Influence of the loading path on the strength of fiber-reinforced composites subjected to transverse compression and shear

The influence of the loading path on the failure locus of a composite lamina subjected to transverse compression and out-of-plane shear is analyzed through computational micromechanics. This is carried out using the finite element simulation of a representative volume element of the microstructure, which takes into account explicitly fiber and matrix spatial distribution within the lamina. In addition, the actual failure mechanisms (plastic deformation of the matrix and interface decohesion) are included in the simulations through the corresponding constitutive models. Two different interface strength values were chosen to explore the limiting cases of composites with strong or weak interfaces. It was found that failure locus was independent of the loading path for the three cases analyzed (pseudo-radial, compression followed by shear and shear followed by compression) in the composites with strong and weak interfaces. This result was attributed to the fact that the dominant failure mechanism in each material was the same in transverse compression and in shear. Failure is also controlled by the same mechanisms under a combination of both stresses and the failure locus depended mainly on the magnitude of the stresses that trigger fracture rather than in the loading path to reach the critical condition.     

Application of the stabilization method to interacting resonances

The stabilization method is applied to the case of interacting resonances in the photo-dissociation of van der Waals clusters composed by a rare gas atom bound to a dihalogen molecule. The study of an illustrative two-dimensional model consisting in a T-shaped NeI₂ molecule shows the adequacy of the method whenever the projection of the stabilization wave functions on the assumed prepared initial state is accounted for. The agreement of the fragmentation cross-sections with some previous results using the effective resolvent method and accurate close-coupling calculations is excellent. The method reveals its utility as a complementary tool since allows, through the analysis of the stabilization wave function in terms of zero-order levels, a precise characterization of the resonant states involved. Received 5 April 2002 / Received in final form 24 May 2002 Published online 19 July 2002     

New extraction method for the analysis of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates in marine organisms. Pressurized liquid extraction versus Soxhlet extraction

A new method has been developed for the determination of linear alkylbenzene sulfonates (LAS) from various marine organisms, and compared with Soxhlet extraction. The technique applied includes the use of pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) for the extraction stage, preconcentration of the samples, purification by solid-phase extraction (SPE) and analysis by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection. The spiked concentrations were added to the samples (wet mass of the organisms: Solea senegalensis and Ruditapes semidecussatus), which were homogenized and agitated continuously for 25 h. The samples were extracted by pressurized hot solvent extraction using two different extraction temperatures (100 and 150 degrees C) and by traditional Soxhlet extraction. The best recoveries were obtained employing pressurized hot solvent extraction at 100 degrees C and varied in the range from 66.1 to 101.3% with a standard deviation of between 2 and 13. Detection limit was between 5 and 15 microg kg(-1) wet mass using HPLC-fluorescence detection. The analytical method developed in this paper has been applied for LAS determination in samples from a Flow-through exposure system with the objective of measuring the bioconcentration of this surfactant.     

Determination of N-nitrosamines by HPTLC with Fluorescence Detection — Use of Non-Ionic Surfactants as Enhancing Agents

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - The dansyl derivatives of N-nitrosodimethylamine, N-nitrosodi-ethylamine, and N-nitrosodibuthylamine have been separated by HPTLC...     

Development and Validation of a High-Performance Thin-Layer Chromatographic Method,with Densitometry,for Quantitative Analysis of Tizoxanide (a Metabolite of Nitazoxanide) in Human Plasma

JPC – Journal of Planar Chromatography – Modern TLC - A new simple, rapid, and selective high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method with metronidazole as the internal...     

Defect concentration in Ti-substituted YIG from TG curves

The article discusses theory and experiment about the measurement of defect concentration in Ti-substituted yttrium iron garnet by means of thermogravimetry techniques. The two possible cases arising from oxygen interchange with atmosphere, oxygen vacancies and interstitial cations, may be analyzed quantitatively from the derived expressions. The possibility of another type of defects being present in the samples, not associated to oxygen evolution, is not excluded. Measurements were carried out in air and CO₂ for different Ti contents. The substitution tends to increase slightly the defect parameter θ in YIG, while a CO₂ reducing atmosphere is much more effective than the Ti substitution for increasing θ. Calculations for a given single-phased sample sintered in air show two possibilities: a deficit of one oxygen atom for every 2.5 unit cells of 96 atoms, or one excess cation for every 3.5 cells. Other samples show very similar results. The accuracy involved in the measurements is about 2–3%.