Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 216-225).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [119]-128).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Hamid Garmestani, Florida State University, College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 29, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 101 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--State University of New York at Buffalo, 2005. Dept. of Electrical Engineering. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on Nov. 23, 2005) Available through UMI ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Thesis adviser: Wayne A. Anderson. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Hamid Garmestani, FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 19, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 101 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

<P> There is a growing interest in magnesium and its alloys due to their high strength to weight ratio. Magnesium is of particular interest to the automotive industry as a consequence of the current pressure to reduce green house gas emissions from the transportation sector through vehicle weight reduction. However, there is a lack of knowledge concerning the formability of magnesium. As a result, the application of magnesium as a commercial material has not been fully exploited. Much has been learned from the constitutive modeling of materials such as aluminum and steel. Therefore, this thesis considers the constitutive modeling of magnesium and its alloys. </p> <p> Based on this motivation, polycrystal plasticity theories that have been established and used to characterize aluminum and steel are studied. The validity of these theories is examined with respect to magnesium and its alloys. The magnesium system is composed of the hexagonal closed-packed (HCP) crystal structure. Therefore, a strong plastic anisotropy is induced in magnesium crystals due to the limited number of slip systems that may be activated with ease. The models proposed by Taylor and Sachs neglect strain and stress heterogeneities respectively. As a result, the models are either too stiff or too soft to study magnesium due to the anisotropic nature of the crystal structure. The intermediate models; self-consistent models, which are able to consider the heterogeneities among the grains in polycrystals, are believed to be more suitable to study magnesium and its alloys. Therefore, a large strain elastic-viscoplastic self-consistent (EVPSC) model is developed for polycrystalline materials. Both rate sensitive slip and twinning are included as mechanisms of plastic deformation, while elastic anisotropy is accounted for in the elastic modulus. The transition from single crystal plasticity to polycrystal plasticity is based on a completely self-consistent approach. It is shown that the differences in the predicted stress-strain curves and texture evolutions based on the EVPSC and the viscoplastic self-consistent (VPSC) model proposed by Lebensohn and Tome (1993) are negligible at large strains for monotonic loadings. For the deformations involving unloading and strain path changes, the EVPSC predicts a smooth elasto-plastic transition, while the VPSC model gives a discontinuous response because the model is incapable of modeling elastic deformation. In addition, it is demonstrated that the EVPSC model can capture some important experimental features which cannot be simulated by using the VPSC model. </p> <p> Various self-consistent schemes exist for EVPSC and VPSC models. However, the evaluations of these models are not complete. Therefore, an examination of various polycrystal plasticity models is made, based on comparisons of the predicted and experimental stress responses as well as the R values, to assess their validity. It is established that, among the models examined, the self-consistent models with grain interaction stiffuess values halfway between those of the limiting Secant (stiff) and Tangent (compliant) approximations give the best results. Among the available options, the Affine self-consistent scheme results in the best overall performance. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the R values under uniaxial tension and compression within the sheet plane show a strong dependence on the imposed strain. This suggests that the development of anisotropic yield functions using measured R values, must account for the strain. dependence. </p> <p> The recently developed large strain elastic visco-plastic self-consistent (EVPSC) model, which incorporates both slip and twinning deformation mechanisms, is used to study .the lattice strain evolution in extruded magnesium alloy AZ31 under uniaxial tension and compression. The results are compared against in-situ neutron diffraction measurements done on the same alloy. For the first time, the effects of stress relaxation and strain creep on lattice strain measurements in respectively displacement controlled and load controlled in-situ tests are numerically assessed. It is found that the stress relaxation, has a significant effect on the lattice strain measurements. It is also observed that although the creep does not significantly affect the trend of the lattice strain evolution, a better agreement with the experiments is found if creep is included in the simulations. </p> <p> In conjunction with the M-K approach developed by Marciniak and Kuczynski (1967), the EVPSC model is applied to study the sheet metal formability of magnesium alloys in terms of the forming limit diagram (FLO). The role of crystal plasticity models and the effects of basal texture on formability of magnesium alloy AZ31 B sheet are studied numerically. It is observed that formability in HCP polycrystalline materials is very sensitive to the intensity of the basal texture. The path-dependency of formability is examined based on different non-proportional loading histories, which are combinations of two linear strain paths. It is found that while the FLO in strain space is very sensitive to strain path changes, the forming limit stress diagram (FLSO) in stress space is much less path-dependent. It is suggested that the FLSO is much more favourable than the FLO in representing forming limits in the numerical simulation of sheet metal forming processes. The numerical results are found to be in good qualitative agreement with experimental observations. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This dissertation focuses on identifying and analyzing the mechanism of solid nucleation in liquid thin films. In doing so, we identify and describe a previously unrecognized mechanism of nucleation in condensed systems referred to as transmorphic nucleation. This cluster-shape-change-based mechanism is revealed as a general heterogeneous nucleation mechanism applicable to discontinuous phase transformations occurring in continuous or pre-patterned thin films, as well as in numerous materials systems that possess morphologically and chemically non-trivial heterogeneous-nucleation-catalyzing interfaces (e.g., polycrystalline materials, embedded nano-crystals, and materials with structured interfaces). Identifying, deciphering, and modeling the nature and details associated with how a new phase can nucleate in thin-film materials can be both scientifically meaningful for understanding discontinuous phase transformations in general, and technologically important for engineering various thin-film-based and nano-material-based applications and devices in particular. Classical nucleation theory (CNT) has long been established and regarded as the most practicable treatment that captures the thermodynamic and kinetic essence of the nucleation phenomenon in condensed systems in the simplest and most effective manner. Through a close examination of the theory, we identify and propose morphological equilibrium hypothesis (MEH) as an essential element of CNT. Our shape-transition-based model for transmorphic nucleation in thin films presented in this thesis illustrates that this hypothesis can be violated. As such, the CNT formulation is lacking in capturing the occurrence of the MEH-deviating shape evolution of the clusters, as for instance encountered during the process of transmorphic nucleation. In this dissertation, we conceptually, theoretically, and numerically examine and analyze the kinetic pathway through which nucleation of solids takes place in encapsulated liquid thin films. This example was selected for investigation because it is a particularly simple system, which in turn permits one to make clear, definitive, and general conclusions. A new nucleation mechanism of transmorphic nucleation is discovered in the process. This mechanism is defined generally as the nucleation mechanism through which supercritical clusters are generated from subcritical clusters during an irreversible and morphological-equilibrium-deviating shape evolution initiated when the fluctuating embryos encounter a local growth-inducing element in the catalyzing interface. Both thermodynamic and kinetic analyses in accordance with our transmorphic nucleation mechanism are carried out using a novel adaptation of established theoretical formulations and numerical modeling methods. The kinetic pathway of transmorphic nucleation is described, and transmorphic nucleation temperature window is thermodynamically identified. The kinetic aspect of transmorphic nucleation in thin films is uniquely captured by keeping track of two coupled population distribution profiles of equilibrium-morphology-adhering cluster shapes. Overall, the thesis starts with critical and deconstructive examination of CNT. It builds on our theory of phase initiation and evolution in condensed systems, i.e., Gibbs-Thomson variation (GTV) and Gibbs-Thomson function (GTF), and our interpretation of CNT to investigate steady-state and transient transmorphic nucleation in thin films. The thesis also examines and analyzes all other modes of shape-transition-affected nucleation in thin films outside the transmorphic nucleation domain to provide the comprehensive description of the entire map of nucleation mechanisms in thin-film systems. As far as the implications of the current work on the classical theory of nucleation is concerned, we illustrate how the phenomenon of transmorphic nucleation which violates MEH that forms the basis of CNT, reveals this previously unrecognized limitation of the current formulation of the classical theory of nucleation. The results presented in this dissertation further show that the GTV-based approach, which we identify as the foundation upon which CNT is formulated, can address the MEH-violating shape evolution of subcritical to supercritical clusters. Moreover, the aforementioned reformulation of cluster evolution in this dissertation can be of value for understanding and manipulating phase initiation and evolution involving all of the three Gibbs-Thomson phenomena (i.e., nucleation, coexistence, and free growth) in small, controlled materials systems for optimizing various confined and interface-rich materials that are increasingly becoming technologically important.

Thesis (M.Eng.)--University of Wollongong. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references: leaf 131-135.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xvii, 181 p.; also includes graphics (some col.). Includes bibliographical references (p. 168-181). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center