scholarly journals Toughening Mechanism of Unidirectional Stretchable Composite

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaochun Jiang ◽  
Zhengjin Wang ◽  
Danqi Sun ◽  
Tongqing Lu ◽  
Tiejun Wang

Composite materials have been long developed to improve the mechanical properties such as strength and toughness. Most composites are non-stretchable which hinders the applications in soft robotics. Recent papers have reported a new design of unidirectional soft composite with superior stretchability and toughness. This paper presents an analytical model to study the toughening mechanism of such composite. We use the Gent model to characterize the large deformation of the hard phase and soft phase of the composite. We analyze how the stress transfer between phases deconcentrates the stress at the crack tip and enhances the toughness. We identify two types of failure modes: rupture of hard phase and interfacial debonding. We calculate the average toughness of the composite with different physical and geometric parameters. The experimental results in literature agree with our theoretical predictions very well.

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. N. Indira ◽  
Jyotishkumar Parameswaranpillai ◽  
Sabu Thomas

Banana fiber reinforced phenol formaldehyde composites with different fiber lengths and fiber loadings were prepared by compression molding (CM) and resin transfer molding (RTM) techniques. The mechanical properties such as tensile, flexural, and impact behavior were studied. RTM composites showed improved tensile and flexural properties as compared to CM composites. On the other hand, impact strength of RTM composites is slightly lower than that of CM composites. From the studies, it was found that mechanical properties increased with the increase in fiber loading, reached a plateau at 30–40 wt%, and then subsequently decreased with an increase in fiber loading in both techniques. At high fiber weight fractions, the strength decreased due to poor wetting and very poor stress transfer. The stress value increased up to 30 mm fiber lengths and then decreased. In order to examine the fracture surface morphology of the composites, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was performed on the composite samples. A good relationship between morphological and mechanical properties has been observed. Finally, tensile strength of the composites fabricated by RTM and CM was compared with theoretical predictions.


2014 ◽  
Vol 628 ◽  
pp. 102-106
Author(s):  
Jie Li ◽  
Shu Min Peng ◽  
Ying Shan Huang ◽  
Chun Wang Yi

The present work aimed at evaluating the mechanical properties, thermal behaviors and morphology of blends prepared by thermoplastic polyester elastomer (TPEE), polyamid-6(PA6) and epoxy resin (GradeE51). The SEM micrographs displayed a noticeable change in the type of surface structure on adding epoxy resin. The tensile strength, elongation at break of TPEE/PA6/Epoxy resin blends were significantly improved compared to TPEE/PA6 blends. The DSC results proved that the melt temperature (hard phase) of TPEE/PA6 blends tended to fuse together and the melt temperature (soft phase) increased with the content of epoxy resin increased


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 830
Author(s):  
Julio Cesar Martinez-Garcia ◽  
Alexandre Serraïma-Ferrer ◽  
Aitor Lopeandía-Fernández ◽  
Marco Lattuada ◽  
Janak Sapkota ◽  
...  

In this work, the effective mechanical reinforcement of polymeric nanocomposites containing spherical particle fillers is predicted based on a generalized analytical three-phase-series-parallel model, considering the concepts of percolation and the interfacial glassy region. While the concept of percolation is solely taken as a contribution of the filler-network, we herein show that the glassy interphase between filler and matrix, which is often in the nanometers range, is also to be considered while interpreting enhanced mechanical properties of particulate filled polymeric nanocomposites. To demonstrate the relevance of the proposed generalized equation, we have fitted several experimental results which show a good agreement with theoretical predictions. Thus, the approach presented here can be valuable to elucidate new possible conceptual routes for the creation of new materials with fundamental technological applications and can open a new research avenue for future studies.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2323
Author(s):  
Yubing Du ◽  
Zhiqing Zhao ◽  
Qiang Xiao ◽  
Feiting Shi ◽  
Jianming Yang ◽  
...  

To explore the basic mechanical properties and size effects of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) with different substitution ratios of coarse recycled concrete aggregates (CRCAs) to replace natural coarse aggregates (NCA), the failure modes and mechanical parameters of RAC under different loading conditions including compression, splitting tensile resistance and direct shear were compared and analyzed. The conclusions drawn are as follows: the failure mechanisms of concrete with different substitution ratios of CRCAs are similar; with the increase in substitution ratio, the peak compressive stress and peak tensile stress of RAC decrease gradually, the splitting limit displacement decreases, and the splitting tensile modulus slightly increases; with the increase in the concrete cube’s side length, the peak compressive stress of RAC declines gradually, but the integrity after compression is gradually improved; and the increase in the substitution ratio of the recycled aggregate reduces the impact of the size effect on the peak compressive stress of RAC. Furthermore, an influence equation of the coupling effect of the substitution ratio and size effect on the peak compressive stress of RAC was quantitatively established. The research results are of great significance for the engineering application of RAC and the strength selection of RAC structure design.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1021
Author(s):  
Yunzhao Li ◽  
Huaping Tang ◽  
Ruilin Lai

Resistance spot welded 1.2 mm (t)-thick 1400 MPa martensitic steel (MS1400) samples are fabricated and their microstructure, mechanical properties are investigated thoroughly. The mechanical performance and failure modes exhibit a strong dependence on weld-nugget size. The pull-out failure mode for MS1400 steel resistance spot welds does not follow the conventional weld-nugget size recommendation criteria of 4t0.5. Significant softening was observed due to dual phase microstructure of ferrite and martensite in the inter-critical heat affected zone (HAZ) and tempered martensite (TM) structure in sub-critical HAZ. However, the upper-critical HAZ exhibits obvious higher hardness than the nugget zone (NZ). In addition, the mechanical properties show that the cross-tension strength (CTS) is about one quarter of the tension-shear strength (TSS) of MS1400 weld joints, whilst the absorbed energy of cross-tension and tension-shear are almost identical.


Recycling ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
Francesco Paolo La Mantia ◽  
Maria Chiara Mistretta ◽  
Vincenzo Titone

In this work, an additive model for the prediction of the rheological and mechanical properties of monopolymer blends made by virgin and reprocessed components is proposed. A polypropylene sample has been reprocessed more times in an extruder and monopolymer blends have been prepared by simulating an industrial process. The scraps are exposed to regrinding and are melt reprocessed before mixing with the virgin polymer. The reprocessed polymer is, then, subjected to some thermomechanical degradation. Rheological and mechanical experimental data have been compared with the theoretical predictions. The results obtained showed that the values of this simple additive model are a very good fit for the experimental values of both rheological and mechanical properties.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 130
Author(s):  
Tan Ke Khieng ◽  
Sujan Debnath ◽  
Ernest Ting Chaw Liang ◽  
Mahmood Anwar ◽  
Alokesh Pramanik ◽  
...  

With the lightning speed of technological evolution, the demand for high performance yet sustainable natural fibres reinforced polymer composites (NFPCs) are rising. Especially a mechanically competent NFPCs under various loading conditions are growing day by day. However, the polymers mechanical properties are strain-rate dependent due to their viscoelastic nature. Especially for natural fibre reinforced polymer composites (NFPCs) which the involvement of filler has caused rather complex failure mechanisms under different strain rates. Moreover, some uneven micro-sized natural fibres such as bagasse, coir and wood were found often resulting in micro-cracks and voids formation in composites. This paper provides an overview of recent research on the mechanical properties of NFPCs under various loading conditions-different form (tensile, compression, bending) and different strain rates. The literature on characterisation techniques toward different strain rates, composite failure behaviours and current challenges are summarised which have led to the notion of future study trend. The strength of NFPCs is generally found grow proportionally with the strain rate up to a certain degree depending on the fibre-matrix stress-transfer efficiency. The failure modes such as embrittlement and fibre-matrix debonding were often encountered at higher strain rates. The natural filler properties, amount, sizes and polymer matrix types are found to be few key factors affecting the performances of composites under various strain rates whereby optimally adjust these factors could maximise the fibre-matrix stress-transfer efficiency and led to performance increases under various loading strain rates.


2021 ◽  
pp. 073168442110204
Author(s):  
Bin Yang ◽  
Yingying Shang ◽  
Zeliang Yu ◽  
Minger Wu ◽  
Youji Tao ◽  
...  

In recent years, coated fabrics have become the major material used in membrane structures. Due to the special structure of base layer and mechanical properties, coated biaxial warp-knitted fabrics are increasingly applied in pneumatic structures. In this article, the mechanical properties of coated biaxial warp-knitted fabrics are investigated comprehensively. First, off-axial tensile tests are carried out in seven in-plane directions: 0°, 15°, 30°, 45°, 60°, 75°, and 90°. Based on the stress–strain relationship, tensile strengths are obtained and failure modes are studied. The adaptability of Tsai–Hill criterion is analyzed. Then, the uniaxial tensile creep test is performed under 24-h sustained load and the creep elongation is calculated. Besides, tearing strengths in warp and weft directions are obtained by tearing tests. Finally, the biaxial tensile tests under five different load ratios of 1:1, 2:1, 1:2, 1:0, and 0:1 are carried out, and the elastic constants and Poisson’s ratio are calculated using the least squares method based on linear orthotropic assumption. Moreover, biaxial specimens under four load ratios of 3:1, 1:3, 5:1, and 1:5 are further tensile tested to verify the adaptability of linear orthotropic model. These experimental data offer a deeper and comprehensive understanding of mechanical properties of coated biaxial warp-knitted fabrics and could be conveniently adopted in structural design.


Author(s):  
A Miranda ◽  
M Leite ◽  
L Reis ◽  
E Copin ◽  
MF Vaz ◽  
...  

The aerospace, automotive, and marine industries are heavily reliant on sandwich panels with cellular material cores. Although honeycombs with hexagonal cells are the most commonly used geometries as cores, recently there have been new alternatives in the design of lightweight structures. The present work aims to evaluate the mechanical properties of metallic and polymeric honeycomb structures, with configurations recently proposed and different in-plane orientations, produced by additive and subtractive manufacturing processes. Structures with configurations such as regular hexagonal honeycomb (Hr), lotus (Lt), and hexagonal honeycomb with Plateau borders (Pt), with 0°, 45°, and 90° orientations were analyzed. To evaluate its properties, three-point bending tests were performed, both experimentally and by numerical modeling, by means of the finite element method. Honeycombs of two aluminum alloys and polylactic acid were fabricated. The structures produced in aluminum were obtained either by selective laser melting technology or by machining, while polylactic acid structures were obtained by material extrusion using fused filament fabrication. From the stress distribution analysis and the load–displacement curves, it was possible to evaluate the strength, stiffness, and absorbed energy of the structures. Failure modes were also analyzed for polylactic acid honeycombs. In general, a strong correlation was observed between numerical and experimental results. The results show that the stiffness and absorbed energy increase in the order, Hr, Pt, Lt, and with the orientation through the sequence, 45°, 90°, 0°. Thus, Lt structures with 0° orientation seem to be good alternatives to the traditional honeycombs used in sandwich composite panels for those industrial applications where low weight, high stiffness, and large energy-absorbing capacity are required.


2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahim Eqra ◽  
Kamal Janghorban ◽  
Habib Daneshmanesh

Abstract Because of extraordinary physical, chemical and mechanical properties, graphene nanosheets (GNS) are suitable fillers for optimizing the properties of different polymers. In this research, the effect of GNS content (up to 1 wt.%) on tensile and flexural properties, morphology of fracture surface, and toughening mechanism of epoxy were investigated. Results of mechanical tests showed a peak for tensile and flexural strength of samples with 0.1 wt.% GNS such that the tensile and flexural strength improved by 13% and 3.3%, respectively. The Young’s modulus and flexural modulus increased linearly with GNS content, although the behavior of the Young’s modulus was more remarkable. Morphological investigations confirmed this behavior because the GNS dispersion in the epoxy matrix was uniform at lower contents and agglomerated at higher contents. Finally, microscopical observation showed that the major toughening mechanism of graphene-epoxy nanocomposites was crack path deflection, which changed the mirror fracture surface of the pure epoxy to rough surface.


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