On the electromagnetic dyadic Green''s functions for planar multi-layered anistropic uniaxial material media

A complete, plane-wave spectral, vector-wave function expansion of the electromagnetic, electric, and magnetic, dyadic Green's function for electric, as well as magnetic, point currents for a planar, anisotropic uniaxial multi-layered medium is presented. It is given in terms ofz-propagating, source-free vector-wave functions, where is normal to the interfaces, and it is developed via a utilization of the Lorentz reciprocity theorem. The electromagnetic dyadic Green's function for periodic electric as well as magnetic point current sources is also presented. Some salient features of the Green's dyadics, along with a physical interpretation are also described.This work was supported by the IIarry Diamond Laboratories under Contract DAAL02-88-C-0065 with Sabbagh Associates, Inc.     

Improved mechanical properties of poly (vinyl alcohol) films with glycerol plasticizer by uniaxial drawing

In this work, the uniaxial stretching poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films with glycerol as plasticizer were prepared to explore the influence of drawing temperature and drawing ratio. The structure and property were investigated with scanning electron microscope, wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction, X‐ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, mechanical tests, etc. With the increase of stretching temperature, the melting and crystallization temperatures increased. The tensile strength and Young modulus of glycerol/PVA films increased first and then decreased; when the temperature was 80°C, the tensile strength and Young modulus reached to maximum values of 197.2 and 470 MPa, respectively. In addition, with the increase of draw ratio, the orientation degree of the PVA molecular chains increased, indicating the improved regularity of molecular chains. When the PVA films were stretched to 4 times, the tensile strength and Young modulus of the films reached 162 and 143 MPa, respectively, which were 4 and 1.3 times compared with those of unoriented films. These environmentally friendly PVA films with excellent mechanical properties would find wide applications in the industry such as packaging, coating, etc.     

Molecular orientation of rigid‐rod polyimide films characterized by polarized attenuated total reflection/fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

The variations in the molecular orientation of uniaxially drawn rigid‐rod polyimide films were systematically characterized in all three dimensions with polarized attenuated total reflection/Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The second‐order orientation coefficients were directly deduced from the anisotropy in IR absorptions of particular bands. With the draw ratio increasing, the state of the molecular orientation changed from being nearly planar to completely uniaxial via biaxial orientation, and the degree of orientation was much larger than that of a semirigid polyimide having an ether linkage at the same draw ratio, which originated from the rigid‐rod structure. In addition, the imide planes were rotationally oriented to the out‐of‐plane direction of the film geometry. Furthermore, the relationship between the molecular chain orientation and the in‐plane birefringence in the biaxial orientation state was examined. The intrinsic birefringence was estimated from biaxial orientation films to be 0.33 at a wavelength of 1307 nm. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 418–428, 2003     

On the directional approach in constitutive modelling: A general thermomechanical framework and exact solutions for Mooney–Rivlin type elasticity in each direction

In order to represent process-induced anisotropies in continuum mechanics or to transfer one-dimensional material models to three spatial dimensions the directional approach is a helpful technique. Since the essential equations are defined in the orientation space it is also denoted as microsphere approach. In the current article, the relation for the directional stress tensor of the second Piola–Kirchhoff type is motivated using the volumetric/isochoric split of the deformation gradient and the Clausius–Duhem inequality. Owing to inherent nonlinearities, numerical discretisation techniques are usually applied to calculate the total stress by averaging the directional stress tensors over the unit sphere. In order to investigate the accuracy of such simulations, the availability of exact solutions in closed form is essential. To this end, the tension/compression behaviour which belongs to a certain direction in the orientation space is modelled by an elasticity relation of the Mooney Rivlin type. The exact solutions are calculated, visualized and discussed for uniaxial tension and compression as well as for equibiaxial tension.     

Anticlinic smectic C phase in new and novel five-ring hockey stick-shaped compounds

The synthesis of a new homologous series of novel five-ring compounds composed of hockey stick-shaped molecules derived from 4-hydroxybiphenyl-3-carboxylic acid which exhibit an interesting sequence of phase transitions is presented. Uniaxial nematic and smectic A phases, anticlinic smectic C phase and an unidentified smectic phase at a lower temperature than the latter have been observed. This is perhaps the first example of hockey stick-shaped compounds exhibiting anticlinic smectic C phase directly from the isotropic phase. Polarised light optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction measurements and electro-optical switching studies were carried out to identify the mesophases.     

Landau theory-based estimates for viscosity coefficients of uniaxial and biaxial nematic liquid crystals

Using Landau theory, it is shown that eight phenomenological parameters are needed to describe and distinguish the twelve viscosity coefficients of a biaxial nematic phase, or the five viscosity coefficients of a uniaxial nematic phase. The dependence of the coefficients on the macroscopic uniaxial and biaxial order parameters is established. Since these order parameters are determined by the anisotropies of the dielectric constant, we show that it should be possible to determine values for all eight of the phenomenological parameters of the theory from measurements of the temperature dependence of the five viscosities of a uniaxial phase.     

Online monitoring of birefringence development in heat‐setting polymer films with a fast dual‐wavelength optical technique. I. Uniaxially oriented poly(ethylene naphthalate)

The purpose of this article is to study the fast structural changes that take place during the deformation and heat setting of uniaxially preoriented poly(ethylene 2,6‐naphthalate) films. For this purpose, an online birefringence measurement system coupled with a heat‐setting oven was used. In the online birefringence system, whose details were reported previously (H. Venkatesvaran and M. Cakmak, SPE ANTEC Tech Pap 1993, 39, 257; H. Venkatesvaran and M. Cakmak, Polym Eng Sci 2001, 41, 341), a green and red laser is passed through the films being annealed in a heat‐setting chamber; the resulting data are analyzed for the details of structural mechanisms that take place during this process. This technique is shown to be capable of detecting reversals in birefringence development; as a result, complex sequences of structural evolution can be tracked. The design of this system allows one to observe not only the increase or decrease in birefringence during the course of the heat‐setting process but also the rate dependencies on processing variables. In this study, we establish that the rate of structural rearrangement, as detected by birefringence, depends strongly on the state of the pre‐existing chain orientation and the level of crystallinity. Increased levels of preorientation in the films results in decreases in the rate of birefringence change during heat setting. This is primarily attributed to the increased levels of steric hindrance developed with the increase in orientation and crystallinity in the preoriented samples. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 39: 1107–1121, 2001     

A refined stress-strain analysis in the load transfer zone of flat specimens of high-strength unidirectional composites in uniaxial tension 2. Finite-element parametric analysis

A detailed finite-element analysis of the stress-strain state in the load transfer zone of uneasily tensioned flat test specimens made of a high-strength unidirectional carbon fiber-epoxy composite is carried out with account of the elastoplastic behavior of a structural polyurethane adhesive. Various schemes of introduction of external loads into the specimens are considered. A numerical finite-element analysis of different configurations of specimen tabs allowed us to put forward a technique for significantly reducing the dangerous concentration of operating stresses. __________ Translated from Mekhanika Kompozitnykh Materialov, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 43–58, January–February, 2007.     

单轴压力下Ge2X2Te5(X=Sb,Bi)薄膜拓扑相变的第一性原理研究

随着拓扑绝缘体的发现, 材料拓扑物性的研究成为凝聚态物理研究的热点领域. 本文基于第一性原理计算, 研究了化合物Ge₂X₂Te₅ (X=Sb, Bi) 的块体结构和二维单层和双层薄膜结构的拓扑物性, 以及单双层薄膜在垂直方向单轴压力下的拓扑量子相变. 研究发现, A型原子序列排列的这两种化合物都是拓扑绝缘体, 其单层薄膜都是普通金属, 而双层薄膜都是拓扑金属, 单层和双层薄膜在单轴加压过程中都没有发生拓扑量子相变; 这两种化合物的B型原子序列的晶体是普通绝缘体, 其所对应的薄膜, Ge₂Sb₂Te₅单层是普通金属, 双层薄膜和Ge₂Bi₂Te₅的单层和双层薄膜均为普通绝缘体, 但是在单轴加压过程中B 型原子序列所对应的单层和双层薄膜都转变为拓扑金属.     

Selection of kernel functions used in a new constitutive equation for viscoelastic fluids

A selection of kernel functions is given to be used in a new integral constitutive equation proposed by Piau whereby the deviatoric stress is calculated from the integral of the history of the past intrinsic rate of rotation and rate of deformation tensors through a representation theorem. Piau has demonstrated the objectivity of a frame moving with a given particle whose axis are directed along the eigenvectors of the rate of deformation tensor. The use of such a framework provides a new approach in the attempt to reduce the computational difficulties associated with conventional constitutive equations written in co-deformational or co-rotational reference frames.The shear and primary normal-stress material functions and the extensional (elongational) stress growth function are defined for the proposed integral constitutive equation. These material functions are used to calculate the kernel functions using steady state, stress relaxation and stress growth data of Attané in simple shear flow for monodisperse polystyrene solutions. The shear and extensional stress growth data of Meissner for a polyethylene melt are also used to show the flexibility of the rheological model.The material functions are first written in terms of five monotonically decreasing functions of the time lag between the past and the present time. Then kernel functions are chosen such that when substituted in the new integral constitutive equation they yield the functions used to describe the data. A further condition imposed on the normalized kernel functions is that they be decreasing functions of time lag.