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Polyurea is an elastomeric two-phase co-polymer consisting of nanometer-sized discrete hard (i.e. high glass transition temperature) domains distributed randomly within a soft (i.e. low glass transition temperature) matrix. A number of experimental investigations reported in the open literature clearly demonstrated that the use of polyurea external coatings and/or internal linings can significantly increase blast survivability and ballistic penetration resistance of target structures, such as vehicles, buildings and field/laboratory test-plates. When designing blast/ballistic-threat survivable polyurea-coated structures, advanced computational methods and tools are being increasingly utilized. A critical aspect of this computational approach is the availability of physically based, high-fidelity polyurea material models. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In the present work, an attempt is made to develop a material model for polyurea which will include the effects of soft-matrix chain-segment molecular weight and the extent and morphology of hard-domain nano-segregation. Since these aspects of polyurea microstructure can be controlled through the selection of polyurea chemistry and synthesis conditions, and the present material model enables the prediction of polyurea blast-mitigation capacity and ballistic resistance, the model offers the potential for the “material-by-design” approach.

The model is validated by comparing its predictions with the corresponding experimental data.

The work clearly demonstrated that, in order to maximize shock-mitigation effects offered by polyurea, chemistry and processing/synthesis route of this material should be optimized.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce bio-inspired FeN₄-S-C black nano-electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in an alkaline medium. The FeN₄-S-C derived without pyrolysis of precursors in high temperature is recognized as a new electrocatalyst for the ORR in an alkaline electrolyte. For the proper design of bio-inspired nano-electrocatalyst for the ORR performance, chlorinated iron (II) phthalocyanine nanoparticles were used as templates for achieving the active sites in aqueous KOH by rotating disk electrode methods. The most active FeN₄-S-C catalyst exhibited a remarkable ORR activity in the alkaline medium. The objectives of this paper are to investigate the possibility of nanoscale particles size (Ëœ5nm) of electrocatalyst, to achieve four-electron transfer mechanism and to exhibit much superior catalytic stability in measurements. This paper will shed light on bio-inspired FeN₄-S-C materials for the ORR catalysis in alkaline fuel cells.

The paper presents a new bio-inspired nano-electrocatalyst for the ORR, which has activity nearby platinum/carbon electrocatalyst. Chlorinated iron phthalocyanine nanoparticles have been used as FeN₄ template, which is the key point for the ORR. Bio-inspired nano-electrocatalyst has been fabricated using chlorinated iron phthalocyanine, sodium sulphide and carbon black.

The particles’ size was 5 nm and electron transfer number was 4.

The catalyst that is used in this method should be weighed carefully. In addition, the solvent should be a saturated solution of NaCl in water.

The method provides a simple and practical solution to improving the synthesis of iron-based catalyst for ORR.

The method for the synthesis of bio-inspired electrocatalyst was novel and can find numerous applications in industries, especially as ORR non-precious metal catalyst.

Wellness tourism offers opportunities for consumers to explore the self. This paper aims to explore how identity transitions occur in a liminal tourism space – a holistic wellness retreat.

The authors adopt a qualitative methodology, including in-depth semi-structured interviews supplemented by various projective techniques. Following an interpretivist approach, eight consumers were interviewed at the commencement and the completion of a holistic wellness retreat stay. Participant observation was also undertaken during the retreat programme.

The paper shows an identity transition is facilitated by the liminal space of the holistic wellness retreat and further shaped by self-work during the retreat. As participants gain new knowledge on the self and start living “consciously”, they gain a sense of vision, clarity and direction to a new self, wherein identity transition is a starting point and a process of change rather than an end goal.

While much past research views tourism activities as mainly “play”, the findings reveal the holistic wellness retreat experiences as both identity play and identity work. This paper provides theoretical insights into the process from identity play to identity work and what makes this process effective for identity transition.

This paper aims to investigate the singular Hopf bifurcation and mixed mode oscillations (MMOs) in the perturbed Bonhoeffer-van der Pol (BVP) circuit. There is a singular periodic orbit constructed by the switching between the stable focus and large amplitude relaxation cycles. Using a generalized fast/slow analysis, the authors show the generation mechanism of two distinct kinds of MMOs.

The parametric modulation can be used to generate complicated dynamics. The BVP circuit is constructed as an example for second-order differential equation with periodic perturbation. Then the authors draw the bifurcation parameter diagram in terms of a containing two attractive regions, i.e. the stable relaxation cycle and the stable focus. The transition mechanism and characteristic features are investigated intensively by one-fast/two-slow analysis combined with bifurcation theory.

Periodic perturbation can suppress nonlinear circuit dynamic to a singular periodic orbit. The combination of these small oscillations with the large amplitude oscillations that occur due to canard cycles yields such MMOs. The results connect the theory of the singular Hopf bifurcation enabling easier calculations of where the oscillations occur.

By treating the perturbation as the second slow variable, the authors obtain that the MMOs are due to the canards in a supercritical case or in a subcritical case. This study can reveal the transition mechanism for multi-time scale characteristics in perturbed circuit. The information gained from such results can be extended to periodically perturbed circuits.

This study aims to propose a novel viscoelastic–viscoplastic combined constitutive model for glassy amorphous polymers within the framework of thermodynamics at finite strain that is capable of capturing their rate-dependent inelastic mechanical behavior in wide ranges of deformation rate and amount.

The rheology model whose viscoelastic and viscoplastic elements are connected in series is set in accordance with the multi-mechanism theory. Then, the constitutive functions are formulated on the basis of the multiplicative decomposition of the deformation gradient implicated by the rheology model within the framework of thermodynamics. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and loading/unloading/no-load tests for polycarbonate (PC) are conducted to identify the material parameters and demonstrate the capability of the proposed model.

The performance was validated in comparison with the series of the test results with different rates and amounts of deformation before unloading together. It has been confirmed that the proposed model can accommodate various material behaviors empirically observed, such as rate-dependent elasticity, elastic hysteresis, strain softening, orientation hardening and strain recovery.

This paper presents a novel rheological constitutive model in which the viscoelastic element connected in series with the viscoplastic one exclusively represents the elastic behavior, and each material response is formulated according to the multiplicatively decomposed deformation gradients. In particular, the yield strength followed by the isotropic hardening reflects the relaxation characteristics in the viscoelastic constitutive functions so that the glass transition temperature could be variant within the wide range of deformation rate. Consequently, the model enables us to properly represent the loading process up to large deformation regime followed by unloading and no-load processes.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the considerable Ag₂SO₄ content on the electrical and dielectric properties of (AgPO₃)_1−x(Ag₂SO₄)_x ion glass system as well as to extract thermodynamic parameters.

Glass samples of (AgPO₃)_1-x(Ag₂SO₄)_x with different mole ratios of Ag₂SO₄ [x = 0.00, 0.10,0.15,0.20 and 0.25] have been synthesized and used. X-ray diffraction and differential thermal analysis were used to investigate structural and thermal properties, and then the electrical characterizations of the bulk glasses were performed in different frequency and temperature range.

For different ratios of Ag₂SO₄ on AgPO₃, the bulk conductivity is enhanced with increasing the amount of Ag₂SO₄ until the composition of x = 0.20, after which the conductivity decreases. The general behavior of both ε’ and ε” decreases with increasing frequency and increases with increasing temperature. Complex impedance analysis studied by Z‘−Z’ and Cole–Cole plot at different temperatures revealed that bulk resistance decreases with temperature.

The calculated values of activation free energy, enthalpy and entropy change for different compositions of (AgPO₃)_1-x(Ag₂SO₄)_x showed an increase in activation energy and enthalpy when Ag₂SO₄ ratio is increased in (AgPO₃)_1-x(Ag₂SO₄)_x composition up to 20%, and then there is a decrease in their values at x = 25%, which may be explained based on non-bridging oxygen.

Shape memory alloys are a fascinating class of materials because they combine both structural and functional properties. These properties strongly depend on temperature. One consequence of this dependency yields the characteristic shape‐memory effect: shape memory alloys can recover processed reference configurations after significant plastic deformations simply upon a change of temperature. For real materials, such processes incorporate characteristic hysteresis. This paper aims at an understanding of these materials from an atomistic point of view.

2D molecular‐dynamics (MD) simulations describing a chain consisting of 32 linked Lennard‐Jones crystals are presented. The crystals consist of nested lattices of two atom species. Distinct lattice structures can be identified, interpreted as austenite and (variants of) martensite. Temperature and/or load‐induced phase transitions between these configurations are observed in MD simulations. Previously, the thermal equation of state of one isolated crystal was investigated and its phase stability was discussed in detail. In the multi‐crystal chain considered in the present paper, individual crystals contribute collectively to the thermo‐mechanical behavior of the assembly.

The paper presents the results of numerical experiments with this polycrystalline chain under strain‐, load‐ and/or temperature‐control. The results show that with the assumption of simple Lennard‐Jones potentials of interaction between atoms in individual crystals and linking these crystals allows to reproduce the features associated with the fascinating behavior of shape memory alloys, including pseudo‐plasticity, pseudo‐elasticity and the shape memory effect.

Owing to the special setup chosen, interfaces are missing between adjacent crystals in the chain assembly. The paper shows that in this situation load‐induced austenite/martensite transitions do not exhibit hysteresis in tension/compression cycles. This observation indirectly supports mesoscopic‐level work in the literature which explicitly introduces interface energy to model such hysteresis.

The purpose of this paper is to present numerical studies on thermally induced vibrations of piezo‐thermo‐viscoelastic composite beam subjected to a transient thermal load using coupled finite element method.

The thermal relaxation and viscoelastic relaxations are taken into consideration to obtain the system response. The concept of “memory load” along with the thermal relaxation is accounted for viscoelastic core material. The influence of type of core material on the response of the system also analyzed.

The findings show viscoelastic behavior with relaxation times in composite sandwich structures.

The paper shows accounting relaxation times as a memory load in composite sandwich structures.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze numerically the blowup in finite time of the solutions to a one-dimensional, bidirectional, nonlinear wave model equation for the propagation of small-amplitude waves in shallow water, as a function of the relaxation time, linear and nonlinear drift, power of the nonlinear advection flux, viscosity coefficient, viscous attenuation, and amplitude, smoothness and width of three types of initial conditions.

An implicit, first-order accurate in time, finite difference method valid for semipositive relaxation times has been used to solve the equation in a truncated domain for three different initial conditions, a first-order time derivative initially equal to zero and several constant wave speeds.

The numerical experiments show a very rapid transient from the initial conditions to the formation of a leading propagating wave, whose duration depends strongly on the shape, amplitude and width of the initial data as well as on the coefficients of the bidirectional equation. The blowup times for the triangular conditions have been found to be larger than those for the Gaussian ones, and the latter are larger than those for rectangular conditions, thus indicating that the blowup time decreases as the smoothness of the initial conditions decreases. The blowup time has also been found to decrease as the relaxation time, degree of nonlinearity, linear drift coefficient and amplitude of the initial conditions are increased, and as the width of the initial condition is decreased, but it increases as the viscosity coefficient is increased. No blowup has been observed for relaxation times smaller than one-hundredth, viscosity coefficients larger than ten-thousandths, quadratic and cubic nonlinearities, and initial Gaussian, triangular and rectangular conditions of unity amplitude.

The blowup of a one-dimensional, bidirectional equation that is a model for the propagation of waves in shallow water, longitudinal displacement in homogeneous viscoelastic bars, nerve conduction, nonlinear acoustics and heat transfer in very small devices and/or at very high transfer rates has been determined numerically as a function of the linear and nonlinear drift coefficients, power of the nonlinear drift, viscosity coefficient, viscous attenuation, and amplitude, smoothness and width of the initial conditions for nonzero relaxation times.

The purpose of this paper is to perform experimental investigation and constitutive modeling of the viscoelastic and viscoplastic behavior of metallocene catalyzed polypropylene (mPP) with application to lifetime assessment under conditions of creep rupture.

Three series of experiments are conducted where the mechanical response of mPP is analyzed in tensile tests with various strain rates, relaxation tests with various strains, and creep tests with various stresses at room temperature. A constitutive model is derived for semicrystalline polymers under an arbitrary three‐dimensional deformation with small strains, and its parameters are found fitting the observations.

Crystalline structure and molecular architecture of polypropylene strongly affect its time‐ and rate‐dependent behavior. In particular, time‐to‐failure of metallocene catalyzed polypropylene under tensile creep noticeably exceeds that of isotactic polypropylene produced by the conventional Ziegler‐Natta catalysis.

Novel stress‐strain relations are developed in viscoelastoplasticity of semi‐crystalline polymers and applied to predict their mechanical behavior in long‐term creep tests.