MECHANICS OF INTERACTION OF GROWING CRACK WITH GRAIN BOUNDARY IN BICRYSTAL SOLIDS

Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations have been carried out to understand the mechanics of crack
interaction with Grain Boundary (GB) under different scenarios. Specifically, different stages of a growing
crack, like crack growth initiation and arrest at GB have been studied. The study was done by evaluating
the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) using near-tip stress field at each of these stages i.e. crack growth initiation
and arrest at GB. To perform this simulation, an understanding of rotation transformation has been applied
to form an aluminum bi-crystal.
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LONG-TERM PERFORMANCE OF POST-INSTALLED CONCRETE SCREWS

Concrete screws are a type of anchor used in structural and non-structural applications in uncracked and cracked concrete. The load transfer is based on mechanical interlock between the threads and concrete. Like all anchor products, they undergo rigorous testing during product assessment which at the moment does not cover the sustained load behavior. This investigation aims at studying the sustained-load behaviour of concrete screws by performing a series of tensile tests. Short-term tests were first performed from which the ultimate load capacity of the screws was determined. Long-term tests were then performed at different load levels, selected as a function of the short-term capacity. The time to failure and displacements were recorded throughout each test. The resulting experimental data was used to generate time-to-failure curves and fit the regression models that are currently used for the long-term assessment of chemically bonded anchors. Finally, the predicted long-term capacity for a 50-year lifetime is presented and compared to adhesive anchors.
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NON-FOURIER HEAT CONDUCTION AND NONLOCAL THEORY, RECENT PROGRESS AND APPLICATION IN THERMAL FRACTURE ANALYSIS [Keynote]

Non-Fourier heat conduction theories have recently been introduced to thermal stress analysis to account for the wave-like behavior of heat conduction under extreme thermal environments, such as high temperature gradient, extremely low temperature, or heat transport in heterogenous microstructures. When considering the highly localized heating process in laser manufacturing, nonlocal heat conduction needs to be included in the heat conduction equation. Combined non-Fourier, nonlocal thermoelastic theories revealed new phenomena in thermal stress analysis of cracked structures. This presentation summarizes some recent progress in thermal fracture analysis using nonlocal, non-Fourier thermoelastic theories.
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USING A HIERARCHY OF POROSITY TO IMPROVE THE FRACTURE TOUGHNESS OF METAMATERIALS

Mechanical metamaterials have been quickly growing in popularity based on their lightweight, multifunctional properties. One of the factors limiting their widespread adoption in weight baring applications, however, is their poor fracture toughness compared to bulk materials. Arrestor planes have been added to gyroid surface metamaterials and solid beams to manipulate the path of a propagating crack and improve the fracture toughness. The arrestor planes used a hierarchy of porosity interacting with the features inherent in the gyroid topology to direct propagating cracks into natural features that served to arrest the crack. This methodology was tested in both brittle polymer and stainless steel with toughening ranging from 22% to 300% depending on material.
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THE IMPACT OF MULTIAXIALITY ON THE STATIC AND FATIGUE FRACTURE OF CARBON/EPOXY POLYMER COMPOSITES

Polymer composites can be used in a plethora of applications, creating lightweight and durable structures. Their anisotropy together with the complexity of the laminate structure can lead to multiaxial stress states within the material, which can significantly affect the fracture process. In this work, carbon/epoxy laminates with different stacking sequences, and consequently different stress states, are tested under static and fatigue conditions. It is demonstrated that multiaxiality plays a crucial role in the fracture process and that shear stresses create severe damage conditions within the material.
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STRONG AND TOUGH FIBROUS HYDROGELS REINFORCED BY MULTISCALE HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURES WITH MULTIMECHANISMS [Keynote]

Tough natural materials such as nacre, bone, and silk exhibit multiscale hierarchical structures where distinct toughening mechanisms occur at each level of the hierarchy, ranging from molecular uncoiling to microscale fibrillar sliding to macroscale crack deflection. An open question is whether and how the multiscale design motifs of natural materials can be translated to the development of next-generation biomimetic hydrogels. Here, we will discuss a recent work [1] on fabricating strong and tough hydrogel with architected multiscale hierarchical structures using a freeze-casting–assisted solution substitution strategy. The underlying multiscale multimechanisms are attributed to the gel’s hierarchical structures; hydrogen bond–enhanced fibers with nanocrystalline domains; and cross-linked strong polyvinyl alcohol chains with chain-connecting ionic bonds. This study establishes a blueprint of structure-performance mechanisms in tough hierarchically structured hydrogels and can inspire advanced design strategies for other promising hierarchical materials.
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MAXWELL STRESS AND ELECTROSTRICTION IN DIELECTRICS AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS FOR FRACTURE MECHANICS

In fracture mechanics of smart materials, the influence of electric fields on the propagation of cracks plays a key role. While the piezoelectric effect has been thoroughly investigated in this regard, nonlinear electrodynamic phenomena are oftentimes
disregarded.
As an example, stemming from the microscopic Lorentz force, electrostatic actions manifest themselves macroscopically in terms of surface tractions at discontinuities, body forces caused by graded fields and body couples due to local non-collinearity of electric field and polarization. All three of these manifestations are derived from the Maxwell stress tensor, whose formulation in polarizable matter is still being debated to date [1]. By contrast, electrostriction represents a constitutive effect only inherent to dielectric materials, interlinking mechanical strains with the square of the electric field and polarization, respectively. Due to identical mathematical structures of electrostrictive and Maxwell stresses in isotropic materials, both effects are sometimes treated equivalently.
In this work, these nonlinearities are studied with respect to an elliptic cavity in an infinite dielectric, providing a Griffith crack in the limiting case of a vanishing semi-minor axis. In this context, predominant models of the Maxwell stress tensor are compared and precisely distinguished from electrostriction, ultimately evaluating their individual contributions to crack tip loading.
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ENHANCING THE POST-CRACK TENSILE STRAIN CAPACITY OF CEMENT-BASED COMPOSITES USING FIBRILLAR WASTE BYPRODUCTS

The objective of this study is to assess the positive effect of fibrillar waste byproducts, such as biochar, on enhancing the tensile strain capacity and ductile behavior of cementitious composites by evaluating their fracture energy and fracture process zone length through the Work of Fracture Method (WFM). Cementitious mortars enriched using a low amount of biochar of 1 wt% exhibit 100% higher fracture energy over the OPC mortar indicating that the incorporation of the byproduct significantly increases the composite’s ability to absorb strain energy at the post-peak/strain softening area. As indicated by the 1.9x higher characteristic length of fracture process zone, lch, of biochar-mortar, the effective incorporation of the fibrillar byproduct holds a great potential to increase the post-crack tensile strain capacity that leads to a significantly improved ductile behavior of the cementitious composite.
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NUCLEATION AND GROWTH OF CRACKS IN ELASTOMERS [Keynote]

We explore fracture nucleation and propagation within a transparent polydimenthylsiloxane elastomer using the “poker-chip” specimen. Global measurements are correlated with optical visualization at high spatial and adequate temporal resolution to identify the sequence of events; this is augmented with interrupted tests and x-ray computed tomography scans to probe the three dimensional geometry of the nucleation and growth of cracks. The experimental results are used to identify the different types of response, ranging from growth of surface cracks, to interior nucleation and growth of a single crack, to a completely nucleation dominated response. The dependence of the response on the specimen constraint, characterized by the specimen thickness, is explored through simulations within a finite deformation framework; a preliminary criterion for nucleation of cracks under multiaxial loading is proposed.
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