Numerical evaluation of the thermomechanical effective properties of a functionally graded material using the homogenization method

When the stresses of the functionally graded materials (FGMs) are discussed under thermal and/or mechanical loading conditions, the different thermomechanical effective properties are needed. For the steady state thermal analyses, these properties include the Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, thermal expansion coefficient and thermal conductivity. For the transient analyses of the heat conduction problem, on the other hand, the density and heat capacity should be added to the aforementioned properties. The homogenization method (HM) based on the finite element method (FEM) is used as it has advantages, such as it is appropriate for estimating the effective properties of composites with a given periodic fiber distribution and complicated geometries. For a periodic composite structure, it is not necessary to study the whole structure but only a representative volume element (RVE) or a unit cell (UC). As the overall behavior of composites depends on the arrangement of the reinforcements, the corresponding UCs of two different arrangements of the fibers are analyzed; namely the square and hexagonal arrangements. It is found that the square arrangement predicts higher values of the Young’s modulus than the hexagonal one but with small difference. In order to verify the computed values of the properties, the results are compared with previous experimental measurements and results of analytical and numerical methods, and good agreement is achieved.     

An interaction energy integral method for nonhomogeneous materials with interfaces under thermal loading

A plane crack problem of nonhomogeneous materials with interfaces subjected to static thermal loading is investigated. A modified interaction energy integral method (IEIM) is developed to obtain the mixed-mode thermal stress intensity factors (TSIFs). Compared with the previous IEIM, the original point of this paper is: the domain-independence of the modified IEIM still stands in nonhomogeneous materials with interfaces under thermal loading. Therefore, the modified IEIM can still be applied to obtain the TSIFs of nonhomogeneous material even if the integral domain includes interfaces. The modified IEIM is combined with the extended finite element method (XFEM) to solve several thermal fracture problems of nonhomogeneous materials. Good agreement can be obtained compared with the analytic solutions and the domain-independence of the IEIM is verified. Therefore, the present method is effective to study the TSIFs of nonhomogeneous materials even when the materials contain interfaces. The influence of the discontinuity of the material properties (thermal expansion coefficient, thermal conductivity and Young’s modulus) on the TSIFs is investigated. The results show that the discontinuity of both thermal expansion coefficient and Young’s modulus affects the TSIFs greatly, while the discontinuity of thermal conductivity does not arouse obvious change of the TSIFs.     

A compliant mechanism with variable stiffness achieved by rotary actuators and shape-memory alloy

The aim of this article is to study the consequences of the active stiffening of a compliant mechanism on the workspace created by the deformation of its structure. In connection with recent soft robotics research integrating shape-memory alloys (SMAs), the variation in stiffness over time is here obtained by the thermal activation of a nickel–titanium SMA spring. The workspace is created by the deformation (in the strength of materials sense) controlled by two rotary actuators acting on a structure comprising two angled flexible beams. In addition to a natural variation in the elasticity modulus of the SMA component during its thermal activation, its shape reconfiguration adds a structural deformation modifying the workspace. The existence of a common area between the workspaces of the mechanism corresponding to the non-activated and activated modes of the SMA is preserved. Several compliance maps are determined from measurements using a laser tracker targeting a given position of the loaded structure. The impact of SMA pre-stretch on stiffness variability is compared to that of a change in Young’s modulus. Variations in the stiffness distributions between the two modes reveal interesting properties (stiffness sign inversion, anisotropy) for the future optimal design of compliant mechanisms with high versatility, associating the spatial positions of the effector with variable stiffness values.     

Sensitivity analysis of tire-ice friction coefficient as affected by tire rubber compound properties

Previous studies show that the material properties of the rubber are among the most important factors when designing a tire. In this study, we investigated the effects of different rubber properties on tire performance on ice. A theoretical model that incorporates these tire material properties was developed. The model was used to estimate the height of the water film generated due to friction and the friction coefficient for both, dry and wet regions at the tire-ice contact patch. After validating the results using experimentally collected data, the model was used to perform a sensitivity analysis on the tire performance with respect to six material properties of the tread rubber: thermal conductivity, rubber density, Young’s modulus, specific heat, roughness parameter of the rubber, and radii of spherical asperities of the rubber. To study the effect of each parameter, the desired material property was varied within a specific range while the other parameters were kept constant. The results from this study show the sensitivity of the magnitude of the friction coefficient to the rubber material properties. The friction coefficient has a direct relationship with the density of the rubber and has an inverse relationship with Young’s modulus, specific heat, and roughness parameter.     

Optimizing multifunctional materials: Design of microstructures for maximized stiffness and fluid permeability

Topology optimization is used to systematically design periodic materials that are optimized for multiple properties and prescribed symmetries. In particular, mechanical stiffness and fluid transport are considered. The base cell of the periodic material serves as the design domain and the goal is to determine the optimal distribution of material phases within this domain. Effective properties of the material are computed from finite element analyses of the base cell using numerical homogenization techniques. The elasticity and fluid flow inverse homogenization design problems are formulated and existing techniques for overcoming associated numerical instabilities and difficulties are discussed. These modules are then combined and solved to maximize bulk modulus and permeability in periodic materials with cubic elastic and isotropic flow symmetries. The multiphysics problem is formulated such that the final design is dependent on the relative importance, or weights, assigned by the designer to the competing stiffness and flow terms in the objective function. This allows the designer to tailor the microstructure according to the materials’ future application, a feature clearly demonstrated by the presented results. The methodology can be extended to incorporate other material properties of interest as well as the design of composite materials.     

特定方向"零膨胀"的最小柔顺性结构优化设计

工程中很多承载结构必须面对苛刻的温度变化工作环境,如卫星天线、太空照相机和电子器件等。剧烈的温度变化引起较大的热变形,造成仪器信号失真,精度下降;同时温度应力也会造成结构破坏甚至失效,因此零膨胀材料的研制备受关注。近年来国内外很多学者对此进行了研究,设计出具有特定等效膨胀系数的微结构,但考虑到制备工艺的限制,这类具有复杂微结构的材料制备起来比较困难,成本较高;同时这类材料一般不具备足够的刚度,难以满足承载性能的要求。本文基于结构优化设计技术,采用拓扑优化方法直接设计出具备较高的承载性能和特定方向变形较少受热载荷影响的结构。本文提出采用多目标优化的方法设计圆环结构,使其具有较高的刚度和在热载荷下圆环内表面具有较好的热几何稳定性。由于用单相材料无法同时满足高刚度和低热膨胀的要求,因此假设结构由两种不同的材料构成,用连续体拓扑优化的方法设计三相材料(两种实体材料MAT-I、MAT-II和空材料)在设计域上的最优分布,使结构满足设计要求。由对称性,设计域取为圆环的一个扇面,将设计域离散成有限元网格,每个单元具有两个设计变量:实体材料的体分比和MAT-I在实体材料中所占的体分比,采用伴随法进行灵敏度分析,用GCMMA方法求解此问题,采用体积守恒的Heaviside密度过滤函数保证获得清晰的最优拓扑构型以及避免棋盘格式的出现。通过两个数值算例,表明使用本文提出的多目标优化模型能够得到特定方向"零膨胀"同时具有一定刚度的结构设计,且这种宏观结构尺度上的两种材料组成的拓扑构型相对易于制造。     

基于拓扑优化的自发热体冷却用植入式导热路径设计方法

对于具有较低导热系数和较高生热率的热源材料(自发热体),通过优化植入内部的高导热材料的布局以降低内部温度,是实现自发热体冷却的重要措施.如何设计自发热体内部高导热材料的布局,是实现热源内部热量高效收集和温度控制的关键问题.本文研究建立植入式导热路径的拓扑优化设计方法,考虑高导热材料的植入对于热源分布的影响,以实现自发热体冷却的内置导热路径最优设计.基于固体各向同性材料惩罚模型(solid isotropic material with penalization,SIMP)拓扑描述方法,以高导热材料的相对密度为导热路径描述参数,分别选择合适的热传导系数和生热率的插值模型以建立热传导系数和生热率与相对密度的关系,并以结构散热弱度最小为目标,建立了植入式导热路径设计的拓扑优化数学模型和求解方法.该优化模型能够反映高导热材料的布局对热源布局的影响.通过具体算例,给出了贴片式散热路径与植入式散热路径的拓扑优化结果.设计结构表明,两种优化模型获得的最优散热构型存在较大不同,并且考虑植入高导热材料对热源布局影响的设计结果散热性能优于贴片式散热路径的设计结果.数值算例验证了本文所提出方法的正确性和有效性.      

Two new expanding cavity models for indentation deformations of elastic strain-hardening materials

Two expanding cavity models (ECMs) are developed for describing indentation deformations of elastic power-law hardening and elastic linear-hardening materials. The derivations are based on two elastic–plastic solutions for internally pressurized thick-walled spherical shells of strain-hardening materials. Closed-form formulas are provided for both conical and spherical indentations, which explicitly show that for a given indenter geometry indentation hardness depends on Young’s modulus, yield stress and strain-hardening index of the indented material. The two new models reduce to Johnson’s ECM for elastic-perfectly plastic materials when the strain-hardening effect is not considered. The sample numerical results obtained using the two newly developed models reveal that the indentation hardness increases with the Young’s modulus and strain-hardening level of the indented material. For conical indentations the values of the indentation hardness are found to depend on the sharpness of the indenter: the sharper the indenter, the larger the hardness. For spherical indentations it is shown that the hardness is significantly affected by the strain-hardening level when the indented material is stiff (i.e., with a large ratio of Young’s modulus to yield stress) and/or the indentation depth is large. When the indentation depth is small such that little or no plastic deformation is induced by the spherical indenter, the hardness appears to be independent of the strain-hardening level. These predicted trends for spherical indentations are in fairly good agreement with the recent finite element results of Park and Pharr.     

Stiffness properties of particulate composites containing debonded particles

This paper considers the problem of determining the nonlinear bimodular stiffness properties, i.e., the tensile and compressive Young’s moduli and Poisson’s ratios, and the shear modulus, of particulate composite materials with particle–matrix interfacial debonding. It treats the general case in which some of the particles are debonded while the others remain intact. The Mori–Tanaka approach is extended to formulate the method of solution for the present problem. The resulting auxiliary problem of a single debonded particle in an infinite matrix subjected to a remote stress equal to the average matrix stress, for which Eshelby’s solution does not exist, is solved by the finite element method accounting for the particle–matrix separation and contact at the debonded particle–matrix interface. Because of the nonlinear nature of the problem, an iterative process is employed in calculating the stiffness properties. The predicted stiffness properties are compared to the exact solutions of the stiffness properties of particulate composites with body-centered cubic packing arrangement.     

考虑瞬态效应的承载隔热多功能结构拓扑优化

同时满足承载和隔热要求的多功能结构在高超飞行器热防护结构设计中倍受关注.实际隔热材料通常承载能力弱,而高承载材料隔热性能差,如何在有限空间内协同结构的承载与隔热成为关键问题.高超飞行器气动加热时间有限,存在加热时间短、热荷载变化大的特点.因此结构设计需要考虑时间因素和瞬态效应,而现有稳态传热与承载的多功能协同优化设计模...     

Nonlinearly Viscoelastic Nanoindentation of PMMA Under a Spherical Tip

The Oliver-Pharr method has been well established to measure Young’s modulus and hardness of materials without time-dependent behavior in nanoindentation. The method, however, is not appropriate for measuring the viscoelastic properties of materials with pronounced viscoelastic effects. One well-known phenomenon is the formation of unloading “nose” or negative stiffness during unloading that often occurs during slow loading-unloading in nanoindentation on a viscoelastic material. Most methods in literature have only considered the loading curve for analysis of viscoelastic nanoindentation data while the unloading portion is not analyzed adequately to determine the nonlinearly viscoelastic properties. In this paper, nonlinearly viscoelastic effects are considered and modeled using the nonlinear Burgers model. Nanoindentation was conducted on poly-methylmethacrylate (PMMA) using a spherical indenter tip. An inverse problem solving approach is used to allow the finite element simulation results to agree with the nanoindentation load–displacement curve during the entire loading and unloading stage. This approach has allowed the determination of the nonlinearly viscoelastic behavior of PMMA at submicron scale. In addition, the nanoindentation unloading “nose” has been captured by simulation, indicating that the negative stiffness in the viscoelastic material is the result of memory effect in time-dependent materials.     

The benefit of high-conductivity materials in film cooled turbine nozzles

This study presents an experimental and numerical investigation of the beneficial effect of higher conductivity materials in HP turbine nozzles. Most of the literature studies focus on the maximum temperature that a nozzle can withstand, whereas the effect of thermal gradients is often neglected. However thermal gradients have higher influence on the life of the components and they have to be given careful consideration. In this work it is shown that thermal gradients are reduced by using high conductivity materials and, as a consequence, the nozzles life is appreciably increased.A representative film cooled leading edge with an internal impingement plate was studied experimentally at Texas AM University. Two materials were used, namely polycarbonate and stainless steel, in order to highlight the impact of conduction on coolant effectiveness. Numerically conjugate heat transfer simulations have been carried out with an in house solver to analyse in detail the impact of conduction and internal convection. Both experimental and numerical results show that by increasing the conductivity in the solid region, the thermal gradients are strongly reduced. Numerically it is shown that using inserts of nickel-aluminide alloys in nozzles may reduce the thermal gradients from 3 to 4 times if compared to nowadays design.     

Determination of mechanical properties of non-linear coatings from measurements with coated beams

Coatings are applied to structural components for several various reasons, such to protect against erosion or corrosion, as thermal barrier coatings, or to increase the energy dissipation. As determining the material properties of such coatings from homogeneous specimens is often difficult, it is sometimes necessary to conduct testing on coated specimens, with the properties of the coating then to be extracted from the results of testing. A methodology for doing this is given here. While applicable to other materials, the properties of such coatings as ceramics, metallics, or compounds to be applied to rotating and static components of gas turbines are of special interest. Such materials present a special challenge as the mechanical properties have generally been found to display a strong dependence on the amplitude of cyclic strain. Application of the methodology requires careful measurement of specimen dimensions, weights, natural frequencies, and system loss factors before and after coating. From these, the storage (Young’s) modulus, the loss modulus, and the loss factor can be extracted. The methodology is demonstrated through the use of data taken on flat specimens of titanium with plasma-sprayed coatings of NiCrAlY and a titania–alumina blend ceramic, vibrating in a cantilever mode.     

Thermal energy storage： Challenges and the role of particle technology

Thermal energy is at the heart of the whole energy chain providing a main linkage between the primary and secondary energy sources. Thermal energy storage （TES） has a pivotal role to play in the energy chain and hence in future low carbon economy. However, a competitive TES technology requires a number of scientific and technological challenges to be addressed including TES materials, TES components and devices, and integration of TES devices with energy networks and associated dynamic optimization. This paper provides a perspective of TES technology with a focus on TES materials challenges using molten salts based phase change materials for medium and high temperature applications. Two key challenges for the molten salt based TES materials are chemical incompatibility and low thermal conductivity. The use of composite materials provides an avenue to meeting the challenges. Such composite materials consist of a phase change material, a structural supporting material, and a thermal conductivity enhancement material. The properties of the supporting material could determine the dispersion of the thermal con- ductivity enhancement material in the salt. A right combination of the salt, the structural supporting material, and the thermal conductivity enhancement material could give a hierarchical structure that is able to encapsulate the molten salt and give a substantial enhancement in the thermal conductivity. Understanding of the structure-property relationships for the composite is essential for the formulation design and fabrication of the composite materials. Linking materials properties to the system level performance is recommended as a key future direction of research.     

Stiffness and strength of hierarchical polycrystalline materials with imperfect interfaces

In this study we investigate the effect of imperfect (not perfectly bonded) interfaces on the stiffness and strength of hierarchical polycrystalline materials. As a case study we consider a honeycomb cellular polycrystal used for drilling and cutting tools. The conclusions of the analysis are, however, general and applicable to any material with structural hierarchy. Regarding the stiffness, generalized expressions for the Voigt and Reuss estimates of the bounds to the effective elastic modulus of heterogeneous materials are derived. The generalizations regard two aspects that are not included in the standard Reuss and Voigt estimates. The first novelty consists in considering finite thickness interfaces between the constituents undergoing damage up to final debonding. The second generalization consists of interfaces not perpendicular or parallel to the loading direction, i.e., when isostress or isostrain conditions are not satisfied. In this case, approximate expressions for the effective elastic modulus are obtained by performing a computational homogenization approach. In the second part of the paper, the homogenized response of a representative volume element (RVE) of the honeycomb cellular polycrystalline material with one or two levels of hierarchy is numerically investigated. This is put forward by using the cohesive zone model (CZM) for finite thickness interfaces recently proposed by the authors and implemented in the finite element program FEAP. From tensile tests we find that the interface nonlinearity significantly contributes to the deformability of the material. Increasing the number of hierarchical levels, the deformability increases. The RVE is tested in two different directions and, due to different orientations of the interfaces and Mixed Mode deformation, anisotropy in stiffness and strength is observed. Stiffness anisotropy is amplified by increasing the number of hierarchical levels. Finally, the interaction between interfaces at different hierarchical levels is numerically characterized. A condition for scale separation, which corresponds to the independence of the material tensile strength from the properties of the interfaces in the second level, is established. When this condition is fulfilled, the material microstructure at the second level can be efficiently replaced by an effective homogeneous continuum with a homogenized stress–strain response. From the engineering point of view, the proposed criterion of scale separation suggests how to design the optimal microstructure of a hierarchical level to maximize the material tensile strength. An interpretation of this phenomenon according to the concept of flaw tolerance is finally presented.     

Optimization of size and shape of composite heat sinks with phase change materials

A composite heat sink is one in which a phase change material is interspersed with a high thermal conductivity base material to maximize the thermal performance of the device. Unlike constant area fins considered in literature, this work considers a repeating elemental composite heat sink (ECHS) with variable area fins. The base material is aluminium and the phase change material is n-Eicosane. An in house code was developed in MATLAB© to determine the time of operation for a vertical fins ECHS for a one dimensional approximation. This was followed by a two dimensional analysis of the problem using FLUENT 6.3. The effects of the shape of the interface surface on the time of operation and overall heat dissipated are determined and design modifications for the composite Heat Sinks based on the results obtained are suggested.     

Thermal energy storage: Challenges and the role of particle technology

Thermal energy is at the heart of the whole energy chain providing a main linkage between the primary and secondary energy sources. Thermal energy storage (TES) has a pivotal role to play in the energy chain and hence in future low carbon economy. However, a competitive TES technology requires a number of scientific and technological challenges to be addressed including TES materials, TES components and devices, and integration of TES devices with energy networks and associated dynamic optimization. This paper provides a perspective of TES technology with a focus on TES materials challenges using molten salts based phase change materials for medium and high temperature applications. Two key challenges for the molten salt based TES materials are chemical incompatibility and low thermal conductivity. The use of composite materials provides an avenue to meeting the challenges. Such composite materials consist of a phase change material, a structural supporting material, and a thermal conductivity enhancement material. The properties of the supporting material could determine the dispersion of the thermal conductivity enhancement material in the salt. A right combination of the salt, the structural supporting material, and the thermal conductivity enhancement material could give a hierarchical structure that is able to encapsulate the molten salt and give a substantial enhancement in the thermal conductivity. Understanding of the structure–property relationships for the composite is essential for the formulation design and fabrication of the composite materials. Linking materials properties to the system level performance is recommended as a key future direction of research.     

纤维增强复合材料热隐身斗篷设计

基于变换热动力学原理可获得具有热隐身性能的隐身结构(隐身斗篷)所需要的材料性质的空间分布。但这种材料性质的复杂分布形式以及局部热传导性能无限大等极值性质需求,使得隐身斗篷设计的实现非常困难,需要研究基于常规材料的隐身斗篷设计。本文基于常规材料的热隐身结构实现问题,提出了基于纤维增强复合材料圆环结构的实现热隐身的结构形式。首先,基于变换热动力学原理获得热隐身所需的热传导系数沿半径方向的变化规律;进而,通过设计复合材料不同位置的纤维铺设方式(含量和铺设方向)实现热隐身对材料性能的需求。选择金属银作为纤维,空气作为基体,设计出了具有热隐身性能的复合材料圆环结构纤维含量和铺设方向沿径向的分布方案。对该设计方案进行数值仿真,结果显示所设计的隐身结构具有良好的热隐身性能。由于设计方案基于常规材料,因此具有容易实现的优点。     

多相材料传热微结构的多目标优化设计

提出基于散热弱度的材料微结构热传导性能的预测方法,分别从理论和数值上验证该方法与均匀化方法的等效性;推导出微结构等效热传导系数的灵敏度计算格式,建立传热微结构拓扑优化的数学模型.以二维、三维多相材料等效热传导系数的加权组合为目标,采用凸规划对偶优化算法和二次型周长约束进行材料微结构的设计和材料分布的棋盘格控制.数值算例表明基于散热弱度的传热材料微结构设计是可行、有效的,可以为实际的材料设计提供依据.     

Response of an Elastic Body whose Heat Conduction Is Pressure Dependent

The properties of many real materials such as the viscosity, thermal and electrical conductivity, specific heat, relaxation time, as well as optical properties, depend upon the pressure to which the body is subject. For instance, the viscosity of fluids can vary by several orders of magnitude due to the variation in the pressure. In this paper we investigate the change in the response of an elastic solid due to the thermal conductivity being pressure dependent. It is well known that higher pressure leads to reduced molecular mobility, in rubber-like materials, leading in turn to higher cross-linking reaction rates. We find that the response of the solid is quite different from the classical response that is obtained by using Fourier??s law of heat conduction. The theoretical predictions according to the assumption that the thermal conductivity is pressure dependent, are in keeping with experimental results concerning the vulcanization of rubbers wherein one observes the conduction to be dependent on the pressure. To our knowledge, this is the first theoretical study that evaluates the response of non-linear elastic solids due the thermal conductivity depending on the pressure.