Engineering Commons^™

Direct Sheet Molding Compound Process (D-Smc), Atieh Motaghi

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The combination of highly crosslinked resin and long glass fiber reinforcement in direct sheet molding compound (D-SMC) provides the parts with high physical properties and low density suitable for large interior and exterior automotive applications. Different stages of D-SMC process including maturation zone and compression molding are studied using mathematical analysis, numerical simulation and experimental investigations.

An analytical analysis is used to calculate the pressure and velocity in the first section of maturation zone and then the permeability of fiber bundle is calculated by simulation and the agreement between the available empirical equation and simulation was obtained. The flow is …

Synthesis And Behavior Characterization Of Multi-Scale Hierarchical Structured Composites, Jacob M. Mayfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the synthesis of a multi-scale hierarchical composite material was to create a material with a high specific strength, a low mass, and high strength material. To achieve this the material categorization of the Formlabs Tough V2 resin was conducted. The resin was used in the construction of a bio-mimicry diamond lattice structure. The structure was subjected to compression testing to characterize the material properties. The Tough V2 resin structure combined with cellulose created a multi-scaled material on Macro and Micro levels to show the bio-inspired design to increase the material properties in a favorable manor. The Tough …

Simulating Dynamic Failure Of Polymer-Bonded Explosives Under Periodic Excitation, Rachel Kohler, Camilo Duarte Cordon, Marisol Koslowski

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Accidental mishandling of explosive materials leads to thousands of injuries in the US every year. Understanding the mechanisms behind the detonation process is crucial to prevent such accidents. In polymer-bonded explosives (PBX), high-frequency mechanical excitation generates thermal energy and can lead to an increase in temperature and vapor pressure, and potentially the initiation of the detonation process. However, the mechanisms behind this energy release, such as the effects of dynamic fracture and friction, are not well understood. Experimental data is difficult to collect due to the different time scales of reactions and vibrations, so research is aided by running simulations …

Quality Assessment Of Adhesive Bond Based On Dielectric Properties, Muthu Ram Prabhu Elenchezhian, Vamsee Vadlamudi, Priyanshu Kumar Banerjee, Chaitanya Dave, Anik Mahmood, Rassel Raihan

Institute of Predictive Performance Methodologies (IPPM-UTARI)

Composite materials are widely used in Aerospace, Marine and Automotive structures to reduce weight and increase performance. Adhesive bonding improves the stress distribution between the composite materials / dissimilar materials and ensures a lighter structure than conventional fastener joints. But still there is not much research on the Non-Destructive strength estimation and life prediction, or the damage prognosis of the adhesive bond. One of the main problems when using adhesive bonding is a "kissing bond" which is a weak adhesion bond alternatively called zero volume disbond. Typically, convectional non-destructive methods cannot detect this kissing bond. Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy, BbDS, is …

In Mold Flow Of Long Fibers In Compression Molding Process, Gleb Meirson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Long Fiber Thermoplastics (LFT) are promising new materials with high physical properties and low density. These high properties are obtained by embedding very long fibers (~100 mm) into a thermoplastic matrix. Such a high fiber length dictates the use of a compression molding process for manufacturing as the length of discontinuous fibers in injection molding is limited by pellet length.

LFT composites are of great interest for the automotive industry. These materials are already used in some interior and exterior car parts such as bumpers, seat structures, door module etc. This research is inspired by the desire to manufacture load …

Mechanical Properties And Fatigue Behavior Of Unitized Composite Airframe Structures At Elevated Temperature, Mohamed Noomen

Theses and Dissertations

The tension-tension fatigue behavior of a newly developed unitized composite material system was investigated. The unitized composite consisted of a polymer matrix composite (PMC) co-cured with a ceramic matrix composite (CMC). The PMC portion consisted of an NRPE high-temperature polyimide matrix reinforced with carbon fibers woven in an eight harness satin weave (8HSW). The CMC layer is a single-ply non-crimp 3D orthogonal weave composite consisting of ceramic matrix reinforced with glass fibers. In order to assess the performance and suitability of this composite for use in aerospace components designed to contain high-temperature environments, mechanical tests were performed under temperature conditions …

Torsional Behaviour And Finite Element Analysis Of The Hybrid Laminated Composite Shafts: Comparison Of Vartm With Vacuum Bagging Manufacturing Method, Mehmet Emin Taşdelen, Mehmet Halidun Keleştemur, Ercan Şevkat

Faculty Publications - Mechanical Engineering

Braided sleeve composite shafts are produced and their torsional behavior is investigated. The braided sleeves are slid over an Al tube to create very strong and rigid tubular form shafts and they are in the form of 2/2 twill biaxial fiber fabric that has been woven into a continuous sleeve. Carbon and glass fibers braided sleeves are used for the fabrication of the composite shafts. VARTM (vacuum assisted resin transfer molding) and Vacuum Bagging are the two different types of manufacturing methods used in the study. Torsional behaviors of the shafts are investigated experimentally in terms of fabrication methods and …

Processing Of Al-12si-Tnm Composites By Selective Laser Melting And Evaluation Of Compressive And Wear Properties, Konda Prashanth, Sergio Scudino, Anil Chaubey, Lukas Löber, Pei Wang, Hooyar Attar, Frank Schimansky, Florian Pyczak, Jürgen Eckert

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Al-12Si (80 vol%)-Ti52.4Al42.2Nb4.4Mo0.9B0.06 (at.%) (TNM) composites were successfully produced by the selective laser melting (SLM). Detailed structural and microstructural analysis shows the formation of the Al6MoTi intermetallic phase due to the reaction of the TNM reinforcement with the Al-12Si matrix during SLM. Compression tests reveal that the composites exhibit significantly improved properties (∼140 and ∼160 MPa higher yield and ultimate compressive strengths, respectively) compared with the Al-12Si matrix. However, the samples break at ∼6% total strain under compression, thus showing a reduced plasticity of the composites. Sliding wear tests were carried out for both the Al-12Si matrix and the Al-12Si-TNM …

Swelling-Etching Characterization Of Copper (I) Oxide - Pdms For The Development Of Micro/Nano - Particles Composite Mems Corrosion Sensor, Abdoul Kader Maiga

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The primary objective for this thesis is to contribute to the understanding of the oxide removal process for a corrosion sensing device. The goal for designing such a device is for monitoring corrosion on metallic structures. The sensing material (6.35mm x 1mm discs) of the device is composed of copper (I) oxide particles mixed in some polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The PDMS, “housing,” is meant for controlling the oxidation rate through the sensing material. A solvent was used to facilitate the etchant diffusion through the PDMS matrix. Toluene and acetic acid were the ideal solvent and etchant, respectively, for carrying out the …

Creep Of Sylramic-Ibn Fiber Tows At Elevated Temperature In Air And In Silicic Acid-Saturated Steam, Kevin B. Sprinkle

Theses and Dissertations

Stressed oxidation experiments on Sylramic-iBN fiber tows were performed to evaluate the novel fiber's mechanical performance, creep behavior, and creep mechanisms. This research effort investigated creep response of Sylramic-iBN fiber tows at elevated temperatures in both air and in silicic acid-saturated steam environments. Creep experiments were conducted at creep stresses ranging from 127 to 762 MPa at 400°C and 500°C in order to examine the mechanical behavior of the Sylramic-iBN fiber tows at temperatures below and above the melting point of boria (450°C). Sylramic-iBN fibers are known to have excellent creep resistance, better than most other non-oxide fibers and significantly …

New Class Of Garnet Nanocomposites For Use In Magnetic Photonic Crystals Prepared By Rf Magnetron Co-Sputtering, Mohammad Nur E Alam, Mikhail Vasiliev, Kamal Alameh

Mikhail Vasiliev

A new class of magneto-optic garnet nanocomposite materials is prepared using two Bi-substituted iron garnet materials of composition types (Bi,Dy) 3(Fe,Ga)5O12 and Bi3Fe 5O12. A composition adjustment approach is applied by varying the radio frequency (RF) powers driving each sputtering target during the deposition process. This new class of nanocomposite materials exhibits simultaneously high specific Faraday rotation, MO figure of merit, and effective uniaxial magnetic anisotropy after being crystallized through optimized annealing processes. We demonstrate experimentally that the excellent combination of materials' properties obtained in this garnet nanocomposite is particularly advantageous for developing magneto-photonic crystals as well as optical sensors …

New Class Of Garnet Nanocomposites For Use In Magnetic Photonic Crystals Prepared By Rf Magnetron Co-Sputtering, Mohammad Nur E Alam, Mikhail Vasiliev, Kamal Alameh

Mikhail Vasiliev

A new class of magneto-optic garnet nanocomposite materials is prepared using two Bi-substituted iron garnet materials of composition types (Bi,Dy) 3(Fe,Ga)5O12 and Bi3Fe 5O12. A composition adjustment approach is applied by varying the radio frequency (RF) powers driving each sputtering target during the deposition process. This new class of nanocomposite materials exhibits simultaneously high specific Faraday rotation, MO figure of merit, and effective uniaxial magnetic anisotropy after being crystallized through optimized annealing processes. We demonstrate experimentally that the excellent combination of materials' properties obtained in this garnet nanocomposite is particularly advantageous for developing magneto-photonic crystals as well as optical sensors …

Waveform-Based Selection Of Acoustic Emission Events Generated By Damage In Composite Materials, Emmanuel Maillet, Gregory Morscher

Dr. Gregory N. Morscher

Acoustic emission (AE) has been shown to be a promising health monitoring technique for composite materials as it allows real-time location and identification of damage. When attempting to relate the recorded acoustic emission to a material׳s mechanical behavior, the relevance of results relies on an accurate selection of AE originating from material damage. Indeed, during mechanical tests most of the recorded AE is generated outside of the volume of interest and without proper filtering these AE signals can significantly affect the analysis. To date, there exists no common procedure for the selection of AE signals and therefore results can hardly …

Short Crack Growth Model In A Particulate Composite Using Nonlinear Elastic Fracture Mechanics, Ying Zhang, Tsuchin Chu, Ajay Mahajan

Dr. Ajay Mahajan

The fracture mechanics model for a long crack does not work very well with short-crack propagation when the initial crack length is less than 5.1 mm (0.2 inch). In order to investigate the short crack effect, a series of tests of particulate composite specimens with long and short cracks were performed and the results recorded on a video tape. This test data was analyzed to determine the fracture parameters. Two initial crack lengths, 2.5 mm (0.1 inches) and 7.6 mm (0.3 inches) were used in the crack propagation tests. Based on the principle of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), the …

Determination Of Optimal Experimental Parameters For Transient Thermography Imaging Using Finite-Element Models, Tsuchin Chu, Ajay Mahajan, A. Digrgorio, S. Russell

Dr. Ajay Mahajan

A study was conducted to determine the optimal inspection parameters such as range and time for finding defects in carbon/epoxy composite panels using IR thermography imaging. The present paper presents an innovative method for automatically selecting these parameters for evaluating composites based on a series of finite-element models. Such finite-element models of composite panels with flaws at different depth locations were constructed a priori and analysed to estimate the optimal operating parameters. The optimal inspection range and time were identified in the contour plots obtained from the appropriate finite-element analysis results. A graphite–epoxy composite panel with phantom defects at various …

Effect Of Prior Exposure At Elevated Temperatures On Tensile Properties And Stress-Strain Behavior Of Three Oxide/Oxide Ceramic Matrix Composites, Christopher J. Hull

Theses and Dissertations

Thermal stability of three oxide-oxide ceramic matrix composites was studied. The materials studied were Nextel^TM610/aluminosilicate (N610/AS), Nextel^TM720/aluminosilicate (N720/AS), and Nextel^TM720/Alumina (N720/A), commercially available oxide-oxide ceramic composites (COI Ceramics, San Diego, CA). The N610/AS composite consists of a porous aluminosilicate matrix reinforced with laminated woven alumina N610 fibers. The N720/AS and N720/A composites consist of a porous oxide matrix reinforced with laminated, woven mullite/alumina (Nextel^TM720) fibers. The matrix materials are aluminosilicate in N720/AS and alumina in N720/A. All three composites have no interface between the fibers and matrix, and rely on the porous …

Tension-Compression Fatigue Of An Oxide/Oxide Ceramic Matrix Composite At Elevated Temperature In Air And Steam Environments, Richard L. Lanser

Theses and Dissertations

Tension-compression fatigue behavior of an oxide-oxide ceramic matrix composite was investigated at 1200°C in air and steam. The composite is comprised of an alumina matrix reinforced with Nextel 720 fibers woven in an eight harness satin weave. The composite relies on a porous matrix for damage tolerance. Compression and tension tests to failure were conducted to characterize basic mechanical properties. Tension-compression fatigue tests were performed at 1 Hz frequency with a ratio of minimum to maximum stress of -1. Maximum stresses ranged from 60-120 MPa. Fatigue run-out (defined as 105 cycles) was achieved in air at 80 MPa and in …

Fatigue Behavior Of Im7/Bmi 5250-4 Composite At Room And Elevated Temperatures, James T. Tipton

Theses and Dissertations

The tension-tension fatigue and tension-compression fatigue behaviors of the IM7/BMI 5250-4 composite were investigated. The tension-tension fatigue of the composite with 0/90 and ±45 fiber orientations was studied at 23, 170, and 190°C. The tension-compression fatigue of the composite with 0/90 fiber orientation was examined at 23°C. The tensile and compressive properties of the composite were also evaluated at room and elevated temperatures for both 0/90 and ±45 fiber orientations. Elevated temperature had little effect on the tensile properties of the 0/90 fiber orientation, but strongly influenced the ±45 tensile properties as well as the compressive properties of both fiber …

Optical Fiber Sensors For Smart Composite Materials And Structures, Manjusha Ramakrishnan, Yuliya Semenova, Gerald Farrell, Ginu Rajan

Books/Book chapters

Composite material structures are widely used in the aerospace, marine, aviation, transport, sport/leisure and civil engineering industries. Such composite material structures are frequently subjected to external perturbations and varying environmental conditions, which may cause the structures to suffer from fatique damage and/or failure, and thus require real-time structural health monitoring (SHM). Of necessity, the diagnosis process and condition monitoring of composite structures are usually carried out during their working life. The goal of such diagnosis is to detect, identify, locate, and assess the defects that my affect the safety or performance of a structure.

Thermoelectric Properties Of Wsi2–Sixge1−X Composites, F. W. Dynys, A. Sayir, Jonathan Mackey, A Sehirlioglu

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research

Thermoelectric properties of the W/Si/Ge alloy system have been investigated with varying concentration levels of germanium and tungsten. The alloys were fabricated by directional solidification with the Bridgman method using boron nitride and fused silica crucibles. The effect of crucible contamination was investigated and found to result in doping the system to suitable levels for thermoelectric applications. The system has been demonstrated as a suitable high temperature p-type thermoelectric material exhibiting high power factors, >3000 μW/m K². Seebeck coefficients of the system are on the order of +300 μV/K and electrical conductivities of 2.8 × 10⁴ S/m …

Ultrasonics Transduction In Metallic And Composite Structures For Structural Health Monitoring Using Extensional And Shear Horizontal Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensors, Ayman Kamal Abdelrahman

Theses and Dissertations

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is crucial for monitoring structures performance, detecting the initiation of flaws and damages, and predicting structural life span. The dissertation emphasizes on developing analytical and numerical models for ultrasonics transduction between piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS), and metallic and composite structures.

The first objective of this research is studying the power and energy transduction between PWAS and structure for the aim of optimizing guided waves mode tuning and PWAS electromechanical (E/M) impedance for power-efficient SHM systems. Analytical models for power and energy were developed based on exact Lamb wave solution with application on multimodal Lamb wave …

Bio-Inspired Helicoidal Composites: 3d Printing And Experiments, Michael E. Jones, Pablo Zavattieri, Nobphadon Suksangpanya

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Materials that are impact resistant enough for personal protection in sports, transport, and combat are not also lightweight, strong, tough, and impact tolerant. Nature can provide inspiration for novel materials that can meet these needs. The hierarchical composite of the stomatopod’s, or mantis shrimp’s, dactyl club has been shown to have high impact resistance and damage tolerance due to its helicoidal fiber reinforcement(1,2). Analyzing helicoidal composites of different pitch angles (angles between adjacent rows of fibers) under quasi-static, displacement-controlled loading has provided insights into the fracture mechanisms of the composite structure and how they affect the macroscopic properties of the …

Characterization Of Waviness In Wind Turbine Blades Using Air Coupled Ultrasonics, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal, David K. Hsu, Daniel J. Barnard, Andrew Gross

Sunil Kishore Chakrapani

Waviness in glass fiber reinforced composite is of great interest in composite research, since it results in the loss of stiffness. Several NDE techniques have been used previously to detect waviness. This work is concerned with waves normal to the plies in a composite. Air‐coupled ultrasonics was used to detect waviness in thick composites used in the manufacturing of wind turbine blades. Composite samples with different wave aspect ratios were studied. Different wavy samples were characterized, and a three step process was developed to make sure the technique is field implementable. This gives us a better understanding of the effect …

Ultrasonic Testing Of Adhesive Bonds Of Thick Composites With Applications To Wind Turbine Blades, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal, Ryan Krafka, Aaron Eldal

Sunil Kishore Chakrapani

This paper discusses the use of pulse echo based ultrasonic testing for the inspection of adhesive bonds between very thick composite plates (thickness greater than 30 mm). Large wind turbine blades use very thick composite plates for its main structural members, and the inspection of adhesive bond-line is very vital. A wide gamut of samples was created by changing the thickness of plate and the adhesive. The influence of experimental parameters such as frequency on measurement is studied in this paper. Two different frequencies are chosen, and the measurement error bars are determined experimentally. T-Ray measurements were used to verify …

Inspection Of Helicopter Rotor Blades With The Help Of Guided Waves And "Turning Modes": Experimental And Finite Element Analysis, Daniel J. Barnard, Sunil Kishore Chakrapani, Vinay Dayal

Sunil Kishore Chakrapani

Modern helicopter rotor blades constructed of composite materials offer significant inspection challenges, particularly at inner structures, where geometry and differing material properties and anisotropy make placement of the probing energy difficult. This paper presents an application of Lamb waves to these structures, where mode conversion occurs at internal geometric discontinuities. These additional modes were found to successfully propagate to the targeted regions inside the rotor and back out, allowing evaluation of the structure. A finite element model was developed to simulate wave propagation and mode conversion in the structure and aid in identifying the signals received in the laboratory experiment. …

In Situ Infrared Study Of The Role Of Peg In Stabilizing Silica-Supported Amines For Co2 Capture, Jak Tanthana, Steven Chuang

Steven S.C. Chuang

The CO(2) capture capacity, adsorption mechanism, and degradation characteristics of two sorbents, silica-supported tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA/SiO(2)) and polyethylene-glycol-modified TEPA/SiO(2) (PEG/TEPA/SiO(2)), are studied by diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The CO(2) capture capacities of TEPA/SiO(2) and PEG/TEPA/SiO(2) are determined to be 2087 and 1110 micromol CO(2) g(-1) sorbent, respectively. Both sorbents adsorb CO(2) as hydrogen-bonding species, NH(2)--O, and carbamate/carboxylate species. The CO(2) adsorption half-time increases with the number of CO(2) capture cycles. Infrared results suggest that the increased adsorption half-time is a result of diffusion limitation, caused by accumulation of TEPA and PEG species on the surface of …

A Photonic Crystal Fiber Based Polarimetric Sensor For Cure Monitoring Of Magneto-Rheological Smart Composite Material, Manjusha Ramakrishnan, Ginu Rajan, Yuliya Semenova, Y. Zhou, Stephen Jerrams, Gerald Farrell

Articles

A buffer stripped high birefringent photonic crystal fibre based polarimetric sensor is developed for monitoring the curing process of magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) smart composite material. Using the developed sensor, different phases of the MRE curing process are clearly visible from the phase shift variation of the embedded polarisation maintaining photonic crystal fibre (PM-PCF) sensor. During the curing process, the buffer stripped PM-PCF exhibits a stress/strain induced phase shift variation from 0 to 1.98 rad. This is a significantly large phase change, which can be used to very clearly identify the different stages in the curing process. For comparison, a fibre …

Experimental Study And Analysis Of A Polymer Fiber Bragg Grating Embedded In A Composite Material, Ginu Rajan, Manjusha Ramakrishnan, Yuliya Semenova, Eliathamby Ambikairajah, Gerald Farrell, Gang-Ding Peng

Articles

The characteristics of polymer fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) embedded in composite materials are studied in this paper and are compared with characteristics of their silica counterparts. A polymer FBG of 10 mm length which exhibits a peak reflected wavelength circa 1530 nm is fabricated and characterized for this purpose. A silica FBG with a peak reflected wavelength circa 1553 nm is also embedded in the composite material for a comparison study. The fabricated composite material sample with embedded sensors is subjected to temperature and strain changes and the corresponding effects on the embedded polymer and silica FBGs are studied. The …

Experimental And Finite Element Studies Of Shock Transmission, Eldon Jerry Goddard

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Composite materials are more widely used today in engineering products than ever before. Shock transmission in jointed composite sections needs to be investigated to understand the affect of composite materials on the dynamic response of the system. There exists limited published work on transient shock propagation through composite sections. The aim of this study is to analyze the transient behavior of joints in composite materials subjected to low impact loads and to develop a computational model that provides an improved physics based shock model. The jointed connection will be investigated experimentally and using Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The bolted joint …

Solution To Certain Problems In The Failure Of Composite Structures, Jonathan Goodsell

Open Access Dissertations

The present work contains the solution of two problems in composite structures. In the first, an approximate elasticity solution for prediction of the displacement, stress and strain fields within the m-layer, symmetric and balanced angle-ply composite laminate of finite-width subjected anticlastic bending deformation is developed. The solution is shown to recover classical laminated plate theory predictions at interior regions of the laminate and thereby illustrates the boundary layer character of this interlaminar phenomenon. The results exhibit the anticipated response in congruence with the solutions for uniform axial extension and uniform temperature change, where divergence of the interlaminar shearing stress is …