Advances in manufacturing technologies have led to the development of a new approach to material selection, in which architectured designs can be created to achieve a specific mechanical objective. Cellular lattice structures have been at the forefront of this movement due to the ability to tailor their mechanical response through tuning of the topology, surface thickness, cell size, and cell density. In this work, the mechanical properties of additively manufactured periodic cellular lattices are evaluated and compared, primarily through the topology and surface thickness parameters. The evaluated lattices were based upon triply periodic minimal surfaces (TPMS), including novel variations on the base TPMS designs, which have not been tested previously. These lattices were fabricated out of Inconel 718 (IN718) through the selective laser melting (SLM) process. Specimens were tested under uniaxial compression, and the resultant mechanical properties were determined. Further discussion of the fabrication quality and deformation behavior of the lattices is provided. Results of this work indicate that the Diamond TPMS lattice has superior mechanical properties to the other lattices tested. Additionally, with the exception of the primitive TPMS lattice, the base TPMS designs exhibited superior mechanical performance to their derivative lattice designs.

Viscoelastic (VE) dampers are a kind of effective passive vibration control device and widely used to attenuate structural vibration. In this article, experimental study and multiscale modeling analysis on the VE damper for reducing wind-excited vibration are carried out. First, an experimental study on VE damper is conducted to reveal the dynamic properties of VE damper. The experimental results show that the dynamic properties of VE material are influenced by excitation frequency and insignificantly affected by displacement amplitude, and the VE material has good energy dissipation capacity. Second, the damping mechanism of VE damper is analyzed from micro-perspectives by considering the influence of cross-linked and free molecular chain networks. Then, a novel type spherical chain network model based on the chain network microstructure is proposed. The proposed model is verified by comparing the experimental data and the mathematical results, which indicates that the proposed model can accurately describe the dynamic properties of VE damper affected by different temperatures, frequencies, and displacements.

The effects of a coupling agent on the behavior of flax fiber-reinforced composites have been investigated by testing the specimens under both quasi-static (QS) indentation and high-velocity impact loading. The specimens are manufactured embedding a commercial flax fiber fabric in a polypropylene (PP) matrix, neat and premodified with a maleic anhydride-grafted PP, the latter acting as a coupling agent to enhance the interfacial adhesion. QS compressive tests were performed using a dynamometer testing machine equipped with a high-density polyethylene indenter having the same geometry of the projectile employed in the impact tests. The impact tests were conducted setting three different impact velocities. Digital image correlation maps of out-of-plane displacement were employed to compare the specimens with and without the coupling agent. The QS testing results indicate that the coupling agent has an enhancing influence on the bending stiffness of tested flax composites. The testing results show that the coupling agent improves the mechanical behavior by decreasing the out-of-plane displacement under impact loading. This approach gives rise to new materials potentially useful for applications where impact performance is desired while also providing an opportunity for the incorporation of natural fibers to produce a lightweight composite.

Standard-compliant measurement of the in-plane fracture toughness of metals is often challenging due to insufficient material in the through-thickness direction to extract a full single edge bending (SEB) or compact tension (CT) fracture specimen. In the present work, we propose a new specimen design methodology to overcome this challenge. A W-shaped SEB specimen (called W-SEB) was developed, and its topology was optimized using finite element simulations. The new specimen design was validated numerically and experimentally on a case study showing excellent agreement with standard ASTM E1820 actual SEB specimen geometry. In view assessing the anisotropy of the fracture toughness (K Q and crack tip opening displacement (CTOD)) of pipeline steels susceptible to hydrogen-induced cracking (HIC), the W-SEB specimen was tested on X65 and X42 pipeline steel samples taken from the field. Experimental results show an increase in the maximum CTOD along the in-plane direction as compared to the transverse direction for both steel grades. Such experimental results could lead to important considerations with respect to accurate fitness for service assessment of HIC-damaged assets.

A novel non-bonded interface technique (NBIT) is used to analyze internal residual strain by combining a pre-split sample of AISI 4340 steel with the circular grid residual strain analysis technique. NBIT is compared with an implicit non-linear finite element (FE) model using LS-DYNA. A split FE model was compared with a quarter FE model to determine the split interface that causes an average difference of 9.0% on the residual von Mises strain field from a 588.6 N indentation. The homogeneous FE quarter model was then compared with the experimental split model using 588.6, 981.0, and 1471.5 N indentation forces. An average displacement difference of 3.92 µm was found when comparing the experimental split and FE homogeneous samples from a 588.6 N indentation. The internal residual major and minor principal strains from the split experimental sample and homogeneous FE model were compared for each indentation force. The minor principal strain results show the 588.6, 981.0, and 1471.5 N indentation forces resulted in a difference between the experimental split and homogeneous FE model of 28.5%, 34.8%, and 26.0%, respectively. The difference between the comparisons was explained by the inability of the FE model to simulate local non-homogeneous material properties such as grain composition and orientation whereas NBIT does. NBIT can be used for micro- or macro-scale residual strain analysis as the spatial resolution is highly adjustable.

The study presents the anisotropy in the indentation creep response of zinc. Indentation creep tests were conducted on grains with three different orientations, namely, 〈 0001 〉, ⟨ 11 2 ¯ 0 ⟩ , and ⟨ 10 1 ¯ 0 ⟩ . Indentation creep along the 〈c〉 axis showed a pronounced creep exhibiting a 25% higher creep displacement as compared with indentation perpendicular to the 〈c〉 axis. However, the recovery observed was the highest for basal-oriented grains wherein a recovery of 50% to its indented depth was observed, whereas for ⟨ 11 2 ¯ 0 ⟩ the recovery observed was 30%. The stress exponent, n, was obtained by employing two different approaches for each of the orientations and a difference in the stress exponent value was also observed, highlighting the anisotropic creep response. Basal and non-basal oriented grains showed a lower (n ≅ 1.6 ) and higher stress exponent (n ≅ 5 ), respectively, highlighting the different operable creep mechanism. Surface topography using atomic force microscope (AFM) revealed twinning and sink-in for ⟨ 11 2 ¯ 0 ⟩ and ⟨ 10 1 ¯ 0 ⟩ , whereas uniform pile up was observed for basal grain.

Johnson–Cook (JC) strength and failure models have been widely used in finite element analysis (FEA) to solve a variety of thermo-mechanical problems. There are many techniques to determine the required JC parameters; however, a best practice to obtain the most reliable JC parameters has not yet been proposed. In this paper, a genetic-algorithm-based optimization strategy is proposed to calibrate the JC strength and failure model parameters of AISI/SAE 1018 steel. Experimental data were obtained from tensile tests performed for different specimen geometries at varying strain rates and temperatures. FEA was performed for each tensile test. A genetic algorithm was used to determine the optimum JC parameters that best fit the experimental force-displacement data. Calibrated JC parameters were implemented in FEA to simulate the impact tests of standard V-notch Charpy bars to verify the damage mechanism in the material. Considering good agreement of the experimental and FEA results, the current strategy is suggested for calibration proposes in other kind of materials in which plastic behavior could be represented by the JC strength and failure models.

In addition to processing a troubling agricultural by-product and reducing demands on our landfills, prepared agro-waste composites are suitable for a variety of practical applications. However, enhancing value-added options for these agricultural by-products can necessitate ability to assess their mechanical integrity. This paper accordingly describes the preparation of a cellulosic-manure composite and demonstrates ability to determine stresses in a perforated structure of the material from measured displacement data. Processing digital image correlation (DIC) recorded displacement information with an Airy stress function gives reliable results full-field as well as at the edge of geometric discontinuities without having to differentiate the recorded data. Required constitutive properties are evaluated in situ and results are substantiated independently.

This work documents the development of a tool to perform automated parameter fitting of constitutive material models. Specific to this work is the fitting of a Swift hardening rule and isotropic linear plasticity model to aluminum 2024-T351, C36000 brass, and C10100 copper. Material characterization was conducted through the use of compressive, cold upsetting tests. A noncontact, optical displacement measurement system was applied to measure the axial and radial deformation of the test specimens. Nonlinear optimization techniques were then applied to tune a finite element model to match experimental results through the optimization of material model parameters as well as frictional coefficient. The result is a system, which can determine constitutive model parameters rapidly and without user interaction. While this tool provided material parameters for each material and model tested, the quality of the fit varied depending on how appropriate the constitutive model was to the material's actual plastic behavior. Aluminum's behavior proved to be an excellent match to the Swift hardening rule while the behavior of brass and copper was described better by the linear plasticity model.

Important from exploitation point of view mechanical properties of single-layer, double-layer, and mixed alumina and ceria films and their stainless steel (SS) substrate were investigated by means of nanoindentation experiments. As a result, we obtained the experimental load–displacement curves and calculated the indentation hardness (H IT ) and indentation modulus (E IT ), by means of Oliver and Pharr approximation method. Numerical simulations of the process of nanoindentation by means of finite element method were performed as well, in order to obtain more information about the plastic properties of the investigated films. The obtained results show that the mixed Al 2 O 3 +Ce 2 O 3 film, obtained at dominant concentration of cerium ions in the working electrolyte, has the highest indentation hardness and modulus, followed by the single Ce 2 O 3 -CeO 2 film, the mixed Al 2 O 3 +Ce 2 O 3 film, obtained at dominant concentration of aluminum ions in the working electrolyte, the double Ce 2 O 3 -CeO 2 /Al 2 O 3 layer, and single Al 2 O 3 layer.

Micro-computed tomography (CT) was used as a tool to investigate the deformation behavior of particulate-filled composite materials. Three different shapes of glass fillers (spherical, flake, and fiber) and filler mass fractions (5%, 10%, and 15%) were introduced to the epoxy resin. Rockwell hardness H scale indentation test was used to deform the composite material. The composite materials were scanned before and after the indentation test by using micro-CT. Displacement field for each filler type and mass fraction were measured through correlation of before and after scan data. The effects of filler type and mass fraction on the internal displacement field were investigated. It was also demonstrated that micro-CT can be used as a tool to create realistic representative volume elements (RVEs) for particulate-filled composite materials instead of randomly distributed particles within the matrix material.

This study explores the application of a proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and radial basis function (RBF)-based surrogate model to identify the parameters of a nonlinear viscoelastic material model using nanoindentation data. The inverse problem is solved by reducing the difference between finite element simulation-trained surrogate model approximation and experimental data through genetic algorithm (GA)-based optimization. The surrogate model, created using POD–RBF, is trained using finite element (FE) data obtained by varying model parameters within a parametric space. Sensitivity of the model parameters toward the load–displacement output is utilized to reduce the number of training points required for surrogate model training. The effect of friction on simulated load–displacement data is also analyzed. For the obtained model parameter set, the simulated output matches well with experimental data for various experimental conditions.

Displacement and stress fields in a functionally graded (FG) fiber-reinforced rotating disk of nonuniform thickness subjected to angular deceleration are obtained. The disk has a central hole, which is assumed to be mounted on a rotating shaft. Unidirectional fibers are considered to be circumferentially distributed within the disk with a variable volume fraction along the radius. The governing equations for displacement and stress fields are derived and solved using finite difference method. The results show that for disks with fiber rich at the outer radius, the displacement field is lower in radial direction but higher in circumferential direction compared to the disk with the fiber rich at the inner radius. The circumferential stress value at the outer radius is substantially higher for disk with fiber rich at the outer radius compared to the disk with the fiber rich at the inner radius. It is also observed a considerable amount of compressive stress developed in the radial direction in a region close to the outer radius. These compressive stresses may prevent any crack growth in the circumferential direction of such disks. For disks with fiber rich at the inner radius, the presence of fibers results in minimal changes in the displacement and stress fields when compared to a homogenous disk made from the matrix material. In addition, we concluded that disk deceleration has no effect on the radial and hoop stresses. However, deceleration will affect the shear stress. Tsai–Wu failure criterion is evaluated for decelerating disks. For disks with fiber rich at the inner radius, the failure is initiated between inner and outer radii. However, for disks with fiber rich at the outer radius, the failure location depends on the fiber distribution.

This study concerns the development of peridynamic (PD) strain energy density functions for a Neo-Hookean type membrane under equibiaxial, planar, and uniaxial loading conditions. The material parameters for each loading case are determined by equating the PD strain energy density to that of the classical continuum mechanics. The PD equations of motion are derived based on the Neo-Hookean model under the assumption of incompressibility. Numerical results concern the deformation of a membrane with a defect in the form of a hole, a crack, and a rigid inclusion under equibiaxial, planar, and uniaxial loading conditions. The PD predictions are verified by comparison with those of finite element analysis.

We investigate a domain decomposition method (DDM) of finite element method (FEM) using Intel's many integrated core (MIC) architecture in order to determine the most effective MIC usage. For this, recently introduced high-scalable parallel method of DDM is first introduced with a detailed procedure. Then, the Intel's Xeon Phi MIC architecture is presented to understand how to apply the parallel algorithm into a multicore architecture. The parallel simulation using the Xeon Phi MIC has an advantage that traditional parallel libraries such as the message passing interface (MPI) and the open multiprocessing (OpenMP) can be used without any additional libraries. We demonstrate the DDM using popular libraries for solving linear algebra such as the linear algebra package (LAPACK) or the basic linear algebra subprograms (BLAS). Moreover, both MPI and OpenMP are used for parallel resolutions of the DDM. Finally, numerical parallel efficiencies are validated by a two-dimensional numerical example.

The paper presents the derived equations for calculations of the initial wall thickness g 0 of a tube bent to elbow. The expressions for calculating g 0 are presented in a suitable measure of the “great active actual radius R j ” in the bending zone for an exact-generalized solution (continuous fields) and for three formal simplifications (discontinuous fields) of the first-, second-, and third-orders. The expressions to calculate the components of deformation for a generalized solution (continuous fields) are obtained on the basis of kinematically admissible fields of plastic deformations. In any case, a value of initial tube thickness depends on the radius and on the angle of bending α b on the external diameter of the tube, on the displacement of the neutral axis, and on the allowable (required) elbow thickness according to European, American, or other national technical standard or regulations. The initial thickness also depends on the coordinates of the point where the allowable thickness was determined and on the technological–material coefficient of the bending zone range k (defined during the tests). The obtained calculation results are presented in the form of graphs and in table.

In real physical experiments, three typical deformation stages including elastic deformation stage, symmetric deformation stage, and asymmetric deformation stage appear step by step when the stainless steel hemispherical shell structure is under axial compression loading. During the asymmetric deformation stage, the rolling-plastic-hinge-radius which characterizes the size of the deformation area evolves along the circumferential direction with the compressive displacement. For the hemispherical shell structures with apparent asymmetric deformation stage, the double-buckling phenomenon of the structures in experiments can be clearly detected. The traditional theoretical analysis based on the assumption with circumferentially constant rolling-plastic-hinge-radius is not suitable to predict this phenomenon. For these hemispherical shell structures, load capacity and absorbed energy predicted by the traditional analysis are usually higher than experimental results in the asymmetric deformation stage. In this paper, a new description based on experimental observation for the evolution of rolling-plastic-hinge-radius has been proposed. Minimum energy principle was employed to obtain the postbuckling behavior. The energy evolution of different buckling stages during compression loading is investigated to evaluate the structure load capacity. Stainless steel hemispherical specimens with different sizes are tested under axial compression between two rigid plates to verify the theoretical modification. Good agreement is achieved between proposed model and experimental results. The theoretical model proposed in this paper can be used in prediction of postbuckling behavior for different deformation patterns in the asymmetric deformation stage. It also provides higher flexibility and efficiency for the postbuckling behavior prediction of hemispherical shell structures.

Cellular materials' two important properties—structure and mechanism—can be selectively used for materials design; in particular, they are used to determine the modulus and yield strain. The objective of this study is to gain a better understanding of these two properties and to explore the synthesis of compliant cellular materials (CCMs) with compliant porous structures (CPSs) generated from modified hexagonal honeycombs. An in-plane constitutive CCM model with CPSs of elliptical holes is constructed using the strain energy method, which uses the deformation of hinges around holes and the rotation of links. A finite element (FE) based simulation is conducted to validate the analytical model. The moduli and yield strains of the CCMs with an aluminum alloy are about 4.42 GPa and 0.57% in one direction and about 2.14 MPa and 20.9% in the other direction. CCMs have extremely high positive and negative Poisson's ratios (NPRs) (νxy* ∼ ±40) due to the large rotation of the link member in the transverse direction caused by an input displacement in the longitudinal direction. A parametric study of CCMs with varying flexure hinge geometries using different porous shapes shows that the hinge shape can control the yield strength and strain but does not affect Poisson's ratio which is mainly influenced by rotation of the link members. The synthesized CPSs can also be used to design a new CCM with a Poisson's ratio of zero using a puzzle-piece CPS assembly. This paper demonstrates that compliant mesostructures can be used for next generation materials design in tailoring mechanical properties such as moduli, strength, strain, and Poisson's ratios.

Instrumented indentation is commonly used for determining mechanical properties of a range of materials, including viscoelastic materials. However, most—if not all—studies are limited to a flat substrate being indented by various shaped indenters (e.g., conical or spherical). This work investigates the possibility of extending instrumented indentation to nonflat viscoelastic substrates. In particular, conical indentation of a sphere is investigated where a semi-analytical approach based on “the method of functional equations” has been developed to obtain the force–displacement relationship. To verify the accuracy of the proposed methodology selected numerical experiments have been performed and good agreement was obtained. Since it takes significantly less time to obtain force–displacement relationships using the proposed method compared to conducting full finite element simulations, the proposed method is an efficient substitute of the finite element method in determining material properties of viscoelatic spherical particles using indentation testing.

In this paper, the effect of surface damage induced by focused ion beam (FIB) fabrication on the mechanical properties of silicon (Si) nanowires (NWs) was investigated. Uniaxial tensile testing of the NWs was performed using a reusable on-chip tensile test device with 1000 pairs of comb structures working as an electrostatic force actuator, a capacitive displacement sensor, and a force sensor. Si NWs were made from silicon-on-nothing (SON) membranes that were produced by deep reactive ion etching hole fabrication and ultrahigh vacuum annealing. Micro probe manipulation and film deposition functions in a FIB system were used to bond SON membranes to the device's sample stage and then to directly fabricate Si NWs on the device. All the NWs showed brittle fracture in ambient air. The Young's modulus of 57 nm-wide NW was 107.4 GPa, which was increased to 144.2 GPa with increasing the width to 221 nm. The fracture strength ranged from 3.9 GPa to 7.3 GPa. By assuming the thickness of FIB-induced damage layer, the Young's modulus of the layer was estimated to be 96.2 GPa, which was in good agreement with the literature value for amorphous Si.