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Discusses the 6th ITCRR, its breadth of textile and clothing research activity, plus the encouragement given to workers in this field and its related areas. States that, within the newer research areas under the microscope of the community involved, technical textiles focuses on new, ‘smart’ garments and the initiatives in this field in both the UK and the international community at large. Covers this subject at length.

The purpose of this paper is to present the original study of an industrial device. Industrial inductors are used to decrease the current variations, resulting from the use of modern power converters. To reduce these variations, the magnetic energy stored in these components is automatically used when the receptor is unconnected to the principal sources. Such storage is generally obtained by using a magnetic circuit containing air‐gaps. The rigidity of this circuit, associated with the magnetic stresses which appear in these areas, causes the structure to produce mechanical vibration and to emit audible sounds.

Experiments, simulations and test devices are used to determine the main physical phenomenon that generates the undesirable audible noise. The resulting knowledge is used to design a quieter device.

The mechanical vibrations and emitted noises are attached to magnetic effects. Even if it is not possible to suppress all these effects, the level of sound emitted can be decreased through a suitable design of the magnetic core.

Industrial inductors are usually built and designed using methods coming from the transformer studies. A new concept for the design of the magnetic core is presented. Experimental approaches and numerical simulations are performed in order to highlight the physical behaviours of the coils and their magnetic coupling to the magnetic core. It appears that breaking the magnetic core into free parts is an original solution that decreases the emitted noise.

In transforming fabrics into garment it is necessary to know, besides the manner of processing, the behaviour of the fabric in particular manufacturing processes. It is necessary to define why and how fabrics behave in a particular way when exposed to various strains. The answers to these questions are obtained by investigating fabric mechanics, as non‐linear mechanical fabric properties at lower strains, which is the case in transforming fabrics into garments. The area to be investigated is quite wide and the investigations presented here deal only with the most important elastic strains occurring in processing fabrics into garments, such as tensile, pressure, shear and bending, as each individual type of strain bears specific importance in studying fabric behaviour, as well as in garment quality control. Strains impacting the fabric, i.e. the reaction of the fabric to these strains, are presented through the parameters of mechanical properties. A relation is also explained between characteristic histeresis curves and fabric behaviour in real garment manufacturing processes, obtained through recording fabric behaviour in particular garment manufacturing processes. Results obtained through the investigations of mechanical properties of the fabrics analysed and their behaviour in garment manufacturing processes helped to determine the so‐called critical, or border values for particular parameters of mechanical properties.

While additive manufacturing via melt-extrusion of plastics has been around for more than several decades, its application to complex geometries has been hampered by the discretization of parts into planar layers. This requires wasted support material and introduces anisotropic weaknesses due to poor layer-to-layer adhesion. Curved-layer manufacturing has been gaining attention recently, with increasing potential to fabricate complex, low-weight structures, such as mechanical metamaterials. This paper aims to study the fabrication and mechanical characterization of non-planar lattice structures under cyclic loading.

A mathematical approach to parametrize lattices onto Bèzier surfaces is validated and applied here to fabricate non-planar lattice samples via curved-layer fused deposition modeling. The lattice chirality, amplitude and unit cell size were varied, and the properties of the samples under cyclic-loading were studied experimentally.

Overall, lattices with higher auxeticity showed less energy dissipation, attributed to their bending-deformation mechanism. Additionally, bistability was eliminated with increasing auxeticity, reinforcing the conclusion of bending-dominated behavior. The analysis presented here demonstrates that mechanical metamaterial lattices such as auxetics can be explored experimentally for complex geometries where traditional methods of comparing simple geometry to end-use designs are not applicable.

The mechanics of non-planar lattice structures fabricated using curved-layer additive manufacturing have not been studied thoroughly. Furthermore, traditional approaches do not apply due to parameterization deformations, requiring novel approaches to their study. Here the properties of such structures under cyclic-loading are studied experimentally for the first time. Applications for this type of structures can be found in areas like biomedical scaffolds and stents, sandwich-panel packaging, aerospace structures and architecture of lattice domes.

This work presents an experimental approach to study the mechanical properties of non-planar lattice structures via quasi-static cyclic loading, comparing variations across several lattice patterns including auxetic sinusoids, disrupted sinusoids and their equivalent-density quadratic patterns.

This study aims to investigate the mechanical, thermal, melt-flow and morphological behavior of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS)-based composites after bentonite inclusions. Melt mixing is the most preferred production method in industrial scale and basically it has very near processing parameters compared to 3D printing applications. Rheological parameters of ABS and its composites are important for 3D applications. Melt flow behavior of ABS effects the fabrication of 3D printed product at desired levels. Shear thinning and non-Newtonian viscosity characteristics of ABS make viscosity control easier and more flexible for several processing techniques including injection molding, compression molding and 3D printing.

ABS copolymer was reinforced with bentonite mineral (BNT) at four different loading ratios of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. ABS/BNT composites were fabricated by lab-scale micro-compounder followed by injection molding process. Mechanical, thermo-mechanical, thermal, melt-flow and morphological properties of composites were investigated by tensile, hardness and impact tests, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), melt flow index (MFI) test and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively.

Mechanical tests revealed that tensile strength, elongation and hardness of ABS were enhanced as BNT content increased. Glass transition temperature and storage modulus of ABS exhibited increasing trend with the additions of BNT. However, impact strength values dropped down with BNT inclusion. According to MFI test measurements, BNT incorporation displayed no significant change for MFI value of ABS. Homogeneous dispersion of BNT particles into ABS phase was deduced from SEM micrographs of composites. Loading ratio of 15% BNT was remarked as the most suitable candidate among fabricated ABS-based composites according to findings.

The advanced mechanical properties and easy processing characteristics are the reasons for usage of ABS as an engineering plastic. Owing to the increase in its usage for 3D printing technology, the ABS became popular in recent years. The utilization of ABS in this technology is in filament form with various colors and dimensions. This is because of its proper rheological features.

Melt-mixing technique was used as preparation of composites, as this processing method is widely applied in industry. This method is also providing similar processing methodology with 3D printing technology.

According to the literature survey, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first research work regarding the melt-flow performance of ABS-based composites to evaluate their 3D printing applications and processability. ABS and BNT containing composites were characterized by tensile, impact and shore hardness tests, DMA, TGA), MFI test and SEM techniques.

This paper aims to investigate the water absorption behaviors and mechanical properties, according to water absorption and temperature, of components fabricated by fused deposition modeling (FDM) and injection molding. The mechanical properties of FDM and injection molded parts were studied under several environmental conditions.

FDM components can be used as load-carrying elements under a range of moisture and temperature conditions. FDM parts show anisotropic mechanical properties according to build orientation. Components were fabricated from acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene in three different orientations. The mechanical properties of parts fabricated by FDM were compared to injection molded components made from the same material. Water absorption tests were conducted in distilled water between 20 and 60°C to identify the maximum water absorption rate. Both moisture and temperature were considered as environmental variables in the tensile tests, which were conducted under various conditions to measure the effects on mechanical properties.

The water absorption behavior of FDM components obeyed Fickian diffusion theory, irrespective of the temperature. High temperatures accelerated the diffusion rate, although the maximum water absorption rate was not affected. The tensile strength of FDM parts under dry, room temperature conditions, was approximately 26-56 per cent that of injection molded parts, depending on build orientation. Increased temperature and water absorption had a more significant effect on FDM parts than injection molded components. The tensile strength was decreased by 67-71 per cent in hot, wet environments compared with dry, room temperature conditions.

The water absorption behavior of FDM components was investigated. The quantitative effects of temperature and moisture on tensile strength, modulus and strain were also measured. These results will contribute to the design of FDM parts for use under various environmental conditions.

Despite recognizing the significance of risk-based frameworks in fire safety engineering, the usual approach in structural fire design is largely member/component level, wherein effect of uncertainties influencing the fire resistance of structures are not explicitly considered. In this context, a probabilistic framework is presented to investigate the vulnerability of a reinforced concrete (RC) members and structure under fire loading scenario.

The RC structures exposed to fire are modeled in a finite element (FE) platform incorporating material and geometric nonlinearity, in which the transient thermo-mechanical analysis is carried out by suitably incorporating the temperature variation of thermal and mechanical properties of both concrete and steel rebar. The stochasticity in the system is considered in structural resistance, thermal and fire model parameters, and the subsequent fragility curves are developed considering threshold limit state of deflection.

The fire resistance of RC structure is reported to be significantly lower in comparison to the RC members, thereby illustrating the current prescriptive design approaches based on studies of structural member behavior to be crucial from a safety and reliability point of view.

The framework developed for the vulnerability assessment of RC structures under fire hazard through FE analysis can be effectively used to estimate the structural fire resistance for other similar structure to enhance safety and reliability of structures under such extreme threats.

The paper proposes a novel methodology for vulnerability assessment of three-dimensional RC structures under fire hazard through FE analysis and provides comparison of the structural fragility with fragility developed for structural members. Moreover, the research emphasizes to assume 3D behavior of the structure rather than the approximate 2D behavior.

The purpose of this paper is to verify the effects of extrusion temperature on orthotropic behaviour of the mechanical properties of parts obtained by fused filament fabrication (FFF) under quasi-static tensile loads.

Tensile tests were performed on single layer specimens fabricated in polylactic acid (PLA) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) to evaluate the mechanical properties at different extrusion temperatures and raster orientations (0°, 45° and 90°). Furthermore, a detailed study of morphological characteristics of the single layer samples cross-section and of the bonding quality among adjacent deposited filaments was performed by scanning electron microscopy to correlate the morphology of materials with mechanical behaviour.

The results show that the orthotropic behaviour of FFF-printed parts tends to reduce, while the mechanical properties improved with increase in extrusion temperature. Furthermore, the increase in extrusion temperature led to an improvement in inter-raster bonding quality and in the compactness and homogeneity of the parts.

The relation between the extrusion temperature, orthotropic behaviour and morphological surface characteristics of the single layer specimen obtained by FFF has not been previously reported.

The purpose of this paper was to study the combined effect of hygro and thermo-mechanical behavior on a plastic encapsulated micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) package during the reflow process after exposed to a humid environment for a prolonged time. Plastic encapsulated electronic packages absorb moisture when they are subjected to humid ambient conditions.

Thus, a comprehensive stress model is established for a three-axis accelerometer MEMS package, with detailed considerations of fundamentals of mechanics such as heat transfer, moisture diffusion and hygro-thermo-mechanical stress. In this study, the mold compound is considered to be the most critical plastic material in MEMS package. Other plastic components of thin film materials can be disregarded due to their small sizes such as die attach and Bismaleimide Triazine (BT) core, even though they are also susceptible to moisture. Thus, only the moisture-induced properties of mold compound were obtained from the proposed experiments. From the desorption measurement after preconditioning at 85°C/85 per cent relative humidity (RH), the saturated moisture content and diffusivity were obtained by curve fitting the data to Fick’s equation. In addition, a new experimental setup was devised using the digital image correlation system together with a precision weight scale to obtain the coefficient of hygroscopic swelling (CHS) at different temperatures.

The experimental results show that the diffusion coefficient of mold compound material follows Arrhenius equation well. Also, it is shown that the CHS of mold compound increases as temperature increases. Experimentally obtained moisture properties were then used to analyze the combined behavior (thermo-hygro-mechanical) of fully saturated MEMS package during the reflow process using a finite element analysis (FEA) with the classical analogy method. Finally, the warpage and stresses inside the MEMS package were analyzed to compare the effects of hygroscopic, thermal and hygro-thermo-mechancal behaviors.

In this study, unlike the other researches, the moisture effects are investigated specifically for MEMS package which is relatively smaller in scale than conventional electronic packages. Also, as a conjugated situation, MEMS package experiences both humid and temperature during the moisture resistance test. Thus, major objective of this study is to verify stress state inside MEMS package during the reflow process which follows the preconditioning at 85°C/85 per cent RH. To quantify the stresses in the package, accurate information of material properties is experimentally obtained and used to improve modeling accuracy.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the failure probability in an irregular area in pipeline (elbow) over its lifetime. The reliability analysis is performed by using of an enhanced first-order reliability method / second-order reliability method (FORM/SORM) and Monte Carlo simulation methods: a numerical model of a corroded pipeline elbow was developed by using finite element method; also, an empirical mechanical behavior model has been proposed. A numerical case with high, moderate and low corrosion rates was conducted to calculate the deferent reliability indexes. The found results can be used in an application case for managing an irregular area in pipeline lifetime. Hence, it is necessary to ensure a rigorous inspection for this part of a pipeline to avoid human and environmental disasters.

The present paper deals a methodology for estimating time-dependent reliability of a corroded pipeline elbow. Firstly, a numerical model of corroded elbow is proposed by using the finite element method. A mechanical behavior under the corrosion defect in time is studied, and an empirical model was also developed.

The result of this paper can be summarized as: a mechanical characterization of the material was carried out experimentally. A numerical model of a corroded pipeline elbow was developed by using the finite element method. An empirical mechanical behavior model has been developed. The reliability of a corroding pipe elbow can be significantly affected by corrosion and residual stress. A proportional relationship has been found between probability of failure and corrosion rate. The yield stress and pressure service have an important sensitivity factor.

Aiming to help Algerian gas and oil companies' decision makers, the present paper illustrates a methodology for estimating time-dependent reliability of a corroded pipeline elbow over its lifetime using numerical models by applying the finite element method. Firstly, a numerical model of a corroded pipe elbow was developed and coupled with an empirical mechanical behavior model, which is also proposed. A probabilistic is then developed to provide realistic corrosion parameters and time modeling, leading to the real impact on the lifetime of an elbow zone in pipeline. The reliability indexes and probability of failure for various corrosion rates with and without issued residual stress are computed using Monte Carlo simulation and FORM.