Synthesis and characterization of semicrystalline triblockcopolymers of isotactic polystyrene and polydimethylsiloxane

iPS‐b‐PDMS‐b‐iPS triblock copolymers were prepared by hydrosilylation of vinyl‐terminated isotactic polystyrenes (iPS) with α,ω‐bis(dimethylsilane)‐terminated poly(dimethylsiloxane)s (PDMS). As a function of the molecular weights of the two components, the triblock copolymer composition was varied between 9.0 and 98 wt % iPS. The resulting triblock copolymers remained soluble during block copolymer synthesis due to slow iPS crystallization in solution. At iPS content exceeding 31 wt %, the iPS crystallization was achieved by postpolymerization annealing and melt processing. The triblock copolymers melted above 200 °C with melting temperatures very similar to those of the corresponding iPS homopolymers. Nanostructure and microstructure formation of both amorphous and semicrystalline triblock copolymers were examined by means of light microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and TEM measurements. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Goal‐oriented space–time adaptivity in the finite element Galerkin method for the computation of nonstationary incompressible flow

This paper presents a general strategy for designing adaptive space–time finite element discretizations of the nonstationary Navier–Stokes equations. The underlying framework is that of the dual weighted residual method for goal‐oriented a posteriori error estimation and automatic mesh adaptation. In this approach, the error in the approximation of certain quantities of physical interest, such as the drag coefficient, is estimated in terms of local residuals of the computed solution multiplied by sensitivity factors, which are obtained by numerically solving an associated dual problem. In the resulting local error indicators, the effects of spatial and temporal discretization are separated, which allows for the simultaneous adjustment of time step and spatial mesh size. The efficiency of the proposed method for the construction of economical meshes and the quantitative assessment of the error is illustrated by several test examples. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A thermodynamic framework for coupled multiphase field and diffusion models for lower bainite transformation

The lower bainite transformation is characterized by a displacive transformation from austenite to bainitic ferrite and a subsequent separation of carbon within the new supersaturated phase. At accumulations of carbon carbides precipitate. To model this complex process a framework considering phase changes and carbon diffusion is required. In this work we present a thermodynamic framework based on the theory of microforce balances considering multiphase Ginzburg-Landau equations coupled with Cahn-Hilliard diffusion. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Two accuracy improvements on nonuniform transformation field analysis for plasticity coupled to softening

A reduced order homogenization scheme for the case of plasticity coupled with softening effects is proposed. This is based on a straightforward extension of the so-called nonuniform transformation field analysis (NTFA, [2]). Two related new methods, denoted as uneven NTFA and adaptive NTFA accounting for accuracy improvements, are also presented, which are based on the ideas of parameter identification and adaptive modeling, respectively. A complementary numerical study is given. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Automorphisms of Some Topological Regular Parallelisms of {{\rm PG}(3, \mathbb{R})}

In a precedent article we constructed various topological regular parallelisms of the real projective 3-space \({{\rm PG}(3, \mathbb{R})}\) via hyperflock determining line sets of \({{\rm PG}(5, \mathbb{R})}\) (see Betten and Riesinger in Mh Math 161:43–58, 2010). In the present paper we discuss for some of these parallelisms their automorphism groups consisting of all automorphic collineations and all automorphic dualities, especially we compute their group dimension. Thus we are able to present: (1) topological regular 5-dimensional parallelisms of \({{\rm PG}(3, \mathbb{R})}\) of group dimension 0, (2) topological regular 4-dimensional parallelisms of \({{\rm PG}(3, \mathbb{R})}\) of group dimension 0 or 1, (3) topological regular 3-dimensional parallelisms of \({{\rm PG}(3, \mathbb{R})}\) of group dimension 1.     

Efficient Simulation of Short Fibre Reinforced Composites

Lightweight structures become more and more important and one great class within these structures are parts produced by injection moulding. To improve the mechanical properties of these parts short fibers are injected within the molten plastics. Now a way to describe these properties without knowing the fibre orientation exactly is needed. We show an intuitive way, how mechanical properties of short fibre reinforced composites for linear thermoelasticity can be described and show the relation to other approaches. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A macroscopic consitutive model on induced anisotropy for polymers with weighting functions

The alignment of polymer chains is a well known microstructural evolution effect due to straining of polymers. This has a drastic influence on the macroscopic properties of the initially isotropic material, such as a pronounced strength in the loading direction of stretched films. Experiments on strain induced anisotropy at room temperature are analyzed by optical measurements. For modeling the effect of strain induced anisotropy a macroscopic constitutive model is presented. As a key idea, weighting functions are introduced to represent a strain-softening/hardening-effect to account for induced anisotropy. These functions represent the ratio between the total strain rate and a structural tensor. In this way, material parameters are used as a sum of weighted direction related quantities. In the finite element examples we simulate the cold-forming of amorphous thermoplastic films below the glass transition temperature subjected to different re-loading directions. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Macroscopic and mesoscopic modeling based on the concept of generalized stresses for cutting simulation

Based on the concept of generalized stresses proposed by GURTIN [2] and FOREST et al. [1] macro- and meso-scopic modelling are presented. For the macroscopic modelling we develop a multi-mechanism model for strain rate and temperature dependent asymmetric plastic material behavior accompanied by phase transformation with consideration of the trip-strain. Furthermore, we extend the multi-mechanism model with the gradient of phase fraction, which is considered as an extra degree of freedom. For mesoscopic modelling a phase field model is implemented for describing phase transformations. For the scenario of a cutting process we have a martensite-austenite-martensite transformation. A generalized principle of virtual power is postulated involving generalized stresses and used to derive the constitutive equations for both approaches. Furthermore, parameters of the multi-mechanism model related to visco-plasticity with SD-effect and the trip-strain are identified for the material DIN 100Cr6. In the examples a cutting simulation for testing the multi-mechanism model and a phase-transformation simulation are shown. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)