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Description
Identification of early damage in polymer composite materials is of significant importance so that preventative measures can be taken before the materials reach catastrophic failure. Scientists have been developing damage detection technologies over many years and recently, mechanophore-based polymers, in which mechanical energy is translated to activate a chemical transformation,

Identification of early damage in polymer composite materials is of significant importance so that preventative measures can be taken before the materials reach catastrophic failure. Scientists have been developing damage detection technologies over many years and recently, mechanophore-based polymers, in which mechanical energy is translated to activate a chemical transformation, have received increasing attention. More specifically, the damage can be made detectable by mechanochromic polymers, which provide a visible color change upon the scission of covalent bonds under stress. This dissertation focuses on the study of a novel self-sensing framework for identifying early and in-situ damage by employing unique stress-sensing mechanophores. Two types of mechanophores, cyclobutane and cyclooctane, were utilized, and the former formed from cinnamoyl moeities and the latter formed from anthracene upon photodimerization. The effects on the thermal and mechanical properties with the addition of the cyclobutane-based polymers into epoxy matrices were investigated. The emergence of cracks was detected by fluorescent signals at a strain level right after the yield point of the polymer blends, and the fluorescence intensified with the accumulation of strain. Similar to the mechanism of fluorescence emission from the cleavage of cyclobutane, the cyclooctane moiety generated fluorescent emission with a higher quantum yield upon cleavage. The experimental results also demonstrated the success of employing the cyclooctane type mechanophore as a potential force sensor, as the fluorescence intensification was correlated with the strain increase.
ContributorsZou, Jin (Author) / Dai, Lenore L (Thesis advisor) / Chattopadhyay, Aditi (Thesis advisor) / Lind, Mary L (Committee member) / Mu, Bin (Committee member) / Yu, Hongyu (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
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Description
The Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) is one of six conceptual designs proposed for Generation IV nuclear reactors. Alloy 617, a solid solution strengthened Ni-base superalloy, is currently the primary candidate material for the tubing of the Intermediate Heat Exchanger (IHX) in the VHTR design. Steady-state operation of the nuclear

The Very High Temperature Reactor (VHTR) is one of six conceptual designs proposed for Generation IV nuclear reactors. Alloy 617, a solid solution strengthened Ni-base superalloy, is currently the primary candidate material for the tubing of the Intermediate Heat Exchanger (IHX) in the VHTR design. Steady-state operation of the nuclear power plant at elevated temperatures leads to creep deformation, whereas loading transients including startup and shutdown generate fatigue. A detailed understanding of the creep-fatigue interaction in Alloy 617 is necessary before it can be considered as a material for nuclear construction in ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. Current design codes for components undergoing creep-fatigue interaction at elevated temperatures require creep-fatigue testing data covering the entire range from fatigue-dominant to creep-dominant loading. Classical strain-controlled tests, which produce stress relaxation during the hold period, show a saturation in cycle life with increasing hold periods due to the rapid stress-relaxation of Alloy 617 at high temperatures. Therefore, applying longer hold time in these tests cannot generate creep-dominated failure. In this study, uniaxial isothermal creep-fatigue tests with non-traditional loading waveforms were designed and performed at 850 and 950°C, with an objective of generating test data in the creep-dominant regime. The new loading waveforms are hybrid strain-controlled and force-controlled testing which avoid stress relaxation during the creep hold. The experimental data showed varying proportions of creep and fatigue damage, and provided evidence for the inadequacy of the widely-used time fraction rule for estimating creep damage under creep-fatigue conditions. Micro-scale damage features in failed test specimens, such as fatigue cracks and creep voids, were quantified using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to find a correlation between creep and fatigue damage. Quantitative statistical imaging analysis showed that the microstructural damage features (cracks and voids) are correlated with a new mechanical driving force parameter. The results from this image-based damage analysis were used to develop a phenomenological life-prediction methodology called the effective time fraction approach. Finally, the constitutive creep-fatigue response of the material at 950°C was modeled using a unified viscoplastic model coupled with a damage accumulation model. The simulation results were used to validate an energy-based constitutive life-prediction model, as a mechanistic model for potential component and structure level creep-fatigue analysis.
ContributorsTahir, Fraaz (Author) / Liu, Yongming (Thesis advisor) / Jiang, Hanqing (Committee member) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Committee member) / Oswald, Jay (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
Aluminum alloys are ubiquitously used in almost all structural applications due to their high strength-to-weight ratio. Their superior mechanical performance can be attributed to complex dispersions of nanoscale intermetallic particles that precipitate out from the alloy’s solid solution and offer resistance to deformation. Although they have been extensively investigated in

Aluminum alloys are ubiquitously used in almost all structural applications due to their high strength-to-weight ratio. Their superior mechanical performance can be attributed to complex dispersions of nanoscale intermetallic particles that precipitate out from the alloy’s solid solution and offer resistance to deformation. Although they have been extensively investigated in the last century, the traditional approaches employed in the past haven’t rendered an authoritative microstructural understanding in such materials. The effect of the precipitates’ inherent complex morphology and their three-dimensional (3D) spatial distribution on evolution and deformation behavior have often been precluded. In this study, for the first time, synchrotron-based hard X-ray nano-tomography has been implemented in Al-Cu alloys to measure growth kinetics of different nanoscale phases in 3D and reveal mechanistic insights behind some of the observed novel phase transformation reactions occurring at high temperatures. The experimental results were reconciled with coarsening models from the LSW theory to an unprecedented extent, thereby establishing a new paradigm for thermodynamic analysis of precipitate assemblies. By using a unique correlative approach, a non-destructive means of estimating precipitation-strengthening in such alloys has been introduced. Limitations of using existing mechanical strengthening models in such alloys have been discussed and a means to quantify individual contributions from different strengthening mechanisms has been established.

The current rapid pace of technological progress necessitates the demand for more resilient and high-performance alloys. To achieve this, a thorough understanding of the relationships between material properties and its structure is indispensable. To establish this correlation and achieve desired properties from structural alloys, microstructural response to mechanical stimuli needs to be understood in three-dimensions (3D). To that effect, in situ tests were conducted at the synchrotron (Advanced Photon Source) using Transmission X-Ray Microscopy as well as in a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to study real-time damage evolution in such alloys. Findings of precipitate size-dependent transition in deformation behavior from these tests have inspired a novel resilient aluminum alloy design.
ContributorsKaira, Chandrashekara Shashank (Author) / Chawla, Nikhilesh (Thesis advisor) / Solanki, Kiran (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / De Andrade, Vincent (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
Interstitial impurity atoms can significantly alter the chemical and physical properties of the host material. Oxygen impurity in HCP titanium is known to have a considerable strengthening effect mainly through interactions with dislocations. To better understand such an effect, first the role of oxygen on various slip planes in titanium

Interstitial impurity atoms can significantly alter the chemical and physical properties of the host material. Oxygen impurity in HCP titanium is known to have a considerable strengthening effect mainly through interactions with dislocations. To better understand such an effect, first the role of oxygen on various slip planes in titanium is examined using generalized stacking fault energies (GSFE) computed by the first principles calculations. It is shown that oxygen can significantly increase the energy barrier to dislocation motion on most of the studied slip planes. Then the Peierls-Nabbaro model is utilized in conjunction with the GSFE to estimate the Peierls stress ratios for different slip systems. Using such information along with a set of tension and compression experiments, the parameters of a continuum scale crystal plasticity model, namely CRSS values, are calibrated. Effect of oxygen content on the macroscopic stress-strain response is further investigated through experiments on oxygen-boosted samples at room temperature. It is demonstrated that the crystal plasticity model can very well capture the effect of oxygen content on the global response of the samples. It is also revealed that oxygen promotes the slip activity on the pyramidal planes.

The effect of oxygen impurity on titanium is further investigated under high cycle fatigue loading. For that purpose, a two-step hierarchical crystal plasticity for fatigue predictions is presented. Fatigue indicator parameter is used as the main driving force in an energy-based crack nucleation model. To calculate the FIPs, high-resolution full-field crystal plasticity simulations are carried out using a spectral solver. A nucleation model is proposed and calibrated by the fatigue experimental data for notched titanium samples with different oxygen contents and under two load ratios. Overall, it is shown that the presented approach is capable of predicting the high cycle fatigue nucleation time. Moreover, qualitative predictions of microstructurally small crack growth rates are provided. The multi-scale methodology presented here can be extended to other material systems to facilitate a better understanding of the fundamental deformation mechanisms, and to effectively implement such knowledge in mesoscale-macroscale investigations.
ContributorsGholami Bazehhour, Benyamin (Author) / Solanki, Kiran N (Thesis advisor) / Liu, Yongming (Committee member) / Oswald, Jay J (Committee member) / Rajagopalan, Jagannathan (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
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Description
A hybrid molecular dynamics (MD) simulation framework is developed to emulate mechanochemical reaction of mechanophores in epoxy-based nanocomposites. Two different force fields, a classical force field and a bond order based force field are hybridized to mimic the experimental processes from specimen preparation to mechanical loading test. Ultra-violet photodimerization for

A hybrid molecular dynamics (MD) simulation framework is developed to emulate mechanochemical reaction of mechanophores in epoxy-based nanocomposites. Two different force fields, a classical force field and a bond order based force field are hybridized to mimic the experimental processes from specimen preparation to mechanical loading test. Ultra-violet photodimerization for mechanophore synthesis and epoxy curing for thermoset polymer generation are successfully simulated by developing a numerical covalent bond generation method using the classical force field within the framework. Mechanical loading tests to activate mechanophores are also virtually conducted by deforming the volume of a simulation unit cell. The unit cell deformation leads to covalent bond elongation and subsequent bond breakage, which is captured using the bond order based force field. The outcome of the virtual loading test is used for local work analysis, which enables a quantitative study of mechanophore activation. Through the local work analysis, the onset and evolution of mechanophore activation indicating damage initiation and propagation are estimated; ultimately, the mechanophore sensitivity to external stress is evaluated. The virtual loading tests also provide accurate estimations of mechanical properties such as elastic, shear, bulk modulus, yield strain/strength, and Poisson’s ratio of the system. Experimental studies are performed in conjunction with the simulation work to validate the hybrid MD simulation framework. Less than 2% error in estimations of glass transition temperature (Tg) is observed with experimentally measured Tgs by use of differential scanning calorimetry. Virtual loading tests successfully reproduce the stress-strain curve capturing the effect of mechanophore inclusion on mechanical properties of epoxy polymer; comparable changes in Young’s modulus and yield strength are observed in experiments and simulations. Early damage signal detection, which is identified in experiments by observing increased intensity before the yield strain, is captured in simulations by showing that the critical strain representing the onset of the mechanophore activation occurs before the estimated yield strain. It is anticipated that the experimentally validated hybrid MD framework presented in this dissertation will provide a low-cost alternative to additional experiments that are required for optimizing material design parameters to improve damage sensing capability and mechanical properties.

In addition to the study of mechanochemical reaction analysis, an atomistic model of interphase in carbon fiber reinforced composites is developed. Physical entanglement between semi-crystalline carbon fiber surface and polymer matrix is captured by introducing voids in multiple graphene layers, which allow polymer matrix to intertwine with graphene layers. The hybrid MD framework is used with some modifications to estimate interphase properties that include the effect of the physical entanglement. The results are compared with existing carbon fiber surface models that assume that carbon fiber has a crystalline structure and hence are unable to capture the physical entanglement. Results indicate that the current model shows larger stress gradients across the material interphase. These large stress gradients increase the viscoplasticity and damage effects at the interphase. The results are important for improved prediction of the nonlinear response and damage evolution in composite materials.
ContributorsKoo, Bonsung (Author) / Chattopadhyay, Aditi (Thesis advisor) / Dai, Lenore (Committee member) / Jiang, Hanqing (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Rajadas, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
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Description
Additive manufacturing (AM) has been extensively investigated in recent years to explore its application in a wide range of engineering functionalities, such as mechanical, acoustic, thermal, and electrical properties. The proposed study focuses on the data-driven approach to predict the mechanical properties of additively manufactured metals, specifically Ti-6Al-4V. Extensive data

Additive manufacturing (AM) has been extensively investigated in recent years to explore its application in a wide range of engineering functionalities, such as mechanical, acoustic, thermal, and electrical properties. The proposed study focuses on the data-driven approach to predict the mechanical properties of additively manufactured metals, specifically Ti-6Al-4V. Extensive data for Ti-6Al-4V using three different Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) additive manufacturing processes: Selective Laser Melting (SLM), Electron Beam Melting (EBM), and Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) are collected from the open literature. The data is used to develop models to estimate the mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V. For this purpose, two models are developed which relate the fabrication process parameters to the static and fatigue properties of the AM Ti-6Al-4V. To identify the behavior of the relationship between the input and output parameters, each of the models is developed on both linear multi-regression analysis and non-linear Artificial Neural Network (ANN) based on Bayesian regularization. Uncertainties associated with the performance prediction and sensitivity with respect to processing parameters are investigated. Extensive sensitivity studies are performed to identify the important factors for future optimal design. Some conclusions and future work are drawn based on the proposed study with investigated material.
ContributorsSharma, Antriksh (Author) / Liu, Yongming (Thesis advisor) / Nian, Qiong (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
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Description
Information exists in various forms and a better utilization of the available information can benefit the system awareness and response predictions. The focus of this dissertation is on the fusion of different types of information using Bayesian-Entropy method. The Maximum Entropy method in information theory introduces a unique way of

Information exists in various forms and a better utilization of the available information can benefit the system awareness and response predictions. The focus of this dissertation is on the fusion of different types of information using Bayesian-Entropy method. The Maximum Entropy method in information theory introduces a unique way of handling information in the form of constraints. The Bayesian-Entropy (BE) principle is proposed to integrate the Bayes’ theorem and Maximum Entropy method to encode extra information. The posterior distribution in Bayesian-Entropy method has a Bayesian part to handle point observation data, and an Entropy part that encodes constraints, such as statistical moment information, range information and general function between variables. The proposed method is then extended to its network format as Bayesian Entropy Network (BEN), which serves as a generalized information fusion tool for diagnostics, prognostics, and surrogate modeling.

The proposed BEN is demonstrated and validated with extensive engineering applications. The BEN method is first demonstrated for diagnostics of gas pipelines and metal/composite plates for damage diagnostics. Both empirical knowledge and physics model are integrated with direct observations to improve the accuracy for diagnostics and to reduce the training samples. Next, the BEN is demonstrated in prognostics and safety assessment in air traffic management system. Various information types, such as human concepts, variable correlation functions, physical constraints, and tendency data, are fused in BEN to enhance the safety assessment and risk prediction in the National Airspace System (NAS). Following this, the BE principle is applied in surrogate modeling. Multiple algorithms are proposed based on different type of information encoding, such as Bayesian-Entropy Linear Regression (BELR), Bayesian-Entropy Semiparametric Gaussian Process (BESGP), and Bayesian-Entropy Gaussian Process (BEGP) are demonstrated with numerical toy problems and practical engineering analysis. The results show that the major benefits are the superior prediction/extrapolation performance and significant reduction of training samples by using additional physics/knowledge as constraints. The proposed BEN offers a systematic and rigorous way to incorporate various information sources. Several major conclusions are drawn based on the proposed study.
ContributorsWang, Yuhao (Author) / Liu, Yongming (Thesis advisor) / Chattopadhyay, Aditi (Committee member) / Mignolet, Marc (Committee member) / Yan, Hao (Committee member) / Ren, Yi (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
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Description
Precursors of carbon fibers include rayon, pitch, and polyacrylonitrile fibers that can be heat-treated for high-strength or high-modulus carbon fibers. Among them, polyacrylonitrile has been used most frequently due to its low viscosity for easy processing and excellent performance for high-end applications. To further explore polyacrylonitrile-based fibers for better precursors,

Precursors of carbon fibers include rayon, pitch, and polyacrylonitrile fibers that can be heat-treated for high-strength or high-modulus carbon fibers. Among them, polyacrylonitrile has been used most frequently due to its low viscosity for easy processing and excellent performance for high-end applications. To further explore polyacrylonitrile-based fibers for better precursors, in this study, carbon nanofillers were introduced in the polymer matrix to examine their reinforcement effects and influences on carbon fiber performance. Two-dimensional graphene nanoplatelets were mainly used for the polymer reinforcement and one-dimensional carbon nanotubes were also incorporated in polyacrylonitrile as a comparison. Dry-jet wet spinning was used to fabricate the composite fibers. Hot-stage drawing and heat-treatment were used to evolve the physical microstructures and molecular morphologies of precursor and carbon fibers. As compared to traditionally used random dispersions, selective placement of nanofillers was effective in improving composite fiber properties and enhancing mechanical and functional behaviors of carbon fibers. The particular position of reinforcement fillers with polymer layers was enabled by the in-house developed spinneret used for fiber spinning. The preferential alignment of graphitic planes contributed to the enhanced mechanical and functional behaviors than those of dispersed nanoparticles in polyacrylonitrile composites. The high in-plane modulus of graphene and the induction to polyacrylonitrile molecular carbonization/graphitization were the motivation for selectively placing graphene nanoplatelets between polyacrylonitrile layers. Mechanical tests, scanning electron microscopy, thermal, and electrical properties were characterized. Applications such as volatile organic compound sensing and pressure sensing were demonstrated.
ContributorsFranklin, Rahul Joseph (Author) / Song, Kenan (Thesis advisor) / Jiao, Yang (Thesis advisor) / Liu, Yongming (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
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Description
Polyurea is a highly versatile material used in coatings and armor systems to protect against extreme conditions such as ballistic impact, cavitation erosion, and blast loading. However, the relationships between microstructurally-dependent deformation mechanisms and the mechanical properties of polyurea are not yet fully understood, especially under extreme conditions. In this

Polyurea is a highly versatile material used in coatings and armor systems to protect against extreme conditions such as ballistic impact, cavitation erosion, and blast loading. However, the relationships between microstructurally-dependent deformation mechanisms and the mechanical properties of polyurea are not yet fully understood, especially under extreme conditions. In this work, multi-scale coarse-grained models are developed to probe molecular dynamics across the wide range of time and length scales that these fundamental deformation mechanisms operate. In the first of these models, a high-resolution coarse-grained model of polyurea is developed, where similar to united-atom models, hydrogen atoms are modeled implicitly. This model was trained using a modified iterative Boltzmann inversion method that dramatically reduces the number of iterations required. Coarse-grained simulations using this model demonstrate that multiblock systems evolve to form a more interconnected hard phase, compared to the more interrupted hard phase composed of distinct ribbon-shaped domains found in diblock systems. Next, a reactive coarse-grained model is developed to simulate the influence of the difference in time scales for step-growth polymerization and phase segregation in polyurea. Analysis of the simulated cured polyurea systems reveals that more rapid reaction rates produce a smaller diameter ligaments in the gyroidal hard phase as well as increased covalent bonding connecting the hard domain ligaments as evidenced by a larger fraction of bridging segments and larger mean radius of gyration of the copolymer chains. The effect that these processing-induced structural variations have on the mechanical properties of the polymer was tested by simulating uniaxial compression, which revealed that the higher degree of hard domain connectivity leads to a 20% increase in the flow stress. A hierarchical multiresolution framework is proposed to fully link coarse-grained molecular simulations across a broader range of time scales, in which a family of coarse-grained models are developed. The models are connected using an incremental reverse–mapping scheme allowing for long time scale dynamics simulated at a highly coarsened resolution to be passed all the way to an atomistic representation.
ContributorsLiu, Minghao (Author) / Oswald, Jay (Thesis advisor) / Muhich, Christopher (Committee member) / Jiang, Hanqing (Committee member) / Peralta, Pedro (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Accurate knowledge and understanding of thermal conductivity is very important in awide variety of applications both at microscopic and macroscopic scales. Estimation,however varies widely with respect to scale and application. At a lattice level, calcu-lation of thermal conductivity of any particular alloy require very heavy computationeven for

Accurate knowledge and understanding of thermal conductivity is very important in awide variety of applications both at microscopic and macroscopic scales. Estimation,however varies widely with respect to scale and application. At a lattice level, calcu-lation of thermal conductivity of any particular alloy require very heavy computationeven for a relatively small number of atoms. This thesis aims to run conventionalmolecular dynamic simulations for a particular supercell and then employ a machinelearning based approach and compare the two in hopes of developing a method togreatly reduce computational costs as well as increase the scale and time frame ofthese systems. Conventional simulations were run using interatomic potentials basedon density function theory-basedab initiocalculations. Then deep learning neuralnetwork based interatomic potentials were used run similar simulations to comparethe two approaches.
ContributorsDabir, Anirudh (Author) / Zhuang, Houlong (Thesis advisor) / Nian, Qiong (Committee member) / Jiao, Yang (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021