Influence of the dispersion of Nanoclays on the cellular structure of foams based on polystyrene

In the present work blends of polystyrene (PS) with sepiolites have been produced using a melt extrusion process. The dispersion degree of the sepiolites in the PS has been analyzed by dynamic shear rheology and X-ray micro-computed tomography. Sepiolites treated with quaternary ammonium salts (O-QASEP) are better dispersed in the PS matrix than natural sepiolites (N-SEP) or sepiolites organo-modified with silane groups (O-SGSEP). A percolated network is obtained when using 6.0 wt% of O-QASEP, 8.0 wt% of N-SEP and 10.0 wt% of O-SGSEP. It has been shown that multiple extrusion processes have a negative effect on the polymer architecture. They produce a reduction in the length of the polymeric chains, and they do not lead to a better dispersion of the particles in the polymer matrix. Foams have been produced using a gas dissolution foaming process, where a strong effect of the dispersion degree on the cellular structure of the different foams was found. The effects on the cellular structure obtained by using different types of sepiolites, different contents of sepiolites and different extrusion conditions have been analyzed. The foams produced with the formulations containing O-QASEP present the lowest cell size and the most homogeneous cellular structures.     

Study on the blackening phenomenon of leaded glass during microgroove molding using nickel phosphorous mold

Precision glass molding (PGM) is a recently developed method to fabricate glass microgroove components. Lead glass is commonly used as an optical material due to its high refractive index and low transition temperature. A nickel-phosphorous (Ni–P) plated mold is traditionally employed in the PGM process for microstructures optics. However, leaded glass is subject to color change and can blacken during the PGM process, reducing the light transmittance of microgrooves. In this paper, an equation for the redox reaction between Ni and Pb is proposed, which is based on the diffusion of inner Ni atoms to the surface of the mold and the standard electrode potential of the Pb ions in leaded glass. A viscoelastic constitutive model of the glass is established to simulate the compression stress distribution during molding. Finally, the effects of molding pressure, molding temperature, and mold material on glass blackening are studied. The results show that the blackening of leaded glass is caused by Pb enriching the surface. The rise in molding stress and temperature increases the deformation of Ni–P plating, which promotes the diffusion of Ni atoms. By adding a titanium incorporated diamond-like carbon (Ti-DLC) coating, the deformation of the Ni–P plating during molding is suppressed, and the diffusion of Ni atoms can be prevented. In this way, the blackening of leaded glass can be prevented.     

主动约束层阻尼板结构动力学建模研究

将有限元法和GHM法相结合，给出了建立主动约束层阻尼（ACLD）板结构动力学模型的新方法。建模时，考虑到粘弹材料（VEM）的纵向位移影响，采用GHM方法描述VEM的本构关系，解决了VEM的力学特性随温度和频率变化的难点，避免因VEM的复杂本构关系而产生的微分积分方程。算例表明本文给出的建模方法是准确的，ACLD结构能够有效控制结构振动。     

Production and properties of micro‐porous glas bubble zinc and aluminium composites

Micro‐porous syntactic foams were produced by means of integration of glass bubbles into aluminium and zinc matrices. Preforms of glass bubbles were pressure infiltrated with the alloys AlSi9Cu9 ans ZnAl4Cu using squeeze casting. The preforms were sintered thermically without the use of bonding agents. Using the combination of different sintering steps syntactic foams with locally different densities could be produced. The mechanical properties of the foams were tested indicating a high compression strength of the foams and a very good compression energy absorption. Furthermore, corrosion behaviour and behaviour at higher temperatures were investigated.     

An extension of the Secant Method for the homogenization of the nonlinear behavior of composite materials

We discuss the consequences of a different application of the principle the Modified Secant Method is [C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris Sér. IIb 320 (1995) 563] based on. In fact, we directly compute the second-order averages of the local fields available from the linear elastic homogenization procedure exploited in order to evaluate the effective elastic moduli. This method, which can be seen either as a simplification of the Modified Secant Method or as an extension of the Secant Method [J. Mech. Phys. Solids 26 (1979) 325], may be useful for any composite whose overall elastic constants need to be estimated by modeling the microstructure through Morphologically Representative Patterns [J. Mech. Phys. Solids 44 (1996) 307], which is for instance the case of syntactic foams [Int. J. Solids and Structures 38/40-41 (2001) 7235]. In order to show the accuracy of the proposed method, we apply it to several examples and compare its results with those obtainable by means of other analytical methods available in the literature, with numerical results of Finite Element simulations, and with experimental results. Closed-form solutions are derived for the effective yield stress of porous metals and incompressible composites reinforced with rigid spheres.     

(CO2 + 2‐propanol) mixture as a foaming agent for polystyrene: A simple thermodynamic model for the high pressure VLE‐phase diagrams taking into account the foam vitrification

The equation of state model developed by Lacombe and Sanchez (J Phys Chem 1976, 80, 2352) is used in the form proposed later by Sanchez and Stone (Polymer Blends, Vol. 1: Formulation, 2000; Chapter 2) to correlate experimental vapor‐liquid equilibrium (VLE) data for the three binaries and the ternary systems. Experimental data from the binary systems carbon dioxide‐isopropyl alcohol (CO₂‐IPrOH), isopropyl alcohol‐polystyrene (IPrOH‐PS), and carbon dioxide‐polystyrene (CO₂‐PS) are used to calculate VLE properties for the ternary system CO₂‐IPrOH‐PS. Two‐dimensional VLE‐phase diagrams were calculated and used to describe from a thermodynamic point of view the pressure, volume, and temperature values that characterize a thermoplastic foam evolution process, from the extruder to the foaming die. For different initial mixture CO₂ + IPrOH concentrations, pressure reduction produces liquid foaming until the vitrification curve arrests the final foam volume expansion. The dependence of the vitreous transition with the system CO₂ + IPrOH concentration while foaming is represented by the Chow (Macromolecules 1980, 13, 362) equation. The calculation procedure is proposed as a design tool to reduce the amount of experimental data usually needed as a requirement previous to the design stage. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 2663–2671, 2007     

Mechanical Properties of Porous Materials

Porous materials are commonly found in nature and as industrial materials such as wood, carbon, foams, ceramics and bricks. In order to use them effectively, their mechanical properties must be understood in relation to their micro-structures. This paper studies the mechanical properties of a few common porous materials: carbon rods, ceramics, polymeric foams and bricks. The characterisation of pore structures was performed using a Mercury Porosimeter. Detailed information was obtained on the density, porosity, surface area and pore size distribution. A large number of experiments on either bending or compression were conducted in order to obtain their macro-mechanical properties such as Young's modulus, hardness and strength. Based on the experimental observations, theoretical models were employed to predict the macro-properties from the micromechanics viewpoint. By studying the deformation of pores the global behaviour was calculated. Two simple formulae for the elastic modulus, E, were proposed: for low values of porosity, , E = E⁰(1 – 2) (1 + 4²) where E⁰ is the elastic modulus when the porosity is zero; for high value of porosity such as for foams E = E⁰ (1 – )². The theoretical results agreed well with the experimental ones. The study has provided insights into the mechanical properties of porous materials over a wide range of porosity values.     

BLOOD VISCOELASTICITY FOR CONDITIONS OF PHYSIOLOGICAL FLOW IN SMALL ARTERIES

The viscoelasticity of blood is quantified by studying the oscillatory flow of suspensions of RBC in plasma in 218 μm and 400 μm glass capillary tubes. The flow conditions are chosen to reflect normal physiological flow in small arterial vessels. Data are obtained for suspension hematocrits between 35 and 80 percent, and at physiological temperature (37°C) The results indicate that the elastic component of the viscoelasticity of blood is effectively negligible for the conditions of this study; the measured pressure gradient-flowrate relationship is dominated by the viscous component of blood viscoelasticity.     

Constitutive modeling of HDPE polymer/clay nanocomposite foams

A constitutive model for tensile behavior of high density polyethylene (HDPE)/clay nanocomposite foams was proposed. The elastic modulus of HDPE/clay nanocomposite was developed using micromechanics theory, and the modulus for foams was obtained by using representative volume element (RVE) concept. In order to describe the tensile behavior of the foams, a constitutive equation obtained from a viscoelastic model was proposed. The constitutive model was expressed in terms of microstructural properties of polymer, and physical properties of the foams. The effects of the material parameters and processing conditions on the foam morphologies and mechanical properties of HDPE/clay nanocomposite foams were investigated. Microcellular closed-cell nanocomposite foams were manufactured with HDPE, where the nanoclay loadings of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0 wt% were used. The effect of clay loading and foaming conditions on the volume expansion ratio, elastic modulus, tensile strength, and elongation at break was investigated. Except for the elongation at break, the mechanical properties were improved with nanoclay loading. The tensile experimental data of the foams were compared with the prediction by the theoretical model. It was demonstrated that the tensile behaviors of HDPE/clay nanocomposite foams were well described by the constitutive model.     

泡沫金属的力学性能研究

利用Gibson—Ashby模型,对泡沫金属的基本参量（弹性模量和泊松比）进行了理论分析,建立了泡沫金属在弹性范围内的弹性模量和泊松比随相对密度变化的关系式,通过与Nieh等人的实验结果和Roberts等人的有限元分析结果比较表明,得到的关系式能较好地反映泡沫金属特性。研究表明,对于同一模型中,在相时密度相同的情况下,开孔泡沫金属材料的筋条截面惯性矩越大,其弹性模量越大,而泊松比越小。