Sharif Digital Repository

Due to the wide applications of three-dimensional graphene (3DG) foam in bio-sensors, stretchable electronics, and conductive polymer composites, predicting its mechanical behavior is of paramount importance. In this paper, a novel multiscale finite element model is proposed to predict the compressive modulus of 3DG foams with various densities. It considers the effects of pore size and structure and the thickness of graphene walls on 3DG foams' overall behavior. According to the scanning electron microscope images, a unit cell is selected in the microscale step to represent the incidental arrangement of graphene sheets in 3DG foams. After derivation of equivalent elastic constants of the... 

The application of agricultural fibers for making particleboards has been studied in two types of composites: (i) type I particleboards were composites of wheat straw and rice husk fibers with polymeric methylene di-phenyl diisocyanate resin (pMDI) as a binder made by compression moulding; (ii) type II particleboards were composites of rice husk and polypropylene made by extrusion and injection moulding. In type I particleboards, the effects of varying the resin content and various combinations of wheat straw/rice husk fibers were investigated and characterised in terms of physical and mechanical properties of particle boards such as modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity, compression... 

The concept of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) has been a subject of extensive research in the recent few years. In many SMA applications, wire elements have been used in order to control structural specifications like shape and stiffness. Since a wire can only be subjected to tensile forces, the available theoretical models for SMA discuss only the tensile loading. The present paper is an endeavor to overcome this shortcoming. It gives experimental results for tension and compression tests on specimens (having different geometries) made of an identical shape memory alloy. The corresponding results are compared with each other. Using stress-strain diagrams, several important material properties are... 

A cyclic simple shear device was modified for testing coarse-grained soils at unsaturated conditions. A combined methodology of controlling suction for the practical range of coarse-grained soil water retention curves was adopted. Water head control method was used to accurately control suction within capillary and transition zones of such soils. The axis translation technique, on the other hand, was employed as a complementary approach to reach higher suction values within residual zone. In order to evaluate the performance of the new setup, independent cyclic tests were carried out at various initial suctions including all key points and zones along the primary drying path. The analyses of... 

Background: This research follows some investigations through neural tissue engineering, including fabrication, surface treatment, and evaluation of novel self-stimuli conductive biocompatible and degradable nanocomposite scaffolds. Methods: Gelatin as a biobased material and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) as a mechanical, electrical, and piezoelectric improvement agent were co-electrospun. In addition, polyaniline/graphene (PAG) nanoparticles were synthesized and added to gelatin solutions in different percentages to induce electrical conductivity. After obtaining optimum PAG percentage, cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment was applied over the best samples by different plasma variable... 

Novel montmorillonite (Mt) chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanocomposite electrospun nanofibrous membranes (ENM) were prepared and utilized for the treatment of colored wastewater. The Mt. with different mass percentages (0, 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 mass%) was added to the membrane structure, and its effect on morphology, pore size, porosity, mechanical strength, and permeation properties of ENM were investigated. The fabricated membranes were used as affinity membranes for dye removal with ultrafast permeating adsorption. The results showed that incorporating Mt. as a reinforcing agent improved the nanocomposite ENM resistance to compaction. Young's modulus for the prepared membranes increased... 

Small strain shear modulus, Gmax, is one of the most important parameters for the characterization of the behavior of earth structures subjected to static or dynamic loading conditions. This research presents an experimental laboratory study on the effect of non-plastic fines content and hydraulic hysteresis on the Gmax of unsaturated sandy soils. In this regard, clean Firoozkuh No. 161 silica sand which is classified as poorly graded sand was mixed with different percentages of non-plastic Firoozkuh silt. A set of bender element tests were carried out using two modified triaxial devices. The modifications on these two apparatus were to add HAV ceramic discs for air–water control of... 

We present an approach for constant-pressure molecular dynamics simulations. This approach is especially designed for finite systems, for which no periodic boundary condition applies. A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation for Ni nanoclusters is used to calculate their pressurevolumetemperature (pvT) data for the temperature range 200 K≤T≤400 K, and pressures up to 600 kbar. Isothermal sets of pvT data were generated by the simulation; each set was fitted by three equations of state (EoSs): Linear Isotherm Regularity-II (LIRII), BirchMurnaghan (BM), and EOS III. It is found that the MD data are satisfactorily reproduced by the EoSs with reasonable precision. Some features of the EoSs criteria,... 

The effects of incorporating the ester functional group (-C=OO-) into the side chain of the 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium cation ([C1COOCnC1im]+, n = 1, 2, 4) paired with [Br]-, [NO3]-, [BF4]-, [PF6]-, [TfO]-, and [Tf2N]- anions on the various thermodynamic properties and interaction energies of these biodegradable ionic liquids (ILs) were investigated by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations combined with ab initio calculations in the temperature range of 298-550 K. Excluding the simulated density, the highest values of the volumetric properties such as molar volume, isobaric expansion coefficient, and isothermal compressibility coefficient can be attributed to the largest cation... 

For characterizing Bauschinger effect factor (BEF) and Bauschinger modulus reduction of an A5083 aluminum alloy experimentally, several uniaxial tension- compression tests carried out in different pre-strain levels using INSTRON testing machine. BEF was investigated using both Welter and Milligan's definitions for various offset values. It was observed that Milligan's definition predicts BEF less than Welter's definition for all offset values. In addition, real loading-unloading behavior of such alloy was recorded to predict residual stresses resulting from autofrettage and shrink fit processes. Variable material properties (VMP) method, which is capable of incorporating real unloading... 

Understanding the effect of crystallographic orientation on the twinnin/detwinning mechanisms in NiTi shape memory alloys at an atomistic scale can help to control and tune the mechanical properties and failure behavior of such materials. In this work, we employed classical molecular dynamics (MD) and density functional theory (DFT) computational methods to better understand how twinning and detwinning occurs through a combination of slip, twin, and shuffle on 〈0 1 0〉, 〈1 1 0〉, and 〈1 1 1〉 crystallographic orientations under uniaxial tensile test. Elastic constants including Young's Modulus (E), Bulk modulus (B), Poisson's ratio (ν), and Shear Modulus (G) are obtained and computed for... 

Material properties and fracture characteristics are among the most prominent parameters that should be considered for a wide range of graphene applications. This article reviews recent advances in theoretical studies on the mechanical properties and fracture behaviors of graphene, focusing on the effect of various simulation models. Most studies investigated single-layer graphene sheets (SLGSs) under uniaxial tensile tests using different common interatomic potentials, particularly AIREBO. Although researchers have examined a similar problem, specifically for pristine graphene, the differences in the reported values are considerable. These discrepancies are most evident in fracture... 

In this paper, a new single cone-cap plasticity with an isotropic hardening rule is presented for powder materials. A general form is developed for the cap plasticity, which can be compared with some common double-surface plasticity models proposed for powders in literature. The constitutive elasto-plastic matrix and its components are derived based on the definition of yield surface, hardening parameter and nonlinear elastic behavior, as a function of relative density of powder. Different aspects of the model are illustrated and the procedure for determination of powder parameters is described. Finally, the applicability of the proposed model is demonstrated in numerical simulation of... 

In this paper, a distributed relative humidity (RH) or moisture sensor is proposed. The proposed structure is a single mode telecommunication optical fiber coated by humidity sensitive and insensitive polymers periodically. The polymer coated fiber is surrounded by a high Young's modulus material such as stainless steel mesh. The swelling of the coated Humidity Sensitive Polymers (HSPs) as a result of moisture absorption induces fiber gratings in the single mode fiber. Depending on the coating period relative to the light wavelength, the induced fiber grating can be Fiber Bragg Grating (FBG) or Long Period Fiber Grating (LPFG). The light reflected by the induced FBG or losses due to the... 

In this study, the properties of poly (vinyl alcohol)(PVA) films incorporated with Zataria multiflora essential oil (ZMO) as a potential antioxidant/antibacterial material was investigated. PVA films were prepared from PVA solutions (2% w/v) containing different concentrations of ZMO. Water solubility, moisture absorption, water swelling, and water vapor permeability for pure PVA films were 57 ± 1.1, 99 ± 3.2%, 337 ± 8%, and 0.453 ± 0.015 g mm/m2 h, respectively. Incorporation of ZMO into PVA films caused a significant decrease in water swelling and moisture absorption and increase in solubility and water vapor permeability. Tensile strength, elastic modulus, and elongation at break for pure... 

Optimal hyperplastic coeficients of the micromechanical constituents of the human brain stem were investigated. An evolutionary optimization algorithm was combined with a Finite Element (FE) model of a Representative Volume Element (RVE) to nd the optimal material properties of axon and Extra Cellular Matrix (ECM). The tension and compression test results of a previously published experiment were used for optimizing the material coeficients, and the shear experiment was used for the validation of the resulting constitutive model. The optimization algorithm was used to search for optimal shear moduli and ber sti ness of axon and ECM by tting the average stress in the axonal direction with the... 

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are viewed as rolled graphene. Thus, an appropriate formulation describing the behavior of CNTs must contain the key information about both their initial configuration as graphene and final configuration as CNT.On this note, to date, somemodels, in particular based on the Cauchy- Born rule, for the description of CNTs behavior exist. A simplifying assumption in some of these models is that the length and perimeter of the CNT equal the corresponding dimensions of the unrolled initial configuration, thus neglecting the induced hoop and longitudinal strains. On the other hand, the present work offers a purely nonlinear continuum model suitable for the description of the... 

This paper presents a novel method for fabrication of bone-like Ti6Al4V foamy core@compact shell composite for utilization as substitutive implant for cortical bone having porous core. Seven prototypes with core-diameters of 0, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 mm surrounded by dense shells of respective thicknesses 8, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 and 0 were produced by an innovative two-stage packing/compaction sintering method. Density, porosity, Young's modulus and compression strength of the prototypes depended on the core diameter. Mechanical strength and Young's modulus of 10@16 (10 mm core, 16 mm diameter prototypes) resembled that of the human ulna bone. Creation of foam at the center was achieved by... 

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with and without end caps may be used for fluid storage and transport, respectively, referred to as CNT-nanovessel and CNT-nanopipe. The determination of the stiffness in the hoop (circumferential) and radial directions, ideal hoop strength, and hoop stress-strain curve of such nanostructures is of particular interest. Due to the proposed viewpoint, a chiral free-standing single-walled CNT (SWCNT) has a natural angle of twist and natural extension along the axis of the tube. For example, for the SWCNT (9,3) with diameter of 0.85 nm and chirality angle of 13.9°, the natural angle of twist per unit length is 1.45×10-3 rad/nm. Previously, only Vercosa et al. (2010) who... 

A new model is developed for the structure of nanocrystalline materials. Based on the developed model, a new approach for investigating the effect of grain size on the elastic moduli of nanocrystalline materials is introduced. The predictions of the model are strongly correlated with the experimental results reported in the existing literature