Fibre Reinforced Plastics offer several advantages over other materials such as decreased part counts, weight savings, and flexibility. The obstacles to the further expansion of composites use, particularly in cost-conscious industries such as the car industry, include volume, cost, and quality. Liquid Composite Moulding, where the dry textile reinforcement is shaped prior to application of the plastic matrix, offers to address these drivers by offering potential for automation, speed, and quality control. However, the preforming of the dry reinforcement is rarely automated, and its results are variable and hard to predict or control. This thesis aims to facilitate better preforming process design and control. The dominant deformation mechanism that allows reinforcements to conform to a 3D surface is trellis shear. Work is therefore presented on shear characterisation of textile reinforcements using the picture frame and the bias extension tests. Several approaches to normalising these tests to achieve method-independent shear data are proposed, and compared. Of these, a normalisation technique for the bias extension test based on energy considerations appears to be the most appropriate. A constitutive modelling approach, based on the meso-mechanical deformation mechanisms identified in the reinforcement, is developed for characterising the asymmetric shear properties exhibited by non-crimp fabrics. The results from this model are compared with experimental data. Finally, an energy minimising kinematic drape method is developed to account for the use of automated reinforcement blank-holders, and methods for modelling process variability using the code are investigated.

Rice bran, a by-product from rice milling, is an excellent source of natural antioxidants. Lipids in rice bran appear as small spherical droplets called oil bodies. This work attempted to recover the oil bodies from rice bran (fresh, stored and heat-treated) and to determine their chemical, biochemical and physical properties ex vivo. As revealed by transmission electron microscopy, oil bodies were observed mainly in the sub-aleurone and aleurone layer of brown rice. Oil bodies were successfully recovered from rice bran and were enriched in tocochromanols and oryzanol (656 - 1,006 mg/kg lipid and 8,880 - 9,692 mg/kg lipid respectively). Further washing to remove extraneous protein and non-associated compounds, effective lipid concentration increased while protein concentration decreased. The washed oil body preparation contained approximately 35 - 68 % tocochromanols and 60 - 62 % oryzanol of the parent rice bran oil. Therefore, the majority of tocochromanols and oryzanol molecules appeared to be intrinsically associated with rice bran oil bodies ex vivo. Fatty acid composition of rice bran oil bodies was similar to that of parent rice bran. SDS-PAGE of proteins present in differentially washed oil body preparations revealed similar protein profiles; however, there was a relative enrichment of the bands at 16 - 18 kDa (typical molecular weight of oleosins). Rice bran oil bodies possessed negatively charged surface (-30 mV) at neutral pH. As the pH of the oil body suspension was lowered to the pH near pI (about pH 4 - 5), zeta potential of the oil bodies approached zero and the suspension had the least physical stability; aggregation and the least relative turbidity. The biochemical instability of rice occurs immediately after milling, which leads to the limited use of rice bran for human consumption. Free fatty acids and lipid hydroperoxides in rice bran and corresponding oil bodies increased significantly (P<0.05) during storage. Oil bodies recovered from stored rice bran aggregated and coalesced. 41% of tocochromanols in the oil bodies had decomposed while the concentration of oryzanol was relatively stable during the storage. Rice bran heat treatments (pan roasting and extrusion) caused the coalescence of oil bodies in vivo and the instability of an oil body suspension ex vivo. The main findings of this study were that rice bran oil bodies were enriched in phytochemicals including tocochromanols and oryzanol and were resistant to oxidation providing that the oil bodies were still intact. The oil bodies could delay the onset of lipid oxidation of stored lipids inside the oil bodies. This may be explained by the physical barrier of surface membrane protein (oleosin) against pro-oxidants and the intrinsic association between the oil bodies and phytochemicals in rice bran.

Naturally, bones have a remarkable capacity to regenerate in case of minor injury and continuously remodel throughout an adult life. However, major injuries involving the load bearing bones, such as spine, hips and knee, require orthopaedic surgeries. These bone implants are made from biomaterials. As a result, this study investigates the use of biomaterials such as poly-lactic acid (PLA), nanohydroxyapatite (NHA) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) for applications related to bone implants. In this study, NHA was synthesised using precipitation method assisted with ultrasonication. The process parameters (reaction temperature, ultrasonic time and amplitude) were optimised using response surface methodology (RSM) based on 3 factors and 5 level central composite design (CCD). Upon characterisation, the synthesised NHA was confirmed to mimic the HA present in the human bone both chemically and morphologically. The synthesised NHA was then compounded with PLA matrix via melt-mixing by varying the NHA loading (1-5wt%). The impact strength of the PLA-NHA nanocomposites increased with NHA loading, attaining 21.6% enhancement in comparison to neat PLA. In contrast, the tensile strength and modulus of the PLA-NHA nanocomposites exhibited an initial increase of 0.7% and 10.6%, respectively, for 1wt% NHA loading, but deteriorated with the increasing NHA loading. The FESEM microstructures of the impact fractured samples also depicted agglomeration of NHA particles and poor interfacial adhesion between NHA and PLA. Hence, to improve the dispersion, NHA was surface modified (mNHA) using three different surface modifiers namely, 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES), sodium n-dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and poly-ethylenimine (PEI). The FESEM analysis revealed an improved interfacial adhesion between PLA matrix and mNHA(APTES), which, enhanced the mechanical, thermal and dynamic mechanical properties of the PLA-5wt%mNHA(APTES). Meanwhile, mNHA(SDS) and mNHA (PEI) had no significant effect on interfacial adhesion, ultimately, failing to improve the properties of the PLA-5wt%mNHA(SDS) and PLA-5wt%mNHA (PEI), respectively. GNP was added into the mNHA in order to further improve the properties of the PLA-5wt%mNHA(APTES) nanocomposite. With the addition of only 0.01wt% of GNP, the impact strength of the PLA-mNHA-GNP nanocomposite was increased by 22.1% (neat PLA) and 7.9% (PLA-5wt%mNHA(APTES)). Nonetheless, the tensile strength recorded a drop of 8.7% (neat PLA) and 9.7% (PLA-5wt%mNHA(APTES)). It is important to note the tensile strength obtained for the PLA-mNHA-GNP nanocomposite was within the acceptable limit of bone strength requirements. Biocompatibility of the nanocomposites (PLA, PLA-NHA, PLA-mNHA and PLA-mNHA-GNP) was investigated using in-vitro analysis. The results show the MG63 cells adhere and grow well on the nanocomposites. Moreover, the nanocomposites encouraged the cells to proliferate and differentiate within 7 days and 21 days of incubation period, respectively. Thus, the in-vitro analysis evidenced the prepared nanocomposites were biocompatible with the MG63 cells. Finally, possible extensions and future works for these prepared nanocomposites as bone implants have been highlighted.

This thesis investigates the existence and form of association between the technological structure of one of the most highly capital-intensive industries in the world, the paper and pulp (p&p) industry, and its dynamic behaviour in terms of market growth and development. Industrial structure issues are particularly relevant in highly capital-intensive sectors because they reflect the influence of economies of scale and changing patterns of entry and exit. The thesis draws upon two related bodies of literature: the dynamics of industrial structure, and heterogeneity within industry. It uses a quantitative hypothesis-deductive method and two panel databases. The first of these databases identifies key characteristics of the world's 150 largest p&p firms during the period 1978-2000, accounting for two-thirds of world output. The second dataset contains annual production capacity for the entire population of US p&p companies during the period 1970-2000. The US is the largest producer and consumer of p&p, accounting for one-third of world output. The main findings are as follows. Firstly, we demonstrate that p&p firms' growth is not a 'random walk' process, a generalization referred to in the literature as Gibrat's law. Nor is there a linear relation between growth and size distribution or between time and growth rates. We find that size, technology and time matter. Secondly, we demonstrate that this departure from Gibrat's law is due to the existence of three distinctive technological configurations or strategic groups of firms: 'Large & Diversified', 'Medium & Specialized', and 'Small & Very Specialized', which show persistently heterogeneous growth performance. In contrast with the findings in most of the recent empirical literature that shows smaller firms growing faster within the industry size distribution, the medium & specialized p&p companies show systematically the highest rates of growth. Thirdly, patterns of p&p firm survival and technological adoption behaviour over the last three decades are identified and related to the principal technological advances during the period, i.e. the very rapid increase in paper machine operating speed. The research contributes to the literature by providing robust new empirical evidence of the persistence over time of an intra-industry technological structure that systematically influences the heterogeneous performance of firms with different technological configurations and whose origins are linked to firms' growth processes (industrial dynamics) in the p&p industry.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Chicago, 1933. / Description based on print version record. "Private edition, distributed by the University of Chicago libraries, Chicago, Illinois." "Reprinted from the University of Texas bulletin, no. 3134: Sept. 8, 1931." "References for further reading": p. 276-278.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate and generate quantifiable measures of sustainability elements that apply to manufactured products in terms of environmental, social and economic benefits. This paper presents a new comprehensive methodology for sustainability evaluation of a new product at the design and development stage focusing on consumer electronics products through a Sustainability Scoring method. A new product is evaluated for its integral elemental and the overall sustainability contents impacting the product when it reaches the end-of-life by considering the entire life-cycle including the effective residual use of recovered materials in the subsequent life-cycles of the same or different products. This procedure can also be used by design engineers to assess a given product in comparison with a similar product, such as a prior or a subsequent model, or one from a competitor. The proposed six major integral sustainable elements are: products environmental impact, societal impact, functionality, resource utilization and economy, manufacturability and recyclability/remanufacturability. Each of these elements has corresponding sub-elements and influencing factors which are categorized using appropriate weighting factors according to their relative importance to the product.

Liquid Composite Moulding (LCM) processes are identified as one of the most potentially advantageous manufacturing routes. The challenge currently is to increase their reliability and expand their applicability. To that end, it was perceived that there was a lack of an advanced integrated simulation tool for the manufacture of three-dimensional, multi-layer textile composites. The tools for the analyses of fabric forming and subsequent flow during LCM processes were simple and immature, with the latter suitable to describe flow in thin structures only. Another noted deficiency was that the simulations provided a single answer to any given problem. Industrial experience has shown that during mould filling, due to the nature of statistical variation in the material properties, the filling patterns and arising cycle times are rarely the same between a given set of identical mouldings. This thesis focuses on permeability prediction of textile reinforcements for LCM processes. The issue of textile variability was also explored through the use of the permeability models' predictive capability. Two novel and efficient numerical approaches were developed to predict textile permeability based on the fabric architecture. The objective was to reduce the complexity of the flow domain and hence provide a faster method to fully characterise the permeability of a textile. Within a wider context, these models were implemented within an integrated modelling framework encompassing draping, compaction and impregnation, based on the TexGen textile schema. TexGen is a generic geometric textile modeller that can be used to create a wide range of textile models. Several validation studies were performed using a range of reinforcements including woven and non-crimp fabrics. A stochastic analysis technique was developed to account for the effect of material variability on permeability. The study based on this technique provided important insights into permeability variations. It was shown that the permeability distribution is a strong function of the textile architecture. The permeability models developed from this work can be used to account for the effects of fabric shear/compaction and statistical variations on permeability. These predicted permeability data can complement experimental data in order to enhance flow simulations at the component scale.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Johns Hopkins University, 1930. / Biographical note. Bibliography: p. 75-78.

Revision of a part of the author's thesis with title: Uttara Bhāratīya vastra. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [59]-62).

Proefschrift--Rotterdam, 1938. / Includes bibliographical references.