The behavior of a crack in functionally graded piezoelectric/piezomagnetic materials under anti-plane shear loading

Summary In this paper, the behavior of a crack in functionally graded piezoelectric/piezomagnetic materials subjected to an anti-plane shear loading is investigated. To make the analysis tractable, it is assumed that the material properties vary exponentially with the coordinate parallel to the crack. By using a Fourier transform, the problem can be solved with the help of a pair of dual integral equations in which the unknown variable is the jump of the displacements across the crack surfaces. These equations are solved using the Schmidt method. The relations among the electric displacement, the magnetic flux and the stress field near the crack tips are obtained. Numerical examples are provided to show the effect of the functionally graded parameter on the stress intensity factors of the crack.The authors are grateful for financial support from the Natural Science Foundation of Hei Long Jiang Province (A0301), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (50232030, 10172030), the Natural Science Foundation with Excellent Young Investigators of Hei Long Jiang Province(JC04-08) and the National Science Foundation with Excellent Young Investigators (10325208).     

Magnetothermoelastic stress and perturbation of magnetic field vector in a functionally graded hollow sphere

In this article, a closed-form solution for one-dimensional magnetothermoelastic problem in a functionally graded material (FGM) hollow sphere placed in uniform magnetic and temperature fields subjected to an internal pressure is obtained using the infinitesimal theory of magnetothermoelasticity. Hyper-geometric functions are employed to solve the governing equation. The material properties through the graded direction are assumed to be nonlinear with an exponential distribution. The nonhomogeneity of the material in the radial direction is assumed to be exponential. The temperature, displacement and stress fields and the perturbation of magnetic field vector are determined and compared with those of the homogeneous case. Hence, the effect of inhomogeneity on the stresses and the perturbation of magnetic field vector distribution are demonstrated. The results of this study are applicable for designing optimum FGM hollow spheres.     

Three-dimensional solutions for the stress fields in functionally graded cylindrical panel with finite length and subjected to thermal/mechanical loads

Three-dimensional thermo-elastic analysis of a functionally graded cylindrical panel with finite length and subjected to nonuniform mechanical and steady-state thermal loads are carried out in this paper. Thermal and mechanical properties of the functionally graded material are assumed to be temperature independent and continuously vary in the radial direction of the panel. Analytical solutions for the temperature and stress fields expressed in terms of trigonometric and power series for the simply supported boundary conditions are derived and graphically presented.     

Anti-plane stress intensity, energy release and energy density at crack tips in a functionally graded strip with linearly varying properties

The fracture problem of a crack in a functionally graded strip with its properties varying in a linear form along the strip thickness under an anti-plane load is considered. The embedded anti-plane crack is located in the middle of strip half way through the thickness. The third mode stress intensity factor is derived using two different methods. In the first method, by employing Fourier integral transforms, the governing equation is converted to a singular integral equation, which is subsequently solved numerically by the collocation method based on Chebyshev polynomials. Then, the problem is solved by means of finite element method in which quadrilateral 8-node singular elements around each crack tip are used. After inspecting the validity of the solution technique, effects of crack geometry and non-homogeneous material parameter on the stress intensity, energy release and energy density are studied and the results of analytical and FEM solutions are compared.     

Mechanisms of stress transfer and interface integrity in carbon/epoxy composites under compression loading: Part I: Experimental investigation

Raman spectroscopy is used to get an insight into the microstructural aspects of the compressional behavior of carbon fiber composites. This is done by a comparative assessment of the stress transfer efficiency in tension and compression in single-fiber discontinuous model geometries. It was found that axial stress is transferred in the fiber through the generation of shear stresses at the interface for both tension and compression loading. Experimental evidence is presented to verify that the values of the maximum interfacial shear stress that the system sustains is a function of the applied strain and independent of the type of loading. However, compressive failure is quite different as fiber fragments remain in contact, thus can still bear load.     

Large deformation in polycrystalline copper under combined tension-torsion, loading, unloading and reloading or reverse loading: A study of two incremental theories of plasticity

Experimental data from combined tension-torsion of thin walled tubes of annealed polycrystalline copper subjected to various non-proportionate loading, unloading and reverse loading paths are presented. The measurements are compared with predicted values from classical incremental theory of plasticity in terms of true stress and true strain and a recently developed incremental theory of plasticity by Bell in terms of nominal stress and nominal strain. These experimental data reveal that the plastic strain produced by the various proportionate and non-proportionate loading, unloading and reverse loading paths are in better agreement with Bell's incremental theory of plasticity as compared to classical incremental theory.     

Mechanisms of stress transfer and interface integrity in carbon/epoxy composites under compression loading. Part II: Numerical approach

The finite element method is used to get an insight into the micromechanics of the compressive behaviour of carbon fibre composites. First the developed model is validated with existing experimental data and good agreement between predictions and experiments was found. Then the FE model is used to derive the complete stress field in the fibre and the matrix in the vicinity of a fibre fracture location. It was found that the perturbation of the stress field occurs mainly in the direction transverse to the fibre axis and this could explain the failure modes observed in composites tested in compression. Finally, a parametric study was performed on the effect of matrix modulus and matrix yield stress on the compressive fragmentation process.     

Grain size,strain rate,and temperature dependence of flow stress in ultra-fine grained and nanocrystalline Cu and Al: Synthesis,experiment, and constitutive modeling

For the first time, high quality bulk nanocrystalline (nc) fcc metals, with least amounts of imperfections, exhibiting high strength and ductility at room and different temperatures, under quasi-static and dynamic types of loading, were prepared and a comprehensive study on their post-yield mechanical properties was performed. This investigation included study of the effect of temperature on stress–strain responses of mechanically milled bulk nc Cu and Al. The samples after preparation through mechanical milling and consolidation processes were subjected to uniaxial compressive loading at quasi-static and dynamic strain rates of 10⁻² s⁻¹ and 1840–3105 s⁻¹, respectively, at temperatures ranging from 223 to 523 K. In both materials strong dependency of flow stress to temperature was observed; this dependency was rather more pronounced when the materials were tested at the quasi-static strain rate. Further, a new grain size and temperature dependent viscoplastic phenomenological constitutive equation, Khan–Liang–Farrokh (KLF) model was developed based on the Khan–Huang–Liang (KHL) constitutive equation. The model was featured to correlate different characteristic behaviors of polycrystalline materials in the plastic regime, as the result of grain refinement. In addition, the viscoplastic responses of bulk Cu and Al of different grain sizes (from sub-micron to nanometer range), and those from bulk nc Cu and Al at different strain rates (quasi-static to dynamic), recently published (21 and 22), were simulated using the newly developed equation. The results confirmed reasonable capability of the developed model to correlate a wide spectrum of the viscoplastic responses of these fcc metals.     

A parameter investigation of shear-induced coalescence in semidilute PIB–PDMS polymer blends: effects of shear rate, shear stress volume fraction, and viscosity

In this work, drop coalescence of polymer blends under shear flow in a parallel flow apparatus was investigated by optical sectioning microscopy. In each experiment, shear rate was set at values low enough to avoid any break-up phenomena. The time evolution of the drop size distribution was determined by motorized sample scanning and iterative acquisition of stacks of images along sample depth. Drop size and location in the acquired images was found by automated image analysis techniques. A systematic experimental campaign to investigate the effects of shear rate (in the range 0.1–0.5 s⁻¹), volume fraction (2.5–10%), and viscosity of the two phases (3–63 Pa s) at different viscosity ratio (0.1–2.3) was carried out. By comparing data from different experiments, it was found that at any strain value, the average drop size decreases monotonically with the shear stress, calculated as the product of shear rate and matrix viscosity. Furthermore, the coalescence rate slowed down with increasing viscosity ratio. Overall, these results provide an extensive set of data, which can be used as a benchmark for modeling shear-induced coalescence in polymer blends.Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Society of Rheology, Grenoble, April 2005.     

A geometrically exact Cosserat shell-model including size effects,avoiding degeneracy in the thin shell limit. Part I: Formal dimensional reduction for elastic plates and existence of minimizers for positive Cosserat couple modulus

This contribution is concerned with a consistent formal dimensional reduction of a previously introduced finite-strain three-dimensional Cosserat micropolar elasticity model to the two-dimensional situation of thin plates and shells. Contrary to the direct modelling of a shell as a Cosserat surface with additional directors, we obtain the shell model from the Cosserat bulk model which already includes a triad of rigid directors. The reduction is achieved by assumed kinematics, quadratic through the thickness. The three-dimensional transverse boundary conditions can be evaluated analytically in terms of the assumed kinematics and determines exactly two appearing coefficients in the chosen ansatz. Further simplifications with subsequent analytical integration through the thickness determine the reduced model in a variational setting. The resulting membrane energy turns out to be a quadratic, elliptic, first order, non degenerate energy in contrast to classical approaches. The bending contribution is augmented by a curvature term representing an additional stiffness of the Cosserat model and the corresponding system of balance equations remains of second order. The lateral boundary conditions for simple support are non-standard. The model includes size-effects, transverse shear resistance, drilling degrees of freedom and accounts implicitly for thickness extension and asymmetric shift of the midsurface. The formal thin shell membrane limit without classical h ³-bending term is non-degenerate due to the additional Cosserat curvature stiffness and control of drill rotations. In our formulation, the drill-rotations are strictly related to the size-effects of the bulk model and not introduced artificially for numerical convenience. Upon linearization with zero Cosserat couple modulus we recover the well known infinitesimal-displacement Reissner-Mindlin model without size-effects and without drill-rotations. It is shown that the dimensionally reduced Cosserat formulation is well-posed for positive Cosserat couple modulus by means of the direct methods of variations along the same line of argument which showed the well-posedness of the three-dimensional Cosserat bulk model [72].Received: 16 April 2004, Accepted: 3 May 2004, Published online: 17 September 2004     

The stress concentration near a rigid line inclusion in a prestressed, elastic material. Part I.: Full-field solution and asymptotics

A lamellar (zero-thickness) rigid inclusion, so-called ‘stiffener’, is considered embedded in a uniformly prestressed (or prestrained), incompressible and orthotropic elastic sheet, subject to a homogeneous far-field deformation increment. This problem is solved under the assumption of plane strain deformation, with prestress principal directions and orthotropy axes aligned with the stiffener. A full-field solution is obtained solving the Riemann-Hilbert problem for symmetric incremental loading at infinity (while for shear deformation the stiffener leaves the ambient field unperturbed). In addition to the full-field solution, the asymptotic Mode I near-tip representation involving the corresponding incremental stress intensity factor are derived and these results are complemented with the Mode II asymptotic solution. For null prestress, the full-field stress state is shown to match correctly with photoelastic experiments performed by us (on two-part epoxy resin samples containing an aluminum lamina). Our experiments also confirm the fracture patterns for a brittle material containing a stiffener, which do not obey a hoop-stress criterion and result completely different from those found for cracks. Issues related to shear band formation and evaluation of energy release rate for a stiffener growth (or reduction) are deferred to Part II of this article.     

The stress concentration near a rigid line inclusion in a prestressed, elastic material. Part II.: Implications on shear band nucleation, growth and energy release rate

The full-field and asymptotic solutions derived in Part I of this article (for a lamellar rigid inclusion, embedded in a uniformly prestressed, incompressible and orthotropic elastic sheet, subject to a far-field deformation increment) are employed to analyse shear band formation, as promoted by the near-tip stress singularity. Since these solutions involve the prestress as a parameter, stress and deformation fields can be investigated near the boundary of ellipticity loss (but still within the elliptic range). In the vicinity of this boundary, the incremental stress and displacement fields evidence localized deformations with patterns organized into shear bands, evidencing inclinations corresponding to those predicted at ellipticity loss. These localized deformation patterns are shown to explain experimental results on highly deformed soft materials containing thin, stiff inclusions. Finally, the incremental energy release rate and incremental J-integral are derived, related to a reduction (or growth) of the stiffener. It is shown that this is always positive (or negative), but tends to zero approaching the Ellipticity boundary, which implies that reduction of the lamellar inclusion dies out and, simultaneously, shear bands develop.