This thesis presents the design and construction of a micro-scale, air powered, impact testing device for use in Virginia Tech's Biological and Bio-inspired Materials Laboratory. A brief overview of current projectile impact testers is presented along with motivation for the fabrication of a new testing system capable of firing a projectile with a maximum diameter of 0.5 mm at velocities ranging from 20 to 50 m/s. Initial design calculations and analysis were performed to optimize barrel length, projectile size, and air pressure for desired velocity ranges. Computer aided design was then utilized to create a digital model of the entire system before production began on the device.
Within the scope of this project was the development of a large-scale projectile impact tester as a proof of concept of the system's design that would later be utilized by other researchers as well as the micro-scale tester which carried over the lessons learned and design improvements from the larger device. The culmination of the project was the testing of biological samples (sea urchin spine cross sections) to prove the viability of the device and highlight its research niche. Future use cases and design improvements of the small-scale impact tester were also investigated as part of this thesis work. / Master of Science / This thesis encompasses the design and fabrication of both a large-scale projectile impact tester as a proof of concept design as well as a micro-scale version that carries over many of the design elements of the large version but is designed to fire projectiles for small scale biological material tests. Also included as part of this thesis is a breakdown of the various impact testers currently available within research to show why this project was necessary.
The project culminated in simple impact studies of sea urchin spines to showcase the capabilities of the impact tester in its current form as well as to outline some of the expanded properties that could be determined with simple experimental setup changes. From this impact, study it was determined that sea urchin spines are a leading candidate in the formulation of bio-inspired impact resistant ceramic foams as they have excellent energy absorption properties during dynamic loading. The calcite foam structure of the sea urchin spines proved to have better impact absorption capabilities in comparison to many current engineering materials used for impact resistance. The final part of this thesis is a brief overview of the planned future use cases of the device.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/115568 |
| Date | 28 June 2023 |
| Creators | Roth, Nicklas |
| Contributors | Mechanical Engineering, Li, Ling, West, Robert L., De Carlo, Francesco |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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