Quantitative characterization of surface deformation in polymer composites using digital image analysis

The stress whitening of polymers and polymer composites during surface deformation (scratching) can represent a severe technological problem in certain applications. For example, scratch resistance is particularly important for poly(propylene) automobile interior components. Unfortunately, the addition of reinforcing agents such as talc or mica for improved dimensional stability and rigidity often results in an increased sensitivity to scratching. The ability to design new materials with reduced visible surface deformation requires more sophisticated information about the deformation mechanisms of polymers and polymer composites near surfaces and their relationship to the scattering of incident light. We have developed a technique to quantify the light scattered from polymer composite surfaces due to surface deformation. We first deform the material in a controlled manner using a scratch testing apparatus. We then analyze the region near the scratch with reflected polarized light in an optical microscope coupled to a digital image analysis system. By measuring the light scattering from the sample as a function of incident light polarization and sample orientation, it is possible to obtain information about the nature and extent of deformation at the sample surface. In this report, we describe our technique and demonstrate how it can be used to quantify the surface deformation of poly(propylene)-talc composites. By examining a series of materials as a function of talc content, we have been able to obtain information that can be related to specific micromechanisms of deformation near the scratch, such as the orientation of the polymer and the voiding near the talc particles. The technique should assist in the improved development of similar materials for applications in which surface appearance is a primary concern.     

Understanding of scratch-induced damage mechanisms in polymers

Following the ASTM and ISO test standards, a series of scratch tests were carried out on four categories of polymers: I) ductile and strong, II) ductile and weak, III) brittle and weak, and IV) brittle and strong. The scratch damage features were characterized by using a desktop scanner for scratch visibility assessment, and optical and electron microscopes for detailed damage mechanisms investigation. Various scratch damage mechanisms were identified for the different categories of polymers. The effect of testing rate on possible alteration of scratch damage mechanisms was also studied. The stress fields experienced by the polymer during scratch were determined using three-dimensional finite element methods modeling. It is found that both the material characteristics and the complex stress state exerted on the scratched surface are responsible for the various scratch damage mechanisms observed. A generalized scratch damage mechanism map for polymers is presented. The usefulness of the above understanding for designing scratch-resistant polymers is also discussed.     

Microstructural influence on damage-induced zirconia surface asperities produced by conventional and ultrasonic vibration-assisted diamond machining

Zirconia surface asperities associated with machining-induced damage and deformation jeopardize the quality of zirconia products. Conventional and emerging ultrasonic vibration-assisted machining processes are used to shape zirconia materials. However, a deep understanding of how zirconia microstructures and ultrasonic vibration amplitudes affect material removal mechanisms and surface quality in these processes is missing, rendering the proper mechanical process selection challenging. This paper reports on the 3D characterization of damage-induced surface asperities and the investigation of material removal mechanisms of pre-sintered porous and sintered dense zirconia materials in conventional and ultrasonic vibration-assisted diamond machining processes. 3D white light profilometry was used to measure surface asperities in terms of texture parameters, together with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for imaging damage and deformation morphologies. The results show that removal mechanisms and damage-induced zirconia surface asperities depended on material microstructures and ultrasonic vibration amplitudes. Both porous and dense zirconia materials had a brittle-ductile mixed removal mode in conventional and ultrasonic vibration-assisted diamond machining processes. However, brittle fracture was dominant for the porous state and ductile deformation was presiding for the dense state. Thus, there were significantly higher fracture damage area ratios with much higher average and maximum roughness values, and maximum peak and valley heights on machined porous surfaces than dense ones. Ultrasonic assistance at an optimal vibration amplitude promoted brittle-ductile transitions on both porous and dense zirconia surfaces, resulting in reduced brittle fracture damage areas with reduced surface asperities. This microstructure-process-surface quality relation provides insights into manufacturing processes for zirconia products.     

Atomistic investigation of machinability of monocrystalline 3C–SiC in elliptical vibration-assisted diamond cutting

Deformation-induced characteristics of surface layer strongly rely on loading condition-related operating deformation modes. In the current study we reveal the mechanisms governing machined surface formation of hard brittle monocrystalline 3C–SiC in ultrasonic elliptical vibration-assisted diamond cutting by molecular dynamics simulations. Simulation results show different deformation modes including phase transformation, dislocation activity, and crack nucleation and propagation, as well as their correlations with surface integrity in terms of machined surface morphology and subsurface damage. In particular, molecular dynamics simulations of ordinary cutting are also carried out, which demonstrate the effectiveness of applying ultrasonic vibration of cutting tool in decreasing machining force and suppressing crack events, i.e., promoting ductile-mode cutting for achieving high surface integrity. The physical mechanism governing the machining differences between the two machining processes are also revealed. Furthermore, the effect of cutting depth on machined surface integrity under vibration-assisted cutting and ordinary cutting is addressed.     

力学实验的声发射损伤监控和材料损伤演变

针对无机材料和复合材料的受力或变形过程中发生损伤的时间和对应载荷无法确定的难题,提出将声发射与万能材料试验机有机结合,形成一种能准确监控加载过程中损伤起始和演变的实验技术和装置.这种方法在夹层玻璃的弯曲实验和球压法测试脆性材料局部强度实验中取得了良好的效果,准确得到了发生损伤的临界载荷和反映损伤过程的载荷-声发射图.该技术对检测和预测材料的疲劳性能和失效有重要意义.     

碳纤维编织复合材料拉伸变形测量及声发射监测

采用声发射和数字图像相关互补技术,结合破坏断口微结构特征,研究碳纤维编织复合材料的损伤变形与失效机理。在复合材料试件拉伸加载的同时,实时获取变形特征和损伤声发射信号,分析复合材料力学响应与位移场、声发射特征的关系。结果表明,复合材料试件实时拉伸位移场、损伤破坏过程的声发射相对能量、撞击累积数及幅度等特征参数反映了复合材料表面变形与内部损伤演化过程。复合材料试件断裂时出现较多高持续时间、高幅度、高相对能量的声发射信号,宏观断口平齐,表现为脆性断裂。     

Atomistic origin of brittle-to-ductile transition behavior of polycrystalline 3C–SiC in diamond cutting

The machinability of hard brittle polycrystalline ceramic has a strong correlation with internal microstructures and their accommodated deformation behavior. In the present work, we investigate the mechanisms governing the brittle-to-ductile transition behavior of polycrystalline 3C–SiC in diamond cutting by means of molecular dynamics simulations. Simulation results reveal the co-existence of dislocation slip and amorphization-dominated ductile deformation and cracking along grain boundaries-mediated brittle fracture, as well as the correlation of individual deformation modes with machining force variation and machined surface morphology. In addition, inter-granular fracture, grain boundary sliding and grain pull-up are also operating brittle deformation modes of polycrystalline 3C–SiC. The strong competition between above heterogeneous deformation modes determines the brittle-to-ductile transition behavior in grooving of polycrystalline 3C–SiC. Simulation results also demonstrate that grain size has a strong impact on the brittle-to-ductile transition and material deformation behavior of polycrystalline 3C–SiC under diamond cutting.     

Study on mechanism of chip formation of grinding plasma-sprayed alumina ceramic coating

The mechanisms of ductile–brittle transition and surface/subsurface crack damage during the grinding of plasma–sprayed alumina ceramic coatings were investigated in an experiment and simulation on single diamond abrasive grain cutting. We observed that the brittle damage modes of alumina ceramic include boundary cracks, median cracks and lateral fractures. The normal force of the abrasive grain results in the initiation of median cracks, whereas the tangential force of the abrasive grain results in the propagation of median cracks in the direction of the abrasive grain cutting. Some cracks propagate downward to form machined surface cracks, whereas others propagate to the unmachined surface of the workpiece to produce brittle removal. Owing to the alternating tensile and compressive stresses, the material in contact with the top of the abrasive grain fractures continuously, forming the main morphology of the machined surface. The geometry and cutting depth of the abrasive grain have a significant influence on the ductile–brittle transition, whereas the cutting speed of the abrasive grain have no significant influence. On one hand, the stress concentration at the pore defects result in crack propagation to the deep layer; on the other hand, it reduces the local strength of the surface material, produces brittle fracturing, and interrupts crack propagation. The pores exposed on the machined surface and the broken morphology around them are important factors for reducing the surface roughness. Experimental observations show that the machined surface morphology of the alumina ceramic coating is composed of brittle fracturing, ductile cutting and plowing, cracks, original pores, and unmelted particles.     

Study of mechanical damage in rubber-toughened poly(methyl methacrylate) by single and multiple scattering of light

As glassy polymers are usually somewhat brittle, several blending techniques are used to toughen these materials and to increase their impact strength. The microstructures of toughened polymers are complicated, as are their mechanical damage mechanisms. Moreover, these materials are mostly opalescent or even opaque, which renders difficult any optical investigation of the damage process. The scale of the damage generally ranges from nanometers to several micrometers, thus requiring a large panel of experimental techniques to investigate its microstructural evolution. When illuminated with a light beam, any non-perfectly transparent body will scatter light with a scattering pattern depending on the size, shape, and location of the microscopic light scatterers it contains. If the body is highly opaque, an incident light beam, if not absorbed, is scattered successively by several scatterers before emerging again at the front surface of the body. It has recently been shown that there is a coherent interference enhancement of the randomly multiple scattered light in a small angle range around the exact reverse direction of the incident light. This so-called coherent backscattering cone can be analyzed in terms of the size, shape and density of the scatterers. In this work, this technique is applied to a rubber-toughened PMMA containing core-shell (hard core) particles, an initially transparent material that becomes progressively opaque during mechanical damage under stress. The damage mechanism within the rubber particles is compared with the size and shape of the light scatterers inferred from coherent backscattering and light transmission measurements.     

Precision grinding of a microstructured surface on hard and brittle materials by a microstructured coarse-grained diamond grinding wheel

Microstructured surfaces on hard and brittle materials are widely used in a series of scientific and industrial applications, such as micro-electro-mechanical systems, nano-electro-mechanical systems, electronic devices, and medical products. However, the efficient precision machining of microstructured surfaces on hard and brittle materials faces great challenges. In this study, a new machining technology for high-efficiency precision fabrication of microstructured surface on hard and brittle materials was developed by a microstructured coarse-grained diamond grinding wheel. Initially, the laser microstructuring of the conditioned coarse-grained diamond grinding wheel was introduced. The influence of the laser-machined microstructure geometry on the form accuracy of the final, ground microstructured surface was theoretically analysed. Subsequently, the ductile regime grinding of the microstructured surface was examined for WC cermet and BK7 optical glass. The ground surfaces mainly under the ductile regime material removal were successfully achieved, especially in the case of WC ceramic. Finally, different linear and square microstructured surfaces with high form accuracy, sharp microstructure edge, and nanoscale surface roughness were efficiently fabricated on WC and BK7 optical glass by the method developed in the study.     

The fracture behavior of surface embrittled polymers

Normally ductile polymers may exhibit unexpected brittle fractures because of a phenomenon termed surface embrittlement. The problem may arise whenever a thin brittle layer is present on the surface, which may result from the application of brittle paint or, more commonly, from surface degradation caused by exposure to elevated temperatures, ultra-violet radiation, and stress-cracking agents. In rubber-modified polymers such as acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene and high-impact polystyrene, exposure to the outdoor environment inevitably results in the formation of a thin surface layer containing cross-linked rubber particles in a matrix of reduced molecular weight. Although the depth of material adversely affected is typically small compared to the bulk, a drastic reduction in ductility nonetheless has been observed. To better understand the mechanism of embrittlement, this paper examines the criterion for embrittlement by considering the mechanism for enhanced energy absorption of rubber-toughened plastics and elementary concepts of fracture mechanics. It has been shown that a critical coating thickness exists when multiple crazing is essentially inoperative and the deformation is localized, to the tip of a fast moving sharp crack restricting strain energy dissipation to a relatively small region.     

Experimental investigation on thermal healing of subsurface damage in borosilicate glass

Subsurface damage (SSD) is the fracture and deformation near the surface of brittle optical materials, caused by surface lapping or grinding. The existence of SSD dramatically influences the performance of optical glass and reduces the laser-induced damage threshold. Subsurface cracks of borosilicate glass can be spontaneously healed when heated under appropriate conditions. In this paper, thermal healing experiments of borosilicate glass (BK7) subsurface cracks are conducted on typical cracks induced by an indentation process, and the effects of the Beilby layer, temperature, crack depth, and water vapor pressure are studied. A semi-empirical relation is obtained through the regression of experimental results to describe the variation of subsurface crack length. Finally, a healing experiment is performed on the subsurface damage formed by grinding. The detection results show both the damage density and maximum damage depth have been reduced after heat treatment, demonstrating the effectiveness of the thermal healing method on eliminating glass subsurface damage.     

Micromechanics of machining and wear in hard and brittle materials

Hard and brittle solids with covalent/ionic bonding are used in a wide range of modern-day manufacturing technologies. Optimization of a shaping process can shorten manufacturing time and cost of component production, and at the same time extend component longevity. The same process can contribute to wear and fatigue degradation in service. Educated development of advanced finishing protocols for this class of solids requires a comprehensive understanding of damage mechanisms at small-scale contacts from a materials perspective. The basic science of attendant deformation and removal modes in contact events is here analyzed and discussed in the context of brittle and ductile machining and severe and mild wear. Essentials of brittle–ductile transitions in micro- and nano-indentation fields are outlined, with distinctions between blunt and sharp contacts and axial and sliding loading. The central role of microstructure in material removal modes is highlighted. Pathways to future research—experimental, analytical, and computational—are indicated.     

Low-velocity impact damage in graphite-fiber reinforced epoxy laminates

An experimental investigation was conducted to identify the failure mechanism and to understand damage propagation in compression-loaded composite structures. The tests were conducted on several laminates of different ply orientation with thicknesses that ranged from 0.56 to 0.79 cm. The panels were damaged by 1.27-cm-diameter aluminum spheres propelled normal to the specimen surface at velocities ranging from 30 m/s to 140 m/s. Results indicate that there is significant internal laminate damage due to low-velocity impact with no surface damage. The internal damage consists of delamination and intraply cracking. Three damage propagation modes were identified as causing specimen failure; delamination, axial load-lateral deformation coupling, and local shear failure.     

Correlation of Tensile Properties of Tough Amorphous Polymers with Internal Friction

Abstract

The ultimate stress-strain behavior of five tough amorphous polymers was studied at temperatures from 4.2 to 300°K using an Instron tensile tester which was adapted for cryogenic measurements. The polymers were found to fail by one of three modes depending upon test temperature and sample pretreatment condition. The transition from a general ductile behavior to brittle fracture was accompanied by a maximum in toughness which could be correlated with the γ transition in these polymers. At still lower temperatures there was a change in the brittle failure which correlated with the magnitude of the internal friction intensity of δ = 0.007 – 0.020. This transition in brittle fracture mode was characterized by a maximum in the brittle fracture stress. It is proposed that the brittle fracture at very low temperature occurs at abnormally low stresses due to stress concentrations factors which can not be relieved since molecular mobility becomes greatly restricted under these cryogenic conditions.     

Crazing in polypropylene

The subject of crazing in crystalline polymers is reviewed and specific consideration given to crazing in polypropylene (PP). Tensile tests conducted over a wide spectrum of temperatures and strain rates indicate that, for a given test temperature, there exists a critical strain rate above which crazing is the dominant deformation mode of PP. Similarly, for a given strain rate, there exists a critical temperature which demarcates crazing from shear yielding as the characteristic process of deformation. High deformation rates and low temperatures favor crazing, while low rates and high temperatures favor shear yielding. Crazes in crystalline PP were found to be morphologically similar to those in glassy polymers: high reflectivity, large area-to-thickness ratio, and planarity. They have a higher tendency to bifurcate than those in glassy polymers. Two types of craze fibrils could be identified: those parallel to σ₁₁, and the randomly oriented interconnecting fibrils. It is demonstrated that microtome-trimming at low temperature followed by suitable chemical treatment is an effective technique of sample preparation for SEM examination of craze morphology in crystalline polymers. Further evidence has been provided that crazes in spherulitic polymers do not in general follow an interspherulitie path, but propagate through spherulites. The length of a craze in PP is not restricted to one spherulite diameter, nor does it grow radially.     

Scratch hardness and deformation maps for polycarbonate and polyethylene

This paper presents results obtained from the scratching of an ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and a polycarbonate (PC). The data are used to obtain various surface mechanical properties such as the hardness and also the prevailing deformation mechanisms. Scratch results are reported for the case of rigid conical indenters for various tip included angles, bulk temperatures, scratch velocities, and applied normal loads. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and laser profilometry data are used to study the surface deformation and damage mechanisms, and to assess the topography of the surfaces after scratching. Deformation maps are provided for these polymers under different experimental conditions, which describe the various deformation characteristics. In general, these polymers show both increasing and decreasing trends for the scratch hardness values with variation of cone angle, (4qW/ηd²; where W is the normal load, d the width of the residual scratch, and q is a characteristic contact parameter, which ranges between 1 and 2). The scratch velocity, which governs the imposed strain rate, imparts an increasing effect on the hardness values, whereas a higher bulk temperature of the material decreases the scratch hardness. The measured responses of the surface properties of these polymers are shown to greatly depend upon the kind of deformation mechanism prevalent during the scratching and associated material removal processes.     

Indentation-Induced Contact Deformation and Damage of Glasslike Carbon

Fracture mechanics are examined for the Vickers-indentation-induced contact deformation and damage of glassy carbons produced by different densification processes. The indentation load versus indentation depth relationship during the loading-unloading cycle reveals that the contact deformation is purely elastic even under such a sharp indentation, which subsequently leads to an indentation-induced ring/cone crack system instead of the median/radial crack system. The processes and mechanisms of such an anomalous surface crack system are related to the very open microstructure of glassy carbons. The ring/cone cracks induced by Vickers indentation are, however, significantly different in nature from the well-known Hertzian cone crack which is induced by pressing a spherical indenter on a brittle surface. Demonstrated is the superiority of glassy carbons to ordinary brittle ceramic materials in resistance to strength degradation by contact with hard particles such as in ballistic situations.     

Ductile to Brittle Transition Depth During Single-Grit Scratching on Alumina Ceramics

Variable-depth single-grit scratch experiments have been conducted on three different grain size alumina ceramics. The extent of induced damage as a function of depth of groove was measured. At low depth, the scratch groove appeared smooth with minimal brittle damage, indicating a ductile mode of deformation. With increased depth, brittle cracking extended beyond the scratch groove. The transition depth from the predominantly ductile mode of deformation to the predominantly brittle mode was measured and compared with an analytical model that estimates the plastic zone size surrounding a scratch in brittle materials. It was found that the ductile to brittle transition depth increases with decreasing grain size.     

Investigation of the material removal process in in-situ laser-assisted diamond cutting of reaction-bonded silicon carbide

Reaction-bonded silicon carbide (RB-SiC) is an important optical material used widely in the aerospace industry. The machining accuracy of RB-SiC optical elements must satisfy the requirements of high-performance system development. However, RB-SiC is typically hard and brittle, making precise machining difficult. Thus, the material removal and synergistic deformation mechanisms of SiC and silicon (Si) must be investigated for ultraprecision machining. In-situ laser-assisted diamond cutting is an effective method for the ultraprecision cutting of hard and brittle materials. In this research, we investigated the influence of temperature on the material deformation process in detail. Firstly, the physical properties of RB-SiC, including its hardness and depth of plastic deformation, were investigated through high-temperature nano-indentation experiments. Furthermore, grooving experiments were carried out to investigate the brittle-to-ductile transition under ordinary and in-situ laser-assisted diamond cutting, respectively. Finally, the deformation of the machined surface/subsurface was revealed via scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy observations.