Sharif Digital Repository

Composites of phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resin with Closite Na+ and Closite 30B up to 20 wt% loadings were prepared by solution mixing. Tensile testing showed that both pristine and organically modified clays increased considerably the mechanical properties of PF resin at 2.5 wt% loading followed by marginal improvement or even sacrificed properties at high loadings. DMA and DSC analyses suggested development of a highly crosslinked and well adhered interphase around silicate layers. A novel three-phase model considering the interphase region was proposed to predict composite modulus. The model was successfully employed to correlate morphological characteristics and mechanical properties of... 

In this paper, the equivalent inclusion method is implemented to estimate the effective mechanical properties of unidirectional composites in the presence of an imperfect interface. For this purpose, a representative volume element containing three constituents, a matrix, and interface layer, and a fiber component, is considered. A periodic eigenstrain defined in terms of Fourier series is then employed to homogenize non-dilute multi-phase composites. In order to take into account the interphase imperfection effects on mechanical properties of composites, a stiffness parameter in terms of a matrix and interphase elastic modulus is introduced. Consistency conditions are also modified... 

A new, robust homogenization scheme for determination of the effective properties of a periodic piezoelectric composite with general multi-coated inhomogeneities is developed. In this scheme the coating does not have to be thin, the shape and orientation of the inclusion and coatings do not have to be identical, their centers do not have to coincide, their properties do not have to remain uniform, and the microstructure can be with the 2D elliptic or the 3D ellipsoidal inclusions. The development starts from the local electromechanical equivalent inclusion principle through the introduction of the position-dependent equivalent eigenstrain and electric field. Then with a Fourier series... 

Polymer-clay nanocomposites (PCNs) have received intensive attention in recent years because of their wide domain of applications. The present report provides an approach to calculate the thickness of nanometric interphase region in exfoliated PCNs based on the information about their macroscopic modulus and their nanoclay content. First, the concept of interphase region in PCNs is explained with an “algae explanation”. Then, a series of parametric finite element simulations together with analytical equations are employed to derive an explicit relationship between the interphase thickness and the PCN macroscopic modulus. The obtained analytical model considers the structural impact of the... 

A finite element-based hierarchical multiscale modeling scheme is presented and used for the analysis of nanotube-reinforced polymer composites. The scheme presented here consists of micro- and macroscale boundary value problems linked together using a computational homogenization scheme. Using the presented hierarchical multiscale scheme, we have studied nanotube-reinforced polymer composites, and the elastic properties are determined. Using different representative volume elements (RVEs) representing different volume fractions of aligned nanotubes, the effect of the nanotube volume fraction and the existence of an interphase layer on the effective elastic modulus of the nanocomposite are... 

Polymer composite films based on chitosan (CS) and nanodimaond (ND) were prepared using solution casting method. ND with variable contents of carboxylic functional group was prepared using thermal oxidation at temperature of 420 °C under air atmosphere at various durations of 1.5 and 4.5 h. The interfacial interaction between NDs and CS and morphological evolution of CS in presence of NDs were investigated by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. A significant improvement in tensile strength (∼85%) and tensile modulus (∼125%) of CS was achieved by oxidized ND (OND) obtained at higher oxidation time of 4.5 at low... 

This paper presents a mathematical formulation of lithium-ion batteries, including aging and temperature effects. The model is developed by integrating the simplified single particle model (SSPM) and reduced-order model (ROM) to predict solid electrolyte interphase growth (SEI). Results show agreement with the experimental data at 25 °C operating temperature and moderate cycling currents. A maximum error of 3.6% in finding the battery discharged Ah is observed in harsh operating conditions, including 60 °C and approaching the end of life of the battery. Due to the typical operating conditions of stand-alone renewable energy systems, more accurate estimations are expected. Finally, this... 

Carbon nanotubes are regarded as ideal fillers for polymeric materials due to their excellent mechanical properties. Mechanical analysis without consideration of nanotube–matrix interphase, may not give precise predictions. In this work, the impacts of interphase on the behavior of polymer-based nanocomposites are studied. For this purpose, a closed-form micromechanical interphase model considering the diameter of nanotube, the thickness of interphase, and mechanical properties of nanotube and polymer is proposed to estimate the overall mechanical properties of nanotube-reinforced polymer nanocomposites. Furthermore, the effective elastic constants of the nanocomposites for a wide range of... 

In the current work, the effect of interphase region on the mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites reinforced with nanoparticles is studied. For this purpose, a closed-form interphase model as a function of radial distance based on finite-size representative volume element is suggested to estimate the mechanical properties of particle-reinforced nanocomposites. The effective Young’s and shear moduli of thermoplastic polycarbonate-based nanocomposites for a wide range of sizes and volume fractions of silicon carbide nanoparticles are investigated using the proposed interphase model and molecular dynamics simulations. In order to investigate the effect of particle size, several unit... 

Carbon nanotubes are regarded as ideal fillers for polymeric materials due to their excellent mechanical properties. Mechanical analysis without consideration of nanotube–matrix interphase, may not give precise predictions. In this work, the impacts of interphase on the behavior of polymer-based nanocomposites are studied. For this purpose, a closed-form micromechanical interphase model considering the diameter of nanotube, the thickness of interphase, and mechanical properties of nanotube and polymer is proposed to estimate the overall mechanical properties of nanotube-reinforced polymer nanocomposites. Furthermore, the effective elastic constants of the nanocomposites for a wide range of...