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A functionally-graded Al(subscript)2TiO(subscript)5/ZrO(subscript)2-Al(subscript)2O(subscript)3 (AT/zirconia-alumina) composite has been successfully synthesized by an infiltration process involving an alpha-Al(subscript)2O(subscript)3-ZrO(subscript)2 (90:10 by weight) green body and a solution containing titanium chloride. The mass gain after infiltration has been used to estimate the amount of new phase introduced into the system. The phase composition character of the functionally-graded material (FGM) has been determined by x-ray diffraction. The Rietveld "whole pattern" refinement method was applied to diffraction patterns of the sample which were collected from the surface and at several depths which were made by polishing away the material. Absolute weight fraction determination using the Rietveld external standard method showed that the concentration of AT reduces linearly from the surface to the core. In contrast, the alpha-alumina content increases with depth in a complementary manner. Low level amorphous phase was also observed. Other functionally-graded microstructural profiles examined were x-ray characteristic line intensity of Ti, Ti dot-mapping, and alpha-alumina grain size. The FGM also exhibits graded character in both thermal and mechanical properties, i.e. thermal expansion, microhardness, and Young's modulus. The thermal expansion coefficient (TEC) of the FGM increased with polishing-depth and approached that of the zirconia-alumina reference sample at a depth of 0.5 mm. / Relatively lower thermal expansion and softer surface layer in comparison to those of the core (TEC value of 5.9 x 10(subscript)-6 degrees celsius(subscript)-1 and microhardness of 6 GPa compared to 7.4 x 10(subscript)-6 degrees celsius(subscript)-1 and 12 GPa, respectively) render possibilities to implement the material to which thermal shock resistance surface but hard core, such as a metal melting crucible, are required. Load-dependent microhardness was obviously observed on the surface of the material but only slight dependence was observed in the core. This observation indicated that the material exhibit "quasi-ductile" surface but brittle core. In comparison to the reference specimen, the FGM displayed damage-tolerance and remarkable machinability.

Submitted by Gabriela Freitas Ramos (gabrieladsfreitas@gmail.com) on 2018-08-08T01:12:25Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Gabriela F R.pdf: 2402001 bytes, checksum: 25f255b66f5d6d03803d8caedbfb8205 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Silvana Alvarez null (silvana@ict.unesp.br) on 2018-08-16T15:30:22Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Gabriela F R.pdf: 2402001 bytes, checksum: 25f255b66f5d6d03803d8caedbfb8205 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T15:30:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Gabriela F R.pdf: 2402001 bytes, checksum: 25f255b66f5d6d03803d8caedbfb8205 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-06-08 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / O objetivo foi avaliar a probabilidade de falha de coroas de zircônia-porcelana com e sem infiltração de sílica (gradação) da zircônia, em disposição tradicional, graduada e bioinspirada, através da análise de Weibull e de elementos finitos pelo critério de Tensão Máxima Principal. Foram utilizados cem preparos anatômicos de primeiro molar superior (26) confeccionados em resina epóxi- Nema G10, que foram divididos em quatro grupos: Tradicional: infraestrutura em zircônia (Zircônia Convencional-Incoris ZI, Sirona, Brasil) e cobertura de porcelana (Cerâmica Feldspática-Cerec Blocs); Graduada: infraestrutura em zircônia infiltrada por sílica e cobertura de porcelana; Bioinspirada: infraestrutura em porcelana e cobertura com zircônia (Zircônia translúcida-Incoris TZI, Sirona, Brasil); e Bioinspirada Graduada: infraestrutura em porcelana e cobertura com zircônia infiltrada por sílica. A porção mais externa de todas as coroas foi revestida com uma camada glaze. A carga para fadiga deslizante foi de 100 N. Então os espécimes foram ciclados mecanicamente em um simulador de ciclos mastigatórios no qual uma ponta aplicadora fez 2.106 ciclos a uma frequência de 4 Hz. A cada 500.000 ciclos as coroas foram avaliadas quanto à presença de falhas (trincas, lascamentos ou descolamento entre porcelana e zircônia, fraturas catastróficas), em estereomicroscópio. Os tipos de falhas predominantes para as coroas Tradicional e Graduada foram delaminação e trincas, respectivamente. Os parâmetros de Weibull (beta e eta), com intervalo de confiança bilateral de 95% foram respectivamente: Tradicional - 1,29 e 0,23 E+07 ciclos; Graduada - 1,95 e 0,23 E+07 ciclos; Bioinspirada - 1,00 e 1,67 E+07 ciclos e Bioinspirada graduada - 1,00 1,67 E+07 ciclos. As coroas Tradicionais e Graduadas apresentaram maior susceptibilidade à falha por fadiga e as Bioinspiradas e Bioinspiradas graduadas não demonstraram susceptibilidade à fadiga. Ainda, através da Análise de elementos finitos, pôde-se verificar que as coroas bioinspiradas e bioinspiradas graduadas apresentaram a melhor distribuição de tensões tanto sobre a coroa quanto para a estrutura dentária. As diferentes configurações de restauração apresentaram diferentes probabilidades de falha após o ensaio de fadiga deslizante, sendo que as coroas Bioinspirada e Bioinspirada Graduada apresentam a menor probabilidade de falha e melhor distribuição de tensões, podendo ser consideradas restaurações mais duradouras em longo prazo. / The objective was to evaluate the failure probability of zirconia-porcelain crowns with and without silica infiltration (graded material) of the zirconia, using traditional, graded and bio-inspired design, through Weibull and finite element analysis by maximum principal stress. One hundred anatomical preparations of first upper molar were made of epoxy resin Nema G10 and divided into four groups: Traditional- zirconia (Conventional zirconia -Incoris ZI, Sirona, Brazil) and porcelain cover (Feldsphatic ceramic-Cerec Blocks); Graded- infrastructure in zirconia silica infiltrated and porcelain cover; Bioinspired- porcelain infrastructure and zirconia cover (Trasnlucent zirconia-Incoris TZI, Sirona, Brazil); and Graded Bioinspired- porcelain infrastructure and zirconia infiltrated by silica cover. The outermost portion of all crowns was coated with a glaze layer. The load for sliding fatigue was 100 N. Then the specimens were mechanically cycled in a masticatory cycle simulator for 2 x 106 cycles at 4 Hz of frequency. Every 500k cycles the crowns were evaluated in stereomicroscope for failures presence (cracks, chipping or detachment between porcelain and zirconia, or catastrophic fractures). The predominant failure types for the Traditional and Graded crowns were delamination and cracking, respectively. The Weibull parameters (beta and eta) with 95% bilateral confidence interval were respectively: Traditional - 1.29 and 0.23 E + 07 cycles; Graded - 1.95 and 0.23 E + 07 cycles; Bioinspired - 1,00 and 1,67 E + 07 cycles and Graded Bioinspired - 1,00 1,67 E + 07 cycles. The Traditional and Graded crowns presented greater susceptibility to failure due to fatigue and the Bioinspired and Graded Bioinspired crowns showed no susceptibility to fatigue. Also, through the finite elements analysis, it was verified that the Bioinspired and Graded Bioinspired crowns presented the best stress distribution on both crown and dental structure. The different restoration configurations presented different failure probabilities after the sliding fatigue test. Bioinspired and Graded Bioinspired crowns had the lowest failure probability and better stress distribution, which may be considered lasting restorations in the long term. / 2015/110013

Fracture mechanics plays an important role in understanding the performance of all types of materials including Functionally Graded Materials (FGMs). Recently, FGMs have attracted the attention of various scholars and engineers around the world since its specific material properties can smoothly vary along the geometries. In this thesis, the Finite Block Method (FBM), based on a 1D differential matrix derived from the Lagrangian Interpolation Method, has been presented for the evaluation of the mechanical properties of FGMs on both static and dynamic analysis. Additionally, the coefficient differential matrix can be determined by a normalized local domain, such as a square for 2D, a cubic for 3D. By introducing the mapping technique, a complex real domain can be divided into several blocks, and each block is possible to transform from Cartesian coordinate (xyz) to normalized coordinate (ξησ) with 8 seeds for two dimensions and 20 seeds for three dimensions. With the aid of coefficient differential matrix, the differential equation is possible to convert to a series of algebraic functions. The accuracy and convergence have been approved by comparison with other numerical methods or analytical results. Besides, the stress intensity factor and T-stresses are introduced to assess the fracture characteristics of FGMs. The Crack Opening displacement is applied for the calculation of the stress intensity factor with the FBM. In addition, a singular core is adopted to combine with the blocks for the simulation of T stresses. Numerical examples are introduced to verify the accuracy of the FBM, by comparing with Finite Element Methods or analytical results. Finally, the FBM is applied for wave propagation problems in two- and three-dimensional porous mediums considering their poroelasticities. To demonstrate the accuracy of the present method, a one-dimensional analytical solution has been derived for comparison.

No description available.

Yes / In recent times, the subject of effective cooling have become an interesting research topic for electronic and mechanical engineers due to the increased miniaturization trend in modern electronic systems. However, fins are useful for cooling various low and high power electronic systems. For improved thermal management of electronic systems, porous fins of functionally graded materials (FGM) have been identified as a viable candidate to enhance cooling. The present study presents an analysis of a convective–radiative porous fin of FGM. For theoretical investigations, the thermal property of the functionally graded material is assumed to follow linear and power-law functions. In this study, we investigated the effects of inhomogeneity index of FGM, convective and radiative variables on the thermal performance of the porous heatsink. The results of the present study show that an increase in the inhomogeneity index of FGM, convective and radiative parameter improves fin efficiency. Moreover, the rate of heat transfer in longitudinal FGM fin increases as b increases. The temperature prediction using the Adomian decomposition method is in excellent agreement with other analytical and method.

Functionally graded materials (FGMs) are composites with continuous material property variations. The distinct interfaces between the reinforcement and the matrix in classical composites are potential damage initiation sites. The concept of FGM aims at avoiding the material mismatch at the interfaces. Functionally graded materials originated from the need for a material that has high-toughness at very high operating temperatures that occur in rocket nozzles and aeroplane engines. One of the early applications of graded materials can be thus found in thermal barrier coatings of gas turbine blades. Recent applications of FGMs include optoelectronics, ballistic impact resistance structures, wear resistant coatings and others. Although the manufacturing and applications of FGMs are well developed the basic mechanics of failure is not well understood, which is important in developing engineering design methodologies. Modern day design practice uses the concepts of fracture mechanics and the fracture properties of graded materials is not well understood. Most studies in the literature have assumed that the material response of the bulk functionally graded material to be elastic even though the constituents are nominally ductile. Some asymptotic analysis available in the literature have described the effect of ductility on the fracture parameters. However, these analysis are not complete in the sense that they have some undetermined constants. The present thesis aims at performing whole-field finite element (FE) simulations of a crack embedded in a ductile functionally graded material subjected to an anti-plane shear (mode-3) loading. A J2-deformation theory based power-law hardening nonlinear material response is assumed. The material property variation is assumed to be in the radial-direction (r-FGM), tangential to the crack (x-FGM), normal to the crack plane (y-FGM) and also at an arbitrary angle to the crack-plane (xy-FGM). Yet another power law described the material property variation. The competition between the indices of the hardening and material property variation is understood by performing a parametric analysis by varying both systematically. Our results indicate that the first most singular term of the asymptotic series remains unaffected. For some values of the material property variation index, the second asymptotic term is affected. The semi-closed form solutions available in the literature were unable to decipher the relative range of dominance of the first and second terms. From the present whole-field FEM analysis were able to extract this relative range of dominance. Our results indicate the range of dominance of the first term is least for FGMs when the material property variation is in the direction to the crack (x-FGM), and it is more for y-FGM.

Palms support the largest leaves in the world and have evolved on Earth for over 120 million years. They are often reported to be the only structure left standing post-hurricane. Cross-sectional shapes of cantilevered structures are important design factors affecting torsional and bending performance. Understanding the shape contribution of natural sections such as palm petioles (modified leaf stalks) is more difficult than those for simple 2D shapes because conventional methods of calculating section properties are not well suited to these irregular shapes. The role of internal structure, material properties and external shape of palm petioles in cantilever performance has been investigated and three main contributions to knowledge result from this research. Firstly, 3D mapping, i.e., the size, orientation and position, of vascular bundles in the Trachycarpus fortunei palm petiole reveals the distributions of stress and Young’s modulus values, providing a more detailed understanding of petioles than previous work. Secondly, bulk elastic material properties along the longitudinal axis of the same petiole are then input to a bi-layered model of the same petiole establishing the Young’s modulus of the two layers without mechanically testing them individually and for determining that the outer layer is not lignified. Thirdly, the largest contribution is the introduction of modified shape transformers employing the use of circular envelopes, eliminating error caused by approximating second moment of area with the torsional constant. This leads to a novel Shape Edge Mapping (SEM) technique which deconstructs petiole cross section shape elements and enables the structural contribution of these elements to be calculated, improving the understanding of the petiole section and how it relates to its mechanical function. This thesis makes a valuable addition to the knowledge of palm function and presents novel techniques for non-destructive extraction of natural shape data for abstraction and use in preliminary engineering design.

"In this work we consider an optimal design problem formulated on a two dimensional domain filled with two isotropic dielectric materials. The objective is to find a design that supports an electric field which is as close as possible to a target field, under a constraint on the amount of the better dielectric. In the case of a zero target field, the practical purpose of this problem is to avoid the so called dielectric breakdown of the material caused due to a relatively large electric field. In general, material layout problems of this type fail to have an optimal configuration of the two materials. Instead one must study the behavior of minimizing sequences of configurations. From a practical perspective, optimal or nearly optimal configurations of the two materials are of special interest since they provide the information needed for the manufacturing of optimal designs. Therefore in this work, we develop theoretical and numerical means to support a tractable method for the numerical computation of minimizing sequences of configurations and illustrate our approach through numerical examples. The same method applies if we were to replace the electric field by electric flux, in our objective functional. Similar optimization design problems can be formulated in the mathematically identical contexts of electrostatics and heat conduction."

Propagation of cracks in functionally graded materials (FGMs) under cyclic loading was investigated via experiments and finite element (FE) analysis. Alumina-epoxy composites with an interpenetrating-network structure and tailored spatial variation in composition were produced via a multi-step infiltration technique. Compressed polyurethane foam was infiltrated with alumina slip. After foam burn-out and sintering, epoxy was infiltrated into the porous alumina body. Non-graded specimens with a range of compositions were produced, and elastic properties and fatigue behaviour were characterised. An increase in crack propagation resistance under cyclic loading was quantified via a novel analytical approach. A simulation platform was developed with the commercial FE package ANSYS. Material gradient was applied via nodal temperature definitions. Stress intensity factors were calculated from nodal displacements near the crack-tip. Deflection criteria were compared and the local symmetry criterion provided the most accurate and efficient predictions. An automated mesh-redefinition algorithm enabled incremental simulation of crack propagation. Effects of gradient and crack-geometry parameters on crack-tip stresses were investigated, along with influences of crack-shape, crack-bridging, residual stresses and plasticity. The model provided predictions and data analysis for experimental specimens. Fatigue cracks in graded specimens deflected due to elastic property mismatch, concordant with FE predictions. In other FGMs, thermal or plastic properties may dominate deflection behaviour. Weaker step-interfaces influenced crack paths in some specimens; otherwise effects of toughness variation and gradient steps on crack path were negligible. Crack shape has an influence, but this is secondary to that of elastic gradient. Cracks in FGM specimens initially experienced increase in fatigue resistance with crack-extension followed by sudden decreases at step-interfaces. Bridging had a notable effect on crack propagation resistance but not on crack path. Similarly, crack paths did not differ between monotonic and cyclic loading, although crack-extension effects did. Recommendations for analysis and optimisation strategies for other FGM systems are given. Experimental characterization of FGMs is important, rather than relying on theoretical models. Opportunities for optimization of graded structures are limited by the properties of the constituent materials and resultant general crack deflection behaviour.