Thesis (M.Tech.: Mechanical Engineering)-Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Durban University of Technology, 2007 xvi, 123 leaves / Interlaminar cracking or delamination is an inherent disadvantage of composite materials. In this study the fracture properties of nano and fibre-reinforced polypropylene and epoxy composite structures are examined. These structures were subjected to various tests including Single Edge Notched Bend (SENB) and Mixed Mode Bending (MMB) tests. Polypropylene nanocomposites infused with 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 5 weight % nanoclays showed correspondingly increasing fracture properties. The 5 weight % specimen exhibited 161 % improvement in critical stress intensity factor (KIC) over virgin polypropylene. XRD and TEM studies show an increase in the intercalated morphology and the presence of agglomerated clay sites with an increase in clay loading. The improvement in KIC values may be attributed to the change in structure. Tests on the fibre-reinforced polypropylene composites reveal that the woven fibre structure carries 100 % greater load and exhibits 275 % lower crack propagation rate than the chopped fibre specimen. Under MMB conditions, the woven fibre structure exhibited a delamination propagation rate of 1.5 mm/min which suggests delamination growth propagates slower under Mode I dominant conditions. The woven fibre / epoxy structure shows 147 % greater tensile modulus, 63 % greater critical stress intensity factor (KIC), and 184 % lower crack propagation rate than the chopped fibre-reinforced epoxy composite. MMB tests reveal that the load carrying capability of the specimens increased as the mode-mix ratio decreased, corresponding to an increase in the Mode II component. Delamination was through fibre–matrix interface with no penetration of fibre layers. A failure envelope was developed and tested and may be used to determine the critical applied load for any mode-mix ratio. The 5 weight % nanocomposite specimen exhibited a greater load carrying capability and attained a critical stress intensity factor that was 10 % less than that of the fibre-reinforced polypropylene structure, which had three times the reinforcement weight. Further, the nanocomposite exhibited superior strain energy release rates to a material with ten times the reinforcement weight. The hybrid structure exhibited 27 % increase in tensile modulus over the conventional fibre-reinforced structure. Under MMB conditions, no significant increase in load carrying capability or strain energy release rate over the conventional composite was observed. However, the hybrid structure was able to resist delamination initiation for a longer period, and it also exhibited lower delamination propagation rates.

No description available.

DC resistance and AC conductance and capacitance have been measured under various conditions in an effort to electrically characterize and make electrical-mechanical correlations for 15 carbon black filled rubber samples. Resistance, conductance and capacitance have been monitored as functions of uniaxial compressive stress, time, temperature, and mechanical and thermal history. Capacitance and conductance have also been monitored as functions of frequency under various degrees of compressive loading and before and after specific heat treatments. A direct relationship has been found between sample • conductance and capacitance under any thermal and/or mechanical condition. This is in agreement with previous theories of conduction network formation and percolation. Various conduction mechanisms have been enumerated and an equivalent circuit of a network of lumped R-C "microelements'' has been qualitatively described. Stress, relaxation, frequency, and temperature dependences of the macroscopic parameters measured ( conductivity and capacitance) are discussed in terms of this model. / M.S.

Τα σύνθετα υλικά χρησιμοποιούνται σε μία ευρεία γκάμα της παγκόσμιας βιομηχανίας, στην αεροναυπηγική, στις μεταφορές, στα αθλητικά είδη και πιο πρόσφατα στις υποδομές. Αναλόγως των εφαρμογών αξιοποιούνται και αντίστοιχης ποιότητας σύνθετα υλικά διότι το κύριο μέλημα είναι η μείωση του συνολικού κόστους της κατασκευής. Η μείωση του κόστους, προφανώς, δεν έρχεται από τα ίδια τα υλικά, αφού είναι πιο ακριβά από τα αντίστοιχα που χρησιμοποιούνται τώρα, αλλά από την αξιοποίηση τους σε ένα μακροχρόνιο σχέδιο. Για τους λόγους αυτούς γίνεται όλο ένα και μεγαλύτερη χρήση των σύνθετων υλικών. Παρόλα τα πλεονεκτήματα που παρουσιάζουν τα σύνθετα υλικά εμφανίζουν πολύ σοβαρά προβλήματα. Ένα κύριο πρόβλημα το οποίο αφορά την χρήση τους είναι ο προσδιορισμός της αντοχής τους όταν υποβάλλονται σε διάφορες καταπονήσεις. Παρατηρείται λοιπόν η μεγάλη ανάγκη που υπάρχει για την μελέτη των σύνθετων υλικών και για το λόγο αυτό υπάρχουν εξειδικευμένα εργαστήρια στα οποία μελετώνται οι μηχανικές ιδιότητες των σύνθετων υλικών. Όμως, πέραν των ενδογενών μηχανικών ιδιοτήτων που εμφανίζουν τα σύνθετα υλικά υπάρχουν και άλλοι παράγοντες που χρίζουν μελέτης όπως για παράδειγμα η επίδραση της θερμοκρασίας, της υγρασίας κ.α. Τα σύνθετα υλικά που αξιοποιούνται είναι με ενίσχυση συνεχών ινών και με μήτρα από πολυμερές σε ψευδοϊσότροπη "quasi-isotropic" διαστρωμάτωση. Τα εκάστοτε δοκίμια υφίστανται εναλλασσόμενη φόρτιση μέχρις ότου εμφανίσουν αστοχία. Για την διαδικασία της κόπωσης ορίζονται πειραματικά οι τιμές της συχνότητας ταλάντωσης και της μέγιστης εφαρμοζόμενης τάσης. Όλα τα δοκίμια, κατά την διάρκεια της κόπωσης, υφίστανται μόνο τάσεις εφελκυσμού. Η μελέτη της θερμοκρασίας πραγματοποιήθηκε μέσω παθητικής θερμογραφίας. Η παθητική θερμογραφία εξετάζει τα υλικά και τις δομές που σε φυσιολογικές συνθήκες παρουσιάζουν διαφορετική (συχνά υψηλότερη) θερμοκρασία από το περιβάλλον. Η παθητική θερμογραφία είναι ευρέως χρησιμοποιούμενη σε πλήθος εφαρμογών της βιομηχανίας, της προληπτικής συντήρησης, ιατρικής, δασικής πυρανίχνευσης, γεωργίας, βιολογίας, ανίχνευσης αερίων. Σε όλες αυτές τις εφαρμογές, εντοπίζονται ασυνήθιστες θερμοκρασίες σε σχέση με το περιβάλλον και υποδεικνύουν σημεία που πιθανόν χρήζουν προσοχής. Στην παρούσα εργασία έγινε χρήση μίας πειραματικής διάταξης που είναι σε θέση να προκαλεί καταπόνηση στα σύνθετα υλικά και με τη βοήθεια υπέρυθρης κάμερας κατέστη δυνατή η απόκτηση θερμικών εικόνων των σύνθετων υλικών κατά την διάρκεια της καταπόνησης τους. Οι εικόνες αυτές αναπαριστούν την χωρική κατανομή της θερμοκρασίας του δείγματος και όχι μόνο της επιφάνειας. Οι θερμικές εικόνες υπέστησαν ειδική επεξεργασία για την εξαγωγή χαρακτηριστικών με σκοπό να οδηγήσουν σε συμπεράσματα ικανά να ερμηνεύουν την συμπεριφορά της θερμοκρασίας. Τελικά, μέσω της μελέτης της συμπεριφοράς της θερμοκρασίας των σύνθετων υλικών υφιστάμενα κόπωση έγινε προσπάθεια για την πρόβλεψη και ανίχνευση αστοχιών σε αυτά τα υλικά. / Composite materials are used in a wide range of global industry, such as aeronautics, transportation, and more recently in infrastructure. Composites with different quality are utilized because the main concern is to reduce the total cost of construction. Cost reduction is obviously not coming from the raw materials, as they are more expensive than those used now, but by exploiting them in a long-standing plan. The technological evolution and market requirements have led to an increasing demand of composite materials. Despite the advantages of composite materials they exhibit very serious problems. A fundamental problem concerning the engineering uses of composite materials is the determination of their resistance to combined states of cyclic stress (fatigue loading). Therefore, composite materials are needed to be studied and for this reason there are specialized laboratories studying their mechanical properties. Beyond the intrinsic mechanical properties of composites materials there are also other factors that need to be studied, for example the effect of temperature, humidity etc. In this project the behavior of the temperature of composites in fatigue loading is studied. The composite materials that are utilized are fiber reinforced plastics (FPR) in "quasi-isotropic" lay-up. Each sample is going under tensile constant stress cycling until experiencing failure. For the process of fatigue loading, experimental values of the oscillation frequency and the maximum applied stress are defined. The study of the temperature of composite materials was held by passive thermography. Passive thermography tests materials and structures which are naturally at different (often higher) temperature than ambient temperature. Important applications of passive thermography are in production, predictive maintenance, medicine, fire forest detection, building thermal efficiency survey programs, road traffic monitoring, agriculture and biology, medicine, detection of gas (by mean of absorbing tracer gas) and in nondestructive testing (NDT). In all these applications, abnormal temperature profiles indicate a potential problem that needs to be taken care of. In this project an experimental setup was developed which is capable of a) causing specific fatigue loading to the samples and b) obtaining thermal images of them during their fatigue loading. These images represent the spatial distribution of the sample temperature, not just the temperature of their surface. Also, these thermal images were specially processed for feature extraction in order to lead to conclusions capable of interpreting the behavior of temperature. Eventually, an effort was made to anticipate and discover failures in composites through the study of the behavior of the temperature that they develop.

The focus of the current research is to investigate the potential of using bistable unsymmetric cross-ply laminated composites as a means for achieving structures with morphed characteristics. To this end, an investigation of the design space for laminated composites exhibiting bistable behavior is undertaken and the key parameters controlling their behavior are identified. For this purpose a nonlinear Finite Element methodology using ABAQUS code is developed to predict both the cured shapes and the stability characteristics of unsymmetric cross-ply laminates. In addition, an experimental program is developed to validate the analytically predicted results through comparison with test data. A new method is proposed for attaching piezoelectric actuators to a bistable panel in order to preserve its favorable stability characteristics as well as optimizing the actuators performance. The developed nonlinear FE methodology is extended to predict the actuation requirements of bistable panels. Actuator requirements, predicted using the nonlinear FE analysis, are found to be in agreement with the test results. The current research also explores the potential for implementing bistable panels for Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle (UAV) wing configuration. To this end, a set of bistable panels is manufactured by combining symmetric and unsymmetric balanced and unbalanced stacking sequence and their stability characteristics are predicted. A preliminary analysis of the aerodynamic characteristics of the manufactured panels is carried out and the aerodynamic benefits of manufactured bistable panel are noted.

Ni/TiC metal matrix composites have been processed using the laser engineered net shaping (LENS) process. As nickel does not form an equilibrium carbide phase, addition of a strong carbide former in the form of titanium reinforces the nickel matrix resulting in a promising hybrid material for both surface engineering as well as high temperature structural applications. Changing the relative amounts of titanium and carbon in the nickel matrix, relatively low volume fraction of refined homogeneously distributed carbide precipitates, formation of in-situ carbide precipitates and the microstructural changes are investigated. The composites have been characterized in detail using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (including energy dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS) mapping and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD)), Auger electron spectroscopy, and transmission (including high resolution) electron microscopy. Both primary and eutectic titanium carbides, observed in this composite, exhibited the fcc-TiC structure (NaCl-type). Details of the orientation relationship between Ni and TiC have been studied using SEM-EBSD and high resolution TEM. The results of micro-hardness and tribology tests indicate that these composites have a relatively high hardness and a steady-state friction coefficient of ~0.5, both of which are improvements in comparison to LENS deposited pure Ni.

Thesis (M.Tech.: Mechanical Engineering)-Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Durban University of Technology, 2007 xiii, 101 leaves / Polymer nanocomposites may be defined as structures that are formed by infusing layered-silicate clay into a thermosetting orthermoplastic polymer matrix. The nanocomposites are normally particle-filled polymers for which at least one dimension of the dispersed particles is in nanoscale. These clay-polymer nanocomposites have thus attracted great interest in industry and academia due to their exhibition of remarkable enhancements in material properties when compared to the virgin polymer or conventional micro and macro-composites. The present work describes the synthesis, mechanical properties and morphology of nano-phased polypropylene structures. The structures were manufactured by melt- blending low weight percentages of montmorillonite (MMT) nanoclays (0.5, 1, 2, 3, 5 wt. %) and polypropylene (PP) thermoplastic. Both virgin and infused polypropylene structures were then subjected to quasi-static tensile tests, flexural tests, micro-hardness tests, impact testing, compression testing, fracture toughness analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis, tribological testing. Scanning electron microscopy studies were then conducted to analyse the fracture surfaces of pristine PP and PP nanocomposite. X-ray diffraction studies were performed on closite 15A clay and polypropylene composites containing 0.5, 1, 2, 3 and 5 wt. % closite 15A nanoclay to confirm the formation of nanocomposites on the addition of organo clays. Transmission electron miscopy studies were then performed on the PP nanocomposites to determine the formation of intercalated, exfoliated or agglomerated nanoclay structures. Analysis of test data show that the mechanical properties increase with an increase in nanoclay loading up to a threshold of 2 wt. %, thereafter the material properties degrade. At low weight nanoclay loadings the enhancement of properties is attributed to the lower percolation points created by the high aspect ratio nanoclays. The increase in properties may also be attributed to the formation of intercalated and exfoliated nanocomposite structures formed at these loadings of clay. At higher weight loading, degradation in mechanical properties may be attributed to the formation of agglomerated clay tactoids. Results of XRD, transmission electron microscopy studies and scanning electron microscopy studies of the fractured surface of tensile specimens verify these hypotheses.

Thesis (M.Tech.:Mechanical Engineering)-Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Durban University of Technology, 2006 xv, iii, 108 leaves / Fibre Reinforced Plastics (FRPs) have been used in many practical structural applications due to their excellent strength and weight characteristics as well as the ability for their properties to be tailored to the requirements of a given application. Thus, designing with FRPs can be extremely challenging, particularly when the number of design variables contained in the design space is large. For example, to determine the ply orientations and the material properties optimally is typically difficult without a considered approach. Optimization of composite structures with respect to the ply angles is necessary to realize the full potential of fibre-reinforced materials. Evaluating the fitness of each candidate in the design space, and selecting the most efficient can be very time consuming and costly. Structures composed of composite materials often contain components which may be modelled as rectangular plates or cylindrical shells, for example. Modelling of components such as plates can be useful as it is a means of simplifying elements of structures, and this can save time and thus cost. Variations in manufacturing processes and user environment may affect the quality and performance of a product. It is usually beneficial to account for such variances or tolerances in the design process, and in fact, sometimes it may be crucial, particularly when the effect is of consequence. The work conducted within this project focused on methodologies for optimally designing fibre-reinforced laminated composite structures with the effects of manufacturing tolerances included. For this study it is assumed that the probability of any tolerance value occurring within the tolerance band, compared with any other, is equal, and thus the techniques are aimed at designing for the worst-case scenario. This thesis thus discusses four new procedures for the optimization of composite structures with the effects of manufacturing uncertainties included.

Thesis submitted in compliance with the requirements for the Master's Degree in Technology: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Durban University of Technology, 2008. / The development of an evolutionary optimisation method and its application to the design of an advanced composite structure is discussed in this study. Composite materials are increasingly being used in various fields, and so optimisation of such structures would be advantageous. From among the various methods available, one particular method, known as Evolutionary Structural Optimisation (ESO), is shown here. ESO is an empirical method, based on the concept of removing and adding material from a structure, in order to create an optimum shape. The objective of the research is to create an ESO method, utilising MSC.Patran/Nastran, to optimise composite structures. The creation of the ESO algorithm is shown, and the results of the development of the ESO algorithm are presented. A tailfin of an aircraft was used as an application example. The aim was to reduce weight and create an optimised design for manufacture. The criterion for the analyses undertaken was stress based. Two models of the tailfin are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed ESO algorithm. The results of this research are presented in the study.

It is ideal to theoretically predict the activity of a catalyst. It has been recognized that not only the type of metal, but also its atomic size plays an important role in catalysis. In the past, atomic clusters have been created by sputtering from a sacrificial metal plate and then using a mass selector to choose cluster sizes from 1-233 atoms of gold. This approach has practical limitations. In this thesis, I describe a procedure by which atomic clusters of gold containing 1-8 atoms are deposited in polyaniline as an isolation matrix. My atomic deposition follows a cyclic pathway. Atomic clusters of palladium and atomic alloys of gold and palladium are also deposited in polyaniline using the same process. It is to show that this method will also work for other metals. These composite materials are characterized, and the catalytic activity for alcohol oxidation is evaluated. This thesis is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter discusses the chemistry of polyaniline for using gold and palladium as catalysts. The technique developed to deposit the atomic clusters is discussed in the second chapter. This technique deposits one atom of metal per imine site on polyaniline, per cycle. The cycle is repeated n-times until a cluster of specified size, Mn, and composition has been synthesized. It is known that polyaniline plays an important role in stabilization of the formed clusters which prevents their aggregation. The optimization of this technique is the topic of the third chapter along with the description of how these composite films are produced. To end this chapter, the composite films are characterized by cyclic voltammetry, Kelvin probe, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In chapters 4 and 5, the catalytic activity of the polyaniline/gold composites for the oxidation of alcohols in alkaline media using cyclic voltammetry is evaluated. In chapter 4, the correlation of the electrochemical activity for the oxidation of n-PrOH with the odd-even pattern from the calculated HOMO-LUMO gap energies for the same size clusters is shown. It is shown that the infrared spectrum of polyaniline with different sizes of atomic gold clusters also follows the odd-even pattern. Chapter 5 expands on the discussion of the catalytic oxidation of alcohols. The oxidation of methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanol is surveyed. The peak currents are again dominated by the odd-even pattern. In chapter 6, the versatility of the atomic deposition cycle is shown by depositing atomic palladium clusters. The peak currents for the oxidation of n-PrOH by these palladium composite films again follows the predicted pattern of the calculated HOMO-LUMO gap energies for atomic palladium clusters. This chapter also explores bimetallic atomic clusters of gold and palladium. The results indicate that the catalytic activity depends on the orientation of the cluster in the polyaniline matrix. Chapter 7 discusses the oxidation of methanol, ethanol, and isopropanol on AunPd1 bimetallic atomic clusters. The addition of palladium in the cluster increases the peak current densities for the oxidation of both alcohols except for the most stable of the atomic gold clusters, while it inactivated the electrodes for isopropanol. The possible future work for this project is discussed in chapter 8. Overall, this thesis has developed a novel and unique technique for depositing atomic metal clusters into a polyaniline matrix. The technique is versatile enough to deposit atomic metal clusters other than gold, as shown by creating atomic palladium clusters and atomic bimetallic clusters of gold and palladium. This is extremely useful, since this single technique can produce many different types of atomic catalysts. The composite materials have been shown to be catalytically active for the oxidation of alcohols in alkaline media. This indicates a significant improvement to conserve precious metals while still retaining a high catalytic activity.