A statistical approach to characterize the viscoelastic creep compliances of a vinyl ester polymer

The objective of this study was to develop a model to predict the viscoelastic material functions of a vinyl ester (VE) polymer with variations in its experimentally obtained material properties under combined isothermal and mechanical loading. Short-term tensile creep experiments were conducted at three temperatures below the glass transition temperature of the VE polymer, with 10 replicates for each test configuration. The measured creep strain versus time responses were used to determine the creep compliances using the generalized viscoelastic constitutive equation with a Prony series representation. The variation in the creep compliances of a VE polymer was described by formulating the probability density functions (PDFs) and the corresponding cumulative distribution functions (CDFs) of the creep compliances using a two-parameter Weibull distribution. Both Weibull scale and shape parameters of the creep compliance distributions were shown to be time and temperature dependent. Two-dimensional quadratic Lagrange interpolation functions were used to characterize the Weibull parameters to obtain the PDFs and, subsequently, the CDFs of the creep compliances for the complete design temperature range during steady state creep. At each test temperature, creep compliance curves were obtained for constant CDF values and compared with the experimental data. The predicted creep compliances of the selected VE polymer in the design space are in good agreement with the experimental data for all three test temperatures.     

Exploring the effect of radiation crosslinking on the physico‐mechanical,dynamic mechanical and dielectric properties of EOC–PDMS blends for cable insulation applications

This work focuses on the effect of electron beam irradiation on the physico‐mechanical, dynamic mechanical and dielectric properties of blends based on ethylene octene copolymer (EOC) and poly dimethyl siloxane (PDMS) rubber. It is found that electron beam irradiation caused considerable improvement in the physico‐mechanical properties; the tensile strength was enhanced by nearly 35% for 70:30 EOC:PDMS blend. Phase morphology of the blends analyzed before irradiation by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) exhibited droplet/matrix morphology with sizes of the PDMS rubber domain varying from 0.55 µm to 0.47 µm as the amount of PDMS rubber decreased from 30 wt% to 10 wt%. This reduction in the PDMS rubber domain has been correlated with the physico‐mechanical properties of the blends. Further, the dynamic mechanical properties and creep behavior of these EOC:PDMS blends before and after irradiation has been studied. It is inferred that the 70:30 blend after radiation crosslinking shows a 17% decrease in the creep compliance, i.e. higher creep resistance compared to neat blends. All the radiation crosslinked blends exhibited lower dielectric constant, lower dielectric loss and higher electrical resistivity as compared to the virgin blends which makes it suitable for cable insulating application. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Instability Entanglement in the Electron Cyclotron Maser

Investigation of absolute instability (AI) and convective instability (CI) of the electron cyclotron maser has independently led to the birth of gyrotron oscillators and amplifiers. Here, it is demonstrated that these instabilities can form a cooperative relationship owing to the nonlinear behavior of the stimulated electron beam. The CI can be induced in a zero-drive system with the assistance of AI, and the ohmic losses of all the excited waves inside the system are greatly reduced, which is called “instability entanglement” here. According to the theoretical and experimental study of a 167/330 GHz gyrotron, when instability entanglement occurs, the ohmic dissipation decreases to one-ninth of the AI-only condition, and the output power is enhanced by 20%. This discovery is promising for surpassing the ceiling of output power and frequency of gyrodevices placed by ohmic losses.     

Nonlinear MHD Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in a pipe

Nonlinear MHD Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability in a pipe is treated with the derivative expansion method in the present paper. The linear stability problem was discussed in the past by Chandrasekhar (1961)^[1] and Xu et al. (1981).^[6]Nagano (1979)^[3] discussed the nonlinear MHD K-H instability with infinite depth. He used the singular perturbation method and extrapolated the obtained second order modifier of amplitude vs. frequency to seek the nonlinear effect on the instability growth rate γ. However, in our view, such an extrapolation is inappropriate. Because when the instability sets in, the growth rates of higher order terms on the right hand side of equations will exceed the corresponding secular producing terms, so the expansion will still become meaningless even if the secular producing terms are eliminated. Mathematically speaking, it's impossible to derive formula (39) when γ ₀ ² is negative in Nagano's paper.^[3]Moreover, even as early as γ ₀ ² → O⁺, the expansion becomes invalid because the 2nd order modifier γ₂ (in his formula (56)) tends to infinity. This weakness is removed in this paper, and the result is extended to the case of a pipe with finite depth. Theproject is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

直立顺层边坡的黏弹性稳定分析

直立边坡的失稳与岩体的流变性质密切相关，其在一定载荷作用下失稳表现出延迟特性。采用自重作用下的梁柱力学模型，考虑岩石的流变性，给出了不同材料模型下直立边坡的极限坡高及其分析方法。     

布置方式对U型管不稳定性的影响

从实验和理论两方面研究了不同布置方式对加热Ｕ型管不稳定性的影响。实验在氟利昂－１１３试验台上进行，研究了不同布置Ｕ型管在三种压力工况，六种加热工况及各种流量下的流动不稳定性。理论研究得出了系统稳定性的判据，比较了不同布置方式Ｕ型管的脉动起始边界；并对实际工业现场的Ｕ型管布置方式进行了模拟数值计算，比较了在较高系统压力下不同布置方式Ｕ型管的脉动起始边界     

Quick assessment methodology for reliability of solder joints in ball grid array (BGA) assembly—Part I: Creep constitutive relation and fatigue model

In this study, a new unified creep constitutive relation and a modified energy-based fatigue model have been established respectively to describe the creep flow and predict the fatigue life of Sn−Pb solders. It is found that the relation successfully elucidates the creep mechanism related to current constitutive relations. The model can be used to describe the temperature and frequency dependent low cycle fatigue behavior of the solder. The relation and the model are further employed in part II to develop the numerical simulation approach for the long-term reliability assessment of the plastic ball grid array (BGA) assembly. The project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (59705008)     

Bénard-Marangoni instability in a viscoelastic Jeffreys' fluid layer

Coupled buoyancy (Bénard) and thermocapillary (Marangoni) convection in a thin fluid layer of a viscoelastic fluid are studied. The viscoelastic fluid is modeled by Jeffreys' constitutive equation. The lower surface of the layer is in contact with a rigid heat-conducting plate while its upper surface is subject to a temperature-dependent surface tension. The critical temperature difference between both boundaries corresponding to the onset of convection is calculated. The role of the various viscometric coefficients is discussed. In the appendix it is shown that Jeffreys' constitutive relation is easily derived from thermodynamic considerations based on extended irreversible thermodynamics.     

Onset of Rayleigh-Bénard convection in gases - classical and extended thermodynamics

This paper deals with the determination of the critical parameters that induce instability in the Rayleigh-Bénard arrangement, viz. a gas confined between two rigid plates and heated from below. In order to compute the critical values of the parameters, classical thermodynamics with the Navier-Stokes and Fourier constitutive relations and extended thermodynamics with thirteen moments are used. Linear stability analysis is performed. The results of both theories are illustrated and compared.Received: 26 August 2003, Accepted: 1 September 2003, Published online: 5 December 2003     

Long-term strength of metals and creep equations based on the Coulomb-Mohr criterion

It is proposed to construct long-term strength and creep relations for metals on the basis of the Coulomb-Mohr criterion. The creep equations and the long-term strength criterion for plane stress are analyzed in detail. Results of long-term strength calculations are compared with data of experiments with metallic materials. It is established that theoretical and experimental results are in satisfactory agreement. __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 48, No. 6, pp. 115–123, November–December, 2007.