All materials are heterogeneous at various scales of observation. The influence of material heterogeneity on nonuniform response and microstructure evolution can have profound impact on continuum thermomechanical response at macroscopic "engineering" scales. In many cases, it is necessary to treat this behavior as a multiscale process. This research developed a hierarchical multiscale approach for modeling microstructure evolution. A theoretical framework for the hierarchical homogenization of inelastic response of heterogeneous materials was developed with a special focus on scale invariance principles needed to assure physical consistency across scales. Within this multiscale framework, the second gradient is used as a nonlocal kinematic link between the response of a material point at the coarse scale and the response of a neighborhood of material points at the fine scale. Kinematic consistency between two scales results in specific requirements for constraints on the fluctuation field. A multiscale internal state variable (ISV) constitutive theory is developed that is couched in the coarse scale intermediate configuration and from which an important new concept in scale transitions emerges, namely scale invariance of dissipation. At the fine scale, the material is treated using finite element models of statistical volume elements of microstructure. The coarse scale is treated using a mixed-field finite element approach. The coarse scale constitutive equations are implemented in a finite deformation hyperelastic inelastic integration scheme developed for second gradient constitutive models. An example problem based on an idealized porous microstructure is presented to illustrate the approach and highlight its predictive utility. This example and a few variations are explored to address the boundary-value-problem dependent nature of length scale parameters employed in nonlocal continuum theories. Finally, strategies for developing meaningful kinematic ISVs, free energy functions, and the associated evolution kinetics are presented. These strategies are centered on the goal of accurately representing the energy stored and dissipated during irreversible processes.

Polymer nanocomposites (PNCs) have gained significant interest because they have outstanding performance that allows cost reduction, weight reduction, and product improvement. This research study focuses on the manufacture and characterization of PNCs in order to explore their potential in automotive applications. More specifically, polypropylene (PP) nanocomposites reinforced with xGnP and nanokaolin were fabricated by manufacturing methods that optimize their performances. Exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets (xGnP) are promising nanofillers that are cost effective and multifunctional with superior mechanical, thermo-mechanical and electrical properties. Nanokaolin is a newly introduced natural mineral mind in Georgia that has not been studied as of now. PNCs reinforced with these two nanofillers were characterized in terms of mechanical, thermo-mechanical, and various other properties, and then compared to talc- reinforced PP composites, which are the current state of the art for rear bumpers used by Honda Motor. Characterization results indicated that xGnP had better performance than talc and nanokaolin. Furthermore, the addition of xGnP introduces electrical conductivity in the PNCs, leading to more potential uses for PNCs in automotive applications such as the ability to be electrostatic painted. In order to fabricate PNCs with a desired conductivity value, there is need for a design tool that can predict electrical conductivity. Existing electrical conductivity models were examined in terms of model characteristics and parameters, and model predictions were compared to the experimental data. The percolation threshold is the most important parameter in these models, but it is difficult to determine experimentally, that is why a correlation between thermo-mechanical properties and electrical conductivity is also investigated in this study.

<p> </p><p>The correlation between pulp properties and operating conditions in high consistency (HC) refiners at Holmen Paper AB were studied. Two types of HC refiners were investigated: the Andritz RTS refiner at the Hallstavik Mill and the Sprout-Bauer Twin 60 refiner at the Braviken Mill. The objective of the study was to clarify the relationship between the pulp properties and refining conditions such as electrical energy input, housing- and feed- pressure and plate wear in high consistency refining.</p><p>The results of this project show that worn segments reduce the operating energy maximum input and the pulp and handsheet properties in negative aspects such as lower tensile- and tear index, and shorter average fibre length. Energy input is an important factor in the refining process and influence Canadian Standard Freeness and the tensile index as evident from the probability residuals. Housing pressure and feed pressure influence the pulp quality and should be adjusted in order to optimise the refining process, although the effect is not as great as for energy input or plate wear.</p><p>The results of the study indicate that Braviken Mill is operating at its optimum for the parameters measured in this project. Hallstaviks goal, to avoid fibre shortening and to obtain better tensile index, can be reached by making slight changes in pressure condition.</p><p> </p>

Understanding the effects of aged microstructures on the thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) properties of nickel-base (Ni-base) superalloys remains unclear. Few experimental results are currently available in this area, and of the limited results available, some promote aged microstructures as beneficial, while others as detri- mental. The importance of these aged structures arises from the fact that when components used in the hot sections of gas turbine engines remain in service for ex- tended periods of time, the local temperature and stress provides the catalyst for the evolution of the microstructure. An experimental assessment of a negative misfit directionally solidified (DS) Ni- base superalloy was undertaken to characterize the aging kinetics and understand the influence of the TMF cycle temperature extremum, temperature-load phasing, mean strain, creep-fatigue, orientation effects, and microstructure on TMF fatigue crack initiation. To determine the effects of aging on the TMF response, the as-heat- treated alloy was artificially aged to three unique microstructures identified in the aging kinetics study. The experiments revealed that not all aged microstructures are detrimental to the fatigue life behavior. Specifically, when the γ′ precipitates age in a manner to align themselves parallel to the axis of the applied stress, an increase in the fatigue life over that of the as-heat-treated microstructure is observed for out-of-phase TMF with dwells. To extend the experimental understanding of the aged microstructures into ser- vice component design and life analysis, a temperature-dependent crystal viscoplas- ticity (CVP) constitutive model is developed to capture the sensitivity of the aged microstructure through embedding additional variables associated with the current state of the γ′ particles. As a result of the adaptations, the CVP model has the ability to describe the long-term aging effects of directional coarsening relevant to the analysis industrial gas turbine hot section components.

Continual scaling of devices and on-chip wiring has brought significant challenges for materials and processes beyond the 32-nm technology node in microelectronics. Recently, three-dimensional (3-D) integration with through-silicon vias (TSVs) has emerged as an effective solution to meet the future interconnect requirements. Among others, thermo-mechanical reliability is a key concern for the development of TSV structures used in die stacking as 3-D interconnects. In this dissertation, thermal stresses and interfacial reliability of TSV structures are analyzed by combining analytical and numerical models with experimental measurements. First, three-dimensional near-surface stress distribution is analyzed for a simplified TSV structure consisting of a single via embedded in a silicon (Si) wafer. A semi-analytic solution is developed and compared with finite element analysis (FEA). For further study, the effects of anisotropic elasticity in Si and metal plasticity in the via on the stress distribution and deformation are investigated. Next, by micro-Raman spectroscopy and bending beam technique, experimental measurements of the thermal stresses in TSV structures are conducted. The micro-Raman measurements characterize the local distribution of the near-surface stresses in Si around TSVs. On the other hand, the bending beam technique measures the average stress and viii deformation in the TSV structures. To understand the elastic and plastic behavior of TSVs, the microstructural evolution of the Cu vias is analyzed using focused ion beam (FIB) and electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) techniques. To study the impacts of the thermal stresses on interfacial reliability of TSV structures, an analytical solution is developed for the steady-state energy release rate as the upper bound of the driving force for interfacial delamination. The effect of crack length and wafer thickness on the energy release rate is studied by FEA. Furthermore, to model interfacial crack nucleation, an analytical approach is developed by combining a shear lag model with a cohesive interface model. Finally, the effects of structural designs and the variation of the constituent materials on TSV reliability are investigated. The steady state solutions for the energy release rate are developed for various TSV designs and via materials (Al, Cu, Ni, and W) to evaluate the interfacial reliability. The parameters for TSV design optimization are discussed from the perspectives of interfacial reliability. / text

Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are a relatively new class of active materials that can store a temporary shape and return to the original configuration upon application of a stimulus such as temperature. This shape changing ability has led to increased interest in their use for biomedical and aerospace applications. A major challenge, however, in the advancement of these applications is the ability to accurately predict the material behavior for complex geometries and boundary conditions. This work addresses this challenge by developing an experimentally calibrated and validated constitutive model that is implemented as a user material subroutine in Abaqus ? a commercially available finite element software package. The model is formulated in terms of finite deformations and assumes the SMP behaves as a thermoelastic material, for which the response is modeled using a compressible neo-Hookean constitutive equation. An internal state variable, the glassy volume fraction, is introduced to account for the phase transformation and associated stored deformation upon cooling from the rubbery phase to the glassy phase and subsequently recovered upon heating. The numerical implementation is performed such that a system of equations is solved using a Newton-Raphson method to find the updated stress in the material. The conductive heat transfer is incorporated through solving Fourier's law simultaneously with the constitutive equations. To calibrate and validate the model parameters, thermomechanical experiments are performed on an amorphous, thermosetting polyurethane shape memory polymer. Strains of 10-25% are applied and both free recovery (zero load) and constrained displacement recovery boundary conditions are considered for each value of applied strain. Using the uniaxial experimental data, the model is then calibrated and compared to the 1-D experimental results. The validated finite element analysis tool is then used to model biomedical devices, including cardiovascular tubes and thrombectomy devices, fabricated from shape memory polymers. The effects of heat transfer and complex thermal boundary conditions are evaluated using coupled thermal-displacement analysis, for which the thermal material properties were experimentally calibrated.

No description available.

Magnesium alloys have a great potential in automotive industries, compared to steel and aluminium (Al), Magnesium (Mg) is much lighter and this weight reduction improves fuel efficiency and lowers green gas emission. Due to its hexagonal crystal structure, magnesium has poor ductility at room temperature. Magnesium's ductility improves significantly above about 200°C due to thermal activation of additional slip systems. This has lead to efforts to form auto-body panels with commercial AZ31 magnesium sheet at elevated temperatures. In this work, various AZ31 magnesium alloy materials were used to investigate the influence of deformation conditions on texture and microstructure. Moreover, it is to define the correlation between formability and different deformation mechanisms. / It was observed that only basal slip and twinning contributed to room temperature deformation. As deformation temperature increased, an increase in ductility in Mg contributed to dynamic recrystallization occurring readily at elevated temperatures (≥300°C). Even coarse grain material experienced significant tensile elongation due grain refinement. Depending on temperature and strain rate, different deformation mechanisms were activated and lead to different failure modes (moderate necking, cavity, strong necking). More specifically, deformation at elevated temperature in the low-strain-rate regime with stress exponent n about 2-3 and activation energy close to grain-boundary diffusion of Mg (Q = 92 kJ/mol) is characteristic of GBS. Deformation at elevated temperature in the high strain rate regime showed that the stress exponent increased to a value close to 5 and that the activation energy was consistent with the one for Mg self-diffusion (135 kJ/mol) and for diffusion of Al in Mg (143 kJ/mol). This was indicative of a dislocation creep deformation mechanism. Plus the six-fold symmetric patterns of the {1 100} and {1120} pole figures and the splitting of basal plane distribution are another indication of slip mechanism or of dislocation creep mechanism. / The optimum deformation behavior for AZ31 sheet was found to be for the material with fine grain microstructure. The highest elongation of 265% was obtained with the material having initial grain size of 8 mum. In addition, strain-rate sensitivity, which is a good indication of material's ductility, also was the highest in material with 8 mum grain size. As a common trend, the strain-rate sensitivity increased with decreasing strain rate, increasing temperature and decreasing grain size. / In terms of drawability of AZ31 sheet, the deformation controlled by GBS resulted in a fair drawability/formability property with r-value about 1 whereas a deformation mechanism controlled by dislocation creep showed a good drawability with r-value above 1.5. Due to activation of additional slip systems (non-basal <a> and <c+a>), the thinning of the sheet was prevented, in particular at deformation conditions of 450°C with 0.1s-1 where r-value was highest. This deformation condition might suggest good forming process parameters, especially for deep drawing, for the commercial AZ31 sheet under investigation. A preliminary study of Forming Limit Diagram for AZ31 sheet was performed by the Limit Dome Height test method at 300°C. The FLD0 of AZ31 was found to be 67%; the part depth of biaxial forming was 1.86 in; and the maximum LDH varied from 2.4 to 2.6 in.

Nanoporous (np) metals and alloys are the subject of increasing research attention due to their high surface-area-to-volume ratio. Numerous methods exist to create np metals, with dealloying being a common approach. By dissolving one or more elements from certain alloy systems, porous structure can be generated. Utilizing this method, multiple np metals, including np-Ni, np-Ir, and np-Au were created. By carefully adjusting precursor type and dealloying conditions for each system, nanoporous Ni/Ir/Au with different morphologies and even controllable ligament/pore size were achieved. The mechanical behavior of porous materials is related to their fully dense counterparts by scaling equations. Established scaling laws exist and are widely applied for low relative density, micro- and macro-scale open-cell porous materials. However, these laws are not directly applicable to nanoporous metals, due to higher relative density and nanoscale cells. In this study, scaling laws were reviewed in light of the thermomechanical behavior of multilayer np-Ir thin films subjected to thermal cycling. Thermal cycling allows measurement of biaxial modulus from thermoelastic segments, and also causes film thickness to contract, with increases in relative density. A modified scaling equation was generated for biaxial modulus of np-Ir, and differed significantly from the classic equation.

Under consideration is the finite-size scaling of two thermomechanical responses of random heterogeneous materials. Stochastic mechanics is applied here to the modeling of heterogeneous materials in order to construct the constitutive relations. Such relations (e.g. Hooke's Law in elasticity or Fourier's Law in heat transfer) are well-established under spatial homogeneity assumption of continuum mechanics, where the Representative Volume Element (RVE) is the fundamental concept. The key question is what is the size L of RVE? According to the separation of scales assumption, L must be bounded according to d&lt;L&lt;&lt;LMacro where d is the microscale (or average size of heterogeneity), and LMacro is the macroscale of a continuum mechanics problem. Statistically, for spatially ergodic heterogeneous materials, when the mesoscale is equal to or bigger than the scale of the RVE, the elements of the material can be considered homogenized. In order to attain the said homogenization, two conditions must be satisfied: (a) the microstructure's statistics must be spatially homogeneous and ergodic; and (b) the material's effective constitutive response must be the same under uniform boundary conditions of essential (Dirichlet) and natural (Neumann) types. / In the first part of this work, the finite-size scaling trend to RVE of the Darcy law for Stokesian flow is studied for the case of random porous media, without invoking any periodic structure assumptions, but only assuming the microstructure's statistics to be spatially homogeneous and ergodic. By analogy to the existing methodology in thermomechanics of solid random media, the Hill-Mandel condition for the Darcy flow velocity and pressure gradient fields was first formulated. Under uniform essential and natural boundary conditions, two variational principles are developed based on minimum potential energy and complementary energy. Then, the partitioning method was applied, leading to scale dependent hierarchies on effective (RVE level) permeability. The proof shows that the ensemble average of permeability has an upper bound under essential boundary conditions and a lower bound under uniform natural boundary conditions. / To quantitatively assess the scaling convergence towards the RVE, these hierarchical trends were numerically obtained for various porosities of random disk systems, where the disk centers were generated by a planar Poisson process with inhibition. Overall, the results showed that the higher the density of random disks---or, equivalently, the narrower the micro-channels in the system---the smaller the size of RVE pertaining to the Darcy law. / In the second part of this work, the finite-size scaling of effective thermoelastic properties of random microstructures were considered from Statistical to Representative Volume Element (RVE). Similarly, under the assumption that the microstructure's statistics are spatially homogeneous and ergodic, the SVE is set-up on a mesoscale, i.e. any scale finite relative to the microstructural length scale. The Hill condition generalized to thermoelasticity dictates uniform essential and natural boundary conditions, which, with the help of two variational principles, led to scale dependent hierarchies of mesoscale bounds on effective (RVE level) properties: thermal expansion strain coefficient and stress coefficient, effective stiffness, and specific heats. Due to the presence of a non-quadratic term in the energy formulas, the mesoscale bounds for the thermal expansion are more complicated than those for the stiffness tensor and the heat capacity. To quantitatively assess the scaling trend towards the RVE, the hierarchies are computed for a planar matrix-inclusion composite, with inclusions (of circular disk shape) located at points of a planar, hard-core Poisson point field. Overall, while the RVE is attained exactly on scales infinitely large relative to microscale, depending on the microstructural parameters, the random fluctuations in the SVE response become very weak on scales an order of magnitude larger than the microscale, thus already approximating the RVE. / Based on the above studies, further work on homogenization of heterogeneous materials is outlined at the end of the thesis. / Keywords: Representative Volume Element (RVE), heterogeneous media, permeability, thermal expansion, mesoscale, microstructure.