Effects of Missile Size and Glass Type on Impact Resistance of “Sacrificial Ply” Laminated Glass

Experiments were performed as part of a larger study to develop the “sacrificial ply” design concept for laminated architectural glass. This concept allows windborne debris impacts in severe windstorm environments to break the outer laminated architectural glass ply while the inner ply is preserved in order to carry the design wind pressure. Steel ball size and inner/outer glass ply type (level of thermal tempering) were varied to determine their effects on the impact resistance of the inner glass ply of laminated architectural glass when impacted on the outer glass ply. A mean minimum breakage velocity (MMBV) was determined for each variation in steel ball size and glass temper level, which defines the mean debris impact velocity on the outer glass ply that causes breakage in the inner glass ply. A 46% reduction in MMBV was observed for an increase in steel ball size from 2 g (7.9 mm diameter) to 8.4 g (12.7 mm diameter), and a 65% reduction in MMBV was observed for an increase in steel ball size from 2 g (7.9 mm diameter) to 28.2 g (19.1 mm diameter). Laminated architectural glass constructed with heat-strengthened or fully tempered inner glass plies, regardless of outer-glass-ply type, was found to have a significantly higher MMBV than laminated architectural glass constructed with annealed glass plies. In contrast, changing the outer glass ply from annealed to fully tempered glass was found to reduce the MMBV, regardless of the inner glass ply type. Relating these results to those in a previous impact study by Kaiser et al. suggests that the order of importance for design variables that most influence the inner glass ply impact resistance of sacrificial ply laminated architectural glass is the following, starting with the most important: (1) inner glass ply type; (2) inner glass ply thickness; (3) polyvinyl butyral (PVB) interlayer thickness; and (4) outer glass ply thickness.     

Self-healing of a high temperature cured epoxy using poly(dimethylsiloxane) chemistry

A high temperature cured self-healing epoxy is demonstrated by incorporating microcapsules of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) resin and separate microcapsules containing an organotin catalyst. Healing is triggered by crack propagation through the embedded microcapsules in the epoxy matrix, which releases the healing agents into the crack plane initiating crosslinking reactions. A series of tapered double-cantilever beam (TDCB) fracture tests were conducted to measure virgin and healed fracture toughness. Healing efficiencies, based on fracture toughness recovery, ranged from 11 to 51% depending on the molecular weight of PDMS resin, quantity of healing agent delivered, and use of adhesion promoters.     

Novel hybrid coating of TiN and carbon with improved corrosion resistance for bipolar plates of PEM water electrolysis

Surface modification of Ti based bipolar plates (BPs) could be an effective solution to prevent the formation of low-conductive oxide film, promote the corrosion resistance and electronic conductivity as well. In this work, a novel hybrid coating composed of nano-sized TiN and carbonaceous phases (TiN–C) was successfully established on a Ti substrate via a combined electrophoretic deposition and thermal treatment process. Various physiochemical characterizations revealed that the coating was uniform, and the formation of the nano-sized TiN and carbonaceous composites reduced the interfacial contact resistance significantly. The potentiodynamic and potentiostatic polarization tests indicated that the hybrid coating TiN–C prepared at 400 °C had a corrosion current density of only 1.41 μA cm⁻², which was an order of magnitude lower than that (36.02 μA cm⁻²) of the bare Ti. Furthermore, the as-prepared coating showed excellent durability in both the simulated PEMWE environment and the PEMWE cell under polarization at 1.7 V for more than 300 h.     

Novel iron oxide–silica coreshell powders compacted by using pulsed electric current sintering: Optical and magnetic properties

The properties of the bulk materials consolidated of silica coreshell powders with iron oxide core have been studied. Iron oxide nanoparticles smaller than 20 nm in size were synthesized by a reverse co-precipitation process in ambient atmosphere. Coreshell structures with various amounts of iron oxide were prepared via a modified Stöber method. The powders were compacted by using pulsed electric current sintering (PECS) at 1373 K. The morphologies, microstructures, phases, optical, and magnetic properties of the samples were studied by using transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). Transmittance values in the 250–800 nm range varied with the amount of iron oxide. Sample with the lower content was transparent while the sample with the highest content was opaque with microporosity. The compact with the highest iron oxide content showed the ferromagnetic behaviour at 300 K. The phase transformations in the coreshell powders during the sintering process are discussed.     

Model-based identification of rotating machines

Over the decades, vibration-based condition monitoring has become well accepted and widely used to identify faults in rotating machines. However, the quantification of faults may require a significant number of tests to be carried out which may be time consuming and costly, if not impossible, by experiments alone. In the recent past, it has been observed that model-based identification has played a significant role in the rapid resolution and quantification of faults. The paper seeks to give an overview of the recent developments in this field which has considerable practical importance.     

Research on methods of defect classification based on metal magnetic memory

Metal magnetic memory (MMM) technique can evaluate early damages of ferromagnets and search possible defect locations, while just classifies the defect types roughly. To promote study in this area, the magnetic gradient tensor (MGT) of the self-magnetic leakage field (SMLF) on the fracture zone of crack and stress concentration was measured using a tri-axis magnetometer. From measured results, both the plane and the vertical characteristics of SMLF distributions were discussed. To remove the influence of the measuring direction on experimental results, a new parameter of the analytical signal of magnetic gradient tensor (AMGT) was introduced to determine the location and boundary of the defect. Then, the vertical features were acquired by measuring the plane distributions of AMGT under different lift offs. Through analyzing the vertical features, it was concluded that change rule of the maximum AMGT can be used to predict the defect type. At last, the explanation of the relationship between the vertical feature and the defect type was discussed, which can give some useful inspirations to researchers on magnetic leakage field testing.     

Experimental and numerical investigation of the static response of environmentally aged adhesively bonded joints

The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of moisture on the static response of adhesively bonded monolithic single lap joints and laminated doublers loaded in bending. All joints were made of aluminium alloy Al 2024-T3 bonded using epoxy film adhesive FM 73M OST. The joints were aged in deionised water at a temperature of 50 °C for up to 2 years exposure. The use of different widths of specimen (5 mm for monolithic single lap joints and 15 mm for laminated doublers) allowed both full and partial saturation of the adhesive layer. The bulk adhesive has been characterised to obtain the coefficient of moisture diffusion, the coefficient of thermal and moisture expansion and the moisture dependent mechanical properties. The testing results showed that the mechanical properties degraded in a linear way with the moisture content. The residual strength after exposure decreased with increasing moisture content (exposure time) and tended to level off towards saturation. The damage evolution and failure of the joint has been successfully monitored using the backface strain technique and in-situ video microscopy. Progressive damage finite element modelling using a moisture dependent, bilinear traction-separation law has been undertaken to predict the residual strength. Residual stresses due to thermal and swelling strains in the adhesive layer have been included; however their effect on the predicted static strength was not significant. Good agreement was found between the predicted residual strength and the experimental result.     

On the simulation of wave propagation with a higher-order finite volume scheme based on Reproducing Kernel Methods

In this work we study the dispersion and dissipation characteristics of a higher-order finite volume method based on Moving Least Squares approximations (FV-MLS), and we analyze the influence of the kernel parameters on the properties of the scheme. Several numerical examples are included. The results clearly show a significant improvement of dispersion and dissipation properties of the numerical method if the third-order FV-MLS scheme is used compared with the second-order one. Moreover, with the explicit fourth-order Runge–Kutta scheme the dispersion error is lower than with the third-order Runge–Kutta scheme, whereas the dissipation error is similar for both time-integration schemes. It is also shown than a CFL number lower than 0.8 is required to avoid an unacceptable dispersion error.     

Overlay patch repair of scratch damage in carbon fiber/epoxy laminated composites

In this paper we present a numerical and experimental study on the overlay repair of scratch damage in carbon-fiber/epoxy composite laminates. The scratch damage severs several load bearing plies and results in a lack of symmetry in an originally symmetric multidirectional laminate. The ply-by-ply p-version finite element model is used to investigate the effects of the repair patch variables on the overall efficiency of the repair procedure and the lamina level stress states. The results show that interlaminar crack propagation in the direction parallel to the surface can be retarded with careful selection of repair parameters.     

Viscoelastically prestressed polymeric matrix composites – Effects of test span and fibre volume fraction on Charpy impact characteristics

A viscoelastically prestressed polymeric matrix composite (VPPMC) is produced by subjecting polymeric fibres to tensile creep, the applied load being removed before moulding the fibres into a resin matrix. After matrix curing, the viscoelastically strained fibres impart compressive stresses to the surrounding matrix, thereby improving mechanical properties. This study investigated the mechanisms considered responsible for VPPMCs improving impact toughness by performing Charpy impact tests on unidirectional nylon 6,6 fibre–polyester resin samples over a range of span settings (24–60 mm) and fibre volume fractions (3.3–16.6%). Comparing VPPMC samples with control (unstressed) counterparts, the main findings were: (i) improved impact energy absorption (up to 40%) depends principally on shear stress-induced fibre–matrix debonding (delamination) and (ii) energy absorption improves slightly with increasing fibre volume fraction, but the relationship is statistically weak. The findings are discussed in relation to improving the impact performance of practical structures.