The Excellent Mechanical Properties of Cork: A Novel Approach through the Analysis of Contact Stress

In many technological applications of cork, this biomaterial is under strongly localized contact stresses, which largely differ from the homogeneous distribution of stresses of the typical uniaxial compression tests. Indentation tests constitute an excellent form of determining the behavior of the materials under localized stresses. In the present study, the applicability of Hertzian and Brinell indentation tests to the evaluation of the mechanical properties of cork is tested. One of the main conclusions of the study is that the elastic anisotropy of the material is related to the anisotropic structure of the different sections cut from a cork sample, a clear difference between the back tangential section and the other sections being observed.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Vacuum Hot Pressed P/M Short Steel Fiber Reinforced Aluminum Matrix Composites

Commercial purity aluminum powder of irregular shape and ligamental morphology having average particle size of 75 µm was blended with medium carbon steel short fibers having average diameter of 100 µm and maximum length up to 1000 µm. The green compacts of pure aluminum and reinforced compositions were hot-pressed in 10−3 torr vacuum, at 723 K, 773 K, and 823 K for 5, 10, and 15 min durations under 50 MPa axial stress on Gleeble 3800 simulator. Microstructures of the sintered composites have been studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX). The sintered compacts were characterized for densification behavior, hardness, and growth of FexAly reaction interface. Positive densification parameter was achieved for up to 10 wt.% reinforcement fraction. The maximum hardness of 51 Hv was achieved for 10 wt.% at 823 K for 15 min sintering time. The reaction interface was analysed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX). The reaction interface was found to be composed of Fe3Al, FeAl2, Fe2Al, Fe3Al, Fe4Al, Fe2Al5, and FeAl intermetallics. Growth of the reaction interface was diffusion-controlled which followed a nearly parabolic law with a rate constant of 1.41 × 10−12 m2 s−1 at 823 K.

Seismic Behaviour of Exterior Reinforced Concrete Beam-Column Joints in High Performance Concrete Using Metakaolin and Partial Replacement with Quarry Dust

Recent earthquakes have demonstrated that most of the reinforced concrete structures were severely damaged; the beam-column joints, being the lateral and vertical load resisting members in reinforced concrete structures, are particularly vulnerable to failures during earthquakes. The existing reinforced concrete beam-column joints are not designed as per code IS13920:1993. Investigation of high performance concrete (HPC) joints with conventional concrete (CC) joints (exterior beam-column) was performed by comparing various reinforcement detailing schemes. Ten specimens were considered in this investigation and the results were compared: four specimens with CC (with and without seismic detailing), four specimens with HPC (with and without seismic detailing), and two specimens with HPC at confinement joint. The test was conducted for lateral load displacement, hysteresis loop, load ratio, percent of initial stiffness versus displacement curve, total energy dissipation, strain in beam main bars, and crack pattern. The results reveal that HPC with seismic detailing will be better compared with other reinforcements details under cyclic loading and reverse cyclic loading.

Flexural Fatigue-Life Assessment and Strength Prediction of Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer Concrete Composites

The paper presents the results of an investigation conducted to assess the fatigue-life and prediction of flexural fatigue strength of polymer concrete composites based on epoxy resin as binder material. Three point flexural fatigue tests were conducted on polymer concrete specimens using MTS servo controlled actuator, to obtain the fatigue lives of the composites at different stress levels. One hundred and thirty-seven specimens of size 40×40×160 mm were tested in flexural fatigue. Forty-three static flexural tests were also conducted to facilitate fatigue testing. It has been observed that the probabilistic distribution of fatigue-life of polymer concrete composite (PCC) and glass fibre reinforced polymer concrete composite (GFRPCC), at a particular stress level, approximately follows the two-parameter Weibull distribution, with statistical corelation coefficient values exceeding 0.90. The fatigue strength prediction model, representing S-N relationship, has been examined and the material coefficients have been obtained for GFRPCC containing 0.5% and 1.0% glass fibres. Design fatigue lives for GFRPCC containing different contents of glass fibres have been estimated for acceptable probabilities of failure and compared with those of PCC.

Stress and Grain Boundary Properties of GaN Films Prepared by Pulsed Laser Deposition Technique

Polycrystalline gallium nitride films were successfully deposited on fused silica substrates by ablating a GaN target using pulsed Nd-YAG laser. Microstructural studies indicated an increase in the average crystallite size from ~8 nm to ~70 nm with the increase in substrate temperature from 300 K to 873 K during deposition. The films deposited here were nearly stoichiometric. XPS studies indicated two strong peaks located at ~1116.6 eV and ~395 eV for Ga2p3/2 and a N1s core-level peak, respectively. The films deposited at substrate temperature above 573 K are predominantly zinc blende in nature. PL spectra of the films deposited at higher temperatures were dominated by a strong peak at ~3.2 eV. FTIR spectra indicated a strong and broad absorption peak centered ~520 cm−1 with two shoulders at ~570 cm−1 and 584 cm−1. Characteristic Raman peak at ~531 cm−1 for the A1(TO) mode is observed for all the films. Grain boundary trap states varied between 3.1×1015 and 7×1015 m−2, while barrier height at the grain boundaries varied between 12.4 meV and 37.14 meV. Stress in the films decreased with the increase in substrate temperature.

Study of Structural and Phase Transition of Nickel Metal

Annealing study of nickel metal in the temperature range 300–1000 K has been carried out using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The simulation is done for models containing 104 particles Ni at both crystalline and amorphous states. We obtain the change as a function of annealing time for the potential energy of system, pair radial distribution function (PRDF), and distribution of coordination number (DCN). The calculation shows that the aging slightly reduces the potential energy of system. This result evidences that the amorphous model undergoes different quasiequilibrated states during annealing. The crystalline model undergoes the slow relaxation which reduces the energy of system and eliminates structural defects in crystal lattices.

Excitation Density Dependence of Optical Oxygen Sensing in Poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) Waveguides Showing Amplified Spontaneous Emission

Reversible oxygen induced emission quenching of both the Spontaneous Emission (SE) and the Amplified Spontaneous Emission (ASE) of poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) waveguides is demonstrated. We show that ASE shows a stronger quenching than SE, up to about 6.2 times, but also a stronger decrease when the excitation density increases. We conclude that the fast increase of the ASE decay rate is the main process in determining the ASE detection sensitivity, limiting the potentiality of sensitivity improvement of ASE with respect to SE.

A Study on the Influence of Hot Press Forming Process Parameters on Flexural Property of Glass/PP Based Thermoplastic Composites Using Box-Behnken Experimental Design

A thermoplastic composite is produced from polypropylene matrix with glass fibre reinforcement. These types of composite materials are ecofriendly nature due to their reusability after their lifetime. These polymer composites are alternative to heavy metals that are currently being used in many non-structural applications. In spite of being ecofriendly nature, the range of applications is limited due to poor mechanical properties as compared with thermoset matrix composite. Hence an attempt was made in this work to improve the mechanical property such as flexural property of Glass/PP hybrid woven composites by optimizing the parameters during compression moulding, such as mould pressure, mould temperature, and holding time using Box-Behnken experimental design. Each process variables were taken in 3 different levels. Second order polynomial model with quadratic effect was chosen. The optimum combination of process parameters was obtained by using contour diagram. The levels of importance of process parameters on flexural properties were determined by using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The variation of flexural property with cited process parameters was mathematically modelled using the regression analysis.

Fracture Surface Analysis in Thixojoined Tool Steels

Thixojoining has been developed for D2 and M2 tool steels. The suitable globular microstructure and excellent bonding quality are obtained through this work. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observation along the joint interfaces showed a smooth transition zone with no cracks. In addition, fracture surface of the shear test samples showed that the fracture mode was transgranular. Finally, based on obtained results, this method presented high quality joint with nonequilibrium diffusion interface.

Gas Bubbles Expansion and Physical Dependences in Aluminum Electrolysis Cell: From Micro- to Macroscales Using Lattice Boltzmann Method

This paper illustrates the results obtained from two-dimensional numerical simulations of multiple gas bubbles growing under buoyancy and electromagnetic forces in a quiescent incompressible fluid. A lattice Boltzmann method for two-phase immiscible fluids with large density difference is proposed. The difficulty in the treatment of large density difference is resolved by using nine-velocity particles. The method can be applied to simulate fluid with the density ratio up to 1000. To show the efficiency of the method, we apply the method to the simulation of bubbles formation, growth, coalescence, and flows. The effects of the density ratio and the initial bubbles configuration on the flow field induced by growing bubbles and on the evolution of bubbles shape during their coalescence are investigated. The interdependencies between gas bubbles and gas rate dissolved in fluid are also simulated.