Increasing complexity of numerical simulations has made it important to obtain reliable experimental data for a variety of mechanical properties. Fracture properties are complex to measure but accurate data is often desirable for several challenging problems. We have developed a novel short-beam shear fracture approach in order to measure the mode-II fracture toughness properties of materials with 'preferred' interfaces.

We have carried out systematic experimental tests to evaluate the bonding strength and fracture toughness of adhesive joints. Our work has been published in Journal of Adhesion as one among the collection of papers honoring Prof. David Dillard for receiving the Adhesion Society Award for Excellence in Adhesion Science sponsored by 3M.

We have conducted an integrated experimental and numerical analysis to study the compression-after-impact (CAI) response of woven fiber-reinforced composites.

The interfacial strength is a very important material property for composite materials and other hybrid materials with different stress distributions. Will the interfacial stress distribution have a significant effect on the interfacial strength measurement?

Here is an interesting link I came across while searching for the Feynman lectures -- Project Tuva.

http://research.microsoft.com/apps/tools/tuva/

It provides each of Prof. Feynman's seven lectures delivered at Cornell as a part of the Messenger lecture series. This format of posting lectures by Microsoft is absolutely amazing. I hope more such lectures especially videos of keynote lectures in leading conferences and congresses can be made available online.

-Arun