fracture

Dear Colleagues,

Dielectric elastomer transducers are often subject to large tensile stretches and are susceptible to rupture. Here we carry out an experimental study of the rupture behavior of membranes of an acrylic dielectric elastomer (VHB 4905). Pure-shear test specimens are used to measure force-displacement curves, using samples with and without pre-cracks. We find that introducing a pre-crack into a membrane drastically reduces the stretch at rupture. Furthermore, we measure the stretch at rupture and fracture energy using samples of different heights at various stretch-rates. The stretch at rupture is found to decrease with sample height, and the fracture energy is found to increase with stretch-rate.
This paper has appeared in the Journal of Applied Physics and can be downloaded from:

One (1) to Two(2) years post-doctoral positions are open in Ecuador (South America). The following are areas of interest:

We anticipate the opening of four postdoctoral positions in 2012 to work on statistical aspects of fracture and plasticity,  and in particular on size effects in the fracture of  disordered media and in microplasticity.  The positions will be funded by the ERC Advanced Grant 2011, SIZEFFECTS.



We look for candidates with a strong background in one or more of the following areas:

- statistical mechanics (scaling, critical phenomena, disordered systems)

- numerical modeling fracture

- dislocation dynamics simulations

All,

    The deadline to submit article for the CSME international congress has been extended to February 17th, 2012. We are organizing a symposium on fatigue and fracture of engineering materials and strongly encourage researchers around the world to submit their research articles relevant to this field. 

More information can be obtained from the following website:  http://umanitoba.ca./engineering/conferences/csme2012/index.html

Dear Colleague:



You are cordially invited to attend Nanobrücken II:  A Nanomechanical Testing Workshop, jointly presented by INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials and Hysitron, Inc., with co-sponsorship from the JEOL company. This is the second workshop in the Nanobrücken series. The workshop's scope has been broadened, and the abstract submission deadline is now February 19, 2012.

ACS Nano, DOI: 10.1021/nn204476h