Finite Element Analysis of Hot Melt Adhesive Joints in Carton Board

The mechanical behaviour of adhesive joints is critical for the performance of adhesively joined carton board packages. In this work, finite element analyses of hot melt adhesive (HMA) joints in carton board is conducted and compared to experimental results obtained using a Y‐peel testing device. The aim of the present study is to analyse the behaviour of adhesive joints tested in the Y‐peel testing device using a layered carton board model. The carton board is modelled as a layered structure where the layers are assumed to obey Hill's orthotropic elastic–plastic model, and the interfaces are modelled using a softening orthotropic damage model. The HMA is modelled as isotropic linear elastic, and the influence from a varying elastic modulus of the HMA is explored. It is found that the pre‐peak behaviour of the Y‐peel force‐elongation curves is reasonably well captured by the FE simulations, although the initial stiffness is somewhat too high. Also, the pre‐peak behaviour is practically insensitive to changes of the elastic modulus of the HMA. The deformation and delamination pattern obtained in the simulations was compared with microscope pictures taken during the corresponding Y‐peel experiments, and it is shown that they conform to the observed behaviour during Y‐peel testing at comparable loading levels. However, the delamination opening is somewhat underestimated by the model. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fatigue assessment of root failures in HSLA steel welded joints: A comparison among local approaches

Fatigue tests were performed on welded joints made of high-strength, low-alloy steel (S690). Different welding processes were tested, resulting in welds with different defects essentially consisting in lack of penetration. Fatigue tests were run with both constant and variable amplitude loading. The experimental results were compared to predictions obtained by applying local approaches (local stress and local strain) and the concepts of fracture mechanics. The local stress approach allowed the fatigue strength of joints in constant amplitude loading (for fatigue above 2 × 10⁶) to be predicted, but the assumption of a constant value of the slope k = 3 for all S–N curves led to non-conservative predictions of shorter lives. The local strain approach allowed the fatigue strength of the joints under constant amplitude to be predicted. Although, these predictions matched the experimental data well for both small and large defects in the entire cycle number range, they failed to predict the behaviour of joints under variable amplitude loading. Conversely, the fracture mechanics approach proved to be more efficient in predicting the fatigue behaviour of welded joint under variable amplitude loading.     

输电铁塔螺栓节点连接滑移特性及模型参数研究

完成了21组输电铁塔螺栓连接试件的拉伸试验,采用ABAQUS软件对典型试件进行了有限元仿真分析,研究了初始间隙、螺栓扭矩、接触面粗糙程度、螺栓孔直径和连接杆件强度等参数对螺栓节点荷载-变形曲线的影响规律。分别按照指数模型和改进的分段多项式模型,对固定端螺栓数量为1、2和3的荷载-变形试验曲线进行了非线性拟合,确定了两种模型的拟合参数取值,分析了两种模型在输电铁塔结构分析中应用的可行性,推荐采用物理意义明确、适用范围更广的指数模型。对于最大间隙、理想间隙和最小间隙三种情况,指数模型得到的荷载-变形拟合曲线与试验曲线吻合较好,能够准确描述螺栓连接滑移过程;最小间隙工况的拟合曲线与试验曲线在线性增加段误差相对较大,最大相对差值范围约为10%~20%。     

Studies on lignocellulosic fibers of Brazil. Part II: Morphology and properties of Brazilian coconut fibers

Stress–strain curves for different diameters, tensile properties and thermal behaviour of Brazilian coir fibers are presented. The tensile strength (TS) and Young’s modulus (YM) of these coir fibers were found to decrease, while the percentage (%) strain at break remained constant as fiber diameter increased. With fibers (mean diameter of 0.225 mm), a decrease in TS and % strain at break but an increase in YM with increasing test length of the fiber, and a considerable increase in TS, constant YM and % strain at break with increasing strain rate were observed. The results are discussed in terms of X-ray diffraction and microscopic observations. Thermal behaviour of the fibers revealed degradation of different constituents in an N₂ or O₂ atmosphere. Thermo-mechanical analysis of the fibers revealed increased modulus and decreased tan δ values.     

高温后圆钢管再生混凝土界面黏结滑移性能及本构方程研究

为了揭示高温作用后钢管再生混凝土的界面黏结性能,以试件的最高经历温度(T)、再生粗骨料取代率(γ)为变化参数,设计并完成了20个高温后试件的静力推出试验。通过试验观察了试件的受力破坏过程及形态,获取了试件加载端和自由端的荷载滑移曲线,分析了各变化参数对界面黏结性能及黏结损伤演变过程的影响规律,并提出了高温后钢管再生混凝土的界面黏结强度计算方法及黏结滑移本构方程。结果表明:荷载-滑移曲线的形态可以分为T≤400 ℃和T=600 ℃两类,加载端和自由端的曲线形态相似但加载端的初始滑移发生得相对较早;界面黏结性能整体上与钢管普通混凝土相差不大(各取代率下性能差值的均值在11%以内);界面黏结强度随经历温度和再生粗骨料取代率的升高呈现先减小后增大的变化趋势;随着经历温度的升高,界面黏结抗剪刚度先减小后增大再减小,界面黏结耗能能力则逐渐增大;随着再生粗骨料取代率的升高,界面黏结抗剪刚度和耗能能力均呈现先增大后减小再增大的变化趋势;界面黏结损伤发生的早晚随经历温度的升高呈现先提早而后变晚的变化规律,而再生粗骨料取代率对其影响不大;界面黏结损伤发展速度随经历温度和再生粗骨料取代率的升高呈现先增大后减小的变化趋势。     

Influence of the thickness of electrochemically deposited polyaniline used as hole transporting layer on the behaviour of polymer light-emitting diodes

An experimental study about the influence of the thickness of electrochemically deposited polyaniline (PANI), used as hole-transporting layer, on the behaviour of polymer light emitting diodes is presented. Two sets of devices with a different conjugated polymer used as active layer were prepared. Poly(9-vinylcarbazole) was used for the first type of devices, whereas Poly[2-methoxy-5-(3′,7′-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylene-vinylene] was used for the second type. Each set consists of five polymeric diodes in which the hole-transporting layer has been varied. In one case of each set no layer was deposited, in other one a Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) layer was deposited, and in the rest of the diodes a different thickness of electrochemically deposited PANI was employed. The optic and electronic characterization of the devices show that controlling the thickness of the PANI hole transporting layer, both the maximum emission peak of the electroluminescence curves and the driving voltage could be tuned. Furthermore, an exponential behaviour has been demonstrated for the maximum intensity of the electroluminescence curves as a function of the applied excitation voltage between anode and cathode.     

Functional grading in hierarchical honeycombs: Density specific elastic performance

The introduction of hierarchy into structures has been credited with improving their elastic and other properties. Similarly, functional grading has been demonstrated to increase the damage tolerance of honeycomb structures, although with the penalty of reduced Young’s modulus or increased density. The combination of both hierarchy and functional grading has not been reported for honeycomb structures, although it is known in natural materials. A parametric numerical modelling study has been made of the in-plane elastic properties of honeycombs and how they are affected by functional grading and hierarchy, and importantly to establish whether it is possible to avoid reductions in Young’s modulus. A set of analytical models has been developed to describe functional grading and hierarchy in honeycombs, based upon beam mechanics and the transform section method. The conditions for transition of a hierarchical honeycomb in behaviour from that of a discrete structure to that of a continuum are established. Furthermore, conditions are established for which hierarchical honeycombs, uniform or functionally graded, can surpass in-plane Young’s moduli of conventional honeycombs a by factor of up to 2, on an equal density basis.     

Process optimisation and mechanical properties of friction stir lap welds of 7075-T6 stringers on 2024-T3 skin

This paper focuses on the results of process optimisation and mechanical tests that were used to ascertain the feasibility of using friction stir welding (FSW) to join stringers to skin. The effects of process parameters on weld quality of 1.5-mm 7075-T6 stringers lap-joined on 2.3-mm 2024-T3 skins were investigated. Advancing and retreating side locations on the joint configuration were alternated to determine optimal design arrangements. The effects of travel and rotation speeds on weld quality and defect generation were also investigated. Weld quality was assessed by optical microscopy and bending tests. It was found that: (i) the increase of the welding speed or the decrease of the rotational speed resulted in a reduction of the hooking size and top plate thinning but did not eliminated them, (ii) double pass welds by overlapping the advancing sides improved significantly the weld quality by overriding the hooking defect, and (iii) change of the rotational direction for a counter clockwise with a left-threaded probe eliminated the top sheet thinning defect. Subsequently, FSW lap joints were produced using optimum conditions and underwent extensive mechanical testing program. Several assembly configurations including discontinuous and continuous welds as well as single and double pass welds were produced. The results obtained for cyclic fatigue performance of FSW panels are compared with riveted lap joints of identical geometry. S–N curves, bending behaviour, failure locations and defect characterisation are also discussed. It was found that: (i) the tensile strength of FSW joints approached that of the base material but with a significant reduction in the fatigue life, (ii) the probe plunge and removal locations served as the key crack nucleation sites in specimens with discontinuous welds, and (iii) double pass welds with overlapping advancing sides showed outstanding fatigue life and very good tensile properties. The present work provided some valuable insight into both the fabrication and application of FSW on stringer/skin lap joints.     

Influence of free water content on the compressive mechanical behaviour of cement mortar under high strain rate

The effect of free water content upon the compressive mechanical behaviour of cement mortar under high loading rate was studied. The uniaxial rapid compressive loading testing of a total of 30 specimens, nominally 37 mm in diameter and 18.5 mm in height, with five different saturations (0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, respectively) were executed in this paper. The technique ‘Split Hopkinson pressure bar’ (SHPB) was used. The impact velocity was 10 m/s with the corresponding strain rate as 10²/s. Water-cement ratio of 0.5 was used. The compressive behaviour of the materials was measured in terms of the maximum stress, Young’s modulus, critical strain at maximum stress and ultimate strain at failure. The data obtained from test indicates that the similarity exists in the shape of strain–stress curves of cement mortars with different water content, the upward section of the stress–strain curve shows bilinear characteristics, while the descending stage (softening state) is almost linear. The dynamic compressive strength of cement mortar increased with the decreasing of water content, the dynamic compressive strength of the saturated specimens was 23% lower than that of the totally dry specimens. With an increase in water content, the Young’s modulus first increases and then decreases, the Young’s modulus of the saturated specimens was 23% lower than that of the totally dry specimens. No significant changes occurred in the critical and ultimate strain value as the water content is changed.     

Fatigue behaviour of tensile-shear loaded clinched joints

The present work concentrates on the static and fatigue behaviour of tensile-shear loaded joints obtained by clinching, a rapidly developing cold welding technology for thin sheets used is in automobile, electronic and house hold appliances industries. The project primarily dealt with static, fatigue and residual strength tests, which showed a good fatigue behaviour of the clinched joints. Fractographic observations showed three different failure modes whose occurrence depends on the maximum applied load and on the stress ratio. Results were supported by FEM analyses showing that the failure regions of the clinched joints correspond to those with high stress concentrations.     

钢纤维混凝土等幅弯曲疲劳加载下的疲劳应变和疲劳模量以及损伤研究

利用已有试验数据,对最大疲劳应变和疲劳残余应变进行拟合,得到疲劳应变演化方程,其相关系数均在0.97以上。考虑到等幅弯曲疲劳加载条件下,疲劳模量与疲劳应变成反比关系,利用对称性,由疲劳应变演化方程得到疲劳模量演化方程,通过拟合试验结果,发现由疲劳模量演化方程表达的拟合曲线与试验曲线吻合很好,其相关系数均在0.99以上。最后,利用疲劳应变与疲劳模量定义损伤变量,得到损伤变量演化曲线,经对比发现,由最大疲劳应变和疲劳残余应变定义的损伤变量演化曲线基本一致,且相差很小;而由疲劳模量定义的损伤变量演化曲线明显大于由疲劳应变定义的损伤变量演化曲线。     

Evidence for the contribution of an adsorbate to the voltage-controlled negative resistance of gold island film diodes

The electroforming of gold island films with voltage-controlled negative differential resistance (VCNR) characteristics was found to be possible only under certain specific surrounding condition, e.g. in a high vacuum system evacuated with an oil diffusion pump, but not in an ultrahigh vacuum. In the latter case exponential high resistivity curves were obtained; VCNR forming is possible, however, after transference of the diodes to a high vacuum.     

Depth sensing indentation analysis of electrochemically synthesized polythiophene

A depth sensing indentation (DSI) test with associated analyses was used to investigate some mechanical properties (reduced elastic modulus, hardness and creep) of electrochemically synthesized polythiophene (PT). Internal friction (IF) and energy absorption representing the degree of anelastic deformation of the material were also determined using cyclic and step-load/unload (SLU) test procedure, respectively. The indentation load–displacement (P–h) curves of the sample were obtained under different peak loads with two load holding time, 70 and 300 s. Elastic modulus values were determined by analyzing of these curves with Oliver–Pharr (O–P) and Feng–Ngan (F–N) procedures. The obtained results pointed out that both methods yielded comparable results for 300 s, while the corresponding values of 70 s were not well-matched with each other. These results were explained by the saturation of creep effects within 300 s holding period. Creep analysis exhibited that creep displacement increases at a declining rate with time and finally reaches a constant rate. Cyclic test results indicated that IF values approach saturation after several cycles and the saturation value of IF was found to be depending on loading rate. From SLU tests, an upper limit of the normalized dissipated energy was observed.     

Low-temperature elastic properties of four wrought and annealed aluminium alloys

The elastic properties of four annealed polycrystalline commercial aluminium alloys were studied between 4 and 300 K using a pulse-superposition method. Results are given for longitudinal sound velocity, transverse sound velocity, Young's modulus, shear modulus, bulk modulus (reciprocal compressibility), Poisson's ratio, and elastic Debye temperature. The elastic stiffnesses of the alloys increase 4 to 13% on cooling from room temperature to liquid helium temperature. The elastic constant-temperature curves exhibit regular behaviour.     

The strength of bagasse fibre-reinforced composites

The increasing board densities resulting from increased final platten pressure applied during production (or maximum moulding pressure) provides the reason for observations of similar increases in the Young's modulus and the tensile strength, when two phenol formaldehyde bonded boards which are reinforced with 80% and 90% by volume of bagasse fibres are examined. Scanning electron microscopy was carried out on the fracture zones to differentiate between the effects of varying formaldehyde content. However, even with differences in the sizes of the cavities formed at fracture and in the board densities, the observed modulus versus density and strength versus density curves follow exponential trends. By using the exponential trends, a single best linear tensile strength versus Young's modulus relationship is deduced for these varying fibre to matrix combinations.     

Investigation of Non‐Linear Springback for High Strength Steel Sheets by ESPI

Abstract: The springback of the sheet metals after large deformations during deep drawing is not a strongly linear process with a constant Young’s modulus, but the stress–strain behaviour during the unloading phases shows considerably non‐linear and inelastic effects. Unloading of two types of steel sheets for cold forming, a cold‐rolled high‐strength microalloyed steel and a low‐carbon steel sheet, has been analysed using the method of electronic speckle pattern interferometry (ESPI). The specimens were investigated by uniaxial tension tests, and the influences of different testing parameters upon springback were analysed. The experimental measurements showed that the stress–strain curve during unloading is non‐linear, the influence of the prestrain path upon unloading is minor, and the secant moduli of unloading curves decrease with increasing prestrain. When the prestrain value becomes high enough, a saturated value for the secant modulus is approached. An empirical relation was found to describe the changes in the unloading modulus in accordance with the prestrain value.     

Hybridization effect on the mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties of curaua composites

This study aims to evaluate the performance of curaua/glass hybrid composites focusing on mechanical and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Composites with distinct glass/curaua fiber loading ratios were studied. Flexural strength and modulus, impact strength and Barcol hardness increased for higher glass fiber content. The same was found for storage and loss modulus. The activation energy of the relaxation process in the glass transition region showed a maximum for the all-glass composite, corroborating with the results of concentration of elastic chains (υ_e). Cole-Cole plots were obtained and found to follow the same trend regardless of the glass content, whereas peak height and peak width at half-height were maximum for the all-glass composite.     

Adhesive forces significantly affect elastic modulus determination of soft polymeric materials in nanoindentation

The present study investigated the effects of adhesion on the elastic modulus determined from nanoindentation curves for soft polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) elastomers with five different crosslink concentrations. Indentation load-displacement curves were obtained for samples of all concentrations at four different peak loads. All load-displacement curves were nearly linear, resulting in load independent contact stiffnesses (p < 0.003) for the range of loads tested. As a result, elastic modulus calculated from nanoindentation curves with the Hertz contact model exhibited significant differences (p < 0.004) both at different peak loads for a single PDMS concentration and between different PDMS concentrations at a single peak load (p < 0.001). The differences for different peak loads were attributed to the presence of substantial adhesive forces at the tip-sample interface. By taking these adhesive interactions into account with the Johnson, Kendall, Roberts (JKR) contact model, the differences in elastic modulus at different peak loads could be reconciled. Significant differences (p < 0.001) in moduli between different PDMS concentrations were still present. The results highlight the importance of considering adhesive forces in nanoindentation analyses of low modulus polymeric materials.     

Analysis of the vibrational mode spectrum of a linear chain with spatially exponential properties

We deduce the dynamic frequency-domain-lattice Green’s function of a linear chain with properties (masses and next-neighbor spring constants) of exponential spatial dependence. We analyze the system as discrete chain as well as the continuous limiting case which represents an elastic 1D exponentially graded material. The discrete model yields closed form expressions for the N×N Green’s function for an arbitrary number N=2,…,∞ of particles of the chain. Utilizing this Green’s function yields an explicit expression for the vibrational mode density. Despite of its simplicity the model reflects some characteristics of the dynamics of a 1D exponentially graded elastic material. As a special case the well-known expressions for the Green’s function and oscillator density of the homogeneous linear chain are contained in the model. The width of the frequency band is determined by the grading parameter which characterizes the exponential spatial dependence of the properties. In the limiting case of large grading parameter, the frequency band is localized around a single finite frequency where the band width tends to zero inversely with the grading parameter. In the continuum limit the discrete Green’s function recovers the Green’s function of the continuous equation of motion which takes in the time domain the form of a Klein-Gordon equation.     

Mechanical and microstructural characterization of 2124Al/25 vol.%SiCp joints obtained by linear friction welding (LFW)

The aim of this study is to evaluate the possibility of using the linear friction welding (LFW) technique to produce sound joints on a 2124Al/25 vol.%SiC_p composite. The MMC joints were subjected to microstructural and mechanical characterization, including hardness, tensile and fatigue tests, without any post-weld heat treatment. The microstructural analyses showed substantially defect-free joints, with a uniform particle distribution in the central zone and a relevant plastic flow of the aluminium matrix alloy. The hardness decrease in the welded zone was approximately 10% in respect to the base material. The joint efficiency was higher than 80%, both in respect to the ultimate tensile strength and fatigue strength at 10⁷ cycles. S–N probability curves were calculated using the maximum likelihood method. Generally, the fracture occurred in the Thermo-Mechanically Affected Zone (TMAZ), with a relevant reduction in the elongation to failure.