Design of a Variable Stiffness Wrist Brace With an Origami Structural Element

Author(s):  
Marcos B. Oliveira ◽  
Chang Liu ◽  
Mengtao Zhao ◽  
Samuel M. Felton

This paper presents a motor driven wrist brace that can adjust its stiffness by changing its mesoscale geometry. The design involves a plate structure that folds from a flexible flat shape to a stiff corrugated shape by means of a motor driven tendon. The structure is built using a laminate of rigid and flexible layers, with embedded flexural hinges that allow it to fold. The paper proposes a simplified analytical model to predict stiffness, and physical three-point bending tests indicate that the brace can increase its stiffness up to fifty times by folding.

2006 ◽  
Vol 514-516 ◽  
pp. 799-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Costa ◽  
Micaela Miranda ◽  
Humberto Varum ◽  
Filipe Teixeira Dias

Glass can be considered to be a high-technology engineering material with a multifunctional potential for structural applications. However, the conventional approach to the use of glass is often based only on its properties of transparency and isolation. It is thus highly appropriate and necessary to study the mechanical behaviour of this material and to develop adequate methods and models leading to its characterisation. It is evident that the great potential of growth for structural glass applications is an important opportunity of development for the glass industry and the building/construction sectors. The work presented in this paper is a reflection of this conclusion. The authors shortly present the state-of-the-art on the application of glass as a structural element in building and construction, and refer to other potential fields of application and available glass materials. The experimental procedures and methods adopted in three-point bending tests performed on 500 × 100 [mm2] float, laminated and tempered glass specimens with thicknesses between 4 and 19 mm are thoroughly described. The authors evaluated the mechanical strength and stiffness of glass for structural applications. This work contributes to a deeper knowledge of the properties of this material.


2020 ◽  
Vol 837 ◽  
pp. 41-45
Author(s):  
Shuai Sun ◽  
Kai Hua Liu

In order to determine the evolution features of deformation twins for TA2 commercial pure titanium (cp-TA2), the TA2 samples were bent under different bending angles in three-point bending tests via a universal testing machine. The electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) technique was applied to identify the grain boundaries (GBs) and twin boundaries (TBs) in the bending areas. The results reveal that the type of deformation area would effect the evolution of different deformation twins. It is inferred that the state of stress would promote the multiplication of the same type of deformation twins.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3522
Author(s):  
Marta Caballero-Jorna ◽  
Marta Roig-Flores ◽  
Pedro Serna

The use of synthetic fibers in fiber-reinforced concretes (FRCs) is often avoided due to the mistrust of lower performance at changing temperatures. This work examines the effect of moderate temperatures on the flexural strengths of FRCs. Two types of polypropylene fibers were tested, and one steel fiber was employed as a reference. Three-point bending tests were carried out following an adapted methodology based on the standard EN 14651. This adapted procedure included an insulation system that allowed the assessment of FRC flexural behavior after being exposed for two months at temperatures of 5, 20, 35 and 50 °C. In addition, the interaction of temperature with a pre-cracked state was also analyzed. To do this, several specimens were pre-cracked to 0.5 mm after 28 days and conditioned in their respective temperature until testing. The findings suggest that this range of moderate temperatures did not degrade the behavior of FRCs to a great extent since the analysis of variances showed that temperature is not always a significant factor; however, it did have an influence on the pre-cracked specimens at 35 and 50 °C.


2012 ◽  
Vol 509 ◽  
pp. 209-214
Author(s):  
Shao Peng Wu ◽  
Pan Pan ◽  
Ming Yu Chen

With the widespread application of asphalt mixture, current demand from transportation managers for construction and maintenance of their pavement network consumes large numbers of aggregates. If agencies excessively favor to some certain kinds of excellent aggregates, the cost of construction could be considerably expensive. The major objective of this study is to determine the feasibility of utilizing dacite in asphalt mixtures. By means of Marshall, freeze-thaw, rutting and three-point bending tests, the performances of dacite and basalt asphalt mixture are compared. The results of the testing illustrate that dacite asphalt mixture is more susceptible to gradation and asphalt content than basalt asphalt mixture. Meanwhile it is showed that the performances of dacite asphalt mixture can be improved greatly with the involvement of additives including active mineral powder and cement. Furthermore, it is validated that dacite can be used as alternative aggregate in asphalt mixture.


2006 ◽  
Vol 445-448 ◽  
pp. 422-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Sato ◽  
K. Katagiri ◽  
T. Hokari ◽  
Y. Hatakeyama ◽  
A. Murakami ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Jungmann ◽  
M.E. Szabo ◽  
G. Schitter ◽  
Raymond Yue-Sing Tang ◽  
D. Vashishth ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 2283-2297 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Stavrakas ◽  
D. Triantis ◽  
S.K. Kourkoulis ◽  
E.D. Pasiou ◽  
I. Dakanali

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