Calculating elastic constants of bent–core molecules from Onsager-theory-based tensor model

The orientational elasticity of the uniaxial and the biaxial nematic phases is deduced earlier. For bent–core molecules with hardcore interaction, we examine how the molecular shape affects the elastic constants of these phases. The calculation is built on a tensor model based on the Onsager theory. The elastic constants are expressed by the coefficients in the tensor model, and these coefficients are derived from molecular parameters. We calculate the elastic constants of bent–core molecules as functions of the bending angle, concentration and thickness. We also examine the elastic constants of star molecules, where we focus on the effect of the extra arm.     

A GENERALIZED PIEZOELECTRIC-THERMOELASTIC THEORY WITH STRAIN RATE AND ITS APPLICATION 1)

工程中大量材料的形变介于弹性与黏性之间, 既具有弹性固体特性, 又具有黏性流体特点, 即为黏弹性. 黏弹性使得材料出现很多力学松弛现象, 如应变松弛、滞后损耗等行为. 在研究受热载荷作用的多场耦合问题的瞬态响应时, 考虑此类问题中的热松弛和应变松弛现象, 对准确描述其瞬态响应尤为重要. 针对广义压电热弹问题的瞬态响应, 尽管已有学者建立了考虑热松弛的广义压电热弹模型, 但迄今, 尚未计入应变松弛. 本文中, 考虑到材料变形时的应变松弛, 通过引入应变率, 在Chandrasekharaiah广义压电热弹理论的基础之上, 经拓展, 建立了考虑应变率的广义压电热弹理论. 借助热力学定律, 给出了理论的建立过程并得到了相应的状态方程及控制方程. 在本构方程中, 引入了应变松弛时间与应变率的乘积项, 同时, 分别在本构方程和能量方程中引入了热松弛时间因子. 其后, 该理论被用于研究受移动热源作用的压电热弹一维问题的动态响应问题. 采用拉普拉斯变换及其数值反变换, 对问题进行了求解, 得到了不同应变松弛时间和热源移动速度下的瞬态响应, 即无量纲温度、位移、应力和电势的分布规律, 并重点考察了应变率对各物理量的影响效应, 将结果以图形形式进行了表示. 结果表明: 应变率对温度、位移、应力和电势的分布规律有显著影响.     

Microscopic and macroscopic instabilities in finitely strained porous elastomers

The present work is an in-depth study of the connections between microstructural instabilities and their macroscopic manifestations—as captured through the effective properties—in finitely strained porous elastomers. The powerful second-order homogenization (SOH) technique initially developed for random media, is used for the first time here to study the onset of failure in periodic porous elastomers and the results are compared to more accurate finite element method (FEM) calculations. The influence of different microgeometries (random and periodic), initial porosity, matrix constitutive law and macroscopic load orientation on the microscopic buckling (for periodic microgeometries) and macroscopic loss of ellipticity (for all microgeometries) is investigated in detail. In addition to the above-described stability-based onset-of-failure mechanisms, constraints on the principal solution are also addressed, thus giving a complete picture of the different possible failure mechanisms present in finitely strained porous elastomers.     

3D Strain measurement from gratings on both surfaces of sheet metal

Summary  The deformation of thick sheet metal is analyzed using 3D coordinates of cross-gratings on both sides of a specimen. The basic equations are presented for evaluating the 3D strain tensor from displacement functions. Provided the grating coordinates are measured in the undeformed and the deformed states, the difference of the coordinates yields displacement vectors. These are used to determine polynomial displacement functions, which approximate the displacement vectors in a least-squares sense. The condition of volume invariance at plastic deformation implies the strain in the direction of the thickness. The whole procedure is tested by a radial symmetric forming of a rectangular sheet metal into a half-tube, because it can be evaluated analytically, too. Finally, a real forming process of a plane circular sheet metal into a cup-like object is analyzed. Received 10 May 1999; accepted for publication 22 September 1999     

Second strain gradient elasticity of nano-objects

Mindlin's second strain gradient continuum theory for isotropic linear elastic materials is used to model two different kinds of size-dependent surface effects observed in the mechanical behaviour of nano-objects. First, the existence of an initial higher order stress represented by Mindlin's cohesion parameter, b₀, makes it possible to account for the relaxation behaviour of traction-free surfaces. Second, the higher order elastic moduli, c_i, coupling the strain tensor and its second gradient are shown to significantly affect the apparent elastic properties of nano-beams and nano-films under uni-axial loading. These two effects are independent from each other and allow for separated identification of the corresponding material parameters. Analytical results are provided for the size-dependent apparent shear modulus of a nano-thin strip under shear. Finite element simulations are then performed to derive the dependence of the apparent Young modulus and Poisson ratio of nano-films with respect to their thickness, and to illustrate hole free surface relaxation in a periodic nano-porous material.     

Magnetoelastic buckling of a rectangular block in plane strain

Of interest here is the stability of a rectangular block subjected to a uniform magnetic field perpendicular to its longitudinal axis. The two ends of the block are frictionless and kept parallel to each other. This boundary value problem is motivated by the classical problem of magnetoelastic buckling in which a cantilever beam subjected to a transverse magnetic field buckles when the applied field reaches a critical value.This work presents a finite strain continuum mechanics formulation of the stability problem of a homogeneous, compressible, magnetoelastic rectangular block in plane strain subjected to a uniform transverse magnetic field. The applied variational approach employs an unconstrained energy minimization recently proposed by the authors.The analytical solution for the critical buckling fields for both the antisymmetric and symmetric modes are obtained for three different constitutive laws. The corresponding result for thin beams is extracted asymptotically for a special material and the solution is compared to previously published results. The critical magnetic field is shown to increase monotonically with the block's aspect ratio for each material and mode type. Antisymmetric modes are always the critical buckling modes for stress saturated and neo-Hookean materials, except for a narrow range of moderate aspect ratios (about 0.25) where symmetric modes become critical. For strain-saturated solids no buckling is possible above a maximum aspect ratio.     

Magnetic Resonance Measurement of Transient Shear Wave Propagation in a Viscoelastic Gel Cylinder

A magnetic resonance measurement technique was developed to characterize the transient mechanical response of a gel cylinder subjected to angular acceleration. The technique employs tagged magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) synchronized to periodic impact excitation of a bulk specimen. The tagged MRI sequence provides, non-invasively, an array of distributed displacement and strain measurements with high spatial (here, 4 mm) and temporal (6 ms) resolution. The technique was validated on a cylindrical gelatin sample. Measured dynamic strain fields were compared to strain fields predicted using (1) a closed-form solution and (2) finite element simulation of shear waves in a three-parameter “standard” linear viscoelastic cylinder subjected to similar initial and boundary conditions. Material parameters used in the analyses were estimated from measurements made on the gelatin in a standard rheometer. The experimental results support the utility of tagged MRI for dynamic, non-invasive assays such as measurement of shear waves in brain tissue during angular acceleration of the skull. When applied in the inverse sense, the technique has potential for characterization of the mechanical behavior of gel biomaterials.     

Landau levels in uniaxially strained graphene: A geometrical approach

The effect of strain on the Landau levels (LLs) spectra in graphene is studied, using an effective Dirac-like Hamiltonian which includes the distortion in the Dirac cones, anisotropy and spatial-dependence of the Fermi velocity induced by the lattice change through a renormalized linear momentum. We propose a geometrical approach to obtain the electron’s wave-function and the LLs in graphene from the Sturm–Liouville theory, using the minimal substitution method. The coefficients of the renormalized linear momentum are fitted to the energy bands, which are obtained from a Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculation. In particular, we evaluate the case of Dirac cones with an ellipsoidal transversal section resulting from uniaxially strained graphene along the Arm-Chair (AC) and Zig-Zag (ZZ) directions. We found that uniaxial strain in graphene induces a contraction of the LLs spectra for both strain directions. Also, is evaluated the contribution of the tilting of Dirac cone axis resulting from the uniaxial deformations to the contraction of the LLs spectra.     

Experimental strain analysis of the losipescu shear test specimen

An experimental strain analysis of the losipescu shear test specimen was performed, utilizing a 20-ply AS4/3501-6 carbon/epoxy unidirectional composite. Using three-element strain-gage rosettes, it was shown that the presence of loading-point-induced transverse normal strains in the gage section do not affect the measured shear strain. Thus, the shear modulus determined using the standard notch specimen is not affected. Likewise, modulus determination is not influenced by cracking at the notch tips, since this occurs at strains beyond the range over which modulus is determined. To further evaluate the effect of notch-tip cracking, material was removed adjacent to the standard V-notches where these cracks initiate. The measured shear strength was unaffected by removing this material, although the shear modulus was reduced slightly (by as much as eight percent for the more grossly exaggerated geometries). E.Q. Lewis, former graduate student, is now Engineer, Lockheed Corporation.