Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Representative Methods for Determining Young's Modulus and Hardness from Instrumented Indentation Data

The effectiveness of Oliver & Pharr's (O&P's) method, Cheng & Cheng's (C&C's) method, and a new method developed by our group for estimating Young's modulus and hardness based on instrumented indentation was evaluated for the case of yield stress to reduced Young's modulus ratio (sigma(y)/E-r) >= 4.55 x 10(-4) and hardening coefficient (n) <= 0.45. Dimensional theorem and finite element simulations were applied to produce reference results for this purpose. Both O&P's and C&C's methods overestimated the Young's modulus under some conditions, whereas the error can be controlled within +/- 16% if the formulation was modified with appropriate correction functions. Similar modification was not introduced to our method for determining Young's modulus, while the maximum error of results was around +/- 13%. The errors of hardness values obtained from all the three methods could be even larger and were irreducible with any correction scheme. It is therefore suggested that when hardness values of different materials are concerned, relative comparison of the data obtained from a single standard measurement technique would be more practically useful. It is noted that the ranges of error derived from the analysis could be different if different ranges of material parameters sigma(y)/E-r and n are considered.

Influence of Electrostatic Interaction on Fibrinogen Adsorption on Gold Studied by Imaging Ellipsometry Combined with Electrochemical Methods

Imaging ellipsometry was combined with electrochemical methods for studying electrostatic interactions of protein and solid surfaces. The potential of zero charge for gold-coated silicon wafer/solution interfaces wad determined by AC impedance method. The potential of the gold-coated silicon wafer was controlled at the potential of zero charge, and the adsorption of fibrinogen on the potential-controlled and non-controlled surfaces was measured in real time at the same time by imaging ellipsometry The effect of electrostatic interaction was studied by comparing the difference between the potential of controlled adsorption and the Potential of noncontrolled adsorption. It was shown that the rate of fibrinogen adsorption on the potentiostatic surface was faster than that on the nonpotentiostatic surface. The electrostatic influence on fibrinogen adsorption on the gold-coated silicon wafer was weak, so the hydrophobic interaction should be the major affinity.

The Optical Methods on Measuring Surface Deformation and Surface Wave in The Thermal Capillary Convection

An optical diagnostic system consisting of the Michelson interferometer with the image processor has been developed for the study of the kinetics of the thermal capillary convection. The capillary convection, surface deformation, surface wave and the velocity field in a rectangular cavity with different temperature's sidewalls have been investigated by optical interference method and PIV technique. In order to calculate the surface deformation from the interference fringe, Fourier transformation is used to grating analysis. The quantitative results of the surface deformation and surface wave have been calculated from the interference fringe pattern.

Assessment of Microscale Test Methods of Peeling and Splitting along Surface of Thin-Film/Substrates

Peel test methods are assessed through being applied to a peeling analysis of the ductile film/ceramic substrate system. Through computing the fracture work of the system using the either beam bend model (BB model) or the general plane analysis model (GPA model), surprisingly, a big difference between both model results is found. Although the BB model can capture the plastic dissipation phenomenon for the ductile film case as the GPA model can, it is much sensitive to the choice of the peeling criterion parameters, and it overestimates the plastic bending effect unable to capture crack tip constraint plasticity. In view of the difficulty of measuring interfacial toughness using peel test method when film is the ductile material, a new test method, split test, is recommended and analyzed using the GPA model. The prediction is applied to a wedge-loaded experiment for Al-alloy double-cantilever beam in literature.

On the Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow Regimes and their Recognition Methods

气液两相流体系是一个复杂的多变量随机过程体系,流型的定义、流型过渡准则和判别方法等方面的研究是多相流学科目前研究的重点内容。本文就与气液两相流流型及其判别有关的研究状况进行了回顾和评述,力图反映近年来气液两相流流型及其判别问题研究的状态和趋势。

Practical Criterion for Universal Laws and Practical Methods for Construction of Co-variance Sets

给出相对论力学中普遍定律的实用判别法和协变集的实用构造法,还给出实现非普遍定律的“可导出性”的一种实用方法．

Methods of Obtaining Instantaneous Modulus of Viscoelastic Solids Using Displacement-Controlled Instrumented Indentation with Axisymmetric Indenters of Arbitrary Smooth Profiles

We derive a relationship between the initial unloading slope, contact depth, and the instantaneous relaxation modulus for displacement-controlled indentation in linear viscoelastic solids by a rigid indenter with an arbitrary axisymmetric smooth profile. While the same expression is well known for indentation in elastic and in elastic–plastic solids, we show that it is also true for indentation in linear viscoelastic solids, provided that the unloading rate is sufficiently fast. When the unloading rate is slow, a “hold” period between loading and unloading can be used to provide a correction term for the initial unloading slope equation. Finite element calculations are used to illustrate the methods of fast unloading and “hold-at-the-maximum-indenter-displacement” for determining the instantaneous modulus using spherical indenters.

Molecular/Cluster Statistical Thermodynamics Methods To Simulate Quasi-Static Deformations At Finite Temperature

The rapid evolution of nanotechnology appeals for the understanding of global response of nanoscale systems based on atomic interactions, hence necessitates novel, sophisticated, and physically based approaches to bridge the gaps between various length and time scales. In this paper, we propose a group of statistical thermodynamics methods for the simulations of nanoscale systems under quasi-static loading at finite temperature, that is, molecular statistical thermodynamics (MST) method, cluster statistical thermodynamics (CST) method, and the hybrid molecular/cluster statistical thermodynamics (HMCST) method. These methods, by treating atoms as oscillators and particles simultaneously, as well as clusters, comprise different spatial and temporal scales in a unified framework. One appealing feature of these methods is their "seamlessness" or consistency in the same underlying atomistic model in all regions consisting of atoms and clusters, and hence can avoid the ghost force in the simulation. On the other hand, compared with conventional MD simulations, their high computational efficiency appears very attractive, as manifested by the simulations of uniaxial compression and nanoindenation. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Modeling, numerical methods, and simulation for particle-fluid two-phase flow problems

In this paper, we study the issues of modeling, numerical methods, and simulation with comparison to experimental data for the particle-fluid two-phase flow problem involving a solid-liquid mixed medium. The physical situation being considered is a pulsed liquid fluidized bed. The mathematical model is based on the assumption of one-dimensional flows, incompressible in both particle and fluid phases, equal particle diameters, and the wall friction force on both phases being ignored. The model consists of a set of coupled differential equations describing the conservation of mass and momentum in both phases with coupling and interaction between the two phases. We demonstrate conditions under which the system is either mathematically well posed or ill posed. We consider the general model with additional physical viscosities and/or additional virtual mass forces, both of which stabilize the system. Two numerical methods, one of them is first-order accurate and the other fifth-order accurate, are used to solve the models. A change of variable technique effectively handles the changing domain and boundary conditions. The numerical methods are demonstrated to be stable and convergent through careful numerical experiments. Simulation results for realistic pulsed liquid fluidized bed are provided and compared with experimental data. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.