Engineering Commons^™

Crash Attenuation System, John D. Reid, John R. Rohde, Dean L. Sicking

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A crash attenuation system having an impact head, and energy absorption mechanism. The energy absorbing mechanism has a mandrel for rupturing thin-walled tubes in a controlled rupture to absorb impact forces from a colliding vehicle. A frame may be used to mount the system to a truck, trailer, guardrail, median barrier end treatment, or a crash cushion. Stress concentrators may be incorporated into the tubes and the mandrels to selectively control rupturing and energy dissipation.

Fabrication Of 2- And 3-Dimensional Nanostructures, Hong Jiang, Camelia N. Borca, Bo Xu, Brian W. Robertson

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Amongst tools for fabricating periodic and aperiodic nanostructures and nanodevices, electron beam-induced organometallic chemical vapor deposition (E-OMCVD) offers a highly flexible and controllable one-step deposition process. E-OMCVD enables maskless fabrication of nanoscale research and custom structures that have least dimensions near or below 10 nm–a scale at which other methods prove difficult or costly. Using the focused electron beam in a modified HB501 field-emission scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), pads and wires with uniform thickness and well-defined shapes have been defined and deposited. Although conditions for fabricating the smallest deposits have not yet been optimized, the edge acuity (sharpness) of …

Delamination Resistant Composites Prepared By Small Diameter Fiber Reinforcement At Ply Interfaces, Youris A. Dzenis, Darrell H. Reneker

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A fiber reinforced composite material comprising a resin matrix and primary reinforcement fibers and further comprising secondary, smaller diameter, reinforcement fibers at one or more ply interfaces, or portion thereof, provides improved interlaminar toughness, strength, and delamination resistance and without substantial increase in weight. In one embodiment, the small fibers are attached to one side of a conventional prepreg prior to lamination. The small fibers are flexible and are expected to conform to the shape and distribution of the primary reinforcing fibers at the interface.

Energy Absorbing Breakaway Steel Guardrail Post, John R. Rohde, John D. Reid, Dean L. Sicking

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

An improved breakaway steel guardrail post for use in dissipation of impact energy upon impact of the post having an upper post member and a lower post member, a connecting joint, and a mechanism connected to the upper and lower post members for controlling the energy dissipation of the guardrail post about the connecting joint at a predetermined rate. A first embodiment utilizes a cable restraint lopped through openings in he guardrail posts. Other embodiments included straps and fasteners disigned to distort or fail at predetermined rates or strengths and combinations thereof.

Controlled Buckling Breakaway Cable Terminal, John D. Reid, John R. Rohde, Dean L. Sicking

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A crash attenuation apparatus for use with a guardrail system having rail posts and rail elements. An impact head has a buffer nose section and a rail post breaking beam system. The post breaking beam system has upper and lower breaking beams attached to the head. A guide tube is attached to the side of the head. A strut member extends from a first attachment point on the rail element to a second point downstream. Upon impact by a vehicle, the head breaks the first rail post, before impacting the strut and buckling the rail element downstream.

Using A Rapid Prototyping Machine In The Integrated Kinematics, Dynamics, And Machine Design Lab, Wieslaw M. Szydlowski

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

According to a recent trend, two different labs - the Machine Design lab, and Kinematics, and Dynamics lab are combined into one integrated lab. The time students spend on their projects is halved. To save the quality of undergraduate education, an ew methodology has to be developed. The paper explains the methodology developed by the author while teaching the integrated Kinematics, Dynamics, and Machine Design Lab (MECH 488) at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The objective of the aforementioned lab is to teach the students, who have no design experience, how to select proper tools (firom …

Conjugate Heat Transfer From A Two- Layer Substrate Model Of A Convectively Cooled Circuit Board, S. A. Harman, Kevin D. Cole

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

This note presents the results of a study of a simple model of an air-cooled electronic device mounted on a circuit board. The model includes a flush-mounted heater to represent the electronic device, a two-layer substrate to represent the circuit board, and a steady shear flow to represent the cooling fluid.

Ortega provides a good review of the literature and a comprehensive introduction to conjugate methods applied to electronic cooling, emphasizing simple shear flows and single-layer substrates to illustrate basic principles. Ortega also describes two-layer effects by including infrared thermographs of a convectively cooled glass/epoxy circuit board with copper traces, …

Task Specific Uncertainty In Coordinate Measurement, R. G. Wilhelm, R. Hocken, H. Schwenke

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Task specific uncertainty is the measurement uncertainty associated with the measurement of a specific feature using a specific measurement plan. This paper surveys techniques developed to model and estimate task specific uncertainty for coordinate measuring systems, primarily coordinate measuring machines using contacting probes. Sources of uncertainty are also reviewed.

On Modular Design Of Field Robotic Systems, Shane Farritor, Steven Dubowsky

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Robots are needed to perform important field tasks such as hazardous material clean-up, nuclear site inspection, and space exploration. Unfortunately their use is not widespread due to their long development times and high costs. To make them practical, a modular design approach is proposed. Prefabricated modules are rapidly assembled to give a low-cost system for a specific task. This paper described the modular design problem for field robots and the application of a hierarchical selection process to solve this problem. Theoretical analysis and an example case study are presented. The theoretical analysis of the modular design problem revealed the large …

The State And Future Of Mars Polar Science And Exploration, Stephen M. Clifford, David Crisp, David A. Fisher, Ken E. Herkenhoff, Suzanne E. Smrekar, Peter C. Thomas, David D. Wynn-Williams, Richard W. Zurek, Jeffrey R. Barnes, Bruce G. Bills, Erik W. Blake, Wendy M. Calvin, Jonathan M. Cameron, Michael H. Carr, Philip R. Christensen, Benton C. Clark, Gary D. Clow, James A. Cutts, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, William B. Durham, Fraser P. Fanale, Jack D. Farmer, Francois Forget, Kumiko Gotto-Azuma, Rejean Grard, Robert M. Haberle, William Harrison, Ralph Harvey, Alan D. Howard, Andy P. Ingersoll, Philip B. James, Jeffrey S. Kargel, Hugh H. Kieffer, Janus Larsen, Kenneth Lepper, Michael C. Malin, Daniel J. Mccleese, Bruce Murray, John F. Nye, David A. Paige, Stephen R. Platte, Jef F J. Plaut, Niels Reeh, James W. Rice, David E. Smith, Carol R. Stoker, Kenneth L. Tanaka, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson, Stephen E. Wood, Aaron Zent, Maria T. Zuber, H. Jay Zwally

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

As the planet's principal cold traps, the martian polar regions have accumulated extensive mantles of ice and dust that cover individual areas of ~10⁶ km² and total as much as 3-4 km thick. From the scarcity of superposed craters on their surface, these layered deposits are thought to be comparatively young-preserving a record of the seasonal and climatic cycling of atmospheric CO₂, H₂O, and dust over the past ~10⁵-10⁸ years. For this reason, the martian polar deposits may serve as a Rosetta Stone for understanding the geologic and climatic history of …

Breakaway Steel Guardrail Post, Dean L. Sicking, John D. Reid, John R. Rohde

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A breakaway guardrail post includes upper and lower post sections spaced apart but connected by a breakaway joint. The joint is attached at one end to the upper post by a first fastener set and connected at a second end by a second fasteners set. Upon impact forces being applied to the upper post section, the first fastener fails and the upper post section rotates downwardly.

Foundation Sleeve For A Guardrail System, Dean L. Sicking, John D. Reid, John R. Rohde

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A highway guardrail terminal system having horizontally extending guardrail elements mounted on a plurality of posts. Foundation sleeves having an elongated slit along one side retain and support appropriate guardrail posts. A plurality of stiffing ribs extend across the slit at a distal portion of the tube. The sleeves enable a safer and faster removal of broken guardrail posts after vehicular impact.

Adaptive Sampling For Coordinate Metrology, Robert Edgeworth, Robert G. Wilhelm

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

An iterative sampling process for dimensional measurement is presented. The strategy is based upon the use of surface normal measurement data to develop an interpolating curve between sample points. The interpolant is used to select subsequent measurement targets iteratively. The process is repeated until the measurement converges to a complete and accurate evaluation of the surface. The required sample size is proportional to part quality. The most accurate parts will require the least sample points; whereas, lower quality parts will require a greater number of total samples. The method is particularly applicable to measurement of complex surfaces with coordinate measuring …

In Situ Stem Technique For Characterization Of Nanoscale Interconnects During Electromigration Testing, Ismail Gobulukoglu, Brian W. Robertson

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A technique for observing microstructure and morphology changes during annealing or electromigration of 100 nm-scale and smaller interconnects is presented. The technique is based on dynamic in situ characterization using a UHV field-emission scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) and can enable full microstructural characterization (images, diffraction patterns and compositions) during electromigration testing. Initial steps in the validation of the approach include in situ electron-beam OMCVD of Al-containing wires and observation of these wires. Although the deposition conditions were not optimized. Al-containing wires, with high edge acuity, thickness uniformity, and with minimum interconnect widths as small as 15 nm have successfully …

Processing Of Hydroxylapatite Coatings On Titanium Alloy Bone Prostheses, Michael A. Nastasi, Timothy E. Levine, James W. Mayer, Vincent B. Pizziconi

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Processing of hydroxylapatite Sol-gel films on titanium alloy bone prostheses. A method utilizing non-line-of-Sight ion beam implantation and/or rapid thermal processing to provide improved bonding of layers of hydroxylapatite to titanium alloy Substrates while encouraging bone ingrowth into the hydroxylapatite layers located away from the substrate, is described for the fabrication of prostheses. The first layer of hydroxylapatite is mixed into the Substrate by the ions or rapidly thermally annealed, while Subsequent layers are heat treated or densified using ion implantation to form layers of decreasing density and larger crystallization, with the outermost layers being Suitable for bone ingrowth.

Part Form Errors Predicted From Machine Tool Performance Measurements, R. G. Wilhelm, N. Srinivasan, F. Farabaugh, R. Hocken

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Machine tool performance testing, as defined by IS0 230 and ANSI B5.54 has been successfully used to maintain and improve the accuracy and repeatability of production-level machine tools. In this study, a controlled series of experiments have been used to test the efficacy of these performance tests in the prediction of part form errors. Results are shown for flatness, squareness, position, and profile tolerances. The experimental results suggest that standard machine tool performance tests can also be used to predict the “best-case” tolerances that can be achieved for particular part features.

Chemcial Vapor Deposition Precursor Chemistry. 5. The Photolytic Laser Deposition Of Aluminum Thin Films By Chemical Vapor Deposition, John A. Glass, Seong-Don Hwang, Saswati Datta, Brian W. Robertson, James T. Spencer

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Thin films of very high purity aluminum were formed from the laser photolysis of trimethylamine alane (TMAA) using both ultraviolet (pulsed nitrogen) and visible (argon ion) laser irradiation on a variety of substrates including gold. Si (111), GaAs (110) and Teflon (PTFE). At thicknesses of up to 1 μm, nearly linear growth rates of 377 Ås^-1 and 112 Ås^-1 were observed. The formation of volatile species formed during the deposition of aluminum from TMAA was investigated by quadrupole mass spectrometry (QMS) of the reactant gas stream. The highest intensity post-deposition mass fragments were observed at m/z 58, …

Process For The Formation Of Wear- And Scuff-Resistant Carbon Coatings, Gerard W. Malaczynski, Xiaohong Qiu, Joseph V. Mantese, Alaa A. Elmoursi, Aboud H. Hamdi, Blake P. Wood, Kevin C. Walter, Michael Nastasi

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A process for forming an adherent diamond-like carbon coating on a workpiece of suitable material such as an aluminum alloy is disclosed. The workpiece is successively immersed in different plasma atmospheres and subjected to short duration, high voltage, negative electrical potential pulses or constant negative electrical potentials or the like so as to clean the surface of oxygen atoms, implant carbon atoms into the surface of the alloy to form carbide com pounds while codepositing a carbonaceous layer on the surface, bombard and remove the carbonaceous layer, and to thereafter deposit a generally amorphous hydrogen-containing carbon layer on the surface …

Method Of Making Quasicrystal Alloy Powder, Protectivecoatings And Articles, Jeffrey E. Shield, Alan I. Goldman, Iver E. Anderson, Timothy W. Ellis, R. William Mccallum, Daniel J. Sordelet

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A method of making quasicrystalline alloy particulates wherein an alloy is superheated and the meltis atomized to form generally spherical alloy particulates free of mechanical fracture and exhibiting a predominantly quasicrystalline in the atomized condition structure. The particulates can be plasma sprayed to form a coating or consolidated to form an article of manufacture.

Solutions Of The Heat Conduction Equation In Multilayers For Photothermal Deflection Experiments, William A. Mcgahan, Kevin D. Cole

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Exact expressions are presented for the deflection of a laser beam passing parallel to and above the surface of a sample heated by a periodically modulated axisymmetric laser beam. The sample may consist of any number of planar films on a thick substrate. These exact expressions are derived from a local Green’s function treatment of the heat conduction equation, and contain an exact analytical treatment of the absorption of energy in the multilayered system from the heating laser. The method is based on calculation of the normal component of the heat fluxes across the layer boundaries, from which either the …

Automating Tolerance Synthesis: A Framework And Tools, Stephen C.-Y. Lu, Robert G. Wilhelm

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper describes CASCADE-T—a new approach to tolerance synthesis that uses a complete representation of the conditional tolerance relations that exist between features of a part under design. Conditional tolerances are automatically determined from functional requirements and shape information. Tolerance primitives based on the virtual boundary requirements approach to tolerance representation are composed to form more complex tolerance relationships. Artificial intelligence techniques, including a constraint network, frame-based system, and dependency tracking are used to support flexible and detailed computation for tolerance analysis and synthesis.

Identification Of Tetragonal And Cubic Structures Of Zirconia Using Synchrotron X-Radiation Source, Ram Srinivasan, Robert J. De Angelis, Gene Ice, Burtron H. Davis

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

X-ray diffraction from a synchrotron source was employed in an attempt to identify the crystal structures in zirconia ceramics produced by the sol-gel method. The particles of chemically precipitated zirconia, after calcination below 600 °C, are very fine, and have a diffracting particle size in the range of 7-15 nm. As the tetragonal and cubic structures of zirconia have similar lattice parameters, it is difficult to distinguish between the two. The tetragonal structure can be identified only by the characteristic splittings of the Bragg profiles from the "c" index planes. However, these split Bragg peaks from the tetragonal phase in …

Nondestructive Detection Of An Undeserable Metallic Phase, T1, During Processing Of Alumnum-L Thumalloys, Otto Buck, David J. Bracci, David C. Jiles, Lisa J.H. Brasche, Jeffrey E. Shield, Leonard S. Chumbley

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A method is disclosed for detecting the T1 phase in aluminum-lithium alloys through simultaneous measurement of conductivity and hardness. In employing eddy current to measure conductivity, when the eddy current decreases with aging of the alloy, while the hardness of the material continues to increase, the presence of the T1 phase may be detected.

Microcomputer Based Digital Image Processing System Developed To Count And Size Laser-Generated Small Particle Images, K. D. Ahlers, D. R. Alexander

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

A microcomputer-based digital image processing system has been developed to count and size laser-generated small particle images. Processing rates of 5 to 600 frames per minute were achieved by utilizing a real-time digital image processor. Particles from 7 to 700 µm in the plane of focus were counted and sized. A major emphasis in this work was to determine the basic problems and limitations involved with using a digital image processing scheme to accurately size particles. Areas that were investigated include the effect of the threshold level on measured particle size, particle boundary diffraction gray-level gradients, and geometric nonlinearities introduced …