Prediction of FRCM–Concrete Bond Strength with Machine Learning Approach

Fibre-reinforced cement mortar (FRCM) has been widely utilised for the repair and restoration of building structures. The bond strength between FRCM and concrete typically takes precedence over the mechanical parameters. However, the bond behaviour of the FRCM–concrete interface is complex. Due to several failure modes, the prediction of bond strength is difficult to forecast. In this paper, effective machine learning models were employed in order to accurately predict the FRCM–concrete bond strength. This article employed a database of 382 test results available in the literature on single-lap and double-lap shear experiments on FRCM–concrete interfacial bonding. The compressive strength of concrete, width of concrete block, FRCM elastic modulus, thickness of textile layer, textile width, textile bond length, and bond strength of FRCM–concrete interface have been taken into consideration with popular machine learning models. The paper estimates the predictive accuracy of different machine learning models for estimating the FRCM–concrete bond strength and found that the GPR model has the highest accuracy with an R-value of 0.9336 for interfacial bond strength prediction. This study can be utilising in the estimation of bond strength to minimise the experimentation cost in minimum time.

Polyamide 6-Aluminum Assembly Enhanced by Laser Microstructuring

The presented work’s aim is the application of low-power laser treatment for the enhancement of interfacial micromechanical adhesion between polyamide 6 (filled with glass fiber) and aluminum. A fiber laser beam was used to prepare micro-patterns on aluminum sheets. The micro-structuring was conducted in the regime of 50, 100, 200 and 300 mm/s laser beam speeds, for both sides. The joining process was realized in an injection molding process. Metallic inserts were surface engraved and overmolded in one-side and two-side configurations. A lap shear test was used to examine the strength of the joints. Engraved metallic surfaces and adequate imprints on polyamide side were checked by optical microscope with motorized stages, and roughness parameters were also determined. Microscopic observations made it possible to describe the grooves’ shape and to conclude that a huge recast melt was formed when the lowest laser beam speed was applied; thus, the roughness parameter Ra reached the highest value of 16.8 μm (compared to 3.5 μm obtained for the fastest laser speed). The maximum shear force was detected for a sample prepared with the lowest scanning speed (one-sides joints), and it was 883 N, while for two-sided joints, the ultimate force was 1410 N (for a scanning speed of 200 mm/s).

Joining sheets made from dissimilar materials by hole hemming

This research work presents a new joining process based on the hemming process for attaching sheets made from dissimilar materials with very different mechanical properties. The process is termed ‘hole hemming’ and consists in producing a mechanical interlock between pre-drilled holes which can be made anywhere on the sheets. The process is carried out in a two-stage operation including flanging the hole of an outer sheet and bending the flange over the hole of an inner sheet. First, the joining stages and the required tools are designed. Then, the joining of DP780 steel and AA6061-T6 aluminium alloy sheets, which are applied to manufacture lightweight structures in the automotive industries, is investigated using finite element analysis. Results show that the hole hemming process is able to successfully join these materials without fracture. The hole-hemmed joint withstood the maximum forces of 2.5 and 0.5 kN in single-lap shear and peel tests, respectively, and failed with hole bearing mode which is known as a gradual failure mode. The results demonstrate the applicability of the hole hemming process for joining dissimilar materials.

Βio-Based Epoxy/Amine Reinforced with Reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) or GLYMO-rGO: Study of Curing Kinetics, Mechanical Properties, Lamination and Bonding Performance

In this work, we report the synthesis and study of nanocomposites with a biobased epoxy/amine (Epilok 60-600G/Curamine 30-952) matrix reinforced with reduced graphene oxide (rGO) or functionalised with 3-glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane (GLYMO-rGO). These graphene related materials (GRMs) were first dispersed into a Curamine hardener using bath ultrasonication, followed by the addition of epoxy resin. Curing kinetics were studied by DSC under non-isothermal and isothermal conditions. The addition of 1.5 wt% of GLYMO-rGO into the epoxy matrix was found to increase the degree of cure by up to 12% and glass transition temperature by 14 °C. Mechanical testing showed that the addition of 0.05 wt% GLYMO-rGO improves Young’s modulus and tensile strength by 60% and 16%, respectively, compared to neat epoxy. Carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates were prepared via hand lay up, using the nanocomposite system GRM/Epilok/Curamine as matrix, and were cut as CFRP adherents for lap shear joints. GRM/Epilok/Curamine was also used as adhesive to bond CFRP/CFRP and CFRP/aluminium adherents. The addition of 0.1 wt% GLYMO-rGO into the adhesive and CRFP adherents showed improved lap shear strength by 23.6% compared to neat resin, while in the case of CFRP/Aluminium joints the increase was 21.2%.

Development of carbonaceous tin-based solder composite achieving unprecedented joint performance

Weight reduction and improved strength are two common engineering goals in the joining sector to benefit transport, aerospace, and nuclear industries amongst others. Here, in this paper, we show that the suitable addition of carbon nanomaterials to a tin-based solder material matrix (C-Solder® supplied by Cametics Ltd.) results in two-fold strength of soldered composite joints. Single-lap shear joint experiments were conducted on soldered aluminium alloy (6082 T6) substrates. The soldering material was reinforced in different mix ratios by carbon black, graphene, and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and benchmarked against the pristine C-solder®. The material characterisation was performed using Vickers micro-indentation, differential scanning calorimetry and nano-indentation, whereas functional testing involved mechanical shear tests using single-lap aluminium soldered joints and creep tests. The hardness was observed to improve in all cases except for the 0.01 wt.% graphene reinforced solders, with 5% and 4% improvements in 0.05 carbon black and SWCNT reinforced solders, respectively. The maximum creep indentation was noted to improve for all solder categories with maximum 11% and 8% improvements in 0.05 wt.% carbon black and SWCNT reinforced ones. In general, the 0.05 wt.% nanomaterial reinforced solders promoted progressive cohesion failure in the joints as opposed to instantaneous fully de-bonded failure observed in pristine soldered joints, which suggests potential application in high-performance structures where no service load induced adhesion failure is permissible (e.g. aerospace assemblies). The novel innovation developed here will pave the way to achieving high-performance solder joining without carrying out extensive surface preparations.

Investigation On Mechanism of Ultrasonic Welding AZ31B / 5052 Joint With Laser Texturing On Mental Surface

The ultrasonic welding was carried out to improve the quality of dissimilar Al/Mg alloys joint. The effects of laser texturing on the microstructure and mechanism of AZ31B/5052 joint connected by ultrasonic welding were also investigated. A series of laser texturing experiments on Al alloy (5052) and Mg alloy (AZ31B) were performed to determine the process parameters and their ef-fect on ultrasonic weld quality, especially on weld strength. Little effect was attained by opti-mizing welding parameters in improving mechanical properties. Both welding parameters and different texture pattern were investigated to obtain good weld quality. The connection mecha-nisms of joints were discussed based on the analysis of weld interface morphology, microstruc-ture evolution. Mechanical analysis of particle and movement of material atoms were analyzed in the study to explain the connect mechanism. The results show that the better lock-interface and lager lap shear strength were attained by laser texture addition and optimal welding parameters. Compared with the untextured joint, swirling bonding interface was obtained after the laser tex-ture. The laser texture with grid pattern was found to raise the strength up to 26% higher maxi-mum tensile-shear load than the joints obtained with the untextured surface.

Systematic optimization of visible light-induced crosslinking conditions of gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA)

Gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) is one of the most widely used photo-crosslinkable biopolymers in tissue engineering. In in presence of an appropriate photoinitiator, the light activation triggers the crosslinking process, which provides shape fidelity and stability at physiological temperature. Although ultraviolet (UV) has been extensively explored for photo-crosslinking, its application has been linked to numerous biosafety concerns, originated from UV phototoxicity. Eosin Y, in combination with TEOA and VC, is a biosafe photoinitiation system that can be activated via visible light instead of UV and bypasses those biosafety concerns; however, the crosslinking system needs fine-tuning and optimization. In order to systematically optimize the crosslinking conditions, we herein independently varied the concentrations of Eosin Y [(EY)], triethanolamine (TEOA), vinyl caprolactam (VC), GelMA precursor, and crosslinking times and assessed the effect of those parameters on the properties the hydrogel. Our data showed that except EY, which exhibited an optimal concentration (~ 0.05 mM), increasing [TEOA], [VA], [GelMA], or crosslinking time improved mechanical (tensile strength/modulus and compressive modulus), adhesion (lap shear strength), swelling, biodegradation properties of the hydrogel. However, increasing the concentrations of crosslinking reagents ([TEOA], [VA], [GelMA]) reduced cell viability in 3-dimensional (3D) cell culture. This study enabled us to optimize the crosslinking conditions to improve the properties of the GelMA hydrogel and to generate a library of hydrogels with defined properties essential for different biomedical applications.

The Influence of Tool Wear on the Mechanical Performance of AA6061-T6 Refill Friction Stir Spot Welds

The Refill Friction Stir Spot Welding (RFSSW) process—an alternative solid-state joining technology—has gained momentum in the last decade for the welding of aluminum and magnesium alloys. Previous studies have addressed the influence of the RFSSW process on the microstructural and mechanical properties of the AA6061-T6 alloy. However, there is a lack of knowledge on how the tool wear influences the welding mechanical behavior for this alloy. The present work intended to evaluate and understand the influence of RFSSW tool wear on the mechanical performance of AA6061-T6 welds. Firstly, the welding parameters were optimized through the Designing of Experiments (DoE), to maximize the obtained ultimate lap shear force (ULSF) response. Following the statistical analysis, an optimized condition was found that reached a ULSF of 8.45 ± 0.08 kN. Secondly, the optimized set of welding parameters were applied to evaluate the wear undergone by the tool. The loss of worn-out material was systematically investigated by digital microscopy and the assessment of tool weight loss. Tool-wear-related microstructural and local mechanical property changes were assessed and compared with the yielded ULSF, and showed a correlation. Further investigations demonstrated the influence of tool wear on the height of the hook, which was located at the interface between the welded plates and, consequently, its effects on the observed fracture mechanisms and ULSF. These results support the understanding of tool wear mechanisms and helped to evaluate the tool lifespan for the selected commercial RFSSW tool which is used for aluminum alloys.