Initial damage induced by thermal residual stress and microscopic failure analysis of carbon-fiber reinforced composite under shear loading

In order to study the mechanical properties and the progressive failure process of composite under shear loading, a representative volume element (RVE) of fiber random distribution was established, with two dominant damage mechanisms – matrix plastic deformation and interfacial debonding – included in the simulation by the extended Drucker–Prager model and cohesive zone model, respectively. Also, a temperature-dependent RVE has been set up to analyze the influence of thermal residual stress. The simulation results clearly reveal the damage process of the composites and the interactions of different damage mechanisms. It can be concluded that the in-plane shear fracture initiates as interfacial debonding and evolves as a result of interactions between interfacial debonding and matrix plastic deformation. The progressive damage process and final failure mode of in-plane shear model which are based on constitute are very consistent with the observed result under scanning electron microscopy of V-notched rail shear test. Also, a transverse shear model was established as contrast in order to comprehensively understand the mechanical properties of composite materials under shear loading, and the progressive damage process and final failure mode of composite under transverse shear loading were researched. Thermal residual stress changes the damage initiation locations and damage evolution path and causes significant decreases in the strength and fracture strain.     

Variation of the ultrasonic velocity in al under plastic deformation

Variation of the velocity of ultrasound propagation in polycrystalline aluminum under plastic deformation is studied. The dependences of the velocity of ultrasound on the strain and the actual stress are found to consist of three distinct stages. The study of the complex shapes of these dependences allows one to reveal additional stages in the parabolic stress-strain curve of the plastic flow, these features being impossible to observe by conventional methods. The behavior of the ultrasonic velocity observed in the experiment is explained by the changes in the defect structure of the material under deformation.     

Low-temperature plasticity in nanocrystalline titanium and copper

The stress-strain compressive curves, temperature dependences of the yield stress, and small-inelastic-strain rate spectra of coarse-grained and ultrafine-grained (produced by equal-channel angular pressing) titanium and copper are compared in the temperature range 4.2–300 K. As the temperature decreases, copper undergoes mainly strain hardening and titanium undergoes thermal hardening. The temperature dependences of the yield stress of titanium and copper have specific features which correlate with the behavior of their small-inelastic-strain rate spectra. Under the same loading conditions, the rate of microplastic deformation of ultrafine-grained titanium is lower than that of coarse-grained titanium and the rate peaks shift toward high temperatures. The deformation activation volumes of titanium samples differing in terms of their grain size are (10–35)b ³, where b is the Burgers vector magnitude. The dependences of the yield stress on the grain size at various temperatures are satisfactorily described by the Hall-Petch relation.     

Creep of multidirectionally fibre-reinforced composites

A model for the creep of metal matrix composites multidirectionally reinforced by short fibres is proposed. The reinforcement is described by the effective stiffness tensor of a multidirectional arrangement of continuous fibres and the internal damage of the composite during creep due to fibre fragmentation is introduced by assigning a heuristic nonlinear stress–strain relationship to the fibres. Based on the model, the load partitioning between matrix and fibres is computed. The macroscopic creep behaviour is simulated for composites exhibiting different fibre orientation distributions and different heuristic nonlinear stress–strain functions. The computational results rationalize the creep behaviour of multidirectional fibre-reinforced composites. For a two-dimensional random orientation distribution, a good qualitative match between simulation and experimental results is obtained for compressive loading and for in-plane tensile loading. For loading normal to the reinforcement plane, the model overestimates the creep resistance. In this case, the formation and growth of cavities seems to govern the creep deformation of the composite.     

Fracture Model of Anisotropic Rocks under Complex Loading

The paper proposes a deformation and fracture model for anisotropic stratified rocks and presents theoretical and experimental data on how the rock strength and fracture geometry are influenced by principal stresses and their orientation to bedding planes. Two possible mechanisms are considered for rock fracture under true triaxial load: along bedding planes of weakness and along planes in which Mohr-Coulomb stresses reach a critical combination with cohesion coefficients and internal friction angles typical of the rock. The transition of rocks to inelastic deformation is described in the context of two criteria of which one accounts for the above fracture mechanisms and the other, being a semi-empirical analogue of the Hill yield criterion, accounts for the effect of normal stress. The experimental data presented are for the strain and strength properties of rocks sampled from the Fedorovskoye and Talakanskoye oil and gas fields and tested on an original loading system for true triaxial compression with lateral pressure (similar to the Karman scheme) and for generalized shear (three unequal and nonmonotonic principal stresses). The experimental and theoretical results, including total stress-strain curves, are in good qualitative agreement and demonstrate the possibility to evaluate the parameters entered in the model from tests of particular rocks.     

Analysis of the factors that cause unstable deformation and loss of plasticity in neutron-irradiated copper

Copper is used as an example to analyze the effect of radiation on the stress-strain curves and deformation stability of radiation-hardened metals. The analysis is based on an equation that describes the evolution of the dislocation density with deformation in a plastically deformed material. Deformation instability in the initial stage of the stress-strain curve is caused by strong deformation localization at the microscopic level as a result of the transformation of immobile radiation defects (vacancy and interstitial loops) into mobile dislocations. The channeling of a large number of dislocations along slip planes causes the appearance of a yield drop and a yield plateau in the stress-strain curves. The critical conditions for their appearance, as well as the theoretical irradiation-dose dependences of the yield-plateau length and the uniform strain to necking, are found.     

Negative stiffness of the FeAl intermetallic nanofilm

Uniaxial tension of the nanofilm of the FeAl intermetallic alloy has been simulated by the molecular dynamics method. It has been found that the nanofilm is elastically deformed by 37%. There is a region in the stress-strain curve, where the strain increases with a decrease in the tensile stress, which indicates the negative stiffness of the nanofilm in this region. The uniform strain with a decrease in the tensile stress is unstable thermodynamically, which leads to the appearance domains with different elastic strains in the nanofilm. The deformation in the unstable region develops due to the domain-wall motion; as a result, the domains with a higher strain grow at the expense of the domains with a lower strain. A similar deformation mechanism was recently described by Savin with coworkers for the DNA molecule.     

Characterization of the tensile behaviour of a co-woven-knitted composite in the continuous and discrete frequency domain

Laplace-transform and Z-transform theories have been applied to analyze the tensile stress–strain curves of a co-woven-knitted (CWK) composite under quasi-static (0.001/s) and high strain rates (up to 2586/s) tension. The transform results were extended to characterize the tension failure and dynamic responses of the CWK composite in the frequency domain. Specifically, the Laplace-transform theory was employed to analyze the stress–strain curves of the CWK composite along 0°, 45° and 90° directions when the composite is assumed to be a continuous system, while the Z-transform theory was used for the discrete system for the composite. From the transformed results, it was found that the stress–strain curves of the CWK composite specimen under different strain rates tension have similar stability behaviours for the Laplace- and Z-transform. For the continuous system, few pole plots are distributed on the left side of the imaginary axis, which means the system is unstable. Nevertheless, the pole-plot distribution is stable before the post-critical deformation of the CWK composite. For the discrete system, most of the poles are located inside the unit circle before post-critical deformation, indicating the system is stable. From the stiffness–time history and fracture morphology, the stability of the pole-plot distribution corresponds to the stiffness stability and fracture uniformity. From continuous and discrete system analyses, it is found that the stress–time and strain-time histories of the CWK composite can be regarded as a digital signal system. Digital signal processing (DSP) methods can be extended to the investigation of the mechanical behaviour of composites.     

颗粒增强金属基复合材料变形强化中的应变梯度效应

 针对单轴压缩实验,根据颗粒增强金属基复合材料中颗粒和基体两相的局部变形协调条件,并通过简单的位错模型,确定出与变形协调相应的几何必需位错密度,进而导出一种颗粒强化-应变梯度律。从中可以清楚地看出,颗粒增强金属基复合材料的强化由材料的微结构特征几何参数l和基体应变梯度联合控制。对于颗粒含量一定的复合材料,颗粒越小,应变梯度越高,强化效果越好。这一结果揭示了,颗粒强化及尺寸效应主要是通过应变梯度效应来表现的。这也同时说明,应变梯度可能是控制材料变形与断裂的重要因素之一。     

Acoustoplastic effect and internal friction of aluminum single crystals in various deformation stages

The dependences of the acoustoplastic effect and the internal friction on the oscillatory strain amplitude are measured in various deformation stages of low-purity aluminum single crystals. It is discovered that the acoustoplastic effect is observed not only in the macroscopic plastic region of the stress-strain diagram, but also for microplastic deformation in the “elastic” loading and unloading stages. The sign of the effect reverses during unloading. An increase in the strain rate leads to enhancement of the acoustoplastic effect and the absorption of the energy of ultrasonic vibrations causing this effect with a frequency of about 100 kHz. It is concluded that the acoustoplastic effect observed during both macro-and microplastic deformation is caused by the irreversible high-speed motion of dislocations through the long-range stress field of the other dislocations after breaking through the Cottrell atmospheres. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 1794–1800 (October 1997)     

Strain hardening under structural superplasticity conditions

A model is proposed for describing the hardening of fine-grained materials deformed under structural superplasticity conditions. Under these conditions, the strain dependence of the flow stress is shown to be caused by the internal stress fields induced by the defects introduced into grain boundaries during intragranular slip. Expressions describing the dependences of the flow stress on the rate and temperature of superplastic deformation and the structural parameters of the material are obtained.     

基于修正Linde模型的复材层板的损伤模拟

基于连续损伤力学方法,建立含初始损伤的三维复合材料层合板的有限元模型.采用Linde等提出的应变失效准则,并引入参数对损伤函数进行修正,模拟层合板的纤维和基体的失效行为.参数的改变可以描述损伤变量随应变的变化程度.数值模拟表明,计算结果随着参数的变化幅度较大,在试验值的±15%范围内变动.本文引入的参数一方面可以拓宽Linde材料损伤判据的适用范围,另一方面在适用范围内可以达到更为精确的数值模拟结果,为后续的结构分析打下基础.     

Effect of dynamic stress state perturbation on irreversible strain accumulation at interfaces in block-structured media

The paper studies how the stress state of the interface between structural elements in a block-structured medium affects its deformation response to dynamic loading. It is shown that the normalized shear stress and mean stress are the major factors that determine the deformation response of the interface. We propose to describe the dependence of the value of induced irreversible displacement at the interface on the normalized shear stress using a logistic function. The central point of this function is the point of transition from the quasi-elastic to quasi-plastic stage of the interface shear deformation. The obtained empirical dependences are important for understanding the mechanism of irreversible strain accumulation in fault zone fragments and, particularly, for the development of an earlier proposed approach to estimate the characteristic level of active shear stresses in separate tectonic fault regions.     

Strain mapping analysis of textile composites

The focus of the work is meso-scale analysis (scale level of the fabric unit cell) of textile composite deformation and failure. The surface strain measurement is used for: (1) experimental investigation, which includes study of strain distribution at various stages of deformation, plasticity detection, damage initiation; (2) numerical validation of the correspondent finite element (FE) models. Two examples are considered: carbon-epoxy triaxial-braided and glass polypropylene-woven composite. The surface strain measurement (by digital image correlation technique) accompanies the tensile tests, aiming at: (1) elastic anisotropic constants characterisation, (2) study of non-linear material behaviour (for the thermoplastic composite), (3) control of homogeneity of the macro-strain distribution, and (4) analysis of damage initiation in brittle composites. Validation of meso-FE models by strain measurements encounters difficulties arising from (1) resolution of the strain measurements, (2) irregularities of the initial structure such as random layer nesting, ply interaction, and deviation of yarns from their theoretical position, which affects the measured strain fields. The paper discusses these difficulties and demonstrates a qualitative agreement with the FE analysis of idealised composite configurations.     

Numerical simulation of deformation and fracture of a material with a polysilazane-based coating

The paper studies the localization of plastic deformation and fracture in a material with a porous coating. A dynamic boundary value problem in the plane strain formulation is solved. The numerical simulation is performed by the finite difference method. The composite structure corresponds to the experimentally observed one and is specified explicitly in the calculation. A generation procedure of the initial finite-difference grid is developed to describe the coating structure with adjustable porosity and geometry of the substrate-coating interface. Constitutive equations for the steel substrate include an elastic-plastic model of an isotropically hardening material. The ceramic coating is described by a brittle fracture model on the basis of the Huber criterion which accounts for crack nucleation in triaxial tension zones. It is shown that the specific character of deformation and fracture of the studied composite results from the presence of local tensile regions in the vicinity of pores and along the coating-substrate interface, in both tension and compression of the coated material. The interrelation between inhomogeneous plastic flow in the steel substrate and crack propagation in the coating is studied.     

Analysis of the parameters of a brittle-ductile transition during impact loading of neutron-irradiated bcc metals and alloys

The impact toughness (fracture energy-temperature) curves of neutron-irradiated bcc metals and alloys, including structural alloys applied in nuclear power, are theoretically analyzed. The analysis is based on the stress-strain curves of these metals and alloys with allowance for the effect of temperature and irradiation on their parameters. The energy of ductile fracture of smooth and notched (Charpy) specimens during both static and impact loading is shown to substantially depend on the uniform strain and its temperature and radiation-hardening dependences. As a result of this analysis, the dependence of the critical brittle-ductile transition temperature on the radiation dose is established. Theoretical relations obtained for the transition parameters are illustrated with experimental data for martensitic steels.     

Finite strain stress fields near the tip of an interface crack between a soft incompressible elastic material and a rigid substrate

We present a numerical study of finite strain stress fields near the tip of an interface crack between a rigid substrate and an incompressible hyperelastic solid using the finite element method (FEM). The finite element (FE) simulations make use of a remeshing scheme to overcome mesh distortion. Analyses are carried out by assuming that the crack tip is either pinned, i.e., the elastic material is perfectly bonded (no slip) to the rigid substrate, or the crack lies on a frictionless interface. We focus on a material which hardens exponentially. To explore the effect of geometric constraint on the near tip stress fields, simulations are carried out under plane stress and plane strain conditions. For both the frictionless interface and the pinned crack under plane stress deformation, we found that the true stress field directly ahead of the crack tip is dominated by the normal opening stress and the crack face opens up smoothly. This is also true for an interface crack along a frictionless boundary in plane strain deformation. However, for a pinned interface crack under plane strain deformation, the true opening normal stress is found to be lower than the shear stress and the transverse normal stress. Also, the crack opening profile for a pinned crack under plane strain deformation is completely different from those seen in plane stress and in plane strain (frictionless interface). The crack face flips over and the tip angle is almost tangential to the interface. Our results suggest that interface friction can play a very important role in interfacial fracture of soft materials on hard substrates.     

Damage and fracture prediction of plastic-bonded explosive by digital image correlation processing

By digital correlation processing of Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) images, the paper presents the deformation and damage analysis of an energetic material—the plastic-bonded explosive (PBX) on mesoscopic scale. The analysis is made by observing the deformation field resulted from the digital image correlation (DIC) processing of the images corresponding to the loading steps and comparing with the surface profiles of the composite material so as to visualize the matter damage near a preset crack. The results show that the local deformation disturbance can reveal the material damage even happened underneath the specimen surface. The strain distribution in the front of the preset crack, can be used to predict the propagating route of the microcrack initiated from the tip of the pre-crack, which is related to the splitting fracture of the granular-based composite under compressive loading.     

A constitutive model of frozen soil with damage and numerical simulation for the coupled problem

Based on the microcosmic mechanics of composite materials, an elastic constitutive model for frozen soil with damage is presented. For frozen sandy soil with a range of ice contents and under a range of temperature conditions, quantitative results determined by this constitutive model agree with practically measured stress-strain curves. After numerically simulating the coupled water, temperature and stress fields of channel frozen and frozen roadbed using a self-developed finite-element routine, more accur...