Asphalt composites are used to construct 90% of roads in the United States. These composites consist of asphalt binder, which is a product of the refinery process of oil, aggregates, and air voids. Fatigue cracking is one of the most important distresses that causes damage in asphalt pavements. However, there is still a gap in the understanding of the fatigue process of asphalt composites, such as the influence of material properties on this phenomenon and how the material microstructure changes as a result of fatigue damage. This study focuses on the results of two experiments that were performed on asphalt composites to better understand phenomena related to fatigue cracking: nano-mechanical characterization of the properties of the asphalt composite material and X-ray Computed Tomography nondestructive imaging of damage in the microstructure. These experimental measurements were performed on specimens that are first damaged in the Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer (DMA). The DMA is a tool commonly used for the characterization of fatigue cracking. This test method applies cyclic loads on asphalt composites, damaging them, and in the process determines the viscoelastic properties of the composite throughout the test. The nano-mechanical characterization experiment gives valuable results of the elastic modulus and hardness of the aggregate, binder, and the aggregate-binder interface that can be used to characterize different binder and aggregate combinations. The nanoindentation experiment successfully measured interface properties in the mix. The interface has elastic modulus and hardness values greater than the binder but smaller than the aggregate. This demonstrates that an interaction between these two phases creates a dissimilar phase between the two. The second experiment using X-ray CT gives measurements that are indicative of the influences of fatigue damage on micro-level changes in the material microstructure. The results of this experiment revealed important changes regarding the nature of fatigue damage and its relationship to changes in the geometry of air voids and cracks in asphalt composites. The X-ray CT experiment measured size and shape parameters of air voids at 20 microns/pixel resolution at different damage levels. These results illustrated that reduction in bonding strength in the binder is involved in failure in the mix and thus fatigue cracking is not solely responsible for failure. This conclusion is made based on the results not showing a statistically significant change in air void shape and size parameters with increased damage. This is illustrated by viewing changes in the air void structure within the mix, there is no evidence of crack propagation, or drastic changes in the shape, size, or volume of air voids within the mix.

The high temperature reactor (HTR) requires a completely new fuel design as it operates at around 1000°C in normal conditions and can reach up to 1600°C in case of an accident. The fuel and its cladding consist fully of ceramic materials, which precludes the possibility of a core meltdown and thus ensures inherent safety. The integral part of all HTR core designs is the tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) particle, which encapsulates the fissionable materials in succeeding coatings of pyrolytic carbon and silicon carbide (SiC). An exceptional mechanical integrity of the silicon carbide layer in all conditions is required to ensure full fission product retention. Within this work simulated TRISO fuel has been fabricated by fluidized bed chemical vapour deposition and was annealed in protective atmosphere up to 2200°C for short durations. Subsequent mechanical tests showed only minor reductions in the fracture strength of the SiC up to 2000°C. Substantial weight loss and crystal growth were observed after annealing at 2100°C and above. Raman spectroscopy identified the formation of a multi-layered graphene film covering the SiC grains after annealing and scanning electron microscopy revealed significant porosity formation within the coating from 1800°C onwards. These observations were attributed towards an evaporation-precipitation mechanism of SiC at very elevated temperatures that only slightly diminishes the hardness, elastic modulus or fracture strength, but might still be problematic in respect to fission product retention of the SiC layer. The new technique of high temperature nanoindentation was applied to measure the elastic modulus and hardness of SiC in-situ up to 500°C in argon atmosphere. The elastic modulus was found to be only slightly reduced over the measurement range, while the hardness showed a significant drop. Investigations of the deformation zone beneath the indenter tip executed by transmission electron microscopy showed slip and deformation twinning. On specimens that had been subject to neutron irradiation an irradiation hardening effect was noted. The elastic modulus showed only a minor increase compared with the non-irradiated samples. Oxidation experiments were carried out in air up to 1500°C. Analysis of the oxidation layer showed the formation of amorphous silica and cristobalite for the highest temperatures.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-07-05Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:51:19Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_prp_me_sjc.pdf: 750069 bytes, checksum: 94263aef7c378118e8087ea9d933ad86 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O objetivo desta pesquisa foi avaliar a influência do laser Nd:YAG nas propriedades mecânicas (dureza e módulo de elasticidade) da interface adesiva, utilizando a técnica da nanoindentação, empregando-se sistema adesivo convencional Adper Single Bond 2 – 3M ESPE (SB) ou autocondicionante Clearfil SE Bond – Kuraray (CSE). Doze terceiros molares humanos tiveram suas superfícies oclusais desgastadas até a exposição da dentina superficial. Uma cavidade circular padronizada com fresa 3053 foi realizada na superfície oclusal proporcionando 2 mm de dentina remanescente. Os espécimes foram embutidos em resina acrílica, e seccionados no sentido mésio-distal, sendo as 24 hemi-coroas obtidas divididas em quatro grupos: Grupo controle (SBC) - aplicação do sistema SB de acordo com as recomendações do fabricante; Grupo laser (SBL) - aplicação do sistema adesivo SB e tratamento com laser Nd:YAG (140mJ/cm2/60s/não contato); Grupo controle (CSEC) - aplicação do sistema adesivo autocondicionante CSE de acordo com as recomendações do fabricante; Grupo laser (CSEL)- aplicação do sistema adesivo autocondicionante CSE e tratamento com laser Nd:YAG (140mJ/cm2/60s/não contato). Após a polimerização dos sistemas adesivos, foram aplicados dois incrementos da resina composta Filtek Z 350 (3M ESPE). Os corpos-de-prova foram imersos em água destilada e armazenados por 24h em estufa 37ºC e submetidos à nanoidentação em aparelho Nano Indenter® XP (MTS®, MN, EUA).. Os resultados foram submetidos aos testes estatísticos de Análise de Variância (ANOVA), Tukey e t-Student (p<0,05). Concluiu-se que a aplicação do laser Nd:YAG em ambos os sistemas adesivos não alterou o nível de dureza da interface adesiva, no entanto alterou o módulo de elasticidade / The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of Nd: YAG laser on the mechanical properties (hardness and modulus of elasticity) of the adhesive interface, using the technique of nanoindentation, employing conventional adhesive system Single Bond 2 3M ESPE (SB) or selfetching adhesive system Clearfil SE Bond - Kuraray (CSE). On 12 human molars, a flat superficial dentin surface was exposed by abrasion. A standardized circular cavity with bur 3053 was performed on the occlusal surface and dentin thickness was standardized in 2 mm. The specimens were embedded in resin acrylic and sectioned mesio-distally through their long axes, and the 24 hemi-crowns obtained divided into four groups: Control Group (SBC) – the application of SB system according to the manufacturer's recommendations; Laser Group (SBL) – SB adhesive system and treatment with Nd: YAG laser (140mJ/cm2/60s/no contact) Control Group (CSEC) – application of CSE self-etching adhesive system according to the manufacturer's recommendations; Laser Group (CSEL) – application of CSE self-etching adhesive system and treatment with Nd: YAG laser (140mJ/cm2/60s/no contact). After polymerization of the adhesives, were applied two increments of composite resin Filtek Supreme and specimens were immersed in distilled water and stored for 24 hours at 37 ºC and submitted to nanoidentation in Nano Indenter ® XP (MTS ®, MN, USA. Nanoindentation were made on composite resin, adhesive system, hybrid layer and dentin. The results were analyzed by a tree-way ANOVA, Tukey and e t-Students (p<0,05). It was concluded that the application of Nd:YAG laser in both adhesive systems did not change hardness level of hybrid layer, however chanded the elastic modulus

abstract: This dissertation is on the study of structural and optical properties of some III-V and II-VI compound semiconductors. The first part of this dissertation is a study of the deformation mechanisms associated with nanoindentation and nanoscratching of InP, GaN, and ZnO crystals. The second part is an investigation of some fundamental issues regarding compositional fluctuations and microstructure in GaInNAs and InAlN alloys. In the first part, the microstructure of (001) InP scratched in an atomic force microscope with a small diamond tip has been studied as a function of applied normal force and crystalline direction in order to understand at the nanometer scale the deformation mechanisms in the zinc-blende structure. TEM images show deeper dislocation propagation for scratches along <110> compared to <100>. High strain fields were observed in <100> scratches, indicating hardening due to locking of dislocations gliding on different slip planes. Reverse plastic flow have been observed in <110> scratches in the form of pop-up events that result from recovery of stored elastic strain. In a separate study, nanoindentation-induced plastic deformation has been studied in c-, a-, and m-plane ZnO single crystals and c-plane GaN respectively, to study the deformation mechanism in wurtzite hexagonal structures. TEM results reveal that the prime deformation mechanism is slip on basal planes and in some cases, on pyramidal planes, and strain built up along particular directions. No evidence of phase transformation or cracking was observed in both materials. CL imaging reveals quenching of near band-edge emission by dislocations. In the second part, compositional inhomogeneity in quaternary GaInNAs and ternary InAlN alloys has been studied using TEM. It is shown that exposure to antimony during growth of GaInNAs results in uniform chemical composition in the epilayer, as antimony suppresses the surface mobility of adatoms that otherwise leads to two-dimensional growth and elemental segregation. In a separate study, compositional instability is observed in lattice-matched InAlN films grown on GaN, for growth beyond a certain thickness. Beyond 200 nm of thickness, two sub-layers with different indium content are observed, the top one with lower indium content. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Physics 2013

Orientador: Edison Zacarias da Silva / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Fisica Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T21:28:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pereira_ZennerSilva_M.pdf: 20162945 bytes, checksum: d21814c79148ec7f736ed05982bdddfc (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Resumo: Nós apresentamos nesse trabalho dois assuntos relevantes na atualidade:Crescimento de filmes finos metálicos e nanoindentação.Estudamos esses sistemas utilizando dinâmica molecular com potenciais empíricos. Nós mostramos que é possível modelar o crescimento epitaxial utilizando potenciais adequados e uma específica metodologia de deposição. No crescimento de filmes finos estudamos três sistemas utilizando o potencial EAM:Cu/Ag(001),Cu/Au(001) e Pd/Au(001). Para Cu sobre Au e Cu sobre Ag obtivemos resultados de acordo com experimentos anteriores. Enfatizamos que a temperatura e a espessura do filme depositado estão relacionadas com as estruturas apresentadas durante o crescimento. Mostramos que a princípio o filme cresce sob stress numa fase instável bcc, porém ao atingir uma espessura crítica relaxa numa estrutura bct. Então, após a relaxação o filme apresenta um padrão de deformação (stripes). A Relação entre temperatura espessura e porcentagem de átomos nucleados bcc foi quantificada num gráfico. Para o caso Pd sobre Au mostramos que o crescimento resultou num padrão de deformação após atingir 11 camadas. Analisamos as estruturas e indentificamos defeitos tipo "falhas de empilhamento ". Para a modelagem de sistemas semicondutores nós utilizamos o potencial de Terso ..Com um indentador esférico de diamante indentamos uma superfície de silício.Um gráfico de deslocamento do indentador em função da pressão é apresentado. Analisamos o número de coordenação dos átomos de silício quando o indentador atingiu certos valores de pressão. / Abstract: In this work we present two important and current subjects:Metalic thin .lms and nanoindentation. We studied these systems using molecular dynamics with empirical potentials. We showed that it is possible to model the epitaxial growth using a suitable potential and a specific methodology for deposition.Concerning the growth of thin films,we studied three systems using EAM potential:Cu/Ag(001),Cu/Au(001)and Pd/Au(001).For Cu on Au and Cu on Ag,our results are in agreement with previous experiments. We stress that the existence of a bcc and bcc/bct are related to temperature and thickness of the deposited film. We showed that during the deposition of the first few layers,the film grows under stress to form an unstable bcc phase,but after a critical thickness it relaxes in a bct structure.Then,when the film is relaxed it presentes a deformation pattern (stripes). The relationships between temperature,thickness and formed structures are presented. For the case of Pd on Au the growth resulted in a deformation pattern after we deposited 11 mono-layers. We analysed the structures and found defect types known as stacking faults. To model semiconductors systems we used the Tersoff potential. We indented a surface of silicon with a spheric indenter of diamond.A graph of dislocation as function of pressure for the indenter is presented. We analysed the coordination number of silicon atoms when the indenter reached specific values of pressure. / Mestrado / Física da Matéria Condensada / Mestre em Física

Nanoindentation has emerged as a leading technique for the investigation of mechanical properties on small volumes of material. Extensive progress has been made in the last 20 years in refining the nstrumentation of nanoindentation systems and in analysis of the resulting data. Recent development has enabled investigation of materials under several dynamic conditions. The palladium-hydrogen system has a large miscibility gap, where the palladium lattice rapidly expands to form a hydrogen-rich β phase upon hydrogenation. Nanoindentation was used to investigate the mechanical effects of these transformations on foils of palladium. Study of palladium foils, which had been cycled through hydrogenation and dehydrogenation, allowed the extent of the transformed region to be determined. Unstable palladium foils, which had been hydrogenated and were subject to dynamic hydrogen loss, displayed significant hardening in the regions which were not expected to have transformed. The reason for this remains unclear. Impact indentation, where the indenter encounters the sample at relatively high speeds, can be used to probe the strain rate dependence of materials. By combining impact indentation and elevated temperature indentation, the strain rate dependence of the superelasticity of nickel-titanium was probed over a range of temperatures. Similar trends in elastic energy ratios with temperature were observed with the largest elastic proportions occurring at the Austenite finish transformation temperature. Multiple impact and scratch indentation are two modes of indentation which are thought to approximate erosive and abrasive wear mechanisms, respectively. These were utilised to investigate the wear resistance of several novel coatings formed by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) of Ti-6Al4-V. Multiple impact indentation results appear to subjectively rank the erosive wear performance of both ductile and brittle materials. Comparison of normalised performance of coating systems on aluminium in abrasive wear to scratch hardness showed similar degrees of resistance.

Nanoindentation is a widely used technique to measure the mechanical properties of films with thickness ranging from nanometers to micrometers. A much better understanding of the contact mechanics is obtained mostly through finite element modeling. The experiments were modeled using the software package Nano SP1 that is based on COSMOSM™ (Structural Research & Analysis Corp, www.cosmosm.com), a finite element code. The fundamental material properties affecting pile-up are the ratio of the effective modulus to yield stress Eeff/σ and the work hardening behavior. Two separate cases of work hardening rates were considered; one with no work hardening rate and other with a linear work hardening rate. Specifically, it is observed that pile up is large only when hf/hmax is close to one and degree of work hardening rate is small. It should also be noted that when hf/hmax < 0.7 very little pile-up is observed no matter what the work-hardening behavior of the material. When pile-up occurs the contact area is greater than that predicted by the experimental methods and both the hardness and modulus are overestimated. In this report the amount by which these properties are overestimated are studied and got to be around 22% approx. Bluntness of the tip often leads to the misinterpretation of the load-displacement data. Further analysis was done in order to find out the amount of deviation from the ideal tip due to tip bluntness. Radius of the tips were also calculated for cubecorner (41.35 nm) and conical indenter (986.05 nm).

This study deals with crystal orientation effect along with the effects of microstructure on the pile-ups which affect the nanoindentation measurements. Two metal classes, face centered cubic (FCC) and body centered cubic (BCC, are dealt with in the present study. The objective of this study was to find out the degree of inaccuracy induced in nanoindentation measurements by the inherent pile-ups and sink-ins. Also, it was the intention to find out how the formation of pile-ups is dependant upon the crystal structure and orientation of the plane of indentation. Nanoindentation, Nanovision, scanning electron microscopy, electron dispersive spectroscopy and electron backscattered diffraction techniques were used to determine the sample composition and crystal orientation. Surface topographical features like indentation pile-ups and sink-ins were measured and the effect of crystal orientation on them was studied. The results show that pile-up formation is not a random phenomenon, but is quite characteristic of the material. It depends on the type of stress imposed by a specific indenter, the depth of penetration, the microstructure and orientation of the plane of indentation. Pile-ups are formed along specific directions on a plane and this formation as well as the pile-up height and the contact radii with the indenter is dependant on the aforesaid parameters. These pile-ups affect the mechanical properties like elastic modulus and hardness measurements which are pivotal variables for specific applications in micro and nano scale devices.

Orientador: Mário Alexandre Coelho Sinhoreti / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T07:19:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Leme_ArieneArcasTopalPaes_D.pdf: 1762862 bytes, checksum: df60c904446c386b9834989fa6847207 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013 / Resumo: Neste estudo avaliou-se o efeito: (1) da adição de resina de troca aniônica (AER) a um cimento experimental, para reduzir a incompatibilidade entre sistemas adesivos simplificados e cimento resinoso de polimerização dupla, quando ativado quimicamente; (2) da aplicação de uma camada extra de adesivo entre o sistema adesivo simplificado e o cimento resinoso, na resistência da união, propriedades nanomecânicas da camada de cimento e micropermeabilidade na interface adesiva. Discos de resina composta foram cimentados com os sistemas adesivos ACE ALL Bond TE ([ACE] Bisco Inc.) e Scotchbond Universal ([SCU] 3M ESPE) ... Observação: O resumo, na íntegra, poderá ser visualizado no texto completo da tese digital. / Abstract: This study evaluated the effect of: (1) adding anion exchange resin (AER) to an experimental resin cement aiming to reduce incompatibility between simplified-step adhesive systems and dual-cured resin cement when chemically activated; (2) the application of an extra adhesive resin layer between the simplified adhesive system and resin cement, on the microtensile bond strength, nanomechanical properties of the cement layer and micropermeability at the adhesive layer. Resin composite discs were luted with the adhesive systems ACE ALL Bond TE ([ACE] Bisco Inc.) and Scotchbond Universal ([SCU] 3M ESPE) ... Note: The complete abstract is available with the full electronic document / Doutorado / Materiais Dentarios / Doutora em Materiais Dentários

This work provides an insight into how the molecular interactions influence macroscale properties of two materials: swelling clay and oil shale. Swelling clays cause enormous damage to infrastructure: buildings, roads, and bridges. Understanding the mechanisms are essential to prevent the detrimental effects and use of these clays for engineering applications. Our group studied the effect of fluid polarity on sodium montmorillonite (Na-MMT) swelling clay mineral using molecular modeling and experiments for bridging the molecular level behavior with the microstructure, swelling pressure, permeability, and compressibility. Various polar fluids (Dielectric Constant 110 to 20) found in landfill leachates are used. Our molecular dynamics (MD) simulations show that the nonbonded interactions of Na-MMT with polar fluids are higher than with low and medium polar fluids. These results are consistent with the results from Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy experiments. The polarity of the fluids and the fluid content influence the interlayer spacing, interlayer modulus, nonbonded interactions, and conformation as well as the shear strength parameters, the angle of internal friction (φ) and cohesion (c). Furthermore, the unconfined compressive strength experiments are used to evaluate the undrained cohesion at various swelling level. The nanomechanical properties, the modulus of elasticity (E) and hardness (H), of the undisturbed dry and saturated Na-MMT at various level of swelling are evaluated using nanoindentation experiments for the first time. The undrained cohesion, modulus of elasticity, and hardness decrease with increase in swelling level. Swelling controls the microstructure of Na-MMT clay, and the clay particles breakdown into smaller sizes with increase in swelling level. The Green River Formation located in the United States is the richest oil shale deposit in the world. Oil shale contains clay minerals, bitumen, and kerogen—a precursor to crude oil. A three-dimensional (3D) kerogen model is built from seven fragments, and the interactions of kerogen with Na-MMT is investigated using MD simulations to understand how the kerogen is bound to the clay mineral. The nonbonded interactions between Na-MMT and kerogen as well as among kerogen fragments are found. This work seeks to develop new methods to extract kerogen economically and efficiently. / Department of Energy (DoE) / Mountain Plains Consortium (MPC) / North Dakota Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (ND EPSCoR)