Sharif Digital Repository

The use of nanoparticles to control grain size and mechanical properties of solder alloys at high homologous temperature is explored. It is found that silica nanoparticles in the 100 nm range coated with 2 nm to 3 nm of gold can be dispersed within solders during the normal reflow soldering process, and that these particles are effective in hardening the solder and restricting dynamic grain growth during compression testing at low homologous temperature. As the homologous temperature increases towards 0.75, the effects of the nanoparticles on both mechanical properties and dynamical grain growth reduce, and by homologous temperatures of 0.86 the effects have completely disappeared. This... 

Aluminum metal-matrix nanocomposites (AMMNCs) fabricated by conventional stir-casting process usually show high porosity and poor distribution of nanoparticles within the matrix. In the current study, for the improvement of nanoparticles distribution in the aluminum matrix and enhancement of the mechanical properties, a mixture of Al/nano-Al2O3 powders were injected by pure argon gas into the molten 7075 aluminum alloy and this mixture was extruded at high temperature. Mechanical behavior of the final product was investigated by tensile and compression tests, hardness measurements, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) and Optical... 

The effect of heat treatment on the axial crushing behavior of thin-walled aluminum 6061 alloy tubes is studied in this work. For this purpose, thin-walled grooved specimens were subjected to different aging heat treatments to obtain different work hardening behaviors. Afterward, quasi-static axial compression tests were achieved to evaluate the crushing behavior. Additionally, a finite element method simulation was employed to determine the distributions of stress, strain, and imposed damage during axial compression. Results show that the optimum energy absorption characteristics can be obtained using moderated strain hardening exponent, ''n''. Low strain hardening exponent results in the... 

This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the application of strapping technique for retrofit of concrete compressive specimens. In this technique, standard strapping devices, which are used in the packaging industry, are applied to post-tension high strength metal strips around the concrete columns. Experimental program included axial compressive tests on 72 cylindrical and prismatic compressive specimens, which were actively confined by pre-stressed metal strips. The effects of various parameters on strength and ductility of confined concrete were studied including compressive strength of concrete, mechanical volumetric ratio of confining strips, post-tensioning force in... 

This paper presents analytical part of an investigation on the application of prestressed strips for concrete confinement. In this paper, an analytical model is proposed to predict the compressive stress-strain curve of strapped concrete as a function of the confinement level. The model was calibrated based on the experimental data of compressive tests which were described in part A of this paper. Various parameters are considered in the proposed model including volumetric ratio, yield strength and ultimate strain of confining material, shape of cross section, strength of plain concrete. Three key points were defined on the stress-stress curve of strapped concrete columns and applied in... 

Ultrafine-grained (UFG) Al6063 matrix nanocomposites reinforced with nano-size Al2O3 were produced by reactive mechanical alloying and hot powder extrusion method. Microstructural studies were performed by transmission electron microscope (TEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Observation of very small regions with high- and low-angle grain misorientation, i.e. grains and subgrains, showed the formation of UFG Al alloy matrix with an average grain size of ~ 0.37 μm. A uniform distribution of alumina particles with an average size of ~ 100 nm was also achieved. Compression test at various temperatures up to 450 °C was carried out to evaluate the high-temperature strength and hot... 

In this article, a new method is proposed to identify the constants of the extended Drucker-Prager yield surface for polypropylene nanocomposites. The method is based on optimizing the difference between the numerical and the experimental results of a three-point bending test. The test specimens are made of polypropylene/nanoclay and polypropylene/nano-calcium carbonate nanocomposites with different nanoparticles content. Moreover, the effect of composite filler content on the extended Drucker-Prager constants of polypropylene, as the composite matrix, is investigated. Inasmuch as numerical simulation is usually very time-consuming and highly nonlinear, a surrogate-based model with radial... 

Aluminum metal-matrix nanocomposites (AMMNCs) fabricated by conventional stir-casting process usually show high porosity and poor distribution of nanoparticles within the matrix. In the current study, for the improvement of nanoparticles distribution in the aluminum matrix and enhancement of the mechanical properties, a mixture of Al/nano-Al2O3 powders were injected by pure argon gas into the molten 7075 aluminum alloy and this mixture was extruded at high temperature. Mechanical behavior of the final product was investigated by tensile and compression tests, hardness measurements, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) and Optical... 

In order to analyze the flow behavior and workability of Ni–42Cu in cast and wrought conditions, hot deformation tests were performed at temperatures and strain rates within the ranges of 900–1150 °C and 0.001–1 s−1, respectively. Tensile tests showed a “hot ductility trough” at 950 °C for both alloys. The drop in hot ductility was more considerable in the cast alloy because of the sluggish dynamic recrystallization. The hot ductility drop and grain boundary cracking, particularly in the cast alloy, were attributed to the segregation of detrimental atoms to the boundaries. It was shown that the hot ductility of the wrought alloy could be improved with increasing strain rate. It was... 

Copper based hybrid composites containing nano-sized silicon carbide and carbon nanotubes reinforcements with minimal porosity were fabricated via mechanical milling followed by hot pressing technique. Microstructures of the powders and consolidated materials were studied using scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and scanning transmission electron microscope. Microstructural characterization of the materials revealed that the addition of nanosized silicon carbide reinforcement lowered the grain growth rate and enhanced the homogenization during mechanical milling. Microhardness measurements and compression test showed considerable improvements in mechanical... 

Strengthening is often a necessary measure to overcome an unsatisfactory deficient situation or where a new code requires the structure or a member of it to be modified to achieve new requirements. In the engineering practice such restraint to lateral dilation, indicated by the name of confinement, has been traditionally provided to compression members through steel transverse reinforcement in the form of spirals, circular hoops or rectangular ties. Steel and concrete jackets are other techniques for providing additional confinement for compression members, too. This paper presents the results of experimental and analytical study on the application of strapping technique for retrofitting of... 

This paper investigates a new method of dissipating energy in which a rigid tube is driven into the deformable tube under axial compression. Since there is a specific clearance between the rigid and deformable tubes, the deformable tube is expanded during axial compression, and the impact energy is absorbed by plastic expansion of deformable tube and frictional energy between deformable and rigid tubes. Quasi-static axial compression tests with different values of friction coefficient between rigid and deformable tubes are performed. Theoretical formulation with consideration of strain hardening effect is presented to predict the mean crushing load. Theoretical and experimental studies show... 

Empirical drift capacity models for in-plane loaded unreinforced masonry (URM) walls are derived from results of quasi-static cyclic shear-compression tests. The experimentally determined drift capacities are, however, dependent on the applied demand, i.e., on the loading protocol that is used in the test. These loading protocols differ between test campaigns. The loading protocols applied in tests are also different from the displacement histories to which URM walls are subjected in real earthquakes. In the absence of experimental studies on the effect of loading histories on the wall response, this article presents numerical simulations of modern unreinforced clay block masonry walls that... 

Thermosensitive Chitosan hydrogels which can be injected into defects with minimally invasive approach were prepared. Also starch micro/nano particles were synthesized via water-in-oil (W/O) miniemulsion technique. The starch particles were incorporated into the chitosan hydrogel to prepare injectable thermosensitive hydrogel composites. Tube inverting method, compression tests, swelling studies, XRD, SEM, OM, DLS, UV–vis spectroscopy were used for investigations. Results revealed that increasing crosslinker and surfactant contents and stirring rate leads to particle size reduction. Particle size was modeled using design of experiments (DOE) via the response surface method (RSM). Due to... 

Data related to force-deformation behaviour of soft tissue plays an important role in medical/surgical applications such as realistically modelling mechanical behaviour of soft tissue as well as minimally invasive surgery (MIS) and medical diagnosis. While the mechanical behaviour of soft tissue is very complex due to its different constitutive components, some issues increase its complexity like behavioural changes between the live and dead tissues. Indeed, an adequate quantitative description of mechanical behaviour of soft tissues requires high quality in vivo experimental data to be obtained and analysed. This paper describes a novel laparoscopic grasper with two parallel jaws capable of... 

Hot isotherm compression tests were performed in temperature range of 350-500 °C and at strain rates of 0.0005 to 0.5 s-1 for Al6061 alloy reinforced with alumina nanoparticles. Effect of deformation parameters and optimal conditions for hot working this nanocomposite were comprehended thoroughly via hot working data analyses, electron microscopy images, and X-ray diffractograms. The results indicated the severity of hot deformation process and an increase in the activation energy to 320 kJ/mol due to the addition of nanoparticles. Dynamic recovery (DRV) was considered as the individual determinative softening mechanism during hot deformation of this nanocomposite, and no sign of dynamic... 

This paper presents a new procedure for determining the fracture toughness of rock-like specimens using the diametric compression test with the center-cracked horseshoe disk (CCHD) method. Using finite element analysis, a dimensionless stress intensity factor was obtained and a formula was rendered for determining mode I fracture toughness. To evaluate the accuracy of the measurement results produced by the CCHD method, fracture toughness experiments were conducted on the same rock-like material using the notched Brazilian disk (NBD) method. The CCHD tests were simulated using a two-dimensional particle flow code for validation of the experimental results, and a great agreement between the... 

Airbags are safety devices in vehicles effectively suppressing passengers’ injuries during accidents. Although there are still many cases of eye injuries reported due to eye-airbag impacts in recent years. Biomechanical approaches are now feasible and can considerably help experts to investigate the issue without ethical concerns. The eye-airbag impact–induced stresses/strains in various components of the eye were found to investigate the risk of injury in different conditions (impact velocity and airbag pressure). Three-dimensional geometry of the eyeball, fat and bony socket as well as the airbag were developed and meshed to develop a finite element model. Nonlinear material properties of... 

Current design codes provide empirical equations for the drift capacity of unreinforced masonry (URM) walls that are based on results of quasi-static cyclic shear-compression tests. Yet different experimental campaigns have used various approaches of imposing fixed-fixed boundary conditions at the wall top which may affect the test results. This article investigates, by means of numerical simulations, the influence of experimental setups on the force and drift capacities of in-plane loaded URM walls subjected to double-fixed conditions. It is shown that controlling the shear span or the top rotation while keeping the axial force constant leads to very similar results. Controlling the axial... 

In conducting mechanical tests on the brain tissue, it is preferred to perform multiple tests on the same sample. In this study, we investigated the behavior of the bovine brain tissue in repeated compression tests wit h 0 recovery periods (namely, 10, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300 s). Compression tests were performed on cylindrical samples with average diameter and height of 18.0 mm and 15.0 mm, respectively. Two testing protocols were employed; t he first one comprised experiments wit h 5, 25, and 125 mm/min loading speeds up to 33% strain and the second one consisted of tests with 25 and 125 mm/min loading speeds up to 17% strain. Each experiment was conducted in two cycles separated by a...