Non-elliptic elastic materials and the modeling of elastic-plastic behavior for finite deformation

For illustrative purposes this paper treats a special problem in the theory of finite deformations of elastic materials whose associated displacement equations of equilibrium do not remain elliptic at all strains. The typical deformation arising in this problem possesses a discontinuous gradient, so that quasi-static motions involving such equilibrium states may be dissipative. For a special class of such “non-elliptic” elastic materials, it is shown that the macroscopic response in the problem treated may be precisely of the form associated with elastic—perfectly plastic behavior. The counterparts of yield, plastic strain and plastic strain rate are determined by the underlying elastic strain energy function.     

Surface effects on mechanical behavior of elastic nanoporous materials under high strain

This paper studies surface effects on the mechanical behavior of nanoporous materials under high strains with an improved anisotropic Kelvin model. The stress-strain relations are derived by the theories of Euler-Bernoulli beam and surface elasticity. Meanwhile, the influence of strut (or ligament) size on the mechanical properties of nanoporous materials is discussed, which becomes a key factor with consideration of the residual surface stress and the surface elasticity. The results show that the decrease in the strut diameter and the increase in the residual surface stress or the surface elasticity can both lead to an increase in the carrying capacity of nanoporous materials. Furthermore, mechanical behaviors of anisotropic nanoporous materials in different directions (the rise direction and the transverse direction) are investigated. The results indicate that the surface effects in the transverse direction are more obvious than those in the rise direction for anisotropic nanoporous materials. In addition, the present results can be reduced to the cases of conventional foams as the strut size increases to micron-scale, which confirms validity of the model to a certain extent.     

Elastoplastic damage modeling the mechanical behavior of rock-like materials considering confining pressure dependency

In this paper, the effect of confining pressure on the mechanical behavior of rock-like materials, such as concrete, is studied by using a coupled elastoplastic damage model. Damage mechanism is coupled, in different manners, with two plastic flow mechanisms: plastic shear mechanism developed under low confining pressure and plastic pore collapse mechanism observed under high confinement. The proposed model is applied to study a series of laboratory tests performed under extremely low to very high confining pressure, up to 650 MPa. The numerical predictions of proposed model are in good agreement with the experimental results.     

On determination of elastic limits by dissipative heating of materials

This paper considers a method for determining the conventional elastic limit by dissipative heating of materials and the results of experimental investigation of these characteristics during periodic asymmetric loading of steel and alloy.     

On the elastic–viscoplastic behavior of nanocrystalline materials

A new constitutive law is introduced to quantify the macroscopic effect of grain boundary dislocation emission on the behavior of pure face center cubic nanocrystalline materials. It is postulated that an emitted dislocation ends its trajectory in the grain boundary opposite to the source causing mass transfer. Dislocation emission by grain boundary ledges, considered here as the primary grain-boundary sources, is modeled as a thermally activated mechanism and the penetration of an emitted dislocation is assimilated as a soft collision. The macroscopic behavior of the material is retrieved via the use of a secant self-consistent scheme. The material is seen as a two-phase composite where the inclusion phase represents grain cores, their behavior is driven by dislocation glide, and where the matrix phase, governed by the newly introduced dislocation emission and penetration mechanism, represents both grain boundaries and triple junctions. The long range stress field arising from the presence of grain boundaries is taken into account in the critical glide resistance stress at 0 K in the inclusion phase. The model is applied to polycrystal copper and results in pure tension and creep are compared to experiments. Good agreements between the experimental measurements and the model predictions are observed.     

On the modeling of fiber dispersion in fiber-reinforced elastic materials

When an isotropic material is subject to a uniaxial tension, the principal strain transverse to the direction of applied load is always negative. However, in fiber reinforced materials the transverse principal strain can change its sign as the load increases, passing through the zero-points, known as perversions. We investigate how the number of perversions in a material reinforced by two symmetrically aligned families of distributed fibers depends both on the degree of fiber dispersion and the model used for fiber dispersion. Angular integration and three variants of the generalized structure tensor approach are considered and discussed. The study of perversions clearly demonstrates the qualitative difference between these approaches in the case of high dispersion of fibers. The results suggest that this difference is primarily due to the way compressive fibers are modeled.     

Three-dimensional modeling of the mechanical property of linearly elastic open cell foams

Three-dimensional Voronoi models are developed to investigate the mechanical behavior of linearly elastic open cell foams. Dependence of the Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio and bulk modulus of the foams on the relative density is evaluated through finite element analysis. Obtained results show that in the low density regime the Young’s modulus and bulk modulus of random Voronoi foams can be well represented by those of Kelvin foams, and are sensitive to the geometric imperfections inherent in the microstructure of foams. In contrast, the compressive plateau stress of the foams is less sensitive to the imperfections. Failure surface of the foams subject to multi-axial compression is determined and is found to comply with the maximum compressive principal stress criterion, consistent with available experimental observations on polymer foams. Numerical results also show that elastic buckling of cell edges at microscopic level is the dominant mechanism responsible for the compressive failure of elastic open cell foams.     

The viscoelastic behavior of linear elastic materials with voids

It is shown that the constitutive equations for a linear elastic material with voids imply a viscoelastic stress-strain relation known as the standard linear solid in the case of quasi-static, homogeneous deformations in the absence of self-equilibrated body forces. It is noted that, even for deformations that are dynamic and/or inhomogeneous the viscoelastic behavior is still qualitatively similar to that predicted by the standard linear solid model.     

Microstructure observation and mechanical behavior modeling for limnetic nacre

In the present research, microstructure of akind of limnetic shell （Hyriopsis cumingii） is observed and measured by using the scanning electron microscopy, and mechanical behavior experiments of the shell nacre are carried out by using bending and tensile tests. The dependence of mechanical properties of the shell nacre on its microstructure is analyzed by using a modified shear-lag model, and the overall stress-strain relation is obtained. The experimental results reveal that the mechanical properties of shell nacre strongly depend on the water contents of the limnetic shell. Dry nacre shows a brittle behavior, whereas wetting nacre displays a strong ductility. Compared to the tensile test, the bending test overestimates the strength and underestimates the Young＇s modulus. The modified shear-lag model can characterize the deformation features of nacre effectively.     

A simple model of the mechanical behavior of ceramic-like materials

This paper presents a macroscopic mechanical theory for ceramic-like materials undergoing isothermal deformations. The proposed model describes an elastic brittle material which is damageable only under tensile loading. The damage lowers the elastic stiffness in traction simulating hence the softening and the fracture (zero stillness) of the material. The basic idea is to consider the continuum as a mixture of two phases—a linear elastic phase and a masonry phase (which shows a linear elastic behavior under compression but cannot hold tractive loads at all). The damage is then related to the volume fraction β of the clastic constituent. The constitutive relations are derived from macroscopic thermodynamics with the volume fraction β and its gradient β taken as state variables.     

Predicting the mechanical behavior of two-phase materials with cellular automata

A new mechanical model is proposed to predict the mechanical behavior of inhomogeneous materials. The simple case of an aggregate of two linearly viscous phases submitted to plane strain is addressed here. Calculations involve the Eshelby localization relationships associated with a Walpole-type averaging procedure. When the grains are equiaxed, derivations are entirely analytical, which allows the proposed method to be simply compared with the classical Hashin-Shtrikman lower and upper bounds and the self-consistent model. When large strains are considered, the model is used to predict numerically the overall stress-strain relationships. Significant morphological hardening or softening is shown to occur with increasing strain, depending on the initially equiaxed or elongated grain shapes. Finally, the local distributions of strains, and thus the development of strain inhomogeneities, are also predicted by the model.     

Thermomechanical cyclic behavior modeling of Cu-Al-Be SMA materials and structures

This paper concerns the behavior of Cu-Al-Be polycrystalline shape memory alloys under cyclic thermomechanical loadings. Sometimes, as shown by many experimental observations, a permanent inelastic strain occurs and increases with the number of cycles. A series of cyclic thermomechanical tests has been carried out and the origin of the residual strain has been identified as residual martensite. These observations have been used to develop a 3D macroscopic model for the superelasticity and stress assisted memory effect of SMAs able to describe the evolution of permanent inelastic strain during cycles. The model has been implemented in a finite elements code and used to simulate the behavior of antagonistic actuators based on SMA springs under cyclic thermomechanical loading with a residual displacement appearance.     

Micromechanical modeling of linear viscoelastic behavior of heterogeneous materials

Study of effective behavior of heterogeneous materials, starting from the properties of the microstructure, represents a critical step in the design and modeling of new materials. Within this framework, the aim of this work is to introduce a general internal variables approach for scale transition problem in linear viscoelastic case. A new integral formulation is established, based on the complete taking into account of field equations and differential constitutive laws of the heterogeneous problem, in which the effects of elasticity and viscosity interact in a representative volume element. Thanks to Green’s techniques applied to space convolution’s term, a new concentration relation is obtained. The step of homogenization is then carried out according to the self-consistent approximation. The results of the present model are illustrated and compared with those provided by Hashin’s and Rougier’s ones, considered as references, and by internal variables models such as those of Weng and translated fields.     

二维材料力学行为的压痕测试

准确了解二维材料的力学性能对于推动其应用具有重要意义, 无基底压痕技术是目前最广泛采用的二维材料力学性能测试方法之一, 本文综述了二维材料压痕研究的最新进展以及所面临的问题, 并对将来的研究工作进行了展望.无基底压痕技术是将二维材料转移到带有沟槽或柱形孔的基底上, 制备二维材料"梁"和"鼓"模型, 然后利用原子力显微镜测量其在压针作用下的载荷--位移关系, 最后通过基于连续介质薄膜导出的压痕响应分析模型拟合实验结果, 估算出二维材料的弹性模量和本征强度.由于二维材料的厚度远小于连续介质薄膜, 来自于压头以及基底孔侧壁的范德华力对二维材料的压痕响应具有显著影响, 造成二维材料与传统压痕分析模型中的基本假设不符, 导致不能准确预测二维材料的弹性模量; 另外, 由于传统压痕模型无法准确描述二维材料在大变形下的非线性行为, 以及由缺陷等引起的应力集中, 导致由压痕测试表征的二维材料(特别是多晶二维材料)本征强度具有较大的偏差. 因此, 一方面需要正确了解由压痕技术获得的二维材料力学性能, 另一方面还需对目前的研究方法做进一步的改进和完善.      

Indentation tests investigation of mechanical behavior of two-dimensional materials

准确了解二维材料的力学性能对于推动其应用具有重要意义, 无基底压痕技术是目前最广泛采用的二维材料力学性能测试方法之一, 本文综述了二维材料压痕研究的最新进展以及所面临的问题, 并对将来的研究工作进行了展望.无基底压痕技术是将二维材料转移到带有沟槽或柱形孔的基底上, 制备二维材料"梁"和"鼓"模型, 然后利用原子力显微镜测量其在压针作用下的载荷--位移关系, 最后通过基于连续介质薄膜导出的压痕响应分析模型拟合实验结果, 估算出二维材料的弹性模量和本征强度.由于二维材料的厚度远小于连续介质薄膜, 来自于压头以及基底孔侧壁的范德华力对二维材料的压痕响应具有显著影响, 造成二维材料与传统压痕分析模型中的基本假设不符, 导致不能准确预测二维材料的弹性模量; 另外, 由于传统压痕模型无法准确描述二维材料在大变形下的非线性行为, 以及由缺陷等引起的应力集中, 导致由压痕测试表征的二维材料(特别是多晶二维材料)本征强度具有较大的偏差. 因此, 一方面需要正确了解由压痕技术获得的二维材料力学性能, 另一方面还需对目前的研究方法做进一步的改进和完善.