The Generalized Finite Element Method (GFEM) is a numerical method based on the Partition of Unity (PU) concept and inspired on both the Partition of Unity Method (PUM) and the hp-Cloud method. According to the GFEM, the PU is provided by first-degree Lagragian interpolation functions, defined over a mesh of elements similar to the Finite Element Method (FEM) meshes. In fact, the GFEM can be considered an extension of the FEM to which enrichment functions can be applied in specific regions of the problem domain to improve the solution. This technique has been successfully employed to solve problems presenting discontinuities and singularities, like those that arise in Fracture Mechanics. However, most publications on the method are related to linear analyses. The present thesis is a contribution to the few studies of nonlinear analyses of Solid Mechanics by means of the GFEM. One of its main topics is the derivation of a segment-to-segment generalized contact element based on the mortar method. Material and kinematic nonlinear phenomena are also considered in the numerical models. An Object-Oriented design was developed for the implementation of a GFEM nonlinear analyses framework written in Python programming language. The results validated the formulation and demonstrate the gains and possible drawbacks observed for the GFEM nonlinear approach. / O Método dos Elementos Finitos Generalizados (MEFG) é um método numérico baseado no conceito de partição da unidade (PU) e inspirado no Método da Partição da Unidade (MPU) e o método das Nuvens-hp. De acordo com o MEFG, a PU é obtida por meio de funções de interpolação Lagragianas de primeiro grau, definidas sobre uma rede de elementos similar àquela do Método dos Elementos Finitos (MEF). De fato, o MEFG pode ser considerado uma extensão do MEF para a qual se pode aplicar enriquecimentos em regiões específicas do domínio, buscando melhorias na solução. Esta técnica já foi aplicada com sucesso em problemas com descontinuidades e singularidades, como os originários da Mecânica da Fratura. Apesar disso, a maioria das publicações sobre o método está relacionada a análises lineares. A presente tese é uma contribuição aos poucos estudos relacionados a análises não-lineares de Mecânica dos Sólidos por meio do MEFG. Um de seus principais tópicos é o desenvolvimento de um elemento de contato generalizado do tipo segmento a segmento baseado no método mortar. Fenômenos não lineares devidos ao material e à cinemática também são considerados nos modelos numéricos. Um projeto de orientação a objetos para a implementação de uma plataforma de análises não-lineares foi desenvolvido, escrito em linguagem de programação Python. Os resultados validam a formulação e demonstram os ganhos e possíveis desvantagens da abordagem a problemas não lineares por meio do MEFG.

Sous l’effet des sollicitations mécaniques répétées induites par les passages des trains, on observe l’apparition de fissures de fatigue de contact dans les rails. Une fois amorcées, celles-ci peuvent se propager et mener à la rupture du rail. Dans un contexte d’intensification du trafic et d’augmentation globale des vitesses de circulation, il devient stratégique pour SNCF d’optimiser sa politique de maintenance. Afin de définir des pas de surveillance adaptés et une planification optimisée des opérations de maintenance, une meilleure connaissance des mécanismes d’endommagement par fatigue du rail s’avère nécessaire. Tendre vers cette stratégie de maintenance prédictive passe par la mise en place d’outils de simulation numérique adaptés. Dans ce contexte, une chaîne d’outils a été développée : détermination des sollicitations transmises au rail, des champs de contraintes et de déformations résiduelles, localisation des zones critiques vis-à-vis du risque de fissuration. L’étape suivante consiste à estimer le risque lié à la présence de fissures et à étudier leurs propagations. Elle constitue une partie des objectifs de ces travaux de thèse. La résolution du problème tri-dimensionnel d’une structure fissurée, avec contact et frottement entre les lèvres, est effectuée grâce à un modèle tri-dimensionnel éléments finis étendus multi-échelles. Ce modèle fait appel à une formulation mixte stabilisée où chaque champ est écrit à l’aide d’enrichissement. La fissure est représentée grâce à une stratégie implicite-explicite. Le problème est résolu à l’aide du solveur non-linéaire LATIN. Une étude empirico-numérique a permis de proposer des formules a priori assurant à la méthode de résolution un taux de convergence proche de l’optimal. La simulation de la propagation des fissures de fatigue est réalisée à l’aide de critères spécifiques, adaptés à un chargement multi-axial et non-proportionnel, et d’une loi de propagation dédiée en mode mixte. La confrontation des résultats de simulation avec des essais réalisés sur une configuration cylindre-plan a validé la stratégie X-FEM/LATIN à deux échelles. Tous ces développements ont été implémentés dans le code de calcul éléments finis CAST3M. Des contraintes résiduelles réalistes, provenant d’un logiciel externe, ont été introduites. Cette étape a requis la mise en place d’une procédure de transfert des champs entre les deux maillages (celui utilisé pour le calcul des contraintes résiduelles et celui utilisé pour la résolution du problème de mécanique élastique linéaire de la rupture). L’étude de la flexion du rail a révelé l’influence de ce phénomène uniquement lors du passage du chargement sur la fissure.Enfin, une étude numérique a montré la très forte influence de l’orientation du chargement tangentiel, des contraintes résiduelles et de la présence de plusieurs fissures sur la direction et les vitesses de propagation des fissures de fatigue. / To optimize the rail grinding strategy, the prediction of crack growth rates has a vital role. Contact, with friction between the crack faces, notably occurs in rolling contact fatigue (RCF) problems. These time-dependent, multi-axial, non proportional loadings may lead to a crack initiation and propagation, and sometimes to the development of very complex 3D crack network. Numerical simulations of frictional fatigue crack are efficiently performed using the eXtended Finite Element Method (X-FEM). Within this method, the mesh does not need to conform to the crack geometry. Most difficulties associated to complex mesh generation around the crack and the re-meshing steps during the propagation are hence avoided. A 3D two-scale frictional contact fa-tigue crack model developed within the X-FEM framework is presented. It allows the use of a refined discretization of the crack interface independent from the underlying finite element mesh and adapted to the frictional contact crack scale. The model is used here to analyze the crack propagation, rate and direction, under rolling contact fatigue. The wheel-rail contact loading is modeled as a traveling hertzian load. The stress intensity factors are computed at the crack tips during the wheel passage. Criteria for determining crack growth direction under multiaxial non proportional conditions and mixed mode Paris’ law are used. Actual residual stresses are accounted for in the simulation. They are determined thanks to a dedicated model used at SNCF in which the asymptotic mechanical state of the rail is computed when submitted to cyclic loads. A non-uniform elastic-plastic stabilized state is calculated and introduced, by projection of the mechanical fields onto the finite element mesh, in the crack propagation simulation. All this strategy has been implemented in CAST3M and is now used to model 3D frictional crack growth under RCF.

The research presented in this work addresses open questions regarding (i) the fundamental understanding of powder compaction, and (ii) the complex mechanical response of particle-binder composites under large deformations. This work thus benefits a broad range of industries, from the pharmaceutical industry and its recent efforts on continuous manufacturing of solid tablets, to the defense and energy industries and the recurrent need to predict the performance of energetic materials. Powder compacts and particle-binder composites are essentially confined particulate systems with significant heterogeneity at the meso (particle) scale. While particle mechanics strategies for modeling evolution of mesoscale microstructure during powder compaction depend on the employed contact formulation to accurately predict macroscopic quantities like punch and die wall pressures, modeling of highly nonlinear, strain-path dependent macroscopic response without a distinctive yield surface, typical of particle-binder composites, requires proper constitutive modeling of these complex deformation mechanisms. Moreover, continued loading of particle-binder composites over their operational life may introduce significant undesirable changes to their microstructure and mechanical properties. These challenges are addressed with a combined effort on theoretical, modeling and experimental fronts, namely, (a) novel contact formulations for elasto-plastic particles under high levels of confinement, (b) a multi-scale experimental procedure for assessing changes in microstructure and mechanical behavior of particle-binder composites due to cyclic loading and time-recovery, and (c) a finite strain nonlinear elastic, endochronic plastic constitutive formulation for particle-binder composites.

<div>As physical testing does not always yield insight into the mechanistic cause of failures, computational modeling is often used to develop an understanding of the goodness of a design and to shorten the product development time. One common, and widely used analysis technique is the Finite Element Method. A significant difficulty with the finite element method is the effort required to generate an analysis-suitable mesh due to the difference in the mathematical representation of geometry CAD and CAE systems. CAD systems commonly use Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) while the CAE tools rely on the finite element mesh. Efforts to unify CAD and CAE by carrying out analysis directly using NURBS models termed Isogeometric Analysis reduces the gap between CAD and CAE phases of product development. However, several challenges still remain in the field of isogeometric analysis. A critical challenge relates to the output of commercial CAD systems. B-rep CAD models generated by commercial CAD systems contain uncoupled NURBS patches and are therefore not suitable for analysis directly. Existing literature is largely missing methods to smoothly couple NURBS patches. This is the first topic of research in this thesis. Fracture-caused failures are a critical concern for the reliability of engineered structures in general and semiconductor chips in particular. The back-end of the line structures in modern semiconductor chips contain multi-material junctions that are sites of singular stress, and locations where cracks originate during fabrication or testing. Techniques to accurately model the singular stress fields at interfacial corners are relatively limited. This is the second topic addressed in this thesis. Thus, the overall objective of this dissertation is to develop an isogeometric framework for parametric domain decomposition and analysis of singular stresses using enriched isogeometric analysis.</div><div><br></div><div>Geometrically speaking, multi-material junctions, sub-domain interfaces and crack surfaces are lower-dimensional features relative to the two- or three-dimensional domain. The enriched isogeometric analysis described in this research builds enriching approximations directly on the lower-dimensional geometric features that then couple sub-domains or describe cracks. Since the interface or crack geometry is explicitly represented, it is easy to apply boundary conditions in a strong sense and to directly calculate geometric quantities such as normals or curvatures at any point on the geometry. These advantages contrast against those of implicit geometry methods including level set or phase-field methods. In the enriched isogeometric analysis, the base approximations in the domain/subdomains are enriched by the interfacial fields constructed as a function of distance from the interfaces. To circumvent the challenges of measuring distance and point of influence from the interface using iterative operations, algebraic level sets and algebraic point projection are utilized. The developed techniques are implemented as a program in the MATLAB environment named as <i>Hierarchical Design and Analysis Code</i>. The code is carefully designed to ensure simplicity and maintainability, to facilitate geometry creation, pre-processing, analysis and post-processing with optimal efficiency. </div><div><br></div><div>To couple NURBS patches, a parametric stitching strategy that assures arbitrary smoothness across subdomains with non-matching discretization is developed. The key concept used to accomplish the coupling is the insertion of a “parametric stitching” or p-stitching interface between the incompatible patches. In the present work, NURBS is chosen for discretizing the parametric subdomains. The developed procedure though is valid for other representations of subdomains whose basis functions obey partition of unity. The proposed method is validated through patch tests from which near-optimal rate of convergence is demonstrated. Several two- and three-dimensional elastostatic as well as heat conduction numerical examples are presented.</div><div><br></div><div>An enriched field approximation is then developed for characterizing stress singularities at junctions of general multi-material corners including crack tips. Using enriched isogeometric analysis, the developed method explicitly tracks the singular points and interfaces embedded in a non-conforming mesh. Solution convergence to those of linear elastic fracture mechanics is verified through several examples. More importantly, the proposed method enables direct extraction of generalized stress intensity factors upon solution of the problems without the need to use <i>a posteriori</i> path-independent integral such as the J-integral. Next, the analysis of crack initiation and propagation is carried out using the alternative concept of configurational force. The configurational force is first shown to result from a configurational optimization problem, which yields a configurational derivative as a necessary condition. For specific velocities imposed on the heterogeneities corresponding to translation, rotation or scaling, the configurational derivative is shown to yield the configurational force. The use of configurational force to analyze crack propagation is demonstrated through examples.</div><div><br></div><div>The developed methods are lastly applied to investigate the risk of ratcheting-induced fracture in the back end of line structure during thermal cycle test of a epoxy molded microelectronic package. The first principal stress and the opening mode stress intensity factor are proposed as the failure descriptors. A finite element analysis sub-modeling and load decomposition procedure is proposed to study the accumulation of plastic deformation in the metal line and to identify the critical loading mode. Enriched isogeometric analysis with singular stress enrichment is carried out to identify the interfacial corners most vulnerable to stress concentration and crack initiation. Correlation is made between the failure descriptors and the design parameters of the structure. Crack path from the identified critical corner is predicted using both linear elastic fracture mechanics criterion and configurational force criterion. </div>

Hållfasthetslära är ett viktigt och centralt område inom ingenjörsutbildningar. Men att ha grundläggande kunskap om vad som gör konstruktioner hållfasta är dock något som inte enbart bör vara förbehållet ingenjörer, utan det är även ett område som tillhör allmänbildningen. Det är av den anledningen området hållfasthet tas upp redan i grundskolans lägre åldrar i skolämnet Teknik och fördjupas successivt upp till gymnasiets tekniska program. I denna studie har fem läroböcker för ämnet Teknik för grundskolans årskurs 7-9 samt två läroböcker för kursen Teknik 1 i gymnasieskolans årskurs 1, studerats för att utreda hur området hållfasthetslära beskrivs. Metoden som används i analysen är textanalys i form av en kvantitativ innehållsanalys av förekomsten av hållfasthetsrelaterade begrepp samt en kvalitativ analys av hur begreppen beskrivs. Därtill görs en analys av hur läromedlen uppfyller styrdokumentens krav och riktlinjer. Studien visar att böckerna har stor variation i hur området hållfasthetslära framställs, dock med generaliseringar att högstadieboken beskriver området med text och gymnasieboken med formler. De studerade läroböckerna tar visserligen upp många ämnesspecifika begrepp men det är en markant skillnad mellan böckerna hur dessa begrepp beskrivs. Den fördjupade analysen som studerar om läroböckerna uppfyller styrdokumentens kursplaner i Teknik för grundskolan och Teknik 1 för gymnasieskolan påvisar även den en stor spridning mellan läroböckerna. Av studiens valda bedömningskriterier kan utläsas att området behandlas utförligt endast av två av böckerna: grundskolans Teknik Direkt (2018) från förlaget Sanoma Utbildning samt gymnasiets Teknik (2011) från förlaget Liber. Gemensamt för de valda gymnasieböckerna är att området hållfasthet behandlas mycket mer matematiskt än i högstadieböckerna och stort fokus ligger på olika former av spänningsberäkningar. Dock är det ett markant språng i abstraktionsnivå från de enklare textbaserade högstadieböckerna till gymnasieböckerna med matematiska beräkningar. Slutsatsen av detta är att varken högstadieböckerna eller gymnasieböckerna ger en heltäckande bild av viktiga grundläggande begrepp inom området hållfasthet. Studien visar att de bästa av böckerna kan i viss mån komplettera varandra, men med ogrundade val av läromedel riskerar det att bli osammanhängande. Det är därmed viktigt att läraren noggrant utvärderar lämpliga läromedel så de uppfyller det tänkta syftet i undervisningen. / Strength of materials and solid mechanics theory is an important and central area in engineering education. But having a basic knowledge of what makes structures durable, however, is not only reserved for engineers, but is also an area that belongs to general education. For this reason, the area of strength is already taken up in the elementary school's lower age in the subject of technology and is gradually expanded up to the high school's technical program. In this study, five textbooks for the subject of Technology for comprehensive school upper stage, grade 7-9, and two textbooks for the course Technology 1 in high school year 1 were studied to investigate how the field of strength theory is described. The method used in the analysis is text analysis in the form of a quantitative content analysis of the presence of strength-related concepts as well as a qualitative analysis of how the concepts are described. In addition, an analysis is made of how the teaching materials meet the requirements and guidelines of the steering documents. The study shows that the books have a great variety in how the field of strength theory is presented, however with generalizations that the upper stage textbook describes the area with text and the high school describes with formulas. Although the textbooks studied have many subject-specific concepts, it is markedly different between the books how these concepts are described. The in-depth analysis that studies whether the textbooks meet the syllabus of the steering documents in Teknik for the elementary school and Teknik 1 for the upper secondary school also shows a large distribution between the textbooks. From the chosen assessment criteria in the study, it can be seen that the area is in depth covered by only two of the books: Teknik Direkt (2018) from publisher Sanoma Utbildning (for the elementary school) and Teknik (2011) from publisher Liber (from upper secondary school). Common to all the selected high school books is that the area of strength is treated much more mathematically than for the upper stage books and great focus is placed on various forms of stress calculations. However, there is a significant leap in abstraction level from the simpler text-based upper stage books to the high school books with mathematical calculations. The conclusion of this is that neither the upper stage school books nor the high school books provide a comprehensive picture of important basic concepts in the area of strength. The study shows that the best of the books can to some extent complement each other, but with unfounded choice of study material it risks becoming incoherent. It is therefore important that the teacher carefully evaluates appropriate teaching material so that they fulfill the intended purpose of the teaching.

<p>A procedure for calibrating a discrete element (DE) computational soil model for various moisture contents using a conventional Asperity-Spring friction modeling technique is presented in this thesis. The procedure is based on the outcomes of two physical soil experiments:</p> <p>(1) Compression and (2) unconfined shear strength at various levels of normal stress and normal pre-stress. The Compression test is used to calibrate the DE soil plastic strain and elastic strain as a function of Compressive stress. To calibrate the DE inter-particle friction coefficient and adhesion stress as a function of soil plastic strain, the unconfined shear test is used. This thesis describes the experimental test devices and test procedures used to perform the physical terramechanical experiments. The calibration procedure for the DE soil model is demonstrated in this thesis using two types of soil: sand-silt (2NS Sand) and silt-clay(Fine Grain Soil) over 5 different moisture contents: 0%, 4%, 8%, 12%, and 16%. The DE based models response are then validated by comparing them to experimental pressure-sinkage results for circular disks and cones for those two types of soil over 5 different moisture contents. The Mean Absolute  Percentage Error (MAPE) during the compression calibration was 26.9% whereas during the unconfined shear calibration, the MAPE was calculated to be 11.38%. Hence, the overall MAPE was calculated to be 19.34% for the entire calibration phase.</p>

The objective of this thesis is to generate and enhance technical specifications for mooring equipment designated for the Swedish Navy, as commissioned by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration. The technical specifications will primarily emphasize the capacity to endure various load scenarios imposed by the Swedish Defence on the mooring equipment. This technical report constitutes a preliminary investigation in collecting technical requirements where the mechanical characteristics will be of focus. The investigation assessed the elasticity characteristics of mooring ropes, considering their dependence on length and loading rate. As the mooring ropes are exposed to large forces and environmental circumstances, this study focused on investigating the impact of a used and worn rope, with the conclusive finding that the worn rope exhibited a substantial decline in its strength characteristics.  The thesis work will examine the different load cases, encompassing both slow and shock loadings, with the result that Young's modulus does depend on the loading rate and that the magnitude of damping in the rope holds notable significance. The mooring goods must also endure extreme conditions without failing prematurely while still conforming to the performance requirements of the personnel handling the ropes. Therefore, a study is included regarding how much impact the weather conditions may have on the mooring ropes and which parameters are important. The thesis also outlines the importance of considering similar handling standards for new mooring goods, given the expectation of future procurement. It is crucial to avoid certain mistakes during handling, which can severely damage personnel and equipment. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the new mooring ropes meet the current handling standards to maintain safety and avoid costly accidents. This report emphasizes the significance of adhering to proper handling standards in procuring and deploying mooring goods for the Swedish marine. / Syftet med detta arbete är att utveckla samt förbättra de tekniska specifikationer som FMV idag besitter angående de tampar \&amp; förtöjningsgods som är avsedda för den svenska flottan, på uppdrag av Försvarets Materielverk, FMV. Denna rapport är en förstudie för samlandet av tekniska krav där fokuset främst ligger på de mekaniska egenskaperna ur ett hållfasthetsmässigt perspektiv. Undersökningen bedömde elasticitetsegenskaperna hos förtöjningsrep med hänsyn till deras beroende av längd och belastningshastighet. Eftersom dessa förtöjningsrep utsätts av diverse stora krafter och miljöförhållanden så undersöktes även vilken påverkan detta har på repen. Detta undersöktes genom att jämföra ett nytt mot ett gammalt och slitet rep. Båda av samma modell och tillverkare. Denna jämförelse ledde till slutsatsen att det använda repet besatt en betydande nedgång i samtliga sina egenskaper ur ett förtöjningsperspektiv. Avhandlingen kommer undersöka repens, främst amfibiebataljonens, olika belastningssituationer, inklusive både långsamma och plötsliga belastningar för att utvärdera de olika lastfallen de kan tänkas utsättas för. Detta resulterade i att elasticitetsmodulen verkar ha ett beroende av lastningshastigheten och visar på viskoelastiska egenskaper samt att dämpningsfaktorn har en betydande storlek hos tampen. Förtöjningsutrustningen måste även klara en rad olika miljöförhållanden utan att plötsligt ge vika, samtidigt som de uppfyller prestandakraven hos besättningen. Därför följer även en utredning kring hur mycket väderförhållandena kan påverka repen samt vilka parametrar som är viktiga att ta hänsyn till. Rapporten syftar även till att betona vikten av standardisering för ny förtöjningsutrustning med tanke på eventuell framtida upphandling. Det kan vara avgörande att undvika misstag vid hantering, vilket kan resultera i skador på besättning och utrustning. Därför är det viktigt att se till att nya förtöjningsrep uppfyller och upprätthåller de aktuella standarder som finns.

In an effort to increase the fuel efficiency of cars more widespread use of higher strength steels is seen for their high strength-to-weight ratio. Thesesteels are more limited in their formability and tendency to harden than conventional steels, complicating manufacturing. This thesis summarizes the available research on resistance projection nut welding to higher strength steels and investigates the accuracy of the simulation program SORPAS when simulating projection nut welds to AlSi-coated Boron steel. It was found that the greatest difficulties in welding coated ultra high strength steels were the metallurgical effects of both the high alloying content of the steel and the coatings interacting with the weld when melting. Although SORPAS was an intuitive program to use for resistance welding and had a wide library of materials available, it was not found to be able to predict the resistance characteristics or results of projection nut welds to coated Boron steel without significant changes to default material parameters. The biggest issue was the delaying effect the coating layer had on the peak resistance, something not observed experimentally. Better results are suggested to be possible after experimentally ensuring the properties of the materials used and importing those values into SORPAS. / I ett försök att öka bilars bränsleeffektivitet används i allt större utsträckning stål med högre hållfasthet på grund av deras goda förhållande mellan styrka och vikt. Dessa stål är mer begränsade i sin formbarhet och tendens att härda än konventionella stål, vilket försvårar tillverkning. Denna uppsats sammanfattar den tillgängliga forskningen om motståndssvetsning med projektionsmutter i höghållfasta stål och undersöker noggrannheten hos simuleringsprogrammet SORPAS vid simulering av projektionsmuttersvetsar i AlSi-belagt borstål. Det konstaterades att de största svårigheterna vid svetsning av belagda ultrahöghållfasta stål var de metallurgiska effekterna av både stålets höga legeringsinnehåll och beläggningarnas interaktion med svetsen vid smältning. Trots att SORPAS var ett intuitivt program att använda för motståndssvetsning och hade ett brett bibliotek av tillgängliga material kunde det inte förutsäga motståndsegenskaperna eller resultaten av projektionsmuttersvetsar mot belagt borstål utan betydande förändringar av standardmaterialparametrarna. Det största problemet var den fördröjande effekt som beläggningsskiktet hade på maximala resistansen, något som inte observerades experimentellt. Bättre överenstämmelse föreslås vara möjlig efter att experimentellt säkerställa egenskaperna hos de material som används och importera dessa värden till SORPAS.

<p>Subcutaneous injection through devices such as autoinjectors is a preferred delivery method for wide array of pharmaceuticals such as monoclonal antibodies. Needle insertion during drug delivery involves large deformation, damage, and fracture of the skin tissue and affects drug transport and uptake. Yet, our understanding of needle insertion biomechanics is limited, but is crucially important to create autoinjectors that lead to the least amount of pain, penetrate the skin to a desired depth, produce small lesions that minimize back flow of drug, and operate robustly even given the variability in the skin mechanics among individuals. Computational models of needle insertion lends itself as an excellent avenue for studying the biomechanics of injector- skin interactions and for proposing better device designs. This work is focused on introducing a comprehensive computational modeling framework for optimizing needle insertion by autoinjector devices, while addressing limitations in experimental data and constitutive modeling of damage and fracture mechanisms in skin</p>

<p dir="ltr">Energetic materials (EMs) manufacturing practices have evolved little since the First and Second World Wars. Because of this, a substantial focus has recently been placed on modernizing the processes used in the production of these materials to mitigate the risk of human error and prevent the potentially fatal, and costly, consequences that exist when accidents take place. In this work, a piezoelectrically actuated inkjet printer system was used to deposit functional materials onto the surfaces of mock and live polymer-bonded EMs. The benefit to this is two-fold: (1) the material can safely be deposited remotely, %mention human error? and (2) this high resolution method of printing can open the door to novel applications, allowing for functional elements to be integrated directly with the material. To start, composite formulation and mixing parameters were studied on a variety of mixers to better inform substrate preparation and the role that these parameters may play in a variety of substrate material properties, including local internal composition, density, quasi-static compression, and surface topography. From here, the topography and surface free energy of the surface of these materials was analyzed further to better inform ink formulation and selection. Upon observing the ink behavior at the interface, print parameters were chosen that supported the creation of continuous architectures that could function in a variety of capacities, including as resistance probes, strain gauges, heaters, spark gap igniters, and antennas.</p>