Novel cellular perlite–epoxy foams: Effect of density on mechanical properties

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haleh Allameh-Haery ◽  
Erich Kisi ◽  
Thomas Fiedler

A novel type of economical lightweight foam with density from 0.15 to 0.45 g/cm3 was made from a high volume fraction of expanded volcanic glass (perlite) in an epoxy matrix. The compressive strength, effective elastic modulus, and modulus of toughness of the foams all increased with the foam density. The strength increased linearly, peaking at 1.7 MPa whereas the effective elastic modulus and modulus of toughness increased at parabolically increasing and decreasing rates, respectively. The specific compressive stress of the newly developed foam in the density range of 0.3–0.44 g/cm3 is comparable with foams made from alumina, aluminium–silicon carbide, closed cell phenolic resin, and closed cell polypropylene. Post-test SEM observations coupled with photogrammetry during the tests revealed three different failure modes: longitudinal splitting, shear failure, and compression failure were present over the whole density range. The material was found to be a good candidate for the stiffening cores within sandwich panels.

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (6) ◽  
pp. 597-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haleh Allameh-Haery ◽  
Christopher M Wensrich ◽  
Thomas Fiedler ◽  
Erich Kisi

The micro-structure and mechanical properties of lightweight porous foams synthesized by dispersing expanded perlite particles (expanded siliceous volcanic glass) in a matrix of epoxy resin were examined. Foams were fabricated with three distinct particle size ranges and, within each size, samples covered a density range of 0.15–0.45 g/cm3. The effects of particle size variation on compressive strength, effective elastic modulus, and modulus of toughness were investigated. An upper and a lower bound were estimated for the elastic modulus of particles in EP/epoxy foams. EP/epoxy foams showed Reuss-like behaviour similar to metals but atypical of non-plastic materials. In addition, results illustrated the significant contribution of the expanded perlite particles in the effective elastic modulus of the foams. Micro-structure of expanded perlite particles was examined and related to their macroscopic properties via two geometrical relationships. Post-test microscopic observations coupled with macroscopic observations taken during the test were used to understand the effect of particle size on the behaviour of the foams under compressive load. Observations revealed the presence of three different failure modes for all foams regardless of their particle size and density; however, the strain to activate each mode was different for each foam type.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (9) ◽  
pp. 1181-1203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xueyao Hu ◽  
Hui Guo ◽  
Weiguo Guo ◽  
Feng Xu ◽  
Longyang Chen ◽  
...  

Theoretical and experimental studies on the compressive mechanical behavior of 4-harness satin weave carbon/epoxy composite laminates under in-plane loading are conducted over the temperature range of 298–473 K and the strain rate range of 0.001–1700/s in this article. The stress–strain curves of 4-harness satin weave composites are obtained at different strain rates and temperatures, and key mechanical properties of the material are determined. The deformation mechanism and failure morphology of the samples are observed and analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs. The results show that the uniaxial compressive mechanical properties of 4-harness satin weave composites are strongly dependent on the temperature but are weakly sensitive to strain rate. The peak stress and elastic modulus of the material have the trend of decrease with the increasing of temperature, and the decreasing trend can be expressed as the functional relationship of temperature shift factor. In addition, SEM observations show that the quasi-static failure mode of 4-harness satin weave composites is shear failure along the diagonal lines of the specimens, while the dynamic failure modes of the material are multiple delaminations and longitudinal splitting, and with the increasing of temperature, its longitudinal splitting is more serious, but the delamination is relatively reduced. A constitutive model with thermomechanical coupling effects is proposed based on the experimental results and the increment theory of elastic–plastic mechanics. The experimental verification and numerical analysis show that the model is shown to be able to predict the finite deformation behavior of 4-harness satin weave composites over a wide range of temperatures.


2020 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. R. O’Masta ◽  
V. S. Deshpande

Abstract Composites comprising a high-volume fraction of stiff reinforcements within a compliant matrix are commonly found in natural materials. The disparate properties of the constituent materials endow resilience to the composite, and here we report an investigation into some of the mechanisms at play. We report experiments and simulations of a prototype laminated composite system comprising silicon layers separated by polymer interlayers, where the only failure mechanism is the tensile fracture of the brittle silicon. Two failure modes are observed for such composites loaded in three-point bending: failure under the central roller in (i) the top ply (in contact with the roller) or (ii) the bottom ply (free surface). The former mode is benign with the beam retaining load carrying capacity, whereas the latter leads to catastrophic beam failure. Finite element (FE) simulations confirm this transition in failure mode and inform the development of a reduced order model. Good agreement is shown between measurements, FE simulations, and reduced order predictions, capturing the effects of material and geometric properties on the flexural rigidity, first ply failure mode, and failure load. A failure mechanism map for this system is reported that can be used to inform the design of such laminated composites.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Xutao Zhang ◽  
Mingyang Ren ◽  
Zhaobo Meng ◽  
Baoliang Zhang ◽  
Jinglong Li

Rock material is a kind of mineral assemblage with complex structural heterogeneity, whose mechanical behavior is strongly affected by water or moisture content. In this work, we carried out a series of laboratory tests to investigate the mechanical response (e.g., deformation, strength, and failure characteristics) of Yunnan limestone in natural and saturated states. Our test results show that (1) after saturation, the stiffness and strength of Yunnan limestone degenerate considerably. Compared with the natural condition, the elastic modulus, deformation modulus, and tensile modulus decrease by about 30% on average, and uniaxial compressive strength and tensile strength also decrease by about 15% and 20%, respectively. While Poisson’s ratio is less affected by water content, it can be regarded as a constant; (2) the elastic modulus and deformation modulus of Yunnan limestone are significantly affected by confining pressure, and the relationship between them and confining pressure satisfies the law of hyperbolic function; (3) the peak strength envelope of Yunnan limestone has significant nonlinear characteristics, which can be well described by generalized Hoek-Brown strength criterion. However, the generalized Hoek-Brown criterion does not apply to the residual strength, which shows a linearly increasing trend with the increasing confining pressure; (4) the failure modes of Yunnan limestone are significantly dependent on confining pressure but insensitive to water content. With the increasing confining pressure, the failure modes of Yunnan limestone transform from splitting failure, tension-shear mixed failure, single inclined plane shear failure to Y-shaped or X-shaped conjugated shear failure. The test results can provide important experimental data for the establishment of the constitutive model of Yunnan limestone, which will contribute to obtain more reliable results for stability assessment of Xianglu Mountain Tunnel.


Author(s):  
Piyas Chowdhury ◽  
Kamal Sikka ◽  
Anuja De Silva ◽  
Indira Seshadri

Thermal interface materials (TIMs), which transmit heat from semiconductor chips, are indispensable in today’s microelectronic devices. Designing superior TIMs for increasingly demanding integration requirements, especially for server-level hardware with high power density chips, remains a particularly coveted yet challenging objective. This is because achieving desired degrees of thermal-mechanical attributes (e.g. high thermal conductivity, low elastic modulus, low viscosity) poses contradictory challenges. For instance, embedding thermally conductive fillers (e.g. metallic particles) into a compliant yet considerably less conductive matrix (e.g. polymer) enhances heat transmission, however at the expense of overall compliance. This leads to extensive trial-and-error based empirical approaches for optimal material design. Specifically, high volume fraction filler loading, role of filler size distribution, mixing of various filler types are some outstanding issues that need further clarification. To that end, we first forward a generic packing algorithm with ability to simulate a variety of filler types and distributions. Secondly, by modeling the physics of heat/force flux, we predict effective thermal conductivity, elastic modulus and viscosity for various packing cases.


Metals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge E. Rivera-Salinas ◽  
Karla M. Gregorio-Jáuregui ◽  
José A. Romero-Serrano ◽  
Alejandro Cruz-Ramírez ◽  
Ernesto Hernández-Hernández ◽  
...  

Although the porosity in Al-SiC metal matrix composites (MMC) can be diminished; its existence is unavoidable. The purpose of this work is to study the effect of porosity on Young’s modulus of SiC reinforced aluminum matrix composites. Finite element analysis is performed based on the unit cell and the representative volume element approaches. The reliability of the models is validated by comparing the numerical predictions against several experimental data ranging in low- and high-volume fractions and good agreement is found. It is found that despite the stress transfer from the soft matrix to the reinforcement remains effective in the presence of pores, there is a drop in the stress gathering capability of the particles and thus, the resulting effective elastic modulus of composite decreases. The elastic property of the composite is more sensitive to pores away the reinforcement. It is confirmed, qualitatively, that the experimentally reported in the literature decrease in the elastic modulus is caused by the presence of pores.


Materials ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 3563 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengxuan Li ◽  
Jianguo Wang ◽  
Fakai Dou

In this study, an approach is developed to estimate the density and effective elastic modulus of a lightweight bulk filling material made up of expanded polystyrene (EPS) and cement-reinforced clay (matrix). First, a representative volume element (RVE) is composed of cell A (an EPS and matrix) and cell B (matrix only). Then, an elastic interface is introduced to describe the discontinuity of displacement at the interface between EPS beads and matrix. Third, an Eshelby compliance tensor is modified in cell A to include the effects of imperfect interface and the compressibility of EPS beads. Finally, the approach for the density and effective elastic modulus of the EPS beads mixed cement-reinforced clay is verified with experimental data. The compressibility ratio of lightweight clay is compared under different confining pressures and curing times. It is found that the imperfect interface has salient impacts on the effective elastic modulus with the increase of volume fraction of inclusions. The interface parameters (α and β) vary with curing time and confining pressure. At the same curing time, the parameter α is almost constant regardless of confining pressure but the parameter β changes with confining pressure. The compressibility ratio is smaller for longer curing time if the confining pressure is constant.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 160972 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan-San Huang ◽  
Fu-Lan Hsu ◽  
Chin-Mei Lee ◽  
Jia-Yang Juang

Failure of hollow trees in urban areas is a worldwide concern, and it can be caused by different mechanisms, i.e. bending stresses or flattening-related failures. Here we derive a new analytical expression for predicting the bending moment for tangential cracking, and compare the breaking moment of various failure modes, including Brazier buckling, tangential cracking, shear failure and conventional bending failure, as a function of t / R ratio, where t and R are the trunk wall thickness and trunk radius, respectively, of a hollow tree. We use Taiwan red cypress as an example and show that its failure modes and the corresponding t / R ratios are: Brazier buckling (Mode I), tangential cracking followed by longitudinal splitting (Mode II) and conventional bending failure (Mode III) for 0 <  t / R  < 0.06, 0.06 <  t / R  < 0.27 and 0.27 <  t / R  < 1, respectively. The exact values of those ratios may vary within and among species, but the variation is much smaller than individual mechanical properties. Also, shear failure, another type of cracking due to maximum shear stress near the neutral axis of the tree trunk, is unlikely to occur since it requires much larger bending moments. Hence, we conclude that tangential cracking due to cross-sectional flattening, followed by longitudinal splitting, is dominant for hollow trunks. Our equations are applicable to analyse straight hollow tree trunks and plant stems, but are not applicable to those with side openings or those with only heart decay. Our findings provide insights for those managing trees in urban situations and those managing for conservation of hollow-dependent fauna in both urban and rural settings.


1984 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 540-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Nomura ◽  
T.-W. Chou

This paper examines upper and lower bounds of the effective elastic modulus of unidirectional short-fiber composites. The short-fibers are modeled by aligned ellipsoidal inclusions of the same aspect ratio but not necessarily the same size. We adopt a perturbation expansion of the composite local strain field by using the Green function tensor. Explicit expressions of the effective elastic modulus are derived up to the third-order term by use of the information on the correlation functions. The variational method is then employed to optimize the bounds of the effective modulus in a closed form. Numerical examples of the bounds as functions of the fiber aspect ratio and the fiber volume fraction are given for a glass/epoxy system. The present approach predicts narrower bounds than those of Hashin and coworkers for the limiting cases of spherical particles and continuous fibers since their bounds corresponds to a model that take the correlation functions up to the second order into account.


Materials ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1851 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheng-En Fang ◽  
Hua-Shan Hong ◽  
Pei-Hui Zhang

In order to investigate the influence of basalt fibers (BFs) on the mechanical performance of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC), some groups of RAC specimens were first tested involving different types of fibers such as carbon fibers, steel fibers, polypropylene fibers and hybrid fibers. The main four indices for the investigation consisted of cube compressive strengths, axial compressive strengths, splitting tensile strengths and Young’s modulus. The effects of fiber volume fractions on the RAC slumps were also discussed. Meanwhile, the mechanical properties and failure modes of the BF-reinforced RAC were compared with those of other fiber-reinforced RAC and common concrete (CC). Subsequently the optimal volume fractions of BFs were explored for different mechanical properties within the volume fraction range of 0–0.2%. The back propagation neural networks were further applied to predict and validate the optimal BF fractions. Lastly, the general strength formulas, as well as the elastic modulus formula, for BF-reinforced RAC were deducted based on the specimen test results. It is found that the addition of fibers may improve the failure modes of RAC and different fibers present positive or negative effects on the mechanical properties. The optimal volume fractions of BF with respect to the four mechanical indices are 0.1%, 0.15%, 0.1% and 0.2% respectively. The proposed strength and elastic modulus formulas of BF-reinforced RAC provide satisfactory predictions with the test results and thus can be used as a reference in practice.


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