Simulation-based investigations on the drape behavior of 3D woven fabrics made of commingled yarns

Composites based on 3D woven fabrics offer excellent mechanical properties due to the nearly non-crimp reinforcement fibers. Additionally, a reduced number of process steps results from the 3D nature of the reinforcement. Their in-plane and out-of-plane behaviors are purposefully adjustable to the expected loading conditions. A previously introduced modelling approach is extended to the simulation of 3D woven fabrics. The tensile, shear and bending behaviors of the fabric are considered in a material formulation for large deformations using shell elements. The model is successfully validated and parameter studies show the significant influence of shear and bending parameters on forming results. Furthermore, it is shown that also the forming process parameters have a significant influence on the draping results. It is concluded that the shearing and wrinkling can be reduced to a minimum with adapted material and process parameters.     

Characteristics of wet‐spun and thermally treated poly acrylonitrile fibers

The performance of carbon fibers depends on the quality of the precursor and the conditions of the thermal treatment. In detail, for a PAN precursor fiber the viscosity of a spinning dope and the draw ratio during the spinning process needs to be considered. Through wet spinning, different types of PAN precursor fibers with defined spinning parameters, including solid content, solvent content in a bath, and especially draw ratio resulting in defined cross section diameters, were fabricated and analyzed with tensile tests, density investigations, SEM, TGA‐MS, FTIR, and XRD. The results show that the mechanical properties of the fibers correlate to crystallinity. The cross section diameter is strongly related to the morphology of the fibers after thermal treatment. By extending the postdrawing of PAN fibers high tenacities were obtained at the cost of the cross section shape. In addition, TGA measurements reveal trapped residues of the wet spinning process as well as show several chemical reactions takes place at the same time at different temperatures. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43698.     

Effective elastic properties and residual stresses in directionally solidified eutectic Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript>/YAG/ZrO<Subscript>2</Subscript> ceramics estimated by finite element analysis

Effective elastic properties and residual stresses were assessed in directionally solidified ternary eutectic ceramic, Al₂O₃/YAG/ZrO₂, by finite element analyses. A 3D finite element model was generated from a CT scan, representative of the microstructure and with a similar volume fraction. Effective elastic properties were calculated by numerical homogenisation. They highlight a quasi-isotropic behaviour of the ternary eutectic ceramics. Despite the difficulties to measure the strain, the dispersion observed in the results and the limited reliability of the materials properties, the results constitute a step towards a better understanding of the material behaviour. Thermal residual stresses induced by the manufacturing were also evaluated. Tensile residual stresses in yttria-stabilised zirconia and compressive residual stresses in YAG and alumina were highlighted. This evaluation also shed light on the influence of the phase morphology in the microstructure. Indeed, the computed spatial distribution of the residual stresses showed that they are different from one position to another due to the variation in phase morphology and also to material properties variability. Therefore, it is important when numerically assessing the thermomechanical properties to take into account the microstructure morphology as well as the variability of material properties.     

Thermoplastic Composites Reinforced with Textile Grids: Development of a Manufacturing Chain and Experimental Characterisation

A significant improvement in the properties of plastic components can be achieved by introducing flexible multiaxial textile grids as reinforcement. This reinforcing concept is based on the layerwise bonding of biaxially or multiaxially oriented, completely stretched filaments of high-performance fibers, e.g. glass or carbon, and thermoplastic components, using modified warp knitting techniques. Such pre-consolidated grid-like textiles are particularly suitable for use in injection moulding, since the grid geometry is very robust with respect to flow pressure and temperature on the one hand and possesses an adjustable spacing to enable a complete filling of the mould cavity on the other hand. The development of pre-consolidated textile grids and their further processing into composites form the basis for providing tailored parts with a large number of additional integrated functions like fibrous sensors or electroconductive fibres. Composites reinforced in that way allow new product groups for promising lightweight structures to be opened up in future. The article describes the manufacturing process of this new composite class and their variability regarding reinforcement and function integration. An experimentally based study of the mechanical properties is performed. For this purpose, quasi-static and highly dynamic tensile tests have been carried out as well as impact penetration experiments. The reinforcing potential of the multiaxial grids is demonstrated by means of evaluating drop tower experiments on automotive components. It has been shown that the load-adapted reinforcement enables a significant local or global improvement of the properties of plastic components depending on industrial requirements.     

Validation of chlorophyll-α concentration maps from Aqua MODIS over the Gulf of Gabes (Tunisia): comparison between MedOC3 and OC3M bio-optical algorithms

Few studies have focused on the use of ocean colour remote sensors in the Gulf of Gabes (southeastern Tunisia). This work is the first study to evaluate the ocean colour chlorophyll-a product in this area. Chlorophyll-a concentrations were measured during oceanographic cruises performed off the Gulf of Gabes. These measurements were used to validate satellite data acquired from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite. First, two atmospheric correction procedures (standard and shortwave infrared) were tested to derive the remote-sensing reflectance, and then a comparison between two bio-optical (OC3M and MedOC3) algorithms were realized using the in situ measurements. Both atmospheric correction procedures gave similar results when applied to our study area indicating that most pixels were non-turbid. The comparison between bio-optical algorithms shows that using the regional bio-optical algorithm MedOC3 improves chlorophyll-a estimation in the Gulf of Gabes for the low values of this parameter.     

Learning-based symbolic assume-guarantee reasoning for Markov decision process by using interval Markov process

Many real-life critical systems are described with large models and exhibit both probabilistic and non-deterministic behaviour. Verification of such systems requires techniques to avoid the state space explosion problem. Symbolic model checking and compositional verification such as assume-guarantee reasoning are two promising techniques to overcome this barrier. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic symbolic compositional verification approach (PSCV) to verify probabilistic systems where each component is a Markov decision process (MDP). PSCV starts by encoding implicitly the system components using compact data structures. To establish the symbolic compositional verification process, we propose a sound and complete symbolic assume-guarantee reasoning rule. To attain completeness of the symbolic assume-guarantee reasoning rule, we propose to model assumptions using interval MDP. In addition, we give a symbolic MTBDD-learning algorithm to generate automatically the symbolic assumptions. Moreover, we propose to use causality to generate small counterexamples in order to refine the conjecture assumptions. Experimental results suggest promising outlooks for our probabilistic symbolic compositional approach.     

Polyvinylidene fluoride nanofibers obtained by electrospinning and blowspinning: Electrospinning enhances the piezoelectric β-phase – myth or reality?

Considerable effort has been devoted to improving the properties of PVDF (polyvinylidene fluoride), arguably the most technologically important piezoelectric polymer. Electrospinning has been found to be a particularly effective method of producing PVDF nanofibers with superior piezoelectric properties due to the resulting exceptionally high fraction of the piezoelectrically active crystalline β-phase. It is typically assumed that the high external electric fields applied during electrospinning enhance the formation of this β-phase, with the confused literature offering various unsatisfactory mechanistic explanations. However, by comparing PVDF nanofibers produced by two different processes (electrospinning and blowspinning), we show that the electric field is entirely unnecessary; indeed, the crystallization dynamics are principally driven by the applied mechanical stress, as evidenced by structurally identical 200 nm diameter PVDF fibers produced with and without external electric fields.     

Investigating the impact of Cloisite® 15A nanoclays on the diffusivity of Irganox 1035 antioxidant in high-density polyethylene nanocomposite

Knowing the diffusion coefficients of antioxidants in packaging materials is essential to assess their effectiveness in protecting materials against oxidation, but also to prevent their eventual migration to food. In this work, the diffusion of a commercial phenolic antioxidant (Irganox 1035) was measured experimentally in pristine high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and in HDPE nanocomposite filled with 3 wt% of nanoclays (Cloisite® 15A). Diffusion experiments were performed using the Roe's method between 60 and 100°C. The local concentration of Irganox1035 in each film was measured by UV–Vis spectroscopy from the UV absorbance at 282 nm. The adjustment of the experimental data by Fick's second law allowed us to deduce the values of the diffusion coefficient of Irganox1035 at each temperature and to show that the temperature dependence of this coefficient obeys an Arrhenius' law. It is shown that the incorporation of 3 wt% of Cloisite®15A into HDPE significantly hinders the diffusion of Irganox 1035 and increases its activation energy. Several mechanistic assumptions could explain this result, first the increase in the tortuosity of diffusion paths, but also the possible establishment of strong intermolecular interactions between the antioxidant and some chemical groups on the nanofiller surface, or even the formation of an interphase with reduced molecular mobility around the nanofillers.