Microscopical imaging of hydroxyapatite/mica composite and packed hydroxyapatite structure--an atomic force microscopy investigation

A focus on the importance of leisure in the development of student nurses has been neglected in the 1990s. This study considers 444 prospective nurses on conventional, diploma and degree courses in two areas of England. It examines their activities associated with socializing, their social support networks and their use of clubs, sports and hobbies before entering nursing. It is evident that students enter nurse training with a wide variety of leisure experiences. Changing recruitment patterns and the structure of nurse training has an effect on the leisure needs of prospective nurses which must be addressed.     

The master curve and the constitutive equation for creep deformation and fracture for Cr-Mo-V steel throughout smooth,notched and precracked specimens

It has been shown experimentally that the master curve for creep deformation versus the ratio of time to fracture time, can be obtained for smooth, notched and precracked specimens of Cr-Mo-V steel, a high-temperature ductile material. A simple unified constitutive equation, i.e. a master curve equation, has been proposed. It is suggested that there is some correlation between the creep deformation fracture curve and the creep damage size master curve. Although the range of the applicability of methodology might be rather limited, the development of this concept is needed for improved long-term creep lives and for other creep ductile materials.     

A criterion for low-stress brittle fracture of notched specimens based on combined micro- and macro fracture mechanics—1

Based on the combined micro- and macro fracture mechanics, the two requisites necessary for the crack propagation, that is, the energy unstable requisite and the critical local stress requisite, are derived for the low-stress brittle fracture of notched specimens. Thus the fracture criterion was obtained. The criterion is compared with the experimental data, such as on the relationships between the fracture stress or the fracture toughness and the grain size diameter, the crack length, the notch tip radius or the yield stress. The good agreement is obtained.     

Comparison of creep crack growth rate in heat affected zone of welded joint for 9%Cr ferritic heat resistant steel based on C, dδ/dt, K and Q parameters

Creep crack growth behavior is very sensitive to the materials’ micro-structures such as the heat affected zone of a weld joint. This is a main issue to be clarified for 9%Cr ferritic heat resistant steel for their application in structural components. In this paper, high temperature creep crack growth tests were conducted on CT specimens with cracks in the heat affected zone of weld joints of W added 9%Cr ferritic heat resistant steel, ASME grade P92. The creep crack growth behavior in the heat affected zone of welded joint was investigated using the Q^∗ concept following which the algorithm of predicting the life of creep crack growth has been proposed. Furthermore, three-dimensional elastic-plastic creep FEM analyses were conducted and the effect of stress multiaxiality of welded joint on creep crack growth rate was discussed as compared with that of base metal.     

The effect of fatigue damage on toughening of short-fiber-reinforced polymer composites

Fatigue fracture of fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRP) occurs when microcracks are induced by debonding, pull-out and delamination at the interface between the matrix and fiber. This microcrack area increases with increase in fatigue cycles and a damage region is formed. In our previous paper, fatigue life of a short fiber-reinforced polymer composite consisting of glass fibers and polycarbonate matrix was found to be related not to the main crack growth behavior but to the progression behavior of the damage region. In this paper, using our proposed real time observational system, we performed detailed observations on the behavior of fatigue damage and clarified the mechanism of damage progression. Furthermore, mechanical considerations were performed by finite-element elastic-plastic stress analysis. The results mentioned above indicate that control of short fiber alignment makes it possible to release the stress concentration caused in the matrix, and disperse fatigue damage. This results in an enormous improvement in fracture toughness.     

Creep–fatigue crack growth behaviour based on EBSD observations for notched specimen made of directionally solidified Ni-base superalloy

Abstract

In order to characterise the creep–fatigue crack growth behaviour of a directionally solidified Ni-base superalloy, an investigation into damage behaviour based on the electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) method using notched specimens has been carried out. The average misorientation in the vicinity of notches increases linearly up to the initiation of cracks with the increasing creep strains under creep or creep–fatigue conditions, whereas under fatigue conditions fatigue cracks grew without an increase in misorientation. The stress holding time clearly influenced the growth behaviour of creep–fatigue cracks and the appearance of misorientation development. However, it was shown that the relationship between the average misorientation and the relative notch opening displacement was independent of test conditions such as temperatures, stresses and stress wave forms.

It is concluded that the misorientation analysis of damaged samples based on the EBSD method allows the prediction of the initiation of creep–fatigue cracks and their growth behaviours.     

Effects of ferrite grain size, notch acuity and notch length on brittle fracture stress of notched specimens of low carbon steel

The effects of ferrite grain size, notch acuity and notch length on brittle fracture stress and fracture toughness of notched specimens were experimentally studied at −196°C for a low-carbon steel.

For the case of smaller notch root radius, fracture stress and fracture toughness are not so much conspicuously affected by ferrite grain size. The effect of ferrite grain size will increase with increase of notch root radius. Fracture stress and fracture toughness will decrease with increase of d^−1/2 (d = grain size diameter) a smaller range of d^−1/2, and increase nearly linearly with increase of d^−1/2 in larger range of d^−1/2, and, thus have minimum at some value of d^−1/2.