The aim of this thesis is to design and build a torsional Kolsky bar apparatus for testing cylindrical specimens in torsion at high strain-rates. In addition to well-established designs, this testing apparatus will include a conical mirror combined with a high speed camera that allows time-resolved optical observation of the shear deformation on the surface of the specimen. The basic design of a Kolsky bar consists of a loading bar, input bar, specimen, and output bar. The experiment is conducted by storing torque in the loading bar and then releasing the torque by breaking the clamp and sending a shear wave pulse through the apparatus into the specimen. This shear wave pulse is monitored by strain gages mounted on the input and output bars. Analysis of the strain waves in the input and output bar is used to extract the shear stress - shear strain profile of the specimen. Several experiments were conducted on 6061-O and 1100-O aluminum with wall thicknesses ranging from 0.3 to 1.5 mm. / text

The current research has considered the characterization of the high strain rate constitutive response of three steels: a drawing quality steel (DDQ), a high strength low alloy steel (HSLA350), and a dual phase steel (DP600). The stress-strain response of these steels were measured at seven strain rates between 0. 003 s^-1 and 1500 s^-1 (0. 003, 0. 1, 30, 100, 500, 1000, and 1500 s^-1) and temperatures of 21, 150, and 300 ??C. In addition, the steels were tested in both the undeformed sheet condition and the as-formed tube condition, so that tube forming effects could be identified. After the experiments were performed, the parameters of the Johnson-Cook and Zerilli-Armstrong constitutive models were fit to the results. <br /><br /> In order to determine the response of the steels at strain rates of 30 and 100 s^-1, an intermediate rate tensile experiment was developed as part of this research using an instrumented falling weight impact facility (IFWI). An Instron tensile apparatus was used to perform the experiments at lower strain rates and a tensile split-Hopkinson bar was used to perform the experiments at strain rates above 500 s^-1 <br /><br /> A positive strain rate sensitivity was observed for each of the steels. It was found that, as the nominal strength of the steel increased, the strain rate sensitivity decreased. For an increase in strain rate from 0. 003 to 100 s^-1, the corresponding increase in strength at 10% strain was found to be approximately 170, 130, and 110 MPa for DDQ, HSLA350, and DP600, respectively. <br /><br /> The thermal sensitivity was obtained for each steel as well, however no correlation was seen between strength and thermal sensitivity. For a rise in temperature from 21 to 300 ??C, the loss in strength at 10% strain was found to be 200, 225, and 195 MPa for DDQ, HSLA350, and DP600, respectively for the 6 o?clock tube specimens. <br /><br /> For all of the alloys, a difference in the stress ? strain behaviour was seen between the sheet and tube specimens due to the plastic work that was imparted during forming of the tube. For the DP600, the plastic work only affected the work-hardening response. <br /><br /> It was found that both the HSLA350 and DDQ sheet specimens exhibited an upper/lower yield stress that was amplified as the strain rate increased. Consequently the actual strength at 30 and 100 s^-1 was obscured and the data at strain rates above 500 s^-1 to be unusable for constitutive modeling. This effect was not observed in any of the tube specimens or the DP600 sheet specimens <br /><br /> For each of the steels, both the Johnson-Cook and Zerilli-Armstrong models fit the experimental data well; however, the Zerilli-Armstrong fit was slightly more accurate. Numerical models of the IFWI and the TSHB tests were created to assess whether the experimental results could be reproduced using the constitutive fits. Both numerical models confirmed that the constitutive fits were applied correctly.

Fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been used for strengthening concrete structures since early 1990s. More recently, FRP has been used for retrofitting concrete structures for high energy events such as impact and blast. Debonding at the FRP-to-concrete interface is one of the predominant failure modes for both static and dynamic loading. Although extensive research has been conducted on the static bond behaviour, the bond-slip mechanics under high strain rates is not well understood yet. This thesis is mainly concerned with the FRP-to-concrete bond behaviour under dynamic loading. Because debonding mostly occurs in the concrete adjacent to the FRP, the behaviour of concrete is of crucial importance for the FRP-to-concrete bond behaviour. The early emphasis of this thesis is thus on the meso-scale concrete modelling of concrete with appropriate consideration of static and dynamic properties. Issues related to FE modelling of tensile and compressive localization of concrete are first investigated in detail under static condition using the K&C concrete damage model in LS-DYNA. It is discovered for the first time that dilation of concrete plays an important role in the FRP-to-concrete bond behaviour. This has led to the development of a model relating the shear dilation factor to the concrete strength based on the modelling of a large number of static FRP-to-concrete shear tests, forming the basis for dynamic modelling. Concrete dynamic increasing factor (DIF) has been a subject of extensive investigation and debate for many years, but it is for the first time discovered in this study that mesh objectivity cannot be achieved in meso-scale modelling of concrete under high strain rate deformation. This has led to the development of a mesh and strain rate dependent concrete tension DIF model. This DIF model shall have wide applications in meso-scale modelling of concrete, not limited to the topic in this thesis. Based on a detailed numerical investigation of the FRP-to-concrete bond shear test under different loading rates, taking on the above issues into careful consideration, a slip rate dependent FRP-to-concrete dynamic bond-slip model is finally proposed for the first time. The FE predictions deploring this proposed bond-slip model are compaed with test results of a set of FRP-to-concrete bonded specimens under impact loading, and a FRP plated slab under blast loading, validating the model.

Les procédés de mise en forme de tôles minces sont très largement répandus dans l’industrie. Néanmoins, l’utilisation de ces procédés est limitée par le niveau de formabilité du matériau formé, notamment dans le cas des alliages d’aluminium. Afin d’améliorer ces limites de formabilité, des procédés de mise en forme à chaud peuvent être envisagés. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier à l’aide d’approches expérimentale et numérique l’effet de la température et de la vitesse de déformation sur la formabilité des tôles en alliage d’aluminium AA5086 et de proposer une modélisation capable de prédire ces effets. Une campagne d’essais a été réalisée sur ce matériau à partir d’un essai d’emboutissage de type Marciniak. Des courbes limites de formage (CLF) ont été établies sur une plage de température allant de l’ambiant jusqu’à 200°C et pour des vitesses de déformation allant du quasi-statique à 2s-1. Des effets, positif de la température et négatif de la vitesse de déformation sur la formabilité ont été mis en évidence. La prise en compte des effets de la température et de la vitesse de déformation dans les modèles prédictifs des CLF, qu’ils soient analytiques ou numériques, est à ce jour très limitée. Dans ce travail, un modèle numérique prédictif basé sur la simulation par éléments finis du modèle géométrique de Marciniak et Kuczynski (M-K) est proposé. Les déformations limites obtenues avec de ce modèle sont très sensibles à la description du comportement thermo-viscoplastique du matériau et à la calibration du défaut géométrique pilotant l’apparition de la striction dans le modèle M-K. Des essais de traction uniaxiale réalisés dans les mêmes conditions opératoires que les essais de mise en forme de Marciniak ont permis d’identifier des lois d’écrouissage de nature très différentes (rigidifiante, saturante ou mixte). Ces lois conduisent à des prédictions très différentes de la formabilité du matériau pour une valeur donnée du défaut géométrique du modèle EF M-K. Différentes stratégies de calibration de la taille de ce défaut initial ont été envisagées. L’utilisation du point expérimental de la CLF correspondant à des conditions de déformation plane permet de calibrer de manière satisfaisante la valeur de ce défaut. Cette procédure de calibration a été appliquée pour l’ensemble des lois identifiées. Les lois de nature rigidifiante de type Ludwick se sont montrées les plus effficaces alors que les lois saturante de type Voce se sont avérées incapables de prédire la formabilité du matériau pour certaines conditions opératoires. Finalement, il est démontré qu’une valeur constante du défaut géométrique ne peut être retenue pour l’ensemble des conditions opératoires étudiées même si le modèle M-K s’est avéré assez efficace pour représenter l’effet de la température plutôt que celui de la vitesse de déformation. / Sheet metal forming processes are widely used in industry. Nevertheless, the use of these processes is limited by the formability of the considered material, in particular in the case of the aluminium alloys. To improve the formability, warm forming processes can be considered. The objective of this work is to study by means of both experimental and numerical approaches, the effects of temperature and strain rate on the formability of AA5086 aluminium alloy sheets and to propose a modeling suitable to predict these effects. Experimental tests have been carried out on this material by means of the Marciniak stamping experimental device. Forming limit curves (FLCs) have been established on a temperature range going from ambient temperature to 200°C and on a strain rate range going from quasi-static up to 2s-1. A positive effect of the temperature and a negative effect of the strain rate on the formability limits were highlighted. To date, very few predictive models of the FLCs taking into account temperature and strain rate effects are proposed in the literature. In this work, in order to predict the experimental temperature and strain rate sensitivities, a predictive model based on the finite element simulation of the Marciniak and Kuczynski (M-K) geometrical model is proposed. The limit strains obtained with this model are very sensitive to the description of the thermo-viscoplastic behaviour modeling and to the calibration of the initial geometrical imperfection controlling the onset of the necking. Thanks to tensile tests carried out for the same operating conditions that those of Marciniak forming tests, several types (power law, saturation and mixed) of hardening laws have been identified. These hardening laws have been implemented in theFE M-K model to obtain numerical limit strains. Very different formability limits have been observed for a given value of the geometrical defect. Several strategies for the calibration of this initial imperfection size have been tested. The use of the experimental point of the FLC0 corresponding to plane strain condition allows a good calibration of the initial imperfection value. This calibration procedure was carried out for all hardening laws. It is shown that the power law type models such as Ludwick law are more efficient while saturation laws such as Voce law are unable to predict the material formability for some conditions. Finally, it is shown that a constant value of the geometrical defect cannot be used to the whole operating conditions studied even if FE M-K model is shown to be efficient to represent the temperature effect rather than strain rate one.

O presente trabalho teve por objetivo o desenvolvimento e aprimoramento da técnica de execução de ensaios mecânicos a altas taxas de deformação (cerca de 1000 a 5000 s-1), por meio do desenvolvimento de um equipamento do tipo Split Hopkinson Bar (SHB), com corpos-de-prova no formato cilíndrico. A construção de tal equipamento fez-se necessária para a obtenção de informações acerca do comportamento dinâmico dos materiais, quando utilizados em condições de impacto, para aplicações de engenharia. Foram definidos os requisitos técnicos para a construção do equipamento SHB para a modalidade de ensaios em tração. Os elementos mecânicos foram projetados, usinados e montados, segundo a configuração de teste adotada. Determinou-se as dimensões e geometrias dos corpos-de-prova, confeccionados em aço ABNT 1020. Realizou-se ainda a instrumentação do equipamento SHB, para a determinação da resposta tensão-deformação dos corpos-de-prova. Adicionalmente, utilizou-se uma câmera de alta velocidade, com capacidade para filmar até 100.000 quadros/s, no intuito de estudar o comportamento do corpo-de-prova durante carregamento dinâmico. Os resultados dos testes realizados indicaram que, apesar da construção mecânica satisfatória do primeiro protótipo, a pressão usada no carregamento (8 kgf/cm²) foi insuficiente para assegurar que a falha do material testado ocorresse durante a propagação do primeiro pulso trativo ao longo do comprimento do corpo-de-prova, que sofreu sucessivos carregamentos até a fratura. Este comportamento é chamado efeito sanfona. Para que o corpo-de-prova se quebrasse após a propagação de apenas um pulso trativo foram sugeridas melhorias na vedação da câmara de gás e o aumento da pressão de trabalho. A utilização de extensômetros de menor grade também foi indicada como melhoria futura. A sincronização entre a câmera de alta velocidade e o sistema de aquisição deverá ser aprimorada, pois é fundamental para a precisão na determinação do instante da colisão entre o projétil e a barra incidente, assim como do instante da ruptura do corpo-de-prova. A continuidade dessa pesquisa, com a busca da solução dos desafios tecnológicos oriundos da construção e teste desse primeiro protótipo, será tema de trabalhos futuros desse grupo de pesquisa. / The present work consist in the development and improvement of execution technique of mechanical tests at high strain rates (about 1000 to 5000 s-1), with an equipment tensile split Hopkinson bar (SHB) using cylindrical specimen. The construction of such equipment was necessary to obtain information about the dynamic behavior of materials, when used under impact conditions, for engineering applications. Technical requirement are defined for construction of SHB equipment for tensile type tests. The mechanical elements were designed, machined and assembled according to the test configuration adopted. Determined the dimensions and geometries the specimens, made of AISI 1020. Also realized the SHB equipment instrumentation to determine the stress-strain response of specimen. Additionally, used a high speed camera, capable of record up to100,000 frames/s, with the aim of study the behavior of specimen during dynamic loading. The results of tests indicate that despite the satisfactory mechanical structure, of the first prototype, the pressure used in the load (8 kgf/cm²) was insufficient to ensure that the material failure occurred during the propagation of the first tensile pulse along the specimen length, which undergo successive loading until the fracture. This behavior is named concertina effect. For the specimen is broke after propagation of only one tensile pulse, improved in sealing the gas gun and an increase the work pressure, wave been suggested. The use of strain gages smaller grid was also suggested as a future improvement. The synchronization between high speed camera and the system of acquisition should be improved, because it is fundamental to the accuracy in determining the instant collision between the hammer and the incident bar as well as the instant failure of specimen. The continuation of this research, with the pursuit of technological solutions arising from the construction and tests this first prototype will be the subject of future work of this research group.

Friction stir welding (FSW) and aluminium alloy 2139-T8 are currently being considered for use in future military vehicles. However, stringent regulations on weld integrity under extreme loading conditions limit the adoption of new technologies. Moreover, current finite element (FE) based methods do not give reliable predictions of strain distribution in welds, which makes it difficult to assess the performance of structures. Therefore, an extensive research program was carried out to develop a generalised finite element (FE) based methodology to predict the response of welded structures under complex loading configurations. The methodology enables the complex distribution of mechanical properties arising from welding, which is linked to microstructural variation, to be incorporated into a macro scale structural model. The method is general, and is applicable for any heat treatable aluminium alloy under a range of joining processes. To achieve this, the microstructure of 2139-T8 alloy was characterised at a range of length scales, with particular emphasis on the size and distribution of strengthening Omega precipitates. 2139-T8 was subjected to bead on plate FSW to enable characterisation of the effects of processing on the local microstructure. In addition, kinetic data for 2139-T8 was generated, allowing a simple softening model to be developed; this allowed the post-weld strength distribution to be predicted. The model was also used to recreate bulk specimens of 2139-T8 with equivalent local weld microstructure, which was verified by transmission electron microscopy. Material with equivalent microstructure was used to estimate the local mechanical property distributions across the weld, including the initial yield stress and plastic response; the mechanical properties of 2139-T8 are known to be representative of 2139-T84. From observations of this combined data, a methodology was developed to enable the estimation of the complex mechanical property distributions arising during welding. Furthermore, an automated computer program was written to implement the property distributions into FE based models. The methodology was verified using data generated for 2139-T8 and was used to simulate the response of FSW 2139-T8 loaded in uniaxial tension. The simulations were verified experimentally using digital image correlation (DIC) and the methodology was shown to demonstrate increased accuracy and reliability over existing FE methods, with respect to strain predictions. In addition, the method eliminates the need to calibrate the structural model to a particular loading configuration. Theoretically, the models are insensitive to loading and this property was tested by extending the model to simulate the strain distribution of large scale welded panels subject to explosive blast loading. The simulations were verified against blast tests where FSW 2139-T84 panels were subjected to blast loading from the detonation of plastic explosive. The results indicate that the modelling methodology developed is capable of producing accurate and reliable predictions of strain distribution in welded structures under complex loading configurations.

O presente trabalho teve por objetivo o desenvolvimento e aprimoramento da técnica de execução de ensaios mecânicos a altas taxas de deformação (cerca de 1000 a 5000 s-1), por meio do desenvolvimento de um equipamento do tipo Split Hopkinson Bar (SHB), com corpos-de-prova no formato cilíndrico. A construção de tal equipamento fez-se necessária para a obtenção de informações acerca do comportamento dinâmico dos materiais, quando utilizados em condições de impacto, para aplicações de engenharia. Foram definidos os requisitos técnicos para a construção do equipamento SHB para a modalidade de ensaios em tração. Os elementos mecânicos foram projetados, usinados e montados, segundo a configuração de teste adotada. Determinou-se as dimensões e geometrias dos corpos-de-prova, confeccionados em aço ABNT 1020. Realizou-se ainda a instrumentação do equipamento SHB, para a determinação da resposta tensão-deformação dos corpos-de-prova. Adicionalmente, utilizou-se uma câmera de alta velocidade, com capacidade para filmar até 100.000 quadros/s, no intuito de estudar o comportamento do corpo-de-prova durante carregamento dinâmico. Os resultados dos testes realizados indicaram que, apesar da construção mecânica satisfatória do primeiro protótipo, a pressão usada no carregamento (8 kgf/cm²) foi insuficiente para assegurar que a falha do material testado ocorresse durante a propagação do primeiro pulso trativo ao longo do comprimento do corpo-de-prova, que sofreu sucessivos carregamentos até a fratura. Este comportamento é chamado efeito sanfona. Para que o corpo-de-prova se quebrasse após a propagação de apenas um pulso trativo foram sugeridas melhorias na vedação da câmara de gás e o aumento da pressão de trabalho. A utilização de extensômetros de menor grade também foi indicada como melhoria futura. A sincronização entre a câmera de alta velocidade e o sistema de aquisição deverá ser aprimorada, pois é fundamental para a precisão na determinação do instante da colisão entre o projétil e a barra incidente, assim como do instante da ruptura do corpo-de-prova. A continuidade dessa pesquisa, com a busca da solução dos desafios tecnológicos oriundos da construção e teste desse primeiro protótipo, será tema de trabalhos futuros desse grupo de pesquisa. / The present work consist in the development and improvement of execution technique of mechanical tests at high strain rates (about 1000 to 5000 s-1), with an equipment tensile split Hopkinson bar (SHB) using cylindrical specimen. The construction of such equipment was necessary to obtain information about the dynamic behavior of materials, when used under impact conditions, for engineering applications. Technical requirement are defined for construction of SHB equipment for tensile type tests. The mechanical elements were designed, machined and assembled according to the test configuration adopted. Determined the dimensions and geometries the specimens, made of AISI 1020. Also realized the SHB equipment instrumentation to determine the stress-strain response of specimen. Additionally, used a high speed camera, capable of record up to100,000 frames/s, with the aim of study the behavior of specimen during dynamic loading. The results of tests indicate that despite the satisfactory mechanical structure, of the first prototype, the pressure used in the load (8 kgf/cm²) was insufficient to ensure that the material failure occurred during the propagation of the first tensile pulse along the specimen length, which undergo successive loading until the fracture. This behavior is named concertina effect. For the specimen is broke after propagation of only one tensile pulse, improved in sealing the gas gun and an increase the work pressure, wave been suggested. The use of strain gages smaller grid was also suggested as a future improvement. The synchronization between high speed camera and the system of acquisition should be improved, because it is fundamental to the accuracy in determining the instant collision between the hammer and the incident bar as well as the instant failure of specimen. The continuation of this research, with the pursuit of technological solutions arising from the construction and tests this first prototype will be the subject of future work of this research group.

In this work, the Shear Transformation Zone (STZ) dynamics model is adapted to capture the transitions between different regimes of flow serration in the deformation map of metallic glass. This was accomplished by scaling the STZ volume with a log-linear fit to the strain rate, and also adjusting the activation energy of an STZ with a log-linear fit to maintain constant yield strength at differing strain rates. Twelve simulations are run at each of six different strain rates ranging from 10-5 to 100 s-1, and statistics are collected on simulation behavior and shear band nucleation and propagation rates. The simulations show shear band nucleation has a positive correlation to strain rate, and shear band propagation has a negative correlation to strain rate. This shows that in STZ dynamics, the regime of reduced flow serration arises due to competing rates of nucleation and propagation, supporting the hypothesis proposed by Schuh. A positive correlation between critical shear band nucleus size and strain rate is proposed as an underlying cause of these rate dependencies.

En raison de l'augmentation de la demande d’allègement pour les véhicules automobiles, des solutions doivent être créées pour permettre aux constructeurs automobiles de passer d'aciers hautement formables mais lourds à des alliages d'aluminium moins formables mais plus légers pour les carrosseries en blanc. Les alliages d'aluminium de la série 6xxx, basés sur le système Al-Mg-Si-Cu, se sont révélés prometteurs en termes de résistance mécanique et de résistance à la corrosion, mais, l'une de leurs principales limitations concerne leur formabilité. Cette thèse vise à comprendre l'effet des additions de Si, Mg et Cu sur les propriétés mécaniques et de formabilité de la série AA6xxx. La calorimétrie différentielle à balayage et les essais de dureté sont utilisés pour identifier les effets de l'addition de solutés sur la microstructure d’amas de solutés après vieillissement naturel et pré-vieillissement. Les essais de traction donnent accès aux principales propriétés mécaniques : limite d'élasticité, résistance à la traction, taux d’écrouissage et allongement uniforme. Le test de sensibilité à la vitesse de déformation est effectué à l'aide de sauts de vitesse afin d'obtenir non seulement la sensibilité à la vitesse ascendante, mais moins classiquement la sensibilité à la vitesse descendante. Enfin, à l'aide d'équations constitutives, les propriétés mécaniques sont utilisées dans une modélisation par éléments finis pour saisir l'évolution de la déformation et de la vitesse de déformation dans la transition de la striction diffuse à localisée. Dans le cas du vieillissement naturel d'un mois (NA1m), deux types d'amas ont été détectés, une espèce moins stable thermiquement ayant une forte dépendance aux teneurs en Cu et Mg, et une espèce plus stable thermiquement ayant la même sensibilité à toutes les espèces de solutés. Lorsque les échantillons sont pré-vieillis, puis laissés pendant un mois (sNA1m), seule l’espèce d’amas thermiquement plus stables et également sensible à tous les ajouts de solutés existe. La formation de ces différents types d’amas en fonction du traitement thermique s'est traduite par les effets de l'ajout de solutés spécifiques sur les propriétés mécaniques observées. Dans l'état NA1m, les effets des additions de Cu et de Mg à l'alliage ont montré les plus fortes augmentations de la limite d'élasticité et du taux d’écrouissage, par rapport aux additions de Si. Ceci contraste avec la condition sNA1m pour laquelle les additions de Cu, Mg et Si augmentent toutes la limite d'élasticité de façon égale tandis que les additions de Cu se sont avérées avoir le plus fort effet sur l'augmentation du taux de durcissement par déformation, suivies par l'effet d’additions de Si, tandis que les additions de Mg n'ont pas eu d'effet. Les tests de sensibilité à la vitesse de déformation ont révélé une asymétrie entre les tests de variation vers le haut et vers le bas, selon laquelle la sensibilité à la vitesse de variation vers le bas est plus grande que la sensibilité à la vitesse de variation vers le haut. De plus, on a constaté que les ajouts de Si augmentent à la fois la sensibilité à la vitesse de déformation à variation ascendante et à variation descendante dans les conditions NA1m et sNA1m. Enfin, l'application de ces propriétés mécaniques à l'étude de l'évolution des strictions diffuse et locale a démontré que l'augmentation de l'exposant d’écrouissage retarde l'apparition du col diffus, par ailleurs l’augmentation de la sensibilité à la vitesse de déformation permet une distribution plus uniforme des déformations et des vitesses de déformation, permettant ainsi la stabilisation et la propagation du col de striction et retardant l'apparition du col local. L'effet de la sensibilité à la vitesse de déformation ascendante s'est révélé plus important que la variation descendante en raison de l'intensité de l'augmentation de la vitesse de déformation à l'intérieur du col sur une zone beaucoup plus petite. / Due to the increased demand for light weighting in automotive vehicles, solutions need to be created to allow automotive manufacturers to switch from highly formable but heavy steels to less formable but lighter aluminium alloys for body-in-white components; doors, roofs, hood. The 6xxx-series of aluminium alloys, based on the system of Al-Mg-Si-Cu, have shown promise for providing adequate strength and corrosion resistance but still, in the current state, one of their main limitations concerns their formability. This thesis aims to understand the effect of Si, Mg, and Cu additions under two different processing routes on the mechanical and formability properties of the AA6xxx-series. Differential scanning calorimetry and hardness testing are used to identify the effects of solute additions on the cluster states after natural ageing and pre-ageing. Tensile testing is used to capture the main mechanical properties: yield strength, tensile strength, strain hardening rate, and uniform elongation. Strain rate sensitivity testing is performed using dynamic strain rate changes to obtain not only the strain rate sensitivity due to rate-change increases (termed up-change), but uniquely, the strain rate sensitivity for rate-change decreases (termed down-change). Finally, using constitutive equations, the mechanical properties are used in combination with finite element modeling to capture the evolution of the strain and strain rate distribution in the evolution and transition of diffuse to local necking. It was found that in the case of natural ageing for one month (NA1m) two cluster types were detected, a less thermally stable species having a high dependency on the Cu and Mg contents, and a more thermally stable species being equally sensitive to all solute species. When samples were first pre-aged, then allowed to naturally age for one month (sNA1m) only the more thermally stable cluster species being equally sensitive to all solute additions existed. The formation of these different cluster types dependent on the heat treatment translated into the effects of specific solute additions on the observed mechanical properties. In the NA1m condition, the effects of Cu and Mg additions to the alloy showed the largest increases on the yield strength and strain hardening rate, as compared to Si additions. This is in contrast to the sNA1m condition whereby Cu, Mg, and Si additions all increased the yield strength equally while Cu additions proved to have the strongest effect on increasing the strain hardening rate, followed by the effect of Si additions, while Mg additions did not have an effect. From the strain rate sensitivity tests, an asymmetry between the up-change and down-change tests was observed whereby the down-change strain rate sensitivity was found to be larger than the up-change strain rate sensitivity. Additionally, Si additions were found to increase both the up-change and down-change strain rate sensitivity in both the NA1m and sNA1m conditions. Finally, the application of these mechanical properties to the onset and evolution of the diffuse and local neck demonstrated that increasing the strain hardening exponent delays the onset of diffuse necking, while increasing both the up-change and down-change strain rate sensitivities provides a more uniform strain and strain rate distribution around the neck, permitting the stabilization and propagation of the neck and delaying the onset of local necking. The effect of the up-change strain rate sensitivity was found to be more important than the down-change due to the intensity of the strain rate increase in the interior of the neck occurring over a much smaller area.

<p>Kvantifisering av hjertets muskelfunksjon med tøyning og tøyningshastighet målt med ultralyd for vurdering av koronar sykdom.</p><p>Automatisert metode versus manuell ved akutt hjerteinfarkt og ultralyd stress test.</p><p>Vanligvis måles hjertets muskelfunksjon med ultralyd, en mye brukt metode for å diagnostisere hjertesykdommer. Vurderingen av muskelfunksjonen baserer seg i dag på en subjektiv visuell gradering av bevegelsen av hjertemuskelen, og dette krever erfaring. En ny automatisert diagnostisk ultralydsmetode basert på måling av hastigheten i hjertemuskelen gir et kvantitativt mål på muskelens tøyning og sammentrekning. Den nye metoden gir ny og mer detaljert informasjon om hjertets funksjon og om pasientens prognose enn vanlig ultralydsvurdering.</p><p>Den nye metoden er mer presis ved oppfølgning etter hjerteinfarkt. Et hjerteinfarkt gir nedsatt bevegelse av muskelen og måles med den nye metoden som nedsatt hastighet som muskelen forkortes med. Små forandringer i den skadde hjertemuskelen, ikke alltid synlige for øyet, kan mer nøyaktig følges over tid med den nye metoden. Utbredelsen av hjerteinfarktet kan også vurderes mer nøyaktig.</p><p>Det samme gjelder når angina vurderes under belastning. Når en pasient ikke kan sykle eller gå på tredemølle brukes en medisinsk belastningstest. Ved å belaste hjertet med et medikament som øker hjertemuskelens arbeid samtidig med en ultralydundersøkelse, kan vi oppdage redusert blodforsyningsreserve i hjertet. Stresstesten hjelper til med å vurdere om en trang blodåre bør åpnes etter et hjerteinfarkt, og til å vurdere pasienters risiko for hjertekomplikasjoner før en større operasjon. Den nye metoden gir i tillegg mer informasjon om den langsiktige prognosen sammenlignet med den gamle metoden. Vi har funnet at den nye ultralydsmetoden er mer presis (gir større diagnostisk treffsikkerhet i diagnostikk av koronarsykdom) sammenlignet med den gamle.</p><p>Måling av sammentrekningshastigheter i hjertemuskelen ble utviklet og testet på Institutt for sirkulasjon og bildediagnostikk ved NTNU av Andreas Heimdal og Asbjørn Støylen i 1998. Metoden trengte teknisk videreutvikling og testing i et større pasientmateriale. Metoden har ikke fått stor utbredelse på sykehusene pga støyfylte kurver og tidskrevende analyser, men med denne automatiserte metoden blir brukervennligheten større som muliggjør klinisk bruk.</p> / Paper I and II preprinted with kind permission of Elsevier, sciencedirect.com