Mechanics of Materials Commons^™

Preperitoneal Insufflation Pressure Of The Abdominal Wall In A Porcine Model, Riley E. Reynolds, Benjamin Wankum, Sean J. Crimmins, Mark A. Carlson, Benjamin S. Terry

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Background Most complications and adverse events during laparoscopic surgery occur during initial entry into the peritoneal cavity. Among them, preperitoneal insufflation occurs when the insufflation needle is incorrectly placed, and the abdominal wall is insufflated. The objective of this study was to find a range for static pressure which is low enough to allow placement of a Veress needle into the peritoneal space without causing preperitoneal insufflation, yet high enough to separate abdominal viscera from the parietal peritoneum.

Methods A pressure test was performed on twelve fresh porcine carcasses to determine the minimum preperitoneal insufflation pressure and the minimum initial …

A Novel Large Animal Model Of Smoke Inhalation-Induced Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Premila D. Leiphrakpam, Hannah R. Weber, Andrea Mccain, Roser Romaguera Matas, Ernesto Martinez Duarte, Keely L. Buesing

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Background: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is multifactorial and can result from sepsis, trauma, or pneumonia, amongst other primary pathologies. It is one of the major causes of death in critically ill patients with a reported mortality rate up to 45%. The present study focuses on the development of a large animal model of smoke inhalation-induced ARDS in an effort to provide the scientific community with a reliable, reproducible large animal model of isolated toxic inhalation injury-induced ARDS. Methods: Animals (n=21) were exposed to smoke under general anesthesia for 1 to 2 h (median smoke exposure=0.5 to 1 L of …

Assembly Of Close-Packed Ferroelectric Polymer Nanowires Via Interface-Epitaxy With Res2, Dawei Li, Shuo Sun, Kun Wang, Zahra Ahmadi, Jeffrey E. Shield, Stephen Ducharme, Xia Hong

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The flexible, transparent, and low-weight nature of ferroelectric polymers makes them promising for wearable electronic and optical applications. To reach the full potential of the polarization-enabled device functionalities, large-scale fabrication of polymer thin films with well-controlled polar directions is called for, which remains a central challenge. The widely exploited Langmuir–Blodgett, spin-coating, and electrospinning methods only yield polymorphous or polycrystalline films, where the net polarization is compromised. Here, an easily scalable approach is reported to achieve poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene) P(VDF-TrFE) thin films composed of close-packed crystalline nanowires via interface-epitaxy with 1T′-ReS₂. Upon controlled thermal treatment, uniform P(VDF-TrFE) films restructure into …

Reducing Corrosion Of Additive Manufactured Magnesium Alloys By Interlayer Ultrasonic Peening, M. P. Sealy, R. Karunakaran, S. Ortgies, G. Madireddy, A. P. Malshe, K. P. Rajurkar

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Additive manufad (AM) magn alloys corrode rapidly due to tensile stress and coarse microstructures. Cyclically combining (hybridizing) additive manufacturing with interlayer ultrasonic peening was proposed as a solution to improve corrosion resistance of additive manufactured magnesium WE43 alloy through strengthening mechanisms and compressive residual stress. Applying interlayer peening work hardened discrete layers and formed a glocal integrity of regional grain refinement and subsurface compressive residual stress barriers. Tensile residual stress that typically accelerates corrosion decreased 90%. Results showed time-resolved control over corrosion was attainable by interlayer peening, and local corrosion within print cells decreased 57% with respect to as-printed WE43.

Use Of Energy Consumption During Milling To Fill A Measurement Gap In Hybrid Additive Manufacturing, K. L. M. Avegnon, P. Noll, M. R. Uddin, G. Madireddy, R. Williams, A. Achuthan, M. P. Sealy

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Coupling additive manufacturing (AM) with interlayer peening introduces bulk anisotropic properties within a build across several centimeters. Current methods to map high resolution anisotropy and heterogeneity are either destructive or have a limited penetration depth using a nondestructive method. An alternative pseudo-nondestructive method to map high-resolution anisotropy and heterogeneity is through energy consumption during milling. Previous research has shown energy consumption during milling correlates with surface integrity. Since surface milling of additively manufactured parts is often required for post-processing to improve dimensional accuracy, an opportunity is available to use surface milling as an alternative method to measure mechanical properties and …

Recurrence Network Analysis Of Design-Quality Interactions In Additive Manufacturing, Ruimin Chen, Prahalada K. Rao, Yan Lu, Edward W. Reutzel, Hui Yang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Powder bed fusion (PBF) additive manufacturing (AM) provides a great level of flexibility in the design-driven build of metal products. However, the more complex the design, the more difficult it becomes to control the quality of AM builds. The quality challenge persistently hampers the widespread application of AM technology. Advanced imaging (e.g., X-ray computed tomography scans and high-resolution optical images) has been increasingly explored to enhance the visibility of information and improve the AM quality control. Realizing the full potential of imaging data depends on the advent of information processing methodologies for the analysis of design-quality interactions. This paper presents …

Ultra-Fast Charging In Aluminum-Ion Batteries: Electric Double Layers On Active Anode, Xuejing Shen, Tao Sun, Lei Yang, Alexey Krasnoslobodtsev, Renat F. Sabirianov, Michael P. Sealy, Wai-Ning Mei, Zhanjun Wu, Li Tan

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

With the rapid iteration of portable electronics and electric vehicles, developing high-capacity batteries with ultra-fast charging capability has become a holy grail. Here we report rechargeable aluminum-ion batteries capable of reaching a high specific capacity of 200 mAh g^−1. When liquid metal is further used to lower the energy barrier from the anode, fastest charging rate of 10⁴ C (duration of 0.35 s to reach a full capacity) and 500% more specific capacity under high-rate conditions are achieved. Phase boundaries from the active anode are believed to encourage a high-flux charge transfer through the electric double layers. As …

Electrostatic Flocking Of Salt-Treated Microfibers And Nanofiber Yarns For Regenerative Engineering, Alec Mccarthy, Kossi Loic M. Avegnon, Phil A. Holubeck, Demi Brown, Anik Karan, Navatha Shree Sharma, Johnson V. John, Shelbie Weihs, Jazmin Ley, Jingwei Xie

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Electrostatic flocking is a textile technology that employs a Coulombic driving force to launch short fibers from a charging source towards an adhesive-covered substrate, resulting in a dense array of aligned fibers perpendicular to the substrate. However, electrostatic flocking of insulative polymeric fibers remains a challenge due to their insufficient charge accumulation. We report a facile method to flock electrostatically insulative poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) microfibers (MFs) and electrospun PCL nanofiber yarns (NFYs) by incorporating NaCl during preflock processing. Both MF and NFY were evaluated for flock functionality, mechanical properties, and biological responses. To demonstrate this platform's diverse applications, standalone flocked NFY …

Twinning-Assisted Dynamic Adjustment Of Grain Boundary Mobility, Qishan Huang, Qi Zhu, Yingbin Chen, Mingyu Gong, Jixue Li, Ze Zhang, Wei Yang, Jian Wang, Haofei Zhou, Jiangwei Wang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Grain boundary (GB) plasticity dominates the mechanical behaviours of nanocrystalline materials. Under mechanical loading, GB configuration and its local deformation geometry change dynamically with the deformation; the dynamic variation of GB deformability, however, remains largely elusive, especially regarding its relation with the frequently-observed GB-associated deformation twins in nanocrystalline materials. Attention here is focused on the GB dynamics in metallic nanocrystals, by means of well-designed in situ nanomechanical testing integrated with molecular dynamics simulations. GBs with low mobility are found to dynamically adjust their configurations and local deformation geometries via crystallographic twinning, which instantly changes the GB dynamics and enhances the …

Process-Structure Relationship In The Directed Energy Deposition Of Cobalt-Chromium Alloy (Stellite 21) Coatings, Ziyad M. Smoqi, Joshua Toddy, Harold (Scott) Halliday, Jeffrey E. Shield, Prahalada K. Rao

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

In this work, we accomplished the crack-free directed energy deposition (DED) of a multi-layer Cobalt- Chromium alloy coating (Stellite 21) on Inconel 718 substrate. Stellite alloys are used as coating materials given their resistance to wear, corrosion, and high temperature. The main challenge in DED of Stellite coatings is the proclivity for crack formation during printing. The objective of this work is to characterize the effect of the input energy density and localized laser-based preheating on the characteristics of the deposited coating, namely, crack formation, microstructural evolution, dilution of the coating composition due to diffusion of iron and nickel from …

Ligand Assisted Growth Of Perovskite Single Crystals With Low Defect Density, Ye Liu, Xiaopeng Zheng, Yanjun Fang, Ying Zhou, Zhenyi Ni, Xun Xiao, Shangshang Chen, Jinsong Huang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A low defect density in metal halide perovskite single crystals is critical to achieve high performance optoelectronic devices. Here we show the reduction of defect density in per[1]ovskite single crystals grown by a ligand-assisted solution process with 3‐(decyldimethy[1]lammonio)‐propane‐sulfonate inner salt (DPSI) as an additive. DPSI ligands anchoring with lead ions on perovskite crystal surfaces not only suppress nucleation in solution, but also regulate the addition of proper ions to the growing surface, which greatly enhances the crystal quality. The grown CH₃NH₃PbI₃ crystals show better crystallinity and a 23-fold smaller trap density of 7 × 10 …

Large-Scale Synthesis Of Compressible And Re-Expandable Three-Dimensional Nanofiber Matrices, Alec Mccarthy, Lorenzo Saldana, Daniel Mcgoldrick, Johnson V. John, Mitchell Kuss, Shixuan Chen, Bin Duan, Mark A. Carlson, Jingwei Xie

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Due to their biomimetic properties, electrospun nanofibers have shown great potential in many biomedical fields. However, traditionally-produced nanofibers are typically two-dimensional (2D) membranes limiting their applications. Herein, we report a large-scale synthesis of compressible and reexpandable three-dimensional (3D) nanofiber matrices for potential biomedical applications. The reproducible mass production of such matrices is achieved using a multiple-emitter electrospinning machine with a controlled environment (e.g., temperature, humidity, and air flow rate) followed by an innovative gas-foaming expansion. The modified 20-emitter circular array with 3D-printed needle caps is capable of maintaining stable Taylor cones under extremely high flow rates. The introduction of such …

Ultrasound-Activated Ciliary Bands For Microrobotic Systems Inspired By Starfish, Cornel Dillinger, Nitesh Nama, Daniel Ahmed

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Cilia are short, hair-like appendages ubiquitous in various biological systems, which have evolved to manipulate and gather food in liquids at regimes where viscosity dominates inertia. Inspired by these natural systems, synthetic cilia have been developed and utilized in microfluidics and microrobotics to achieve functionalities such as propulsion, liquid pumping and mixing, and particle manipulation. Here, we demonstrate ultrasound-activated synthetic ciliary bands that mimic the natural arrangements of ciliary bands on the surface of starfish larva. Our system leverages nonlinear acoustics at microscales to drive bulk fluid motion via acoustically actuated small-amplitude oscillations of synthetic cilia. By arranging the planar …

Electron Microscopy Observation Of Electric Field-Assisted Sintering Of Stainless Steel Nanoparticles, Fei Wang, Qin Zhou, Xing-Zhong Li, Yongchul Yoo, Michael Nastasi, Bai Cui

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The intrinsic role of electrical current on the electric field-assisted sintering (EFAS) process of stainless steel 316L nanoparticles has been revealed by both ex situ and in situ experiments. A novel device on the Si chip has been designed and fabricated to fit into the sample holder of a transmission electron microscope for these experiments. The evolution of nanoparticle morphology and microstructures during the EFAS process has been studied using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, which has been combined with the simultaneous measurement of the electric voltage and current changes. A preliminary four-stage mechanism for the EFAS process …

Metallic Surface Doping Of Metal Halide Perovskites, Yuze Lin, Yuchuan Shao, Jun Dai, Tao Li, Yi Liu, Xuezeng Dai, Xun Xiao, Yehao Deng, Alexei Gruverman, Xiao Cheng Zeng, Jinsong Huang

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Intentional doping is the core of semiconductor technologies to tune electrical and optical properties of semiconductors for electronic devices, however, it has shown to be a grand challenge for halide perovskites. Here, we show that some metal ions, such as silver, strontium, cerium ions, which exist in the precursors of halide perovskites as impurities, can n-dope the surface of perovskites from being intrinsic to metallic. The low solubility of these ions in halide perovskite crystals excludes the metal impurities to perovskite surfaces, leaving the interior of perovskite crystals intrinsic. Computation shows these metal ions introduce many electronic states close to …

Nondestructive Evaluation Of Aluminium Foam Panels Subjected To Impact Loading, Gabriella Epasto, Fabio Distefano, Hozhabar Mozafari, Emanoil Linul, Vincenzo Crupi

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Aluminium foam sandwich structures have excellent energy absorption capacity, combined with good mechanical properties and low density. Some of the authors of this paper proposed an innovative Metallic Foam Shell protective device against flying ballast impact damage in railway axles. A closed-cell aluminium foam was chosen for the Metallic Foam Shell device. The main goal of this study was the experimental investigation of the impact responses of aluminium foam panels. Low velocity impact tests were carried out at different energies on different types of aluminium foam panels in order to investigate the effects of some parameters, such as core thickness, …

Static And Dynamic Analysis Of Composite Plates Using The Monna Finite Element, Mohamed Omar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Composite materials are replacing metals in many fields due to their favorable qualities such as strength-to-weight ratio, fatigue characteristics, and corrosion resistance. An efficient, versatile, and accurate composite plate element applicable to the dynamic analysis of composite plates would help the advancement of composites tremendously.

The objective of this research is to analyze composite plates using the classical laminated plate theory (CLPT), first-order deformation theory (FSDT), and higher-order deformation theory (HSDT) with the applicable finite element modeling (FEM) for each theory. This thesis investigates which theory is more efficient and accurate and evaluates the benefits of using an h-p-version …

Timber Bridge Pile Splicing With Fiber Reinforced Polymer Wraps, Drew L. Damich

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Timber pile repair using splicing is widely used but little research has been done to determine their strength capacity after repair using this method. Current timber pile splicing mechanisms utilize various steel or wooden components. Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) wraps can be utilized as replacement to conventional materials in splicing of timber piles. This study evaluated the strength capacities of traditional splicing mechanisms in relation to FRP wrap splice mechanisms. Traditional splicing mechanisms consisted of flat steel plate, C-channel steel plate, and wooden plate splices. The FRP wrap splice consisted of unidirectional glass/epoxy composite with three layers of fabric as …

Development Of An Injectable Methylcellulose Hydrogel System For Nucleus Pulposus Repair And Regeneration, Nada A. Haq-Siddiqi

Dissertations and Theses

Low back pain is the most common cause of disability in the world and is often caused by degeneration or injury of the intervertebral disc (IVD). The IVD is a complex, fibrocartilaginous tissue that allows for the wide range of spinal mobility. Disc degeneration is a progressive condition believed to begin in the central, gelatinous nucleus pulposus (NP) region of the tissue, for which there are few preventative therapies. Current therapeutic strategies include pain management and exercise, or surgical intervention such as spinal fusion, none of which address the underlying cause of degeneration. With an increasingly aging population, the socioeconomic …

Application Of Laser Assisted Ultrasonic Nanocrystal Surface Modification On Aluminum And 3d Printed Titanium, Eman Hassan, Thomas Crouse

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

A novel surface treatment, laser assisted ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification (LA-UNSM), has proved effective in increasing surface hardness, and fatigue life. The objective of this research is to determine the effectiveness of this process on components created with additive manufacturing. To accomplish this, we investigated the effectiveness of LA-UNSM treatment on aluminum, a common 3d printed metal, and the effectiveness of LA-UNSM processing on 3d printed titanium. We first conducted our own literature review to assess the practicality of using this same treatment on aluminum. We then treated traditionally manufactured aluminum at varying levels of laser intensity to determine if …