Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1986.

Thesis (M. S.)--Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Makeev, Andrew; Committee Member: Armanios, Erian; Committee Member: Bauchau, Olivier.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2010. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed July 19, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-70).

Thesis--Universidade federal de Santa Catarina, 1975.

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborg University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: Polymer and polymer matrix composites (PMCs) materials are being used extensively in different civil and mechanical engineering applications. The behavior of the epoxy resin polymers under different types of loading conditions has to be understood before the mechanical behavior of Polymer Matrix Composites (PMCs) can be accurately predicted. In many structural applications, PMC structures are subjected to large flexural loadings, examples include repair of structures against earthquake and engine fan cases. Therefore it is important to characterize and model the flexural mechanical behavior of epoxy resin materials. In this thesis, a comprehensive research effort was undertaken combining experiments and theoretical modeling to investigate the mechanical behavior of epoxy resins subject to different loading conditions. Epoxy resin E 863 was tested at different strain rates. Samples with dog-bone geometry were used in the tension tests. Small sized cubic, prismatic, and cylindrical samples were used in compression tests. Flexural tests were conducted on samples with different sizes and loading conditions. Strains were measured using the digital image correlation (DIC) technique, extensometers, strain gauges, and actuators. Effects of triaxiality state of stress were studied. Cubic, prismatic, and cylindrical compression samples undergo stress drop at yield, but it was found that only cubic samples experience strain hardening before failure. Characteristic points of tensile and compressive stress strain relation and load deflection curve in flexure were measured and their variations with strain rate studied. Two different stress strain models were used to investigate the effect of out-of-plane loading on the uniaxial stress strain response of the epoxy resin material. The first model is a strain softening with plastic flow for tension and compression. The influence of softening localization on material behavior was investigated using the DIC system. It was found that compression plastic flow has negligible influence on flexural behavior in epoxy resins, which are stronger in pre-peak and post-peak softening in compression than in tension. The second model was a piecewise-linear stress strain curve simplified in the post-peak response. Beams and plates with different boundary conditions were tested and analytically studied. The flexural over-strength factor for epoxy resin polymeric materials were also evaluated. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering 2011

abstract: This dissertation describes development of a procedure for obtaining high quality, optical grade sand coupons from frozen sand specimens of Ottawa 20/30 sand for image processing and analysis to quantify soil structure along with a methodology for quantifying the microstructure from the images. A technique for thawing and stabilizing frozen core samples was developed using optical grade Buehler® Epo-Tek® epoxy resin, a modified triaxial cell, a vacuum/reservoir chamber, a desiccator, and a moisture gauge. The uniform epoxy resin impregnation required proper drying of the soil specimen, application of appropriate confining pressure and vacuum levels, and epoxy mixing, de-airing and curing. The resulting stabilized sand specimen was sectioned into 10 mm thick coupons that were planed, ground, and polished with progressively finer diamond abrasive grit levels using the modified Allied HTP Inc. polishing method so that the soil structure could be accurately quantified using images obtained with the use of an optical microscopy technique. Illumination via Bright Field Microscopy was used to capture the images for subsequent image processing and sand microstructure analysis. The quality of resulting images and the validity of the subsequent image morphology analysis hinged largely on employment of a polishing and grinding technique that resulted in a flat, scratch free, reflective coupon surface characterized by minimal microstructure relief and good contrast between the sand particles and the surrounding epoxy resin. Subsequent image processing involved conversion of the color images first to gray scale images and then to binary images with the use of contrast and image adjustments, removal of noise and image artifacts, image filtering, and image segmentation. Mathematical morphology algorithms were used on the resulting binary images to further enhance image quality. The binary images were then used to calculate soil structure parameters that included particle roundness and sphericity, particle orientation variability represented by rose diagrams, statistics on the local void ratio variability as a function of the sample size, and the local void ratio distribution histograms using Oda's method and Voronoi tessellation method, including the skewness, kurtosis, and entropy of a gamma cumulative probability distribution fit to the local void ratio distribution. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Civil Engineering 2011

Impact damage resistance is an essential requirement of lightweight structural components for high-performance applications. The aim of this thesis is to study the impact damage and perforation behaviour of lightweight materials including thin aluminium alloy plates and carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composites. The focus of this investigation is on the stress state and strain rate dependence of failure, and the effect of microstructural modifications on indentation and impact response. The thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part (Chapter 2) the impact response of thin monolithic ductile aluminium alloy plates is investigated. Impact perforation experiments are performed using different projectile nose shapes to span a wide range of stress states at the onset of ductile fracture. Impact perforation behaviour, ballistic limit velocity, energy absorption capability and sensitivity to projectile tip geometry are evaluated. Modes of deformation and failure during impact are assessed experimentally. It is shown that modelling the stress state and strain rate dependence of plasticity and failure is crucial to accurately predict ductile fracture initiation in thin metal plates. In the second part (Chapters 3 and 4), the stress state and strain rate dependent yield and failure behaviour of epoxy resin is investigated. An iterative numerical-experimental approach is shown to be essential to develop a material model capable of predicting the failure behaviour of epoxy for a wide range of stress triaxialities across different regimes of failure. The influence of microstructural modifications in epoxy, through two different toughening strategies, on its failure behaviour is investigated. The effect of increasing the applied strain rate on the stress state dependent response of epoxy is investigated to provide an insight into the impact damage resistance of carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composites. In the third part (Chapter 5), experimental studies are conducted on the quasi-static indentation and impact perforation response of plain weave carbon fibre reinforced epoxy composites to investigate the effect of toughening the epoxy matrix to improve resistance to indentation and impact. The nose shape sensitivity of failure initiation in carbon/epoxy composite targets is assessed by considering indenters with different tip geometries. Conclusions and suggestions for future work are presented in Chapter 6.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:25:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2006-08-10Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:33:16Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 pereira_ds_me_ilha.pdf: 5937510 bytes, checksum: c32d623d3e0fbcd57127c9f447e87b2e (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Resinas epoxídicas são uma das mais importantes classes de polímeros termorrígidos usados para aplicações estruturais e como adesivos. Entretanto, os problemas em aplicações de resinas epoxídicas na engenharia incluem a baixa resistência à propagação de trincas devido a sua fragilidade. Para superar esta fragilidade, muitas vezes, dentre os aditivos em formulações multicomponentes de resinas epoxídicas, é utilizado um componente para aumentar a resistência, tais como enchimentos, oligosilsesquioxanos poliédricos (POSS), dendrímeros, etc. POSS (RSiO1,5)n podem ser incorporados em polímeros termorrígidos para melhoramento de suas propriedades térmicas e mecânicas. O uso de POSS nanoestruturados na preparação de polímeros orgânicos pode levar a materiais nanocompósitos. Neste trabalho, um POSS contendo oito grupos ésteres por molécula (MDPS) foi incorporado a uma matriz de polímeros termorrígidos epoxídicos DGEBA/TETA para melhorar suas propriedades mecânicas. Através de ensaios mecânicos foi observado um aumento de aproximadamente 90% (formulação 0,67/5) na resistência a fratura (K1C) com um leve decréscimo no modulo de Young (E). Os valores de Tg, verificados por DMTA mostraram pequeno decréscimo nas composições modificadas. As análises termogravimétricas mostraram que a adição de silsesquioxano não influenciou na estabilidade térmica do material. A cinética de cura foi analisada pelo método de Ozawa. As possíveis e prováveis causas deste significante reforço podem ser atribuídas à formação de uma segunda fase, à miscibilidade residual dos grupos ésteres com a matriz epoxídicas e às interações interfaciais entre a matriz epoxídicas e os cubos de silsesquioxanos devido as suas dimensões nanométricas. / Epoxy resins are one of the most important classes of thermosetting polymers used for structural and adhesive applications. However, the current problems in engineering applications of epoxy thermosets include the poor resistance to the crack propagation because they are brittle. To overcome brittleness, among other additives of the multicomponented formulation of the epoxy resin, a toughening agent is often used, such as fillers, polyhedral oligosilsesquioxanes (POSS), dendrimers, etc. POSS, (RSiO1.5)n, can be incorporated into thermosetting polymers to improve their thermal and mechanical properties. The use of such nanosized POSS in the preparation of an organic polymer can lead to a nanocomposite materials. In this work, a POSS containing eight ester groups per molecule (MDPS) was incorporated to an epoxy matrix of DGEBA/TETA thermosetting polymers to improve their mechanical properties. Through the mechanical tests an increase of about 90% (formulation 0,67/5) was observed in the fracture toughness (K1C) with a little decreasing in the module of Young (E). The Tg values verified by DMTA showed smaller values for the compositions with the modifier. The thermogravimetric analyses showed that the addition of the silsesquioxane ester did not influence on the thermal stability of the material. The cure kinetics was analyzed by Ozawa's method. The probable and possible causes of this significant reinforcement can be attributed to the formation of a second inorganic phase, residual miscibility of the ester groups with the epoxy matrix and to interfacial interactions between the epoxy matrix and silsesquioxanes cubes due their nanometric dimensions.