in high temperature industrial installations fail due to thermo-mechanical cyclic loads. The failure process was investigated by performing cyclic fatigue tests of several methods. In uni-axial compression the samples were tested either with constant force or displacement amplitude or with fixed upper displacement limit. In bending constant displacement amplitude tests were done. The investigation was supported by monotonic loading tests and microstructural analysis. It was determined that the fatigue failure occurs due to the degradation of interlocking in the crack wake. Cracking of larger grains is important for the crack initiation. The test set-up and the loading procedures significantly influence the potential to resist the crack propagation. Cyclic loading produces less brittle failure than monotonic loading. The displacement controlled method allows more gradual, less brittle, failure than the force controlled method. The potential of the crack arrest is less developed in bending than in compression.     

Cyclic tension and compression piezoresistivity of carbon nanotube/vinyl ester composites in the elastic and plastic regimes

The piezoresistive behavior of multi-walled carbon nanotube/vinyl ester composites tested under a low number of cycles and different levels of applied strain is investigated for specimens loaded in axial tension and compression. Since the vinyl ester thermosetting matrix is brittle in tension but ductile in compression, the piezoresistive behavior of the composite material is linear and reversible in tension for all levels of applied strain, but it is nonlinear and non-monotonic in compression. In compression, the reversibility of the electrical resistance upon unloading depends on the level of strain attained during loading, and the permanent changes of electrical resistance which occur after matrix yielding are correlated to matrix irreversible damage.     

Deformation Mechanisms in Compression-Loaded, Stand-Alone Plasma-Sprayed Alumina Coatings

Cylindrical, stand-alone tubes of plasma-sprayed alumina were tested in compression in the axial direction at room temperature, using strain gauges to monitor axial and circumferential strains. The primary compression-loading profile used was cyclic loading, with monotonically increased peak stresses. Hysteresis was observed in the stress–strain response on unloading, beginning at a peak stress of 50 MPa. The modulus decreased as the maximum applied stress increased. The stress–strain response was only linear at low stresses; the degree of nonlinearity at high stresses scaled with the stress applied. One-hour dwells at constant stress at room temperature revealed a time-dependent strain response. Using transmission electron microscopy and acoustic emission to investigate deformation mechanisms, the stress–strain response was correlated with crack pop-in, growth, and arrest. It is proposed that the numerous defects in plasma-sprayed coatings, including porosity and microcracks, serve as sites for crack nucleation and/or propagation. As these small, nucleated cracks extend under the applied stress, they propagate nearly parallel to the loading direction along interlamellae boundaries. With increasing stress, these cracks ultimately link, resulting in catastrophic failure.     

Short beam three point bend tests in syntactic foams. Part I: Microscopic characterization of the failure zones

Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) studies were carried out on the failure surface of syntactic foam material tested in a short beam three point bend test (SBT) by employing 21 × 15 × 3 mm³ dimension bearing specimens. The syntactic foams were fabricated using glass microballoons in epoxy binder. The failure of the tensile, compression, and shear dominated regions were studied by SEM at different magnifications. The tensile region had characteristic features, such as partial debonding of the microballoons from the matrix and cracking of glass microballoons, apart from matrix cracking and some river pattern features. The compression side was characterized by crushing and collapsing of microballoons, resulting in accumulation of debris with no apparent river pattern for matrix‐rich regions. The midway positions of the SBT failed surface comprised of deformation bands in the matrix and occasional debonding of microballoons. The morphology recorded in the tensile and compression regions corroborated well with the results obtained on these foam samples in those specimens that were subjected to pure uniaxial tension and compression, respectively. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 98: 673–679, 2005     

AS型泡沫陶瓷过滤器的研制

详细说明了用网状弹性聚氨基甲酸乙脂切片浸渍陶瓷料浆研制AS型泡沫陶瓷过滤器的工艺。采用非磷酸盐添加剂粘合,由碳化硅、氧化铝、硅胶及少量硅酸铝纤维制成的AS型泡沫陶瓷过滤器抗压强度可达1．65MPa而厚度仅为15mm,并且不会造成环境污染,完全可以满足过滤铁熔液的要求。     

几种多孔电极材料镓电沉积性能的研究

在工业上,稀散金属镓通常是从碱性溶液中电解提取得到的。在镓电解过程中,由于析氢副反应和传质速率低的原因导致镓电沉积的电流效率很低。本工作采用三维多孔电极电沉积镓,利用三维多孔电极发达的表面积促进镓电沉积过程,研究了不同电极材料(泡沫金属和多孔碳)的析氢特性,结合不同电解温度和电流密度下各材料的镓电沉积行为,揭示三维多孔电极上镓电沉积的特性规律。结果表明,泡沫铜和石墨毡(GF)具有较低的析氢活性,但两种电极的镓电沉积性能差别很大。其中泡沫铜表现出最佳的镓电沉积性能,在温度为40℃、电流密度为0.1 A/cm²条件下镓电沉积的电流效率(QE)达到22.5%,远高于铜片电极(10.7%);而相同条件下,GF电极的QE值仅为9.6%,低于铜片,这与电极表面的疏水性有关。具有较高析氢活性的泡沫铁、泡沫镍和网状玻璃碳(RVC)电极的镓电沉积过程受电解温度和电流密度的影响较大。在高电流密度下,泡沫铁电极表现出仅次于泡沫铜的QE值,在低电流密度下难以发生镓的电沉积;泡沫镍和RVC电极仅在低于镓熔点(20℃)的条件下发生镓的电沉积,在高于镓熔点(40℃)的条件下,由于电沉积的液态镓...     

Pseudo-ductile fracture of 3D printed alumina triply periodic minimal surface structures

Additive manufacturing enables the fabrication of periodic ceramic lattices with controllable micro-architectures. Many studies reported their catastrophic brittle fracture behaviour. However, ceramic lattices may fail by a layer-by-layer pseudo-ductile fracture mode, by controlling micro-architectures and porosities. Moreover, their fracture behaviour can be optimised by introducing strut/wall thickness gradients. This paper investigates the fracture behaviour and the fracture mode transition of ceramic triply periodic minimal surface (TPMS) structures. Alumina TPMS structures with relative densities of 0.14-0.37 are fabricated by ceramic stereolithography. Quasi-static compression tests validate a transition density range for non-graded samples: low (<0.21) and moderate (>0.25) relative density samples show layer-by-layer pseudo-ductile and catastrophic brittle fracture modes, respectively. The pseudo-ductile failure mode increases the energy absorption performance, enabling load-bearing capacity for a compressive strain up to 50%. With appropriate thickness gradients, graded structures exhibit significant increase of energy absorption without a decrease of fracture strength compared to their non-graded counterparts.     

中铝质闭孔泡沫陶瓷砖的制备和性能研究

采用发泡法,以废石膏为发泡剂,通过干压成型工艺制备出了中铝质闭孔泡沫陶瓷砖。主要探讨了助烧熔剂和烧成制度等因素对闭孔泡沫陶瓷砖性能的影响。采用真空密度仪、万能测试机、导热仪分别测试了样品的真密度、抗压强度、导热系数,采用排水法测量了样品的体积密度、闭孔气孔率,通过SEM分析了样品的闭孔分布。实验结果表明:样品的真密度为2.691g/cm3,体积密度为1.324 g/cm3,抗压强度为4.82MPa,热导率为0.173 W/(m.k),闭孔气孔率为57.2%,,样品内闭孔分布均匀。     

Biaxial and Uniaxial Data for Statistical Comparisons of a Ceramic's Strength

The uniaxial and equibiaxial tensile strengths of a brittle material were measured in bending. Equibiaxial tension was attained by concentric ring loading of disks and uniaxial tension by four-point line loading of plates. The two specimen designs give equal volumes, surface areas, and stress gradients. Ground surfaces and lapped surfaces were tested. The equibiaxial tensile strength of a dense alumina was lower than the uniaxial tensile strengths for both ground and lapped surfaces, 8.5 and 8.1%, respectively. The Batdorf theory of flaw statistics, in which biaxial tensile strengths can be predicted from the statistical distribution of uniaxial tensile strength measurements, agreed with the data.     

Fracture Behavior of Open-Cell Ceramics

Cellular structures are commonly used by nature as a means of optimizing the strength-to-weight ratio of a body. Cellular ceramics may have potential in structural applications requiring a high modulus-to-weight ratio. The models that are used to predict the mechanical behavior of these materials describe them as an interconnected network of columns and plates and predict a dependence on density and cell size. The fracture toughness and strength of several open-cell alumina materials were measured and compared to a theoretical model. Image analysis was used to fully characterize the macrostructure of the samples and provided a basis for evaluating the toughness and strength behavior. It was observed that the properties of the bulk material depend on the strength of the individual struts in the structure. The fit of the data to an open-cell model was found to be dependent on the agreement between the actual macrostructure and that assumed in the model. Both microscopic and macroscopic flaws contribute to the variability of the strength in these materials and it was found that there was a wide distribution of bulk and strut strengths. Both of these flaw populations must be controlled to maximize the mechanical properties of these open-cell ceramics.     

三种有机泡沫材料的吸放水性及微观结构研究

采用重量法和扫描电镜研究了硬质聚氨酯泡沫塑料、硅橡胶泡沫材料、半硬质自结皮聚氨酯泡沫塑料的吸、放水性能和微观结构,比较了这三种泡沫材料的吸、放水性能及其机理。结果表明,这三种有机泡沫材料的吸、放水能力不同,硬质聚氨酯泡沫塑料的吸、放水能力<硅橡胶泡沫材料<半硬质自结皮聚氨酯泡沫塑料,其吸、放水机理与泡沫开孔有关,密度越小且泡孔开孔率越高,吸、放水能力越强。     

Real time TEM observation of alumina ceramic nano-particles during compression

The behavior of alumina nano-particles taken from a commercial powder is investigated during in situ compression experiments in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Small particles of 40 nm in diameter can undergo severe plastic deformation without failure, whereas brittle fracture is observed for 120 nm sized nano-particles. This is evidence of a critical size under which alumina, at least in the form of nano-particles, cannot be considered as brittle materials even at room temperature and a direct observation of the grinding limit generally observed during ball milling.     

Failure analysis of carbon nanotube wires

A failure analysis of four carbon nanotube (CNT) wires comprised of 1-, 30-, 60-, and 100-yarns was conducted when subjected to constant tension and cyclic tension–tension loading conditions. Each wire had different controlling mechanisms of failure. Tensile and cyclic load-induced failures were related to the movement within yarns and/or among yarns in the CNT wires. The 1-yarn CNT wire exhibited a ductile fracture when constant tensile load was applied; recoverable deformation bands were observed on bending and straightening. The 30-yarn CNT wire showed a variant/independent fibrillar failure under constant tensile loading condition, while it failed by biaxial rotation, bend and twist under cyclic loading condition. The 60-yarn CNT wire resulted in a stake and socket fibre fracture when loaded to failure in constant tension; however, in the cyclic loading condition, the wire failed by kink band process. The 100-yarn wire failure mechanism was controlled by the surface wear in both constant tension and fatigue loading conditions. This failure analysis study presents detailed fracture surface features that can be used to diagnose the cause of failure, develop failure mechanisms, and improve the properties of CNT wires when used in real-life applications.     

A novel process to high-strength and controlled-shrinkage Al2O3 foams with open-cell by Al powder hollowing technology

Ceramic foams with open-cell structures have attracted extensive attention due to their unique structure and superior properties. But these materials often exhibit the weakness of high sintered shrinkage and low strength at high porosity levels. In this work, novel ceramic foams with open-cell structures have been obtained using Al powder by combining direct foaming and gelation freezing (DF–GF). The foams are assembled by hollow Al₂O₃ particles resulting from the Kirkendall effect, in which expanded particles overcome the shrinkage of sintering. The influence of sintering temperature on the microstructure and properties of foams are investigated. The Al₂O₃ foams show near-zero-shrinkage at 1773 K after undergoing the process of first expansion and then shrinkage. Compared to other conventional open-cell foam, this foam displays relatively high compressive strength of 0.35–2.19 MPa at high porosity levels of 89.45%–94.45%, attributed to hierarchical pore structure and reaction bonding between Al and O₂. This method from pore structure design provides a novel route for the preparation of controlled shrinkage and high-compressive strength alumina foam with open-cell toward potential application.     

Immobilization of lipase on chemically modified bimodal ceramic foams for olive oil hydrolysis

The work reported in this paper is aimed at exploring the feasibility of immobilizing alkali lipase from Penicillium expansum on a bimodal ceramic foam, which has both macro- and micro-pore structures. After being chemically modified with a silane coupling agent, the ceramic foam was used as a support for lipase immobilization. To determine the preferable immobilization conditions, the effects of the amount of enzyme for loading, immobilization time, temperature, and pH on enzyme activity were investigated. The results showed that the chemically modified ceramic foam has a high loading capacity and a strong binding ability for the lipase. Thanks to the low internal mass transfer resistance, the ceramic foam has greatly enhanced the rate of immobilization. As a comparison, the immobilized-lipase activity was much higher than that on many frequently used porous materials like diatomite, alumina and activated carbon.     

An investigation of brittle failure in ductile,notch-sensitive thermoplastics

Brittle failure, a significant design issue for plastic components subject to impact loads, is especially catastrophic when the material is normally ductile. Such behavior is not adequately understood relative to the micromechanisms, controlling parameters, and design consequences in plastics. Previous work has identified the process of crazing as being relevant to these failures in thermoplastics. The relationship between crazes generated through mechanical loading and subsequent brittle failure of amorphous thermoplastics is discussed and the hypothesis that the craze event is a necessary but insufficient condition for brittle failure is employed. Emphasis is focused upon the engineering prediction of craze formation and its use as a conservative brittle failure criteria for defining geometric details to prevent brittle failure. First, a series of experiments using one geometry is applied to study the concept of crazing as a precursor to brittle fracture in the two amorphous polymers polycarbonate and polyetherimide. Second, three-dimensional finite element analyses are used to assess the effects of changes in geometric detail upon the continuum stress state and eventual failure of the specimen for these two materials.     

聚氨酯泡沫塑料在低密度炸药制备中的应用

以软质聚氨酯泡沫塑料为载体，制备低密度炸药。探讨了聚氨酯泡沫塑料在低密度炸药中的应用。简单介绍了采用炸药溶液浸渍法、水分散液浸泡法和原料混合发泡法这三种方法的工艺过程以及产品的爆炸性能。     

用于网化的柔性开孔聚氨酯泡沫的制备

以三乙烯二胺和辛酸亚锡为催化剂、L580作泡沫稳定剂，对两种聚醚多元醇(TMN3050和TMN450)进行复配，制得了具有网络骨架的软质开孔聚氨酯泡沫，讨论了原料用量对泡沫性能的影响，用扫描电镜和差热热重分析对泡沫进行了观察。结果表明，优化配方为：TMN305050份，TMN45050份，水22份，L580 1．5份，异氰酸酯指数1．15。     

Improving the properties of ceramic foams by a vacuum infiltration process

Reticulated ceramic foams are widely used for industrial applications such as metal filtration, exhaust gas and air purification, catalyst support and others. In this work, the compression strength and specific surface area of reticulated foams have been improved, while at the same time maintaining a high level of permeability in the final foam structure. In particular, a vacuum infiltration step by using a suitable slurry, followed by a pre-sintering cycle was adopted for filling up the hollow struts, generated due to the burnout of the PU foam. Furthermore, various mixtures of fine and coarse-grained alumina as well as in combination with zirconia, were utilised with the aim of controlling the foam properties such as compression strength, specific surface area and permeability. The compression strength was improved by a factor of two for alumina foams by infiltrating the hollow struts, and by a factor of four when infiltrating the struts of ZTA foams, with the composition 70 mol% Al₂O₃ and 30 mol% ZrO₂. The weight gain resulting from the vacuum infiltration process was in the order of 10 wt%.     

Self-sensing of flexural damage and strain in carbon fiber reinforced cement and effect of embedded steel reinforcing bars

Self-sensing of flexural damage and strain in carbon fiber reinforced cement is attained by measuring the volume or surface resistance with the four-probe method and electrical contacts on the compression and/or tension surfaces. The oblique resistance (volume resistance in a direction between the longitudinal and through-thickness directions) increases upon loading and is a good indicator of damage and strain in combination. The surface resistance on the compression side decreases upon loading and is a good indicator of strain. The surface resistance on the tension side increases upon loading and is a good indicator of damage. The effectiveness for the self-sensing of flexural strain in carbon fiber reinforced cement is enhanced by the presence of embedded steel rebars on the tension side. For the same midspan deflection, the fractional change in surface electrical resistance is increased in magnitude, whether the surface resistance is that of the tension side or the compression side. The fractional change in resistance of the tension surface is increased by 40%, while the magnitude of the fractional change in resistance of the compression surface is increased by 70%, due to the steel.