Tensile and compressive deformation of a short-glass-fiber-reinforced liquid-crystalline polymer

Results of tensile and compression tests on a short-glass-fiber-reinforced thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer are presented. The effect of strain rate on the compression stress-strain characteristics has been investigated over a wide range of strain rates epsilon between 10(-4) and 350 s-1. The low-strain-rate tests were conducted using a screw-driven universal tensile tester, while the high-strain-rate tests were carried out using the split Hopkinson pressure bar technique. The compression modulus was shown to vary with log10 (epsilon) in a bilinear manner. The compression modulus is insensitive to strain rate in the low-strain-rate regime (epsilon = 10(-4) - 10(-2) s-1), but it increases more rapidly with epsilon at higher epsilon. The compression strength changes linearly with log10 (epsilon) over the entire strain-rate range. The fracture surfaces were examined by scanning electron microscopy.

The interlaminar fracture-behavior and toughening mechanisms of new carbon-fiber-reinforced bismaleimide composites

The interlaminar fracture behaviour of carbon fibre-reinforced bismaleimide (BMI) composites prepared by using a new modified BMI matrix has been investigated by various methods. Laminates of three typical stacking sequences were evaluated. Double cantilever beam, end-notch flexure and edge-delamination tension tests were conducted under conventional conditions and in a scanning electron microscope. The strain energy release rates in Mode I and Mode III G(lc) and G(llc), as well as the total strain energy release rate, G(mc), have been determined and found to be higher than those for laminates with an epoxy matrix. Dynamic delamination propagation was also studied. The toughening mechanisms are discussed.

Fatigue fracture-behavior of carbon-fiber-reinforced modified bismaleimide composites

The fracture toughness and fatigue fracture behaviour of carbon-fiber-reinforced modified bismaleimide (BMI) composites have been studied. These composites were found to have higher fracture toughnes, better damage tolerance and longer fatigue life than carbon-fiber composites with epoxy matrices. Delamination is the major mode of failure in fatigue and it is controlled by the properties of the matrix and interface. The improved performance is dire to the presence of thermoplastic particles in the modified BMI matrix which gives rise to enhanced fiber/matrix adhesion and more extensive plastic deformation. The fatigue behaviour also depends on the stacking sequence, with the multidirectional [45/90/-45/0] fiber-reinforced modified BMI composite having a lower crack propagation rate and longer fatigue life than the unidirectional laminate. This arises because of the constraint on the damage processes due to the different fiber orientation in the plies.

Theoretical and experimental researches of post-micro-buckling for fiber-reinforced composites

Post-microbuckling is a fundamental feature of compressive failure process for the unidirectional-fiber-reinforced composites and laminated composites. The post-microbuckling behavior of composites under compression in the light of the Kevlar49-reinforced 648/BF3.400 (brittle epoxy) and EP (flexible epoxy) is studied, theoretically and experimentally. Analytical results of compressive strength are in good agreement with experimental results, qualitatively and quantitatively. By the experimental research, the post-microbuckling feature of the advancing kink band model is clearly displayed.

Creep characterization of a fiber reinforced plastic material

Creep behavior of [±45°]_s composite material is characterized by using uniaxial creep and recovery tests. The well-known Schapery nonlinear viscoelastic consti tutive relation was modified to make it suitable for characterizing the creep behavior of this material. Then, using this modified Schapery constitutive equation, by which the vis coplastic and creep damage can be taken into consideration, the creep behavior of [±45°]. glass fiber reinforced epoxy laminate was studied. The constitutive parameters of the material were determined experimentally, and the procedure and method of determination of the material parameters are proved to be valid.

Experimental relaxation behavior of chopped-strand mat glass-fiber reinforced polyester beams in 3 point bending

A dimensionless relation of the form for collating fatigue crack starting growth data is proposed in which Δkth represents the stress intensity factor range at the threshold. Based on experimental results, this relation attains the value of 0.6 for a fatigue crack to start growth in the Austenitic stainless steel investigated in this work. Metallurgical examinations were also carried out to show a transgranular shear mode of cyclic cleavage and plastic shear.

Static and fatigue failure behavior of carbon-fiber reinforced epoxy composite-materials with edge notch

A study of carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite material with 0° ply or ±45°ply(unnotched or with edge notch) was carried out under static tensile and tension-tensioncyclic loading testing. Static and fatigue behaviour and damage failure modes in unnotched/notched specimens plied in different manners were analysed and compared with each other.A variety of techniques (acoustic emission, two types of strain extensometer, high speed pho-tography, optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope, etc.) were used to examine thedamage of the laminates. Experimental results show that when these carbon/epoxy laminateswith edge notch normal to the direction of the load are axially loaded in static or fatiguetension, the crack does not propagate along the length of notch but is in the interface (fiberdirection). The notch has no substantial effect on the stresses at the unnotched portion. Thedamage failure mechanism is discussed.

Single curved fiber sedimentation under gravity

Dynamics of single curved fiber sedimentation under gravity are simulated by using the lattice Boltzmann method. The results of migration and rotation of the curved fiber at different Reynolds numbers are reported. The results show that the rotation and migration processes are sensitive to the curvature of the fiber. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Noninterferometric measurement of lead zirconate titanate inverse piezoelectric extension

A noncontacting and noninterferometric depth discrimination technique, which is based on differential confocal microscopy, was used to measure the inverse piezoelectric extension of a piezoelectric ceramic lead zirconate titanate actuator. The response characteristics of the actuator with respect to the applied voltage, including displacement, linearity, and hysteresis, were obtained with nanometer measurement accuracy. Errors of the measurement have been analyzed. (C) 2001 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.

Enhanced dispersive wave generation by using chirped pulses in a microstructured fiber

A theoretical investigation on the nonlinear pulse propagation and dispersive wave generation in the anomalous dispersion region of a microstructured fiber is presented. By simulating the dispersive wave generation under different conditions. it is found that the generation mechanism of the dispersive wave is mainly due to the pulse trapping across the zero-dispersion wavelength. By varying the initial pulse chirp, the output spectrum can be broadened and the intensity of the dispersive wave can be obviously enhanced. In particular, there exists an optimal positive chirp which maximizes the intensity of the dispersive wave. This effect can be explained by the energy transfer from the Raman soliton to the dispersive wave due to the effect of the pulse trapping and the effect of the higher-order dispersion. From the phase aspect, the explanation of this effect is also included. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Active phase control and frequency chirp effects on supercontinuum generation in high birefringence photonic crystal fiber

An acoustic-optics programmable dispersive filter (AOPDF) was first employed to actively control the linearly polarized femtosecond pump pulse frequency chirp for supercontinuum (SC) generation in a high birefringence photonic crystal fiber (PCF). By accurately controlling the second order phase distortion and polarization direction of incident pulses, the output SC spectrum can be tuned to various spectral energy distributions and bandwidths. The pump pulse energy and bandwidth are preserved in our experiment. It is found that SC with broader bandwidth can be generated with positive chirped pump pulses except when the chirp value is larger than the optimal value, and the same optimal value exists for the pump pulses polarized along the two principal axes. With optimal positive chirp, more than 78% of the pump energy can be transferred to below 750 nm. Otherwise, negative chirp will weaken the blue-shift broadening and the SC bandwidth. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Generation of sub-5 fs pulses through cascade of filamentation and hollow fiber compression

A pulse-compression scheme based on cascade of filamentation and hollow fiber has been demonstrated, Pulses with duration of sub-5 fs and energy of 0.2 mJ near 800 nm have been generated by compressing the similar to 40 fs pulses from a commercial laser system. This method is promising to generate near monocycle high energy pulses. [GRAPHICS] Measured autocorrelation curve of the final compressed pulses with duration of sub-5 fs (black solid) and the simulated autocorrelation curve of 4.6 fs pulse near 800 rim (red dash) (C) 2008 by Astro Ltd. Published exclusively by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA