<p>  </p> <p>Adhesives are becoming more widely used for applications that previously relied on mechanical methods to secure the interface of two materials due to their cost effectiveness, lower weight, and ease of use. Examples of these new adhesive spaces include functional adhesives for robotic or manufacturing applications, composite materials in automotives and aircrafts, and wearable medical devices. As adhesives continue to push into new spaces, new methods must be developed to control their adhesive properties. Furthermore, understanding how the adhesive properties of these materials change due to deformation is critical in order to select or design new adhesives for specific applications. </p> <p>In this work we develop a material with pressure tunable adhesion by utilizing surface patterning. A simple and scalable fabrication method, polymer thin film dewetting, is used to pattern the surface of a soft elastomer with stiff, microscopic, and axisymmetric asperities. Patterning of the surface with these asperities leads to pressure tunable adhesion where adhesion strength increases with increasing applied pressure. Additionally, it is shown that changes to the relationship between adhesion strength and applied pressure by altering the pattern geometry are investigated.</p> <p>The surface properties of amorphous elastomers have long been assumed to be independent of deformation. However, experimental studies within the last 15 years have shown this to be false for very soft solids and gels with moduli on the order of 10s-100s KPa when deformation of the material is below a critical length scale. The surface stress of these materials differs from the bulk and are dependent on the degree of deformation of the solid. Theoretical works have also shown this to be true for stiffer materials, however it is difficult to use the same experimental techniques to probe the surface stress of elastomers with moduli on the order of MPa. In this work, a new experimental technique is proposed to investigate the deformation dependent surface properties of elastomers. Additionally, this same technique allows us to probe the deformation-dependent adhesion properties of elastomers. We show that the shape of contact between a uniaxially stretched elastomer and rigid spherical probe provides insight into changes in surface stress. Furthermore, our results indicate that material composition, specifically filler composition and loading, affects the adhesion hysteresis of these elastomers. </p>

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

Aujourd’hui, trois technologies distinctes et complémentaires sont disponibles pour réaliser des mesures réparties de température, de déformation ou de vibration grâce à l’analyses des rétrodiffusion Raman, Brillouin et Rayleigh. Les besoins industriels actuels se portent sur la mesure répartie de déformation pour des infrastructures avec de longs linéaires, comme les canalisations, pour lesquelles une cartographie linéaire et en temps réel de leur état est demandée. Nous nous focalisons alors sur la conception d’un système de mesure Brillouin capable de mesurer de manière répartie et dynamique les déformations subies par une fibre optique. La méthode employée sera celle du flanc de frange ; elle a déjà été développée et expérimentée sur une architecture opto-électronique de type analyseur Brillouin (Brillouin-OTDA), nécessitant l’accès aux deux extrémités de la fibre optique. Dans notre cas, elle est implémentée sur une architecture fonctionnant en réflectométrie. Les résultats expérimentaux obtenus seront caractérisés et validés par la simulation des mesures de la déformation et du déplacement d’une canalisation supportée entre deux appuis simples ; un modèle mécanique, adapté à cette configuration et transposable sur des projets réels, est développé. Par le biais de partenaire industriels de Cementys, ce modèle est utilisé dans deux projets de surveillance de canalisation d’hydrocarbures dont les moyens d’installation et la finalité sont différents. / Today, three distinct and complementary technologies are available for distributed temperature, strain or vibration measurements with the analysis of Raman, Brillouin and Rayleigh backscattered light. Current industrial needs are distributed strain measurements for linear infrastructures, such as pipelines, for which linear and real-time strain distribution is required. The research work aims to design a new distributed and dynamic strain measurement system based on the analysis of spontaneous Brillouin backscatter by reflectometry. Slope assisted technique is used to accelerate the measurement acquisition, currently limited to static events because of their actual principle of sweep frequency acquisition of the Brillouin backscattering spectrum. The experimental results are characterized and validated by the simulation of the measurements of the deformation and displacement of a pipe supported between two simple supports. A mechanical model, adapted to this configuration and transposable on real projects, is developed. Through Cementys industrial partner, this model is then used for two monitoring project of pipelines with different installation facilities and purpose.