An official website of the United States government
ABSTRACT Mechanical properties including the failure behavior of physically assembled gels or physical gels are governed by their network structure. To investigate such behavior, we consider a physical gel system consisting of poly(styrene)‐poly(isoprene)‐poly(styrene)[PS‐PI‐PS] in mineral oil. In these gels, the endblock (PS) molecular weights are not significantly different, whereas, the midblock (PI) molecular weight has been varied such that we can access gels with and without midblock entanglement. Small angle X‐ray scattering data reveals that the gels are composed of collapsed PS aggregates connected by PI chains. The gelation temperature has been found to be a function of the endblock concentration. Tensile tests display stretch‐rate dependent modulus at high strain for the gels with midblock entanglement. Creep failure behavior has also been found to be influenced by the entanglement. Fracture experiments with predefined cracks show that the energy release rate scales linearly with the crack‐tip velocity for all gels considered here. In addition, increase of midblock chain length resulted in higher viscous dissipation leading to a higher energy release rate. The results provide an insight into how midblock entanglement can possibly affect the mechanical properties of physically assembled triblock copolymer gels in a midblock selective solvent. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys.2019,57, 1014–1026
more »
« less
Temperature-dependent mechanical behavior of three-dimensionally ordered macroporous tungsten
Porous metals represent a class of materials where the interplay of ligament length, width, node structure, and local geometry/curvature offers a rich parameter space for the study of critical length scales on mechanical behavior. Colloidal crystal templating of three-dimensionally ordered macroporous (3DOM, i.e., inverse opal) tungsten provides a unique structure to investigate the mechanical behavior at small length scales across the brittle–ductile transition. Micropillar compression tests show failure at 50 MPa contact pressure at 30 °C, implying a ligament yield strength of approximately 6.1 GPa for a structure with 5% relative density. In situ SEM frustum indentation tests with in-plane strain maps perpendicular to loading indicate local compressive strains of approximately 2% at failure at 30 °C. Increased sustained contact pressure is observed at 225 °C, although large (20%) nonlocal strains appear at 125 °C. The elevated-temperature mechanical performance is limited by cracks that initiate on planes of greatest shear under the indenter.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1420013
- PAR ID:
- 10310116
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Materials Research
- Volume:
- 35
- Issue:
- 19
- ISSN:
- 0884-2914
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract We discuss data of three laboratory stick‐slip experiments on Westerly Granite samples performed at elevated confining pressure and constant displacement rate on rough fracture surfaces. The experiments produced complex slip patterns including fast and slow ruptures with large and small fault slips, as well as failure events on the fault surface producing acoustic emission bursts without externally‐detectable stress drop. Preparatory processes leading to large slips were tracked with an ensemble of ten seismo‐mechanical and statistical parameters characterizing local and global damage and stress evolution, localization and clustering processes, as well as event interactions. We decompose complex spatio‐temporal trends in the lab‐quake characteristics and identify persistent effects of evolving fault roughness and damage at different length scales, and local stress evolution approaching large events. The observed trends highlight labquake localization processes on different spatial and temporal scales. The preparatory process of large slip events includes smaller events marked by confined bursts of acoustic emission activity that collectively prepare the fault surface for a system‐wide failure by conditioning the large‐scale stress field. Our results are consistent overall with an evolving process of intermittent criticality leading to large failure events, and may contribute to improved forecasting of large natural earthquakes.more » « less
-
This study provides an in-depth analysis of the mechanical behavior of rotating-square auxetic structures under various strain rates. The structures are fabricated using stereolithography additive manufacturing with a flexible resin. Mechanical tests performed on structures include quasi-static, intermediate, and high strain rate compression tests, supplemented by high-speed optical imaging and two-dimensional digital image correlation analyses. In quasi-static conditions (5 × 10–3 s-1), multiscale measurements reveal the correlation between local and global strains. It is shown that cell hinges play a significant role in structural deformation and load-bearing capacity. In drop tower impact conditions (intermediate strain rate of ca. 200 s-1), the auxetic structures display significant strain rate hardening compared to loading at quasi-static rates. The thin-hinge structures maintain a Poisson's ratio of approximately -0.8, showing higher auxeticity than slow-rate compression tests. High strain rate conditions (ca. 2000s-1) activate additional deformation mechanisms, including a delayed state of equilibrium exemplified by a heterogeneous distribution of lateral strains, possibly due to stress wave interactions and inertial stresses. The study further reveals nonlinear correlations between Poisson's ratio, strain, and strain rate, indicating reduced auxeticity at higher strain rates. These observations are discussed in terms of complex wave interactions and the strain rate hardening characteristics of the base polymer.more » « less
-
Most protective biological tissues are structurally comprised of a stiff and thin outer layer on top of a soft underlying substrate. Examples include mammalian skin, fish scales, crustacean shells, and nut and seed shells. While these composite skin-like tissues are ubiquitous in nature, their mechanics of failure and what potential mechanical advantages their composite structures offer remains unclear. In this work, changes in the puncture mechanics of composite hyperelastic elastomers with differing non-dimensional layer thicknesses are explored. Puncture behavior of these membranes is measured for dull and sharp conical indenters. Membranes with a stiff outer layer of only 1% of the overall composite thickness exhibit a puncture energy comparable to membranes with a stiff outer layer approximately 20 times thicker. This puncture energy, scaled by its flexural capacity, achieves a local maximum when the top layer is approximately 1% of the total membrane, similar to the structure of numerous mammalian species. The mode of failure for these regimes is also investigated. In contrast with puncture directly beneath sharp tips caused by high stress concentrations, a new type of ‘coring’ type fracture emerges at large indentation depths, resulting from accumulated tensile strain energy along the sides of the divot as the membrane is deformed with a blunt indenter. These results could enhance the durability and robustness of stretchable materials used for products such as surgical gloves, packaging, and flexible electronics.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Abstract We performed deformation experiments on dry natural single crystals of magnetite and ilmenite to determine the rheological behavior of these oxide minerals as a function of temperature, orientation, and oxygen fugacity. Samples were deformed at temperatures of 825–1150 $$\,^{\circ }$$ ∘ C to axial strains of up to 15–24% under approximately constant stress conditions up to 120 MPa in a dead-load-type creep rig at ambient pressure in a controlled gas atmosphere. Oxygen fugacity ranged from 10 $$^{-9.4}$$ - 9.4 to 10 $$^{-4}$$ - 4 atm. Ilmenite creep was insensitive to oxygen fugacity, while magnetite displayed a strong, non-monotonic oxygen fugacity dependence, with creep rates varying as $$f_{O_{2}}^{-0.7}$$ f O 2 - 0.7 and $$f_{O_{2}}^{0.4}$$ f O 2 0.4 at more reducing and more oxidizing conditions, respectively. Dislocation creep rates of magnetite single crystals were weakly dependent on crystallographic orientation with stress exponents that varied between 2.8 and 4.3 (mean 3.5 ± 0.4). Magnetite compressed parallel to <100>, <110>, and <111> axes exhibited apparent activation energies of 315±5, 345±30, and 290±5 kJ/mol, respectively. We estimated $${f_O}_2$$ f O 2 -independent magnetite activation energies of 715 ± 150, 725 ± 145, and 690 ± 150 kJ/mol for <100>, <110>, and <111> orientations, respectively, in the region of negative $${f_O}_2$$ f O 2 -dependence. Ilmenite single crystals were compressed parallel, normal, and inclined to the c-axis. Stress exponents of 3.4, 4.3, and 3.9 indicate dislocation creep with activation energies of 420 ± 35, 345 ± 30, and 360 ± 40 kJ/mol, respectively, for these orientations. Mechanical anisotropy in ilmenite is notably higher than in magnetite, as expected from its lower crystal symmetry. Constitutive equations were formulated for ilmenite and magnetite creep.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
-
Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2020.130
