Experimental Studies of the Material Properties of the Forewing of Cicada (Homoptera, Cicadidae)

Detailed investigations on the structural and mechanical properties of the forewing of the cicada were carried out. Measurement of the structures of the wings showed that the thickness of the membrane of each cell and the diameter of each vein were non-uniform in both the longitudinal and transverse directions, and their means were approximately 12.2 and 133.3 mum, respectively. However, the aspect ratios of the wings and the bodies were quite uniform and were approximately equal to 2.98 and 2.13, respectively. Based on the measured thickness, mass and area of the membranes of the cells, the mean density and the mean area density of the wing were approximately 2.3 g cm(-3) and 2.8 x 10(-3) g cm(-2), respectively. In addition, the diameters of the veins of the wings, including the diameters of the holes in the vein of the leading edge, were examined. The mechanical properties of the wing were investigated separately by nanoindentation and tensile testing. The results indicated that the mean Young's modulus, hardness and yield stress of the membranes of the wings were approximately 3.7 Gpa, 0.2 Gpa and 29 Mpa, respectively, and the mean Young's modulus and strength of the veins along the direction of the venation of wings were approximately 1.9 Gpa and 52 Mpa, respectively. Finally, the relevant results were briefly analyzed and discussed, providing a guideline to the biomimetic design of the aerofoil materials of micro air vehicles.

Determination of Proper Processing Conditions of Material Surface Heat Treatment Through Finite Element Method

A two-dimensional model has been developed based on the experimental results of stainless steel remelting with the laminar plasma technology to investigate the transient thermo-physical characteristics of the melt pool liquids. The influence of the temperature field, temperature gradient, solidification rate and cooling rate on the processing conditions has been investigated numerically. Not only have the appropriate processing conditions been determined according to the calculations, but also they have been predicted with a criterion established based on the concept of equivalent temperature area density (ETAD) that is actually a function of the processing parameters and material properties. The comparison between the resulting conditions shows that the ETAD method can better predict the optimum condition.

Influences of strain rate and temperature variation on material intrinsic length of plasticity strain gradient theory

Cowper-Symonds and Johnson-Cook dynamic constitutive relations are used to study the influence of both strain rate effect and temperature variation on the material intrinsic length scale in strain gradient plasticity. The material intrinsic length scale decreases with increasing strain rates, and this length scale increases with temperature.

Three-Dimensional Modeling of Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow in Laminar-Plasma Material Re-Melting Processing

Modeling study is performed concerning the heat transfer and fluid flow for a laminar argon plasma jet impinging normally upon a flat workpiece exposed to the ambient air. The diffusion of the air into the plasma jet is handled by using the combined-diffusion-coefficient approach. The heat flux density and jet shear stress distributions at the workpiece surface obtained from the plasma jet modeling are then used to study the re-melting process of a carbon steel workpiece. Besides the heat conduction within the workpiece, the effects of the plasma-jet inlet parameters (temperature and velocity), workpiece moving speed, Marangoni convection, natural convection etc. on the re-melting process are considered. The modeling results demonstrate that the shapes and sizes of the molten pool in the workpiece are influenced appreciably by the plasma-jet inlet parameters, workpiece moving speed and Marangoni convection. The jet shear stress manifests its effect at higher plasma-jet inlet velocities, while the natural convection effect can be ignored. The modeling results of the molten pool sizes agree reasonably with available experimental data.

Estudio descriptivo del rendimiento y espesor de la grasa dorsal en la canal de cerdos alimentados con diferentes tipos de dietas

El presente estudio se realizó en la Granja Santa Rosa, ubicada en el km 13 a los 86° 09 36" longitud oeste y los 12° 08 15" latitud norte, al norte de la comunidad de Sabana Grande, Municipio de Managua, propiedad de la Universidad Nacional Agraria. Entre los meses de Septiembre y Diciembre de 1998. El objetivo principal del estudio fue la evaluación del Rendimiento en canal y Espesor de Grasa Dorsal en cerdos alimentados bajo los siguientes tratamientos: 10-0 % concentrado (TI), l00 % desperdicios de cocina (T2), 50 % desperdicios de cocina más 50% desperdicios de molinería (T3), 50% desperdicios de cocina más 50% desperdicios de galleta (T4) y 50% desperdicios de cocina más 25% desperdicios de galleta más 25 % desperdicios de maseca (T5). Se utilizó un análisis descriptivo, siendo las variables principales Rendimiento en Canal y Espesor de Grasa Dorsal Se sacrificaron 10 cerdos híbridos (5 hembras y 5 machos castrados), de un total de 40 animales, distribuidos en grupos de 8 cerdos (4 hembras y 4 machos castrados) por Cada tratamiento, sacrificados a un peso vivo promedio de 90 kg. El T2 presentó el mayor rendimiento en canal con un 81.20 %, superando en 3.95 % al TI Los cerdos alimentados con los tratamientos T2, T4 y T5 obtuvieron mayor rendimiento en canal que los cerdos de los tratamientos TI y T3. En todos los tratamientos exceptuando l00 % desperdicio de cocina los machos castrados tuvieron mayor espesor de grasa dorsal que las hembras estas diferencias oscilan entre 0.2 y 1.5 cm coo un promedio de 0.85 cm. Los cerdos alimentados con los tratamientos TI y T2 obtuvieron un mayor porcentaje de carne y costillas que los alimentados con el resto de los tratamientos. El tratamiento T3 obtuvo mayor porcentaje de cabeza que el resto de los tratamientos. El porcentaje de hueso fue mayor en los cerdos de los tratamientos TI, T2 y T3.

Evolution induced catastrophe in a nonlinear dynamical model of material failure

In order to study the failure of disordered materials, the ensemble evolution of a nonlinear chain model was examined by using a stochastic slice sampling method. The following results were obtained. (1) Sample-specific behavior, i.e. evolutions are different from sample to sample in some cases under the same macroscopic conditions, is observed for various load-sharing rules except in the globally mean field theory. The evolution according to the cluster load-sharing rule, which reflects the interaction between broken clusters, cannot be predicted by a simple criterion from the initial damage pattern and even then is most complicated. (2) A binary failure probability, its transitional region, where globally stable (GS) modes and evolution-induced catastrophic (EIC) modes coexist, and the corresponding scaling laws are fundamental to the failure. There is a sensitive zone in the vicinity of the boundary between the GS and EIC regions in phase space, where a slight stochastic increment in damage can trigger a radical transition from GS to EIC. (3) The distribution of strength is obtained from the binary failure probability. This, like sample-specificity, originates from a trans-scale sensitivity linking meso-scopic and macroscopic phenomena. (4) Strong fluctuations in stress distribution different from that of GS modes may be assumed as a precursor of evolution-induced catastrophe (EIC).

The effect of nucleation time on the growth of a microvoid in a viscoelastic material

In this paper, discussions are focused on the growth of a nucleated void in a viscoelastic material. The in situ tensile tests of specimens made of high-density polyethylene, filled with spherical glass beads (HDPE/GB) are carried out under SEM. The experimental result indicates that the microvoid nucleation is induced by the partially interfacial debonding of particles. By means of the Laplace transform and the Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method, a new analytical expression of the void strain at different nucleation times is derived. It can be seen that the strain of the nucleated void depends not only on the remote strain history, but also on the nucleation time. This expression is also illustrated by numerical examples, and is found to be of great usefulness in the study of damage evolution in viscoelastic materials.

Evaluación de tres sistemas de labranza (cero, mínima y convencional) sobre la pudrición radicular del frijol común (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) causada por Sclerotium rolfsii, su rendimiento y valoración económica

Con los objetivos de evaluar el efecto de los tres sistemas de labranza sobre el comportamiento de la enfermedad producida por Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. y determinar cuál de los tres sistemas de labranza (cero, mínima y convencional) es económicamente más rentable para producir frijol, se llevó a efecto un estudio en la estación experimental La Compañía ubicada en el municipio de San Marcos, departamento de Carazo. El experimento fue establecido en época de primera (mayo-agosto) y postrera (septiembre -diciembre). El diseño utilizado fue bloques completos al azar (SCA) con tres tratamientos y cuatro repeticiones. Se tomaron datos sobre el número de plantas emergidas, incidencia de las enfermedades de la raíz, número de plantas a la cosecha, número de vainas por planta, peso de 1,000 semillas y también datos sobre los costos agrícolas de cada uno de los tratamientos y sus respectivos rendimientos. A los datos agronómicos se les realizó un análisis económico. Los resultados mostraron que en época de primera el mejor sistema de labranza para el cultivo del frijol, basándose en mejores rendimientos físicos y económicos resultó ser labranza mínima en comparación con labranza convencional; así mismo sucedió en postrera resultando ser, labranza mínima mejor que labranza cero Y convencional.

Dynamic stress intensity factor of a functionally graded material under antiplane shear loading

The dynamic response of a finite crack in an unbounded Functionally Graded Material (FGM) subjected to an antiplane shear loading is studied in this paper. The variation of the shear modulus of the functionally graded material is modeled by a quadratic increase along the direction perpendicular to the crack surface. The dynamic stress intensity factor is extracted from the asymptotic expansion of the stresses around the crack tip in the Laplace transform plane and obtained in the time domain by a numerical Laplace inversion technique. The influence of graded material property on the dynamic intensity factor is investigated. It is observed that the magnitude of dynamic stress intensity factor for a finite crack in such a functionally graded material is less than in the homogeneous material with a property identical to that of the FGM crack plane.

Determinación de la actividad radicular del Lima tahiti citrus aurantifolia (christm,) swing, mediante la variación de almacenamiento del agua del suelo, utilizando técnicas nucleares

Con el objetivo de determinar la actividad radicular y el patrón de distribución de las raíces activas del lima Tahití Citrus aurantifolia (Christm.) Swing., mediante la variación de almacenamiento de agua del suelo utilizando técnicas nucleares, se condujo un experimento en la finca San Bernardo, municipio de Masatepe, Departamento de Masaya. Se escogieron plantas de la misma edad, pureza varietal, características vegetativas uniformes y se establecieron en cada unidad experimental 4 tratamientos (50, 100, 150,200 cm de distancia del tronco), por 2 repeticiones para un total de 16 observaciones y se cubrió con plástico de polietileno negro en un área de 19.63 m2 que corresponde a un circulo de radio igual a 250 cm del tronco a cada árbol. En la época seca se tomaron lecturas, y la información obtenida y analizada permite concluir que en árboles de limón Tahití de 6 años de edad, y en las condiciones edafoclimáticas y de manejo del cultivo en que se llevó el experimento, presenta su actividad radicular directamente proporcional a las distancias horizontales del tronco del árbol, mediante el consumo total de agua en el volumen de suelo (O - 90 cm de profundidad), y a la vez directamente proporcional cada 30 cm de profundidad para un perfil de suelo de (O - 90 cm de profundidad), lo que indica presencia de un sistema radicular extenso y profundo.

Material parameter extraction in THz-TDS using a converging beam transfer function

We demonstrate a parameter extraction algorithm based on a theoretical transfer function, which takes into account a converging THz beam. Using this, we successfully extract material parameters from data obtained for a quartz sample with a THz time domain spectrometer. © 2010 IEEE.