We investigate the possibility of injection of a nucleotide via single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs). The collapse process of an SWNT with a large radius may proceed like falling dominoes. The characteristics of a large radius SWNT are utilized to drive the nucleotide movement in the SWNT, or even to inject the stored nucleotide out of the SWNT. In this process, the lateral section of the collapsed SWNT resembles a dumbbell. Occasionally, the nucleotide in the SWNT will be inbreathed into one of the two dumbbell ends, leading to interference with the injection process. To investigate the random nature of the injection process, a series of simulations on SWNT with different lengths were carried out. It was found that the injection probability was not influenced by the tube length. Freezing the nucleotide at the beginning, or modifying the SWNT at the outlet, may serve to facilitate the injection process, as indicated by the rise in the injection probability.

We use molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the effects of vacancies on tube diameters and interwall spacings of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). Two types of vacancies, double vacancy and three dangling-bond (3DB) single vacancy, are identified to have opposite effects on the tube size change, which explains the inconsistency of the experimentally measured interwall spacings of MWCNTs after electron beam irradiation. A theoretical model to quantitatively predict the shrunk structures of the irradiated MWCNTs is further developed. We also discuss the fabrications of prestressed MWCNTs, in which reduced interwall spacings are desired to enhance the overall elastic modulus and strength.

Dislocation dynamics simulations are performed to investigate the effect of template shape on the nanoimprinting of metal layers. To this end, metal thin films are imprinted by a rigid template made of an array of equispaced indenters of various shapes, i.e., rectangular, wedge, and circular. The geometry of the indenters is chosen such that the contact area is approximately the same at the final imprinting depth. Results show that, for all template shapes, the final patterns strongly depend on the dislocation activity, and that each imprint differs from the neighboring ones. Large material pile ups appear between the imprints, such that polishing of the metal layer is suggested for application of the patterns in electronics. Rectangular indenters require the lowest imprinting force and achieve the deepest retained imprints.

The fatigue and fracture behavior of nickel-based superalloy Inconel 718 was investigated up to the very high cycle regime under rotary bending tests at room temperature. It was found that this superalloy can still fracture after exceeding 10⁷ cycles. Fractographic analysis revealed that there was a transition from fatigue crack initiation at multi-sites to single initiation with decreasing stress levels. The fracture surface can be divided into four areas according to the appearance, associated with fracture mechanics analysis of the corresponding stress intensity factors. The fracture mechanism dominant in each area was disclosed by scanning electron microscope examination and analyzed in comparison with those obtained from the crack growth tests. Subsequently, life prediction modeling was proposed by estimating the crack initiation and propagation stage respectively. It was found that Chan (2003)’s model for initiation life and the Paris law for growth life can provide comparable predictions against the experimental life.

Hot extrusion was conducted in the α+β phase region for promoting mechanical properties of Ti42Al9V0.3Y. The microstructures and tensile properties before and after hot extrusion were studied. The results show that the microstructure of the as-cast alloy mainly consists of massive γ phase in β matrix and the as-extruded alloy mainly consists of lamellar α₂/γ, lamellar β/γ, and strip γ propagating from elongated β phase. In the as-cast alloy, the predominantly observed fracture mode is transgranular cleavage failure at room temperature and intergranular fracture at 650–750 °C. After hot extrusion, it transforms into transgranular cleavage-like failure, including translamellar cleavage and delamination. The excellent tensile properties of the as-extruded material are attributed to the obvious refined microstructure with broken YAl₂ particles and the micro-crack shielding action of the TiAl lamellasome.

The recently developed elastic-viscoplastic self-consistent model with various self-consistent schemes was applied to study the effect of basal texture on the mechanical behavior of magnesium alloy AZ31B sheet. The influence of the basal texture was investigated using various initial textures generated by artificially tilting the measured texture of the reference AZ31B sheet around in a transverse direction. The material parameters for the various models were fitted to experimental uniaxial tension and compression along the rolling direction and were then used to study the effects of the basal texture on the yield stress, R value, ultimate stress and uniform strain under uniaxial tension. The effect of the basal texture on sheet metal forming was further assessed by calculating the limit strain under in-plane plane strain tension. An assessment of the predictive capability of polycrystal plasticity models was made based on comparisons of predictions and experimental observations. Among the available self-consistent approaches, the Affine self-consistent scheme resulted in the best overall performance.

A 9% Cr ferritic steel weld metal containing 1% Co, partially substituted for nickel, was prepared by submerged arc welding (SAW) processing. The microstructure and creep properties of the weld metal were investigated. The microstructure exhibited a fully tempered martensitic structure free of δ-ferrite. The creep properties of the obtained weld metal were inferior to those of the P92 base metal at 600 and 650 °C. The values of A and n for weld metal in the Norton power law constitution at 650 °C are 1.1×10⁻²¹ and 8.1, respectively.

Amorphous SiBCNAl powders were prepared via a mechanical alloying (MA) technique using crystalline silicon (Si), hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN), graphite (C), and aluminum (Al) as starting materials. SiBCNAl powders were consolidated by a hot pressing (HP) technique at 1800 °C under a pressure of 30 MPa in argon and nitrogen. The sintering atmosphere had a great influence on the microstructures and mechanical properties of the ceramics. The two ceramics had different phase compositions and fracture surface morphologies. For the ceramics sintered in argon, flexural strength, fracture toughness, elastic modulus and Vickers hardness were 421.90 MPa, 3.40 MPa·m^1/2, 174.10 GPa, and 12.74 GPa, respectively. For the ceramics sintered in nitrogen, the mechanical properties increased, except for the Vickers hardness, and the values of the above properties were 526.80 MPa, 5.25 MPa·m^1/2, 222.10 GPa, and 11.63 GPa, respectively.

Silicon carbide (SiC) composites were prepared by hot-press sintering from α-SiC starting powders with BaAl₂Si₂O₈ (BAS). The effects of additives on densification, microstructure, flexural strength, and fracture behavior of the liquid phase sintered (LPS) SiC composites were investigated. The results show that the served BAS effectively promotes the densification of SiC composites. The flexural strength and fracture toughness of the SiC composites can reach a maximum value of 454 MPa and 5.1 MPa·m^1/2, respectively, for 40% (w/w) BAS/SiC composites. SiC grain pullout, crack deflection, and crack bridging were main toughening mechanisms for the sintered composites.

Porous Si₃N₄ self-reinforce ceramics were prepared by gelcasting using agarose solutions. By changing the agarose content in the slurries, the porous silicon nitride ceramics with different porosities, α→β-Si₃N₄ phase transformation, and mechanical properties were obtained. When the agarose content changed from 0.2% to 0.8% (w/w, based on powder), the porosities increased from 10.3% to 21.4%, while the fracture strength decreased from 455 to 316 MPa and the fracture toughness decreased from 6.6 to 5.5 MPa·m^1/2. Many fibrous β-Si₃N₄ grains grown from the internal wall of the round pores is the typical microstructure of the gelcasting porous silicon nitride ceramic. Both elongated β-Si₃N₄ grains and suitable interfacial bonding strength contributes to high fracture toughness by favoring crack deflection and bridging. The growth mechanisms of fibrous grains resulted from the synergy of solution-diffusion-reprecipitation and vapor-liquid-solid (VLS).

The influence of direct quenching (DQ) on microstructure and mechanical properties of 0.19C-1.7Si-1.0 Mn-0.05Nb steel was studied. The microstructure and mechanical properties of reheat quenched and tempered (RQ&T) steel plate were compared with those of direct quenched and tempered (DQ&T) steel plates which were hot rolled at different finish rolling temperatures (1173 K and 1123 K), i.e., recrystallization-controlled-rolled direct-quenched (RCR&DQ) and controlled-rolled direct-quenched (CR&DQ), respectively. The strengths generally increased in the following order: RQ&T<RCR&DQ&T< CR&DQ&T. Strength differences between the CR&DQ&T and RQ&T conditions as high as 14% were observed at the tempered temperature of 573 K. The optical microscopy of the CR&DQ&T steel showed deformed grains elongated along the rolling direction, while complete equiaxed grains were visible in RQ&T and RCR&DQ&T steels. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) of the DQ steels showed smaller block width and higher density of dislocations. Inheritance of austenite deformation substructure by the martensite and differences in martensite block width were ruled out as major causes for the strength differences between DQ and RQ steels.

Based on load separation theory, the load separation parameter S_pb method is an effective approach for estimating the J-resistance curve from records of load versus displacement directly, using one sharp cracked specimen and an additional reference blunt cracked specimen. However, the effect of the reference blunt cracked specimen on J-resistance determination was not explicitly considered in past work. In this paper, a modified load separation parameter S_pb method was developed to eliminate this effect, and then a unique estimation of instantaneous crack length for one sharp cracked specimen could be obtained. Furthermore, a forced blunting calibration method was also adopted to determine the instantaneous crack length in the load inseparable region, referring to a normalization method. Experiments on steam turbine rotator steel Cr2Ni2MoV were carried out to estimate J-resistance curves using an unloading compliance method. By removing unload and reload data from load-displacement records, the J-resistance curve for the same sharp cracked specimen was estimated using the modified separation parameter S_pb method. The results indicate that the modified S_pb method completely eliminates the effect of the reference blunt cracked specimen on the instantaneous crack length determination of the sharp cracked specimen. However, different J-resistance curves in a small range of crack extension are present when different blunting coefficients are used in the blunting line equation. The J-resistance curve obtained from the modified S_pb method agrees well with that obtained from the compliance method.

A new oxidation kinetics model is established for high-temperature oxidation. We assume that the interface reaction is fast enough and the oxidation rate is controlled by diffusion process at high temperature. By introducing the growth stress gradient we modify the classical oxidation parabolic law. The modified factor of the oxidation rate constant is a function of growth strain, environment oxygen concentration, and temperature. The modeling results show that the stress gradient effect on the oxidation rate cannot be ignored. Growth strain will dominate whether the stress gradient effect promotes or slows down the oxidation process. The stress gradient effect becomes weaker at higher temperature. This effect is amplified at higher concentrations of environmental oxygen. Applied mechanical loads do not affect the oxidation rate. This model is available for high temperature oxidation of metals and alloys.

The failure mode and adhesion of thermal barrier coating (TBC) 8YSZ (ZrO₂+8% (w/w) Y₂O₃) deposited on NiCoCrAlTaY bond coat by atmospheric plasma spraying were investigated. A grooved modified three-point bending specimen that can generate a single interface crack to facilitate the control of crack growth was adopted for testing, which was conducted at the ambient temperature of 100 °C. The morphology and composition of fractured surfaces were examined by means of a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and an energy disperse spectroscopy (EDS). Images and spectrum show that cracks are initiated and propagated exclusively within YSZ layer adjacent to top/bond coat interface. The load-displacement curves obtained exhibit similar shapes that indicate two distinct stages in crack initiation and stable crack growth. Finite element analyses were performed to extract the adhesion strength of the TBCs. The delamination toughness of the plasma-sprayed 8YSZ coatings at 100 °C, in terms of critical strain energy release rate G_c, can be reliably obtained from an analytical solution.

The uniaxial ratcheting behavior of a polyetherimide (PEI) polymer ‘TECAPEI’ was studied using stress-controlled cyclic loading at room temperature, including both cyclic tension-compression with non-zero tensile mean stress and tension-unloading tests. The experimental observations were focused on the time-dependent ratcheting of the PEI polymer revealed in cyclic tests at diverse stress rates and with different peak stress holding times. The results showed that the PEI polymer shows obvious ratcheting deformation; i.e., the ratcheting strain accumulates progressively in the tensile direction during stress-controlled cyclic tests with non-zero mean stress. The ratcheting is highly dependent on the applied mean stress and stress amplitude, and is also characterized by a strong time-dependency during the cyclic stressing at diverse stress rates and with different peak stress holding times. The time-dependent ratcheting of the PEI polymer is caused mainly by its remarkable viscosity. A comparison of the ratcheting occurring before and beyond the ultimate stress point of the PEI polymer showed that the ratcheting beyond the ultimate stress point is more significant than that occurring before that point.

Uniaxial tensile testing at strain rates ranging from 10⁻³ to 10⁻¹ s⁻¹ was carried out to study the rate-dependent mechanical behavior for poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) used in the packaging industry. The experimental results show that a rate-dependent plastic behavior exists for PET material. The value of the yield strength was found to increase with the increasing strain rate. A new constitutive model based on the improved Cowper-Symonds rate-dependent constitutive model is proposed to describe the mechanical behavior of PET material in the strain rate ranging from 10⁻³ to 10⁻¹ s⁻¹, providing more accurate material data for the subsequent simulation analysis of drop test and dynamic buckling. The predictions obtained using the proposed model are compared with experimental results of the improved Cowper-Symonds model. The simulating results of the proposed model agree well with the experimental data. For a low strain rate, the predictions of this model are more precise than those obtained using the improved Cowper-Symonds model. This confirms that the new constitutive model is suitable for describing the mechanical behavior of PET material at a low strain rate and modeling impact problem.

The geometric shapes of specimens are important in impact tensile tests because geometric shapes determine the stress states of the specimens, and precise geometric shapes can obtain proper material properties without non-material factors. The aim of this study was to investigate the 1D form of the stress by changing the length-to-diameter (L/D) ratios of specimens. The experiments were carried out on a split Hopkinson tensile bar (SHTB)—rotating disk indirect bar-bar tensile impact apparatus. The L/D ratios of the LY12CZ specimens used in the test ranged from 1 to 5. Results show that the specimens can be used to obtain exact parameters of materials under the proposed conditions when the L/D ratio is greater than 2. This is because the longer length will reduce or eliminate the effects of the interfaces.

The shift in the percolation threshold of compressed composites was studied by a 3D continuum percolation model. A Monte Carlo (MC) method was employed in the simulations. The percolation threshold was found to rise with the compression strain, which captures the basic trend in compression-induced conductivity variation from the experiments. Both fiber bending and texture formation contribute to the percolation threshold. The results suggest that fillers with a high aspect ratio are more desirable for sensor and electrical switch applications.

The band structures of flexural waves in a phononic crystal thin plate with straight, bending or branching linear defects are theoretically investigated using the supercell technique based on the improved plane wave expansion method. We show the existence of an absolute band gap of the perfect phononic crystal and linear defect modes inside the gap caused by localization of flexural waves at or near the defects. The displacement distributions show that flexural waves can transmit well along the straight linear defect created by removing one row of cylinders from the perfect phononic crystals for almost all the frequencies falling in the band gap, which indicates that this structure can act as a high efficiency waveguide. However, for bending or branching linear defects, there exist both guided and localized modes, and therefore the phononic crystals could be served as waveguides or filters.

This paper deals with the combination of point phonon and phason forces applied in the interior of infinite planes and half-planes of 1D quasicrystal bi-materials. Based on the general solution of quasicrystals, a series of displacement functions are adopted to obtain Green’s functions for infinite planes and bi-material planes composed of two half-planes in the closed form, when the two half-planes are supposed to be ideally bonded or to be in smooth contact. Since the physical quantities can be readily calculated without the need of performing any transform operations, Green’s functions are very convenient to be used in the study of point defects and inhomogeneities in the quasicrystal materials.