We present crustal velocities for 29 continuously recording GPS stations from the southern central Andes across the Puna, Eastern Cordillera, and Santa Barbara system for the period between the 27 February 2010 Maule and 1 April 2014 Iquique earthquakes in a South American frame. The velocity field exhibits a systematic decrease in magnitude from similar to 35mm/yr near the trench to <1mm/yr within the craton. We forward model loading on the Nazca-South America (NZ-SA) subduction interface using back slip on elastic dislocations to approximate a fully locked interface from 10 to 50km depth. We generate an ensemble of models by iterating over the percentage of NZ-SA convergence accommodated at the subduction interface. Velocity residuals calculated for each model demonstrate that locking on the NZ-SA interface is insufficient to reproduce the observed velocities. We model deformation associated with a back-arc decollement using an edge dislocation, estimating model parameters from the velocity residuals for each forward model of the subduction interface ensemble using a Bayesian approach. We realize our best fit to the thrust-perpendicular velocity field with 705% of NZ-SA convergence accommodated at the subduction interface and a slip rate of 9.10.9mm/yr on the fold-thrust belt decollement. We also estimate a locking depth of 149km, which places the downdip extent of the locked zone 13520km from the thrust front. The thrust-parallel component of velocity is fit by a constant shear strain rate of -19x10(-9)yr-(1), equivalent to clockwise rigid block rotation of the back arc at a rate of 1.1 degrees/Myr.

Oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloys are known for their desirable mechanical properties and unique microstructures. These alloys are characterized by an even dispersion of oxide phase throughout a metallic matrix, and exhibit high strength and enhanced creep properties at elevated temperatures. This makes them ideal candidate materials for use in many structural applications, such as coal-fired power plants or in next generation nuclear reactors. Currently most often produced by mechanical alloying, a powder metallurgy based process that utilizes high energy ball milling, these alloys are difficult and costly to produce. One proposed method for forming ODS alloys without high-energy ball milling is to internally oxidize a bulk alloy before subjecting it to severe plastic deformation to induce an even oxide distribution. This work examines such a processing scheme with a focus on the internal oxidation behavior. Internal oxidation has been shown to occur orders of magnitude faster than expected in multi-phase alloys where a highly reactive oxidizable solute has negligible solubility and diffusivity in other, more-noble, phases. Commonly referred to as in situ oxidation, this accelerated oxidation process has potential for use in a processing scheme for ODS alloys. While in situ oxidation has been observed in many different alloy systems, a comprehensive study of alloy composition and microstructure has not been performed to describe the unusual oxidation rates. This work used Fe-Y binary alloys as model system to study effects of composition and microstructure. These alloys have been shown to exhibit in situ oxidation, and additionally, Y is typically introduced during mechanical alloying to form Y-rich oxides in Fe-based ODS alloys. Alloys with Y content between 1.5 and 15 wt% were prepared using a laboratory scale arc-melting furnace. These alloys were two phase mixtures of Fe and Fe17Y2. First, samples were oxidized between 600 and 800 °C for 2 to 72 hours, using a Rhines pack to maintain low oxygen partial pressures so that in situ oxidation could occur. Oxidation rates were accelerated when compared to traditional theory, and were not well described by a single parabolic rate constant throughout the duration of the experiment. While results agreed with Wagner theory that increased Y content should lead to decreased oxidation rates, this was attributed to a depletion of oxygen supply from the Rhines pack over time. Samples were also subjected to plastic deformation to observe how changes in microstructure influenced kinetics. Connectivity of the oxidizable phase was found to be critical to promoting the fastest rates of oxidation. Oxidation studies where then carried out using thermogravimetric analysis. A gaseous mixture of Ar-H2 was passed through a dew point control unit to vary oxidant partial pressure between 10-25 and 10-20 atm. Flow rate of the gas parallel to the sample surface was also altered. Canonical correlation analysis was then used to analyze and simplify the relationships between input and output variables. This analysis pointed to the importance of quantifying the relationship between the size of formed oxides and changes in oxidation kinetics over time. Where sustained parabolic kinetics were observed, oxides were small throughout the depth of internal oxidation. The effects of oxide size on penetration depth were then numerically modeled and incorporated into existing oxidation theory to show that the observed kinetics could be qualitatively described. After oxidation experiments, severe plastic deformation was applied to both oxidized and unoxidized microstructures using equal channel angular pressing. By manipulating pressing temperature and the number of passes, microstructures were altered to varying degrees of success. No oxide refinement was observed, but increasing temperatures and number of passes allowed for even dispersion of both oxides and Fe17Y2 intermetallic.

The incidence of restenosis has been shown to be correlated with the overstretching of the arterial wall during an angioplasty procedure. It has been proposed that slow balloon inflation results in lower intramural stresses, therefore minimizing vascular injury and restenosis rate. The analysis of the biomechanics of the arterial tissue might contribute to understand which factors trigger restenosis. However, few mechanical data are available on human arteries because of the difficulty of testing artery samples often obtained from autopsy while arteries are still considered "fresh". Various solutions mimicking the physiological environment have been used to preserve artery samples from harvesting to testing. In vitro mechanical testing is usually preferred since it is difficult to test arteries in vivo. Uniaxial and biaxial testing has been used to characterize anisotropic materials such as arteries, although methodological aspects are still debated. Several objectives were formulated and analyzed during the making of this thesis. In one study, the effect of deformation rate on the mechanical behavior of arterial tissue was investigated. The effect of several preservation methods, including cryopreservation, on the mechanical properties of porcine thoracic aortas was also analyzed. Finally, the differences in the mechanical behavior between three different types of sample geometry and boundary conditions were compared under uniaxial and equi-biaxial testing. Thoracic aortas were harvested within the day of death of pigs from a local slaughterhouse. Upon arrival, connective tissue was removed from the external wall of the artery. Then the artery was cut open along its length and cut out in rectangular samples for uniaxial testing, and square and cruciform samples for biaxial testing. Samples belonging to the freezing effect study were preserved for two months at -20°C and -80°C in isotonic saline solution, Krebs-Henseleit solution with 1.8 M dimethylsulfoxide, and dipped in liquid nitrogen. Samples belonging to the deformation rate effect study were tested uniaxially and equi-biaxially at deformation rates from 10 to 200 %/s. The uniaxial and biaxial experiments were simulated with the help of an inverse finite element software. The use of inverse modeling to fit the material properties by taking into account the non-uniform stress distribution was demonstrated. A rate-dependent isotropic hyperelastic constitutive equation, derived from the Mooney-Rivlin model, was fitted to the experimental results (i.e. deformation rate study). In the proposed model, one of the material parameters is a linear function of the deformation rate. Overall, inverse finite element simulations using the proposed constitutive relation accurately predict the mechanical properties of the arterial wall. In this thesis, it was found that easier attachment of samples (rectangular and cruciform) is accomplished using clamps rather than hooks. It was also found that the elastic behavior of arteries is nonlinear and non-isotropic when subjected to large deformations. Characterization of the arterial behavior at large deformations over a higherdeformation range was achieved using cruciform samples. The mechanical properties of arteries did not significantly change after preservation of arteries for two months. Under uniaxial and biaxial testing, loading forces were reduced up to 20% when the deformation rate was increased from 10 to 200 %/s, which is the opposite to the behaviour seen in other biological tissues. The differences observed in the mechanical behavior of fresh and thawed samples were not significant, independently of the storing medium or freezing temperature used. The lack of significant differences observed in the freezing study was likely due to the small number of samples tested per storing group. Further studies are required to clarify the impact of cryopreservation on extracellular matrix architecture to help tailor an optimized approach to preserve the mechanical properties of arteries. From the results obtained in the deformation rate study, it is concluded that the stiffness of arteries decreases with an increase in the deformation rate. In addition, the effect of deformation rate was observed to be higher than the effect of anisotropy. The inverse relationship between stiffness and deformation rate raises doubts on the hypothesized relationship between intramural stress, arterial injury, and restenosis. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Chemical and Biological Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Two-phase Ti6246 alloy is a light weight material exhibiting very high strength at higher temperatures compared to the commonly used Ti64 alloy. This particular alloy is used at the later stages of compressor discs within the aero engines. However, compressor discs undergo a number of cyclic stresses, which could eventually lead to fatigue failure. In order to optimize the microstructure for design and lifing models, an improved understanding of the localised deformation mechanisms is crucial, particularly at the surface, as cracks can be initiated leading to failure and in turn affect the life expectancy of the component. Two-phase alloys in use have very complex lamellar microstructures comprising of a mixture of coarse and fine phases and their role in deformation can be very complex and difficult to understand. The focus of this study was particularly based on the importance of the beta phase in strengthening two-phase microstructures. Therefore, this study has been simplified to compare model lamellar microstructures, which have particular sizes of beta phase in between alpha lamellae. Digital Image Correlation along with high resolution imaging was used to develop a detailed understanding of the localised deformation in these microstructures. Widening the beta phase in-between alpha lamellae caused a more homogenous deformation, while ageing the beta phase with fine secondary alpha strengthened the microstructure. However, all microstructures showed that the single continuous alpha layer at beta grain boundaries depicted the highest amount of deformation, which can be detrimental for the life of the component. The behaviour of slip at the α/β interface not only depended on the size of the phases but also depended on the neighbouring crystallographic orientations and the relationship of the two phases, specifically the alignment of the close packed slip directions. Strain maps of these microstructures were subsequently related to corresponding Schmid factor maps and crystal plasticity models to improve this understanding.

No description available.

Interactive dissection simulation is an important research topic in the virtual reality (VR) community. There are many efforts on this topic; however, most of them focus on building a realistic simulation system regardless of the cost, and they often require expensive workstations and specialized haptic devices which prevent broader adoption. We show how to build a realistic dissection simulation at an affordable cost, which opens up applications in elementary education for virtual dissections which are currently not feasible. In this thesis, we present a fast and robust haptic system for interactive dissection simulations of finite elements based deformable objects which supports two type of haptic interactions: point contacts and cuts. We design a semi-progressive virtual dissection scheme of deformable objects in a real-time application. The quality and performance of visual/haptic feedback is demonstrated on a low-end commercial desktop PC with a haptic device.

The polycrystalline nickel-base superalloys RR1000 and Udimet 720Li (U720Li) were developed for turbine disc applications. These alloys contain a higher volume fraction of the ordered γ' phase (close to 50%) when compared to previous generation alloys (~ 25%) in order to ensure that they retain high strength at operating temperatures exceeding 700°C. The increased percentage of precipitates in the material leads to higher levels of constraint between matrix and the precipitates, and this will have consequences for the deformation mechanisms of the aggregate. It is therefore important to understand how the increased volume fraction of precipitates affects the deformation behaviour of the material. This is not only crucial for the design of the optimum microstructure, but also for lifing models, which predict the lifetime of a component. It is the aim of the present work to improve the understanding of the deformation behaviour of these alloys by focussing on the influence of the γ' precipitate size. These alloys usually comprise a complex trimodal γ' size distribution, which complicates studies on the dependence of the deformation behaviour on the precipitate size. Hence, simplified model microstructures were generated here with a unimodal γ' size distribution. The model microstructures were subjected to in-situ loading experiments with neutron diffraction at temperatures of 20°C, 500°C and 750°C. Neutron diffraction measurements during loading revealed the elastic lattice strain response of both the γ and the γ' phases, which can indicate changes in their respective deformation behaviour. These measurements showed a load transfer from γ to γ' for some test conditions, which indicated that γ was able to deform with noticeably less deformation in the γ' phase. With a larger γ' precipitate size and/or higher test temperature, the tendency for load transfer increased. A post-mortem analysis of the deformed microstructures using advanced electron microscopy techniques (EBSD, ECCI, TEM) showed that shearing of the γ' precipitates dominated the deformed microstructures at 20°C and 500°C and was also observed after deformation at 750°C. Deformation was less localised in the microstructures with large γ' precipitates, which might be correlated with the increased trend for load transfer. The onset of multiple slip or the activation of Orowan looping as an additional deformation mechanism are suggested as possible explanations for these observations.

Magnesium has the lowest density of any structural metal making it a strong candidate for weight savings in the aerospace and automotive industries. However, strong crystallographic textures combine with anisotropic deformation modes to severely limit formability in wrought magnesium alloys. Recently improved formability has been achieved by the addition of small concentrations of solute rare earth elements which reduce the intensity of recrystallisation textures. Developing a mechanistic understanding of this effect is critical in leading alloy design towards a new class of highly formable wrought magnesium alloys. In this study the static recrystallisation mechanism of rolled magnesium rare earth alloys, which causes the texture weakening, is examined with a particular emphasis on the contrasting texture weakening effects in binary and tertiary magnesium rare earth alloys. In binary magnesium-rare earth alloys the `rare-earth' texture is simply a weakened deformation texture, while recrystallisation of magnesium-zinc-rare earth alloys produces unique `rare-earth' texture components. In the binary alloys weakened recrystallisation textures are attributed to the generation of `off-basal' orientations within regions of high strain localisation during deformation. These orientations recrystallise and subsequently dominate the recrystallised texture. Texture weakening by this mechanism is also thought to be observed in non-rare earth magnesium alloys where dynamic recrystallisation is suppressed by cold rolling. The unique rare-earth texture components in magnesium-zinc-rare earth alloys are found to be determined by the orientation of shear bands in the material. Similarly to texture weakening in the binary alloys, nuclei for these orientations are thought to develop during deformation as a result of strain incompatibilities within shear bands. The mechanism forming these orientations remains unclear, however it is postulated that a complex change in recovery behaviour within shear bands, as a result of rare earth and zinc additions, may be the cause. Retarded dynamic recrystallisation is suggested to be of critical importance in the texture weakening mechanisms of all magnesium alloys, both rare earth and non-rare earth. In rare earth alloys dynamic recrystallisation is suppressed by the segregation of rare earth atoms to grain boundaries. A combination of high resolution TEM and EDX shows rare earth atoms form clusters approximately 2nm in diameter on grain boundaries which are expected to retard dynamic recrystallisation through a solute drag mechanism.

No description available.

Dexterous robotic manipulation of non-rigid objects is a challenging problem but necessary to explore as robots are increasingly interacting with more complex environments in which such objects are frequently present. In particular, common manipulation tasks such as molding clay to a target shape or picking fruits and vegetables for use in the kitchen, require a high-level understanding of the scene and objects. Commonly, the behavior of non-rigid objects is described by a model. Although, well-established modeling techniques are difficult to apply in robotic tasks since objects and their properties are unknown in such unstructured environments. This work proposes a sensing and modeling framework to measure the 3D shape deformation of non-rigid objects. Unlike traditional methods, this framework explores data-driven learning techniques focused on shape representation and deformation dynamics prediction using a graph-based approach. The proposal is validated experimentally, analyzing the performance of the representation model to capture the current state of the non-rigid object shape. In addition, the performance of the prediction model is analyzed in terms of its ability to produce future states of the non-rigid object shape due to the manipulation actions of the robotic system. The results suggest that the representation model is able to produce graphs that closely capture the deformation behavior of the non-rigid object. Whereas, the prediction model produces visually plausible graphs when short-term predictions are required.