Investigation of spatial repeatability using a tire force measuring mat

A portable mat for measuring the dynamic tire forces of commercial vehicles is described. The mat is 56 m long and 13 mm thick and has 141 capacitative strip sensors spaced at 0.4-m intervals. The accuracy of the mat for measuring dynamic tire forces generated by heavy commercial vehicles is assessed using an instrumented vehicle. The spatial repeatability of dynamic wheel loads generated by 14 uninstrumented articulated vehicles is investigated, and it is concluded that approximately half of the vehicles tested are likely to contribute to a repeatable pattern of road loading.

Glass Transition and Thermal Stability of Hard Magnetic Bulk NdAlFeCo Metallic Glass

Glass transition and thermal stability of bulk Nd60Al10Fe20Co10 metallic glass were investigated by means of dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The glass transition temperature, not revealed by DSC, is alternatively determined by DMTA via storage modulus E' and loss modulus E" measurement to be 498 K at a heating rate of 0.167 K s (-1). The calculated reduced glass transition temperature (T-g/T-m) is 0.63. The large value of T-g/T-m of this alloy is consistent with its good glass-forming ability. The crystallization process of the metallic glass is concluded as follows: amorphous --> amorphous + metastable FeNdAl phase --> amorphous + primary delta-FeNdAl phase --> primary delta-phase + eutectic delta-phase + Nd3Al + Nd3Co. The appearance of hard magnetism in this alloy is ascribed to the presence of amorphous phase with highly relaxed structure. The hard magnetism disappeared after the eutectic crystallization of the amorphous phase. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Elastodynamic erosion of thermal barrier coatings

The finite element method is used to analyze the elastodynamic response of a columnar thermal barrier coating due to normal impact and oblique impact by an erosive particle. An assessment is made of the erosion by crack growth from preexisting flaws at the edge of each column: it is demonstrated that particle impacts can be sufficiently severe to give rise to columnar cracking. First, the transient stress state induced by the normal impact of a circular cylinder or a sphere is calculated in order to assess whether a 2D calculation adequately captures the more realistic 3D behavior. It is found that the transient stress states for the plane strain and axisymmetric models are similar. The sensitivity of response to particle diameter and to impact velocity is determined for both the cylinder and the sphere. Second, the transient stress state is explored for 2D oblique impact by a circular cylindrical particle and by an angular cylindrical particle. The sensitivity of transient tensile stress within the columns to particle shape (circular and angular), impact angle, impact location, orientation of the angular particle, and to the level of friction is explored in turn. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the effect of inclining the thermal barrier coating columns upon their erosion resistance. © 2011 The American Ceramic Society.

A Molecular Dynamics Simulation: the Effect of Finite Size on the Thermal Conductivity in a Single Crystal Silicon

Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations are performed to calculate thermal conductivity. The environment-dependent interatomic potential (EDIP) potential on crystal silicon is adopted as a model system. The issues are related to nonlinear response, local thermal equilibrium and statistical averaging. The simulation results by non-equilibrium molecular dynamics show that the calculated thermal conductivity decreases almost linearly as the film thickness reduced at the nanometre scale. The effect of size on the thermal conductivity is also obtained by a theoretic analysis of the kinetic theory and formulas of the heat capacity. The analysis reveals that the contributions of phonon mean free path (MFP) and phonon number in a finite cell to thermal conductivity are very important.

Thermal fracture characteristics induced by laser beam

The damage mechanism of a cracked material due to laser beam thermal shock is an important problem when the interactions of high power laser beam with materials are studied. The transient thermal stress intensity factors (TSIFs) for a center crack in an infinite plate subjected to laser beam thermal shock are investigated. When the crack is in the heat affected zone, the compressive thermal stress causes the crack surface to come into contact with each other over a certain contact length, but the high tensile stresses around the crack tip tend to open the crack. In this case, the problem may be treated as a pair of embedded cracks problem with a smooth closure condition of the center crack. The TSIFs and the crack contact lengths are calculated with different laser beam spatial shapes. The TSIFs induced by thermal shock are in marked different from those induced by general mechanical loading.

Thermal Conductivity Of Composites With Nanoscale Inclusions And Size-Dependent Percolation

An analytical model for thermal conductivity of composites with nanoparticles in a matrix is developed based on the effective medium theory by introducing the intrinsic size effect of thermal conductivity of nanoparticles and the interface thermal resistance effect between two phases. The model predicts the percolation of thermal conductivity with the volume fraction change of the second phase, and the percolation threshold depends on the size and the shape of the nanoparticles. The theoretical predictions are in agreement with the experimental results.

Comparison Of Shear Banding In Bmgs Due To Thermal-Softening And Free Volume Creation

This paper reports a comparative study of shear banding in BMGs resulting from thermal softening and free volume creation. Firstly, the effects of thermal softening and free volume creation on shear instability are discussed. It is known that thermal softening governs thermal shear banding, hence it is essentially energy related. However, compound free volume creation is the key factor to the other instability, though void-induced softening seems to be the counterpart of thermal softening. So, the driving force for shear instability owing to free volume creation is very different from the thermally assisted one. In particular, long wave perturbations are always unstable owing to compound free volume creation. Therefore, the shear instability resulting from coupled compound free volume creation and thermal softening may start more like that due to free volume creation. Also, the compound free volume creation implies a specific and intrinsic characteristic growth time of shear instability. Finally, the mature shear band width is governed by the corresponding diffusions (thermal or void diffusion) within the band. As a rough guide, the dimensionless numbers: Thermal softening related number B, Deborah number (denoting the relation of instability growth rate owing to compound free volume and loading time) and Lewis number (denoting the competition of different diffusions) show us their relative importance of thermal softening and free volume creation in shear banding. All these results are of particular significance in understanding the mechanism of shear banding in bulk metallic glasses (BMGs).

Size-Dependent Interface Phonon Transmission And Thermal Conductivity Of Nanolaminates

An analytical model for size-dependent interface phonon transmission and thermal conductivity of nanolaminates is derived based on the improved acoustic mismatch theory and the Lindemann melting theory by considering the size effect of phonon velocity and the interface lattice mismatch effect. The model suggests that the interface phonon transmission is dominant for the cross-plane thermal conductivity of nanolaminates and superlattices, and the intrinsic variety of size effect of thermal conductivity for different systems is proposed based on the competition mechanism of size effect of phonon transport between two materials constituting the interfaces. The model's prediction for thermal conductivity of nanolaminates agrees with the experimental results. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

Thermal fatigue on pistons induced by shaped high power laser. Part I: Experimental study of transient temperature field and temperature oscillation

Thermal fatigue behavior is one of the foremost considerations in the design and operation of diesel engines. It is found that thermal fatigue is closely related to the temperature field and temperature fluctuation in the structure. In this paper, spatially shaped high power laser was introduced to simulate thermal loadings on the piston. The incident Gaussian beam was transformed into concentric multi-circular beam of specific intensity distribution with the help of diffractive optical element (DOE), and the transient temperature fields in the piston similar to those under working conditions could be achieved by setting up appropriate loading cycles. Simulation tests for typical thermal loading conditions, i.e., thermal high cycle fatigue (HCF) and thermal shock (or thermal low cycle fatigue, LCF) were carried out. Several important parameters that affect the transient temperature fields and/or temperature oscillations, including controlling mode, intensity distribution of shaped laser, laser power, temporal profile of laser pulse, heating time and cooling time in one thermal cycle, etc., were investigated and discussed. The results show that as a novel method, the shaped high power laser can simulate thermal loadings on pistons efficiently, and it is helpful in the study of thermal fatigue behavior in pistons. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Thermal fatigue on pistons induced by shaped high power laser. Part II: Design of spatial intensity distribution via numerical simulation

In the laser induced thermal fatigue simulation test on pistons, the high power laser was transformed from the incident Gaussian beam into a concentric multi-circular pattern with specific intensity ratio. The spatial intensity distribution of the shaped beam, which determines the temperature field in the piston, must be designed before a diffractive optical element (DOE) can be manufactured. In this paper, a reverse method based on finite element model (FEM) was proposed to design the intensity distribution in order to simulate the thermal loadings on pistons. Temperature fields were obtained by solving a transient three-dimensional heat conduction equation with convective boundary conditions at the surfaces of the piston workpiece. The numerical model then was validated by approaching the computational results to the experimental data. During the process, some important parameters including laser absorptivity, convective heat transfer coefficient, thermal conductivity and Biot number were also validated. Then, optimization procedure was processed to find favorable spatial intensity distribution for the shaped beam, with the aid of the validated FEM. The analysis shows that the reverse method incorporated with numerical simulation can reduce design cycle and design expense efficiently. This method can serve as a kind of virtual experimental vehicle as well, which makes the thermal fatigue simulation test more controllable and predictable. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Research Progress On Thermal Protection Materials And Structures Of Hypersonic Vehicles

Hypersonic vehicles represent future trends of military equipments and play an important role in future war. Thermal protection materials and structures, which relate to the safety of hypersonic vehicles, are one of the most key techniques in design and manufacture of hypersonic vehicles. Among these materials and structures, such as metallic temperature protection structure, the temperature ceramics and carbon/carbon composites are usually adopted in design. The recent progresses of research and application of ultra-high temperature materials in preparation, oxidation resistance, mechanical and physical characterization are summarized.

Influence of thermal residual stresses on the composite macroscopic behavior

The influence of the thermal residual stress on the deformation behavior of a composite has been analyzed with a new micromechanical method. The method is based on secant moduli approximation and a new homogenized effective stress to characterize the plastic state of the matrix. It is found that the generated thermal residual stresses after cooling and their influence on the subsequent deformation behavior depends significantly on the aspect ratio of the inclusions. With prolate inclusions, the presence of thermal residual stresses generate a higher compressive hardening curves of the composite, but it is reversed with oblate inclusions. For particle reinforced composite, thermal residual stresses induce a tensile hardening curve higher than the compressive one and this is in agreement with experimental observations. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.

A generalized model for the effective thermal conductivity of porous media based on self-similarity

A generalized model for the effective thermal conductivity of porous media is derived based on the fact that statistical self-similarity exists in porous media. The proposed model assumes that porous media consist of two portions: randomly distributed non-touching particles and self-similarly distributed particles contacting each other with resistance. The latter are simulated by Sierpinski carpets with side length L = 13 and cutout size C = 3, 5, 7 and 9, respectively, depending upon the porosity concerned. Recursive formulae are presented and expressed as a function of porosity, ratio of areas, ratio of component thermal conductivities and contact resistance, and there is no empirical constant and every parameter has a clear physical meaning. The model predictions are compared with the existing experimental data, and good agreement is found in a wide range of porosity of 0.14-0.80, and this verifies the validity of the proposed model.