On behalf of the organizing committee, I cordially invite your participation in Symposium on Mechanics and
Physics of Soft Matter, as part of the 13th Pan-American Congress of Applied Mechanics (PACAM XIII), to be held in Houston, Texas, May 22-24, 2013.
The Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University
of Houston (UH) invites applications for a tenured faculty position at the Full
Professor level beginning Fall 2013 or later. Successful candidates are
expected to establish an internationally recognized dynamic research program in
the area of experimental biomechanics and mechanobiology. Special preference
would be given to those pursuing cellular level and/or single molecule studies
of living systems with emphasis on healthcare applications. Highly qualified
Fully funded PhD studentship at The Open Univeristy campus, Milton Keynes, UK. The aim of this project is to optimise experimental techniques such as digital image correlation (DIC) and focused ion beam (FIB) hole drilling to investigate the micro scale stresses and strains occurring during martensitic transformations. The techniques will be applied to a range of materials from simple steels to complex shape memory alloys. There will also be scope within the project to study martensitic alloys using central facilities such as the ILL, ESRF and Diamond light source.
Although the cantilever beam has been widely used as a sensor to measure various physical quantities, important issues such as how residual stress affects its bending stiffness and what are the underlying physical origins have not been fully understood. We perform both theoretical analyses and finite-element simulations to demonstrate for the first time that without changing the material tangent stiffness, residual stress within the beam can directly influence the bending stiffness of the beam. This direct influence arises from two origins: geometry nonlinearity and Poisson’s ratio effect.
The fatigue behavior of Ag films on polyethyleneterephthalate substrates was studied using electrical resistance measurements.
Scanning electron microscopy images showed two types of failure: typical fatigue failure with extrusion–intrusion pairs, and ductile
failure with local necking. Once through-thickness cracks are formed in the metal layer, cracks propagate and the resistance increases abruptly for both failure modes. The effect of adhesion on fatigue life is discussed in terms of concurrent delamination, crack initiation and propagation.
In this paper, we report that silver films evaporated on poly-ethylene-terephthalate (PET) substrates coated with an acrylic primer can be stretched beyond 70% without fracture. As-deposited films show a larger failure strain than annealed coatings. These observations are rationalized in light of a ductile fracture mechanism where debonding from the substrate coevolves with strain localization. The results of this study indicate that PET substrates coated with an acrylic primer layer may be suitable for stretchable electronics.
Recent journal club posts have illustrated the interesting and unique dynamic properties of phononic crystals and acoustic metamaterials (see April and May journal club entries by M. Hussein and A. Spadoni respectively). The ability of this class of engineered materials and structures to guide and focus elastic and sound waves can be exploited in a number of new applications and exciting functionalities.
The work involves working independently and collaboratively on: Identifying processing parameters that will optimize the properties of the bi-metallic joint, developing a material constitutive model for impact loading conditions, developing an experimentally validated numerical model the can be used to predict the joint performance under impact loading conditions, and developing design and processing guidelines for the bimetallic joints.
