An integrated XFEM modeling with experimental measurements for optimizing thermal conductivity in carbon nanotube reinforced polyethylene

The present paper investigates the thermal properties of carbon nanotube reinforced polyethylene and specifically its potential as highly conductive material. To this end, an integrated approach is proposed combining both numerical and experimental procedures. First, in order to study conductive heat transfer in two-phase materials with imperfect interfaces, a detailed numerical model is developed based on the extended finite element method (XFEM), where material interfaces are modeled using the level set method. The thermal conductance at the interface of the carbon nanotubes and the polymer matrix is considered to be an unknown model parameter, the value of which is obtained by utilizing a series of experimental measurements of the composite material’s effective conductivity. The interfacial thermal conductance parameter value is inferred by calibrating the numerically predicted effective conductivity to the series of the corresponding experimental measurements. Once this parameter is estimated, the data-informed model is subsequently employed to provide reliable predictions of the effective conductivity of the composite for various weight fractions and configurations of carbon nanotubes in the parent material. Furthermore, microstructural morphologies that provide upper limits on the effective conductivity of the composite are identified via sensitivity analysis, demonstrating its potential as a highly conductive material.

Residual Stress Measurements in Extreme Environments for Hazardous, Layered Specimens

Background In nuclear fuel plates of low-enriched U-10Mo (LEU) clad with aluminum by hot isostatic pressing (HIP), post-irradiation stresses arising during reactor shutdown are a major concern for safe reactor operations. Measurement of those residual stresses has not previously been possible because the high radioactivity of the plates requires handling only by remote manipulation in a hot cell. Objective The incremental slitting method for measuring through-thickness stress profiles was modified, and a system for automated, remote operation was built and tested. Methods Experimental modifications consisted of replacing electric-discharge machining (EDM) with a small end mill and strain-gauge measurements with cantilever displacement measurements. The inverse method used to calculate stresses was the pulse-regularization method modified to allow discontinuities across material interfaces. The new system was validated by comparing with conventional slitting on a depleted U-10Mo (DU) fuel plate. Results The new system was applied to two measurements each on six as-fabricated (pre-irradiation) LEU miniature fuel plates. Variations between the measurements at two locations in the same plate were strongly correlated with measured geometrical heterogeneity in the plate—a tilt in the fuel foil. Compressive stresses in the U-10Mo were shown to increase from 20 to 250 MPa as the ratio of aluminum thickness to U-10Mo thickness increased causing increased constraint during cooling. Faster cooling rates during processing also increased stress magnitudes. Conclusions The measurements trends agreed with data in the literature from similar plates made with DU, which further validates the method. Because other methods are impractical in a hot cell, the modified slitting method is now poised for the first measurements of post-irradiation stresses.

Tailoring Peptide Self-Assembly and Formation of 2D Nanoribbons on Mica and HOPG Surface

Studying the interactions between biomolecules and material interfaces play a crucial role in the designing and synthesizing of functional bionanomaterials with tailored structure and function. Previously, a lot of studies were performed on the self-assembly of peptides in solution through internal and external stimulations, which mediated the creation of peptide nanostructures from zero-dimension to three-dimension. In this study, we demonstrate the self-assembly behavior of the GNNQQNY peptide on the surface of mica and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite through tailoring the self-assembly conditions. Various factors, such as the type of dissolvent, peptide concentration, pH value, and evaporation period on the formation of peptide nanofibers and nanoribbons with single- and bi-directional arrays are investigated. It is found that the creation of peptide nanoribbons on both mica and HOPG can be achieved effectively through adjusting and optimizing the experimental parameters. Based on the obtained results, the self-assembly and formation mechanisms of peptide nanoribbons on both material interfaces are discussed. It is expected that the findings obtained in this study will inspire the design of motif-specific peptides with high binding affinity towards materials and mediate the green synthesis of peptide-based bionanomaterials with unique function and application potential.

Review on Additive Manufacturing of Multi-Material Parts: Progress and Challenges

Additive manufacturing has already been established as a highly versatile manufacturing technique with demonstrated potential to completely transform conventional manufacturing in the future. The objective of this paper is to review the latest progress and challenges associated with the fabrication of multi-material parts using additive manufacturing technologies. Various manufacturing processes and materials used to produce functional components were investigated and summarized. The latest applications of multi-material additive manufacturing (MMAM) in the automotive, aerospace, biomedical and dentistry fields were demonstrated. An investigation on the current challenges was also carried out to predict the future direction of MMAM processes. It was concluded that further research and development is needed in the design of multi-material interfaces, manufacturing processes and the material compatibility of MMAM parts.

Influence of the interphase between laser-cladded metal layer and steel substrate on fatigue propagation of a short edge crack

Laser cladding is a relatively new technology how to combine properties of various materials. Thus, bi-material interfaces are presented in real structures and can affect the fatigue crack propagation. A cracked bar subjected to pure tensile loading is numerically simulated in this work in order to analyze the effect of the interphase layer between the cladded metal layer and the steel substrate on crack growth in the surface layer. Particularly, the influence of various Young’s modulus of the interphase on the stable/unstable edge crack propagation is assessed. Moreover, the number of cycles necessary for achievement of the defined critical crack length is calculated and it is summarized that knowledge of elastic properties of the thin interphase is crucial for fracture and fatigue analyses.

Sharp Interface Capturing in Compressible Multi-Material Flows with a Diffuse Interface Method

Compressible multi-materialflows are encountered in a wide range of natural phenomena and industrial applications, such as supernova explosions in space, high speed flows in jet and rocket propulsion, underwater explosions, and vapor explosions in post accidental situations in nuclear reactors. In the numerical simulations of these flows, interfaces play a crucial role. A poor numerical resolution of the interfaces could make it difficult to account for the physics, such as material separation, location of the shocks and contact discontinuities, and transfer of the mass, momentum and heat between different materials/phases. Owing to such importance, sharp interface capturing remains an active area of research in the field of computational physics. To address this problem in this paper we focus on the Interface Capturing (IC) strategy, and thus we make use of a newly developed Diffuse Interface Method (DIM) called Multidimensional Limiting Process-Upper Bound (MLP-UB). Our analysis shows that this method is easy to implement, can deal with any number of material interfaces, and produces sharp, shape-preserving interfaces, along with their accurate interaction with the shocks. Numerical experiments show good results even with the use of coarse meshes.

Scaling effects on the periodic homogenization of a reaction-diffusion-convection problem posed in homogeneous domains connected by a thin composite layer

We study the question of periodic homogenization of a variably scaled reaction-diffusion problem with non-linear drift posed for a domain crossed by a flat composite thin layer. The structure of the non-linearity in the drift was obtained in earlier works as hydrodynamic limit of a totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) for a population of interacting particles crossing a domain with obstacle. Using energy-type estimates as well as concepts like thin-layer convergence and two-scale convergence, we derive the homogenized evolution equation and the corresponding effective model parameters for a regularized problem. Special attention is paid to the derivation of the effective transmission conditions across the separating limit interface in essentially two different situations: (i) finitely thin layer and (ii) infinitely thin layer. This study should be seen as a preliminary step needed for the investigation of averaging fast non-linear drifts across material interfaces—a topic with direct applications in the design of thin composite materials meant to be impenetrable to high-velocity impacts.

Can Empirical Biplots Predict High Entropy Oxide Phases?

High entropy oxides are entropy-stabilised oxides that adopt specific disordered structures due to entropy stabilisation. They are a new class of materials that utilises the high-entropy concept first discovered in metallic alloys. They can have interesting properties due to the interactions at the electronic level and can be combined with other materials to make composite structures. The design of new meta-materials that utilise this concept to solve real-world problems may be a possibility but further understanding of how their phase stabilisation is required. In this work, biplots of the composition’s mean electronegativity are plotted against the electron-per-atom ratio of the compounds. The test dataset accuracy in the resulting biplots improves from 78% to 100% when using atomic-number-per-atom Z/a ratios as a biplot parameter. Phase stability maps were constructed using a Voronoi tessellation. This can be of use in determining stability at composite material interfaces.

Review on Additive Manufacturing of Multi-Material Parts: Progress and Challenges

Additive manufacturing has already been established as a highly versatile manufacturing technique with demonstrated potential to completely transform conventional manufacturing in the future. The objective of this paper is to review the latest progress and challenges associated with the fabrication of multi-material parts using additive manufacturing technologies. Various manufacturing processes and materials used to produce functional components were investigated and summarized. The latest applications of multi-material additive manufacturing (MMAM) in automotive, aerospace, biomedical and dentistry field were demonstrated. Investigation on the current challenges were also carried out to predict the future direction of MMAM processes. It is concluded that the further research and development needed in the design of multi-material interfaces, manufacturing processes and material compatibility of MMAM parts are necessary.