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- Title
- Fire Retardant Polymer Nanocomposites: Materials Design and Thermal Degradation Modeling.
- Creator
-
Zhuge, Jinfeng, Gou, Jihua, Chen, Ruey-Hung, Kapat, Jayanta, Zhai, Lei, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Compared to conventional materials, polymer matrix composites (PMCs) have a number of attractive properties, including light weight, easiness of installation, potential to lower system-level cost, high overall durability, and less susceptibility to environmental deterioration. However, PMCs are vulnerable to fire such that they degrade, decompose, and sometimes yield toxic gases at high temperature. The degradation and decomposition of composites lead to loss in mass, resulting in loss in...
Show moreCompared to conventional materials, polymer matrix composites (PMCs) have a number of attractive properties, including light weight, easiness of installation, potential to lower system-level cost, high overall durability, and less susceptibility to environmental deterioration. However, PMCs are vulnerable to fire such that they degrade, decompose, and sometimes yield toxic gases at high temperature. The degradation and decomposition of composites lead to loss in mass, resulting in loss in mechanical strength.This research aims to improve the structural integrity of the PMCs under fire conditions by designing and optimizing a fire retardant nanopaper coating, and to fundamentally understand the thermal response and post-fire mechanical behavior the PMCs through numerical modeling. Specifically, a novel paper-making process that combined carbon nanofiber, nanoclay, exfoliated graphite nanoplatelet, and ammonium polyphosphate into a self-standing nanopaper was developed. The nanopaper was then coated onto the surface of the PMCs to improve the fire retardant performance of the material. The morphology, thermal stability, flammability, and post-fire flexural modulus of the nanopaper coated-PMCs were characterized. The fire retardant mechanism of the nanopaper coating was studied.Upon successfully improving the structure integrity of the PMCs by the nanopaper coatings, a thermal degradation model that captured the decomposition reaction of the polymer matrix with a second kind boundary condition (constant heat flux) was solved using Finite Element (FE) method. The weak form of the model was constructed by the weighted residual method. The model quantified the thermal and post-fire flexural responses of the composites subject to continuously applied heat fluxes. A temperature dependent post-fire residual modulus was assigned to each element in the FE domain. The bulk residual modulus was computed by assembling the modulus of each element. Based on the FE model, a refined Finite Difference (FD) model was developed to predict the fire response of the PMCs coated with the nanopapers. The FD model adopted the same post-fire mechanical evaluation method. However, unlike the FE model, the flow of the decomposed gas, and permeability and porosity of the composites were taken into account in the refined FD model. The numerical analysis indicated that the thickness and porosity of the composites had a profound impact on the thermal response of the composites.The research funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) and Federal Aviation Administration Center of Excellence for Commercial Space Transportation (FAA COE AST) is acknowledged.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004263, ucf:49534
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004263
- Title
- Re, Os, Al and Mg boron rich ceramic compounds for structural application.
- Creator
-
Xie, Zhilin, Orlovskaya, Nina, Blair, Richard, Gou, Jihua, Raghavan, Seetha, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Hard and ultra-incompressible materials are of great interest due to their important applications in industry. A common route to design hard materials is combining transition metals with light and small covalent elements. Light elements such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and boron have been considered as good candidates. This study includes the synthesis of ReB2, OsB2 and another higher boride AlMgB14.Most of the techniques used for ReB2 synthesis reported 1:2.5 Re to B ratio because of the...
Show moreHard and ultra-incompressible materials are of great interest due to their important applications in industry. A common route to design hard materials is combining transition metals with light and small covalent elements. Light elements such as carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and boron have been considered as good candidates. This study includes the synthesis of ReB2, OsB2 and another higher boride AlMgB14.Most of the techniques used for ReB2 synthesis reported 1:2.5 Re to B ratio because of the loss of the B during high temperature synthesis. However, as a result of B excess, the amorphous boron, located along the grain boundaries of polycrystalline ReB2, would degrade the ReB2 properties. Therefore, techniques which could allow synthesizing the stoichiometric ReB2 preferably at room temperature are in high demand. This thesis reported the synthesis of ReB2 powders using mechanochemical route by milling elemental crystalline Re and amorphous B powders in the SPEX 8000 high energy ball mill for 80 hours. The formation of boron and perrhenic acids are also reported after ReB2 powder was exposed to the moist air environment for a twelve months period of time. The synthesized ReB2 powder was characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, transmission electron microscope, secondary ion mass spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy. OsB2 also shows its attractive properties. The hardness of orthorhombic OsB2 was reported to be 37 GPa, when the applied load is lowered to 0.245N. However, only one of the three predicted phases has been synthesized. In this study, the hexagonal OsB2 has been synthesized by the mechanochemical method. The lattice parameters of the Hex-OsB2 are ?=?=90(&)deg;, ?=120(&)deg;; a=b=2.9047 (&)#197;, c=7.4500 (&)#197;. The synthesized OsB2 powder was annealed at 1050(&)deg;C for 6 days, but no phase change was found. This shows that the Hex-OsB2 is very stable. Another promising hard material, AlMgB14, was also studied in this thesis. The AlMgB14 was synthesized at 1050 (&)deg;C under normal pressure. Several different routes were tried and compared. It shows AlMgB14 cannot be synthesized merely by ball milling, which can bring the risk of oxidization. Magnesium metal is preferred to use as one of the raw materials.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004261, ucf:49500
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004261
- Title
- Rhenium, osmium and iridium diborides by mechanochemistry: Synthesis, structure, thermal stability and mechanical properties.
- Creator
-
Xie, Zhilin, Orlovskaya, Nina, Blair, Richard, Gou, Jihua, Raghavan, Seetha, An, Linan, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Borides are implemented in a range of industrial applications due to their unique mechanical, electrical, thermal and catalytic properties. In particular, transition metal diborides are of special interest. In the recent years, borides of rhenium (Re), osmium (Os) and iridium (Ir) have been studied as for their ultra-hardness and superior stiffness. In this dissertation, a mechanochemical method is introduced to produce rhenium diboride (ReB2) powder, a novel hexagonal osmium diboride (h-OsB2...
Show moreBorides are implemented in a range of industrial applications due to their unique mechanical, electrical, thermal and catalytic properties. In particular, transition metal diborides are of special interest. In the recent years, borides of rhenium (Re), osmium (Os) and iridium (Ir) have been studied as for their ultra-hardness and superior stiffness. In this dissertation, a mechanochemical method is introduced to produce rhenium diboride (ReB2) powder, a novel hexagonal osmium diboride (h-OsB2), and iridium boride powders. Densification by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS), thermal stability and mechanical properties of h-OsB2 were also studied. ReB2 was recently reported to exhibit high hardness and low compressibility, which both are strong functions of its stoichiometry, namely Re to B ratio. Most of the techniques used for ReB2 synthesis reported 1:2.5 Re to B ratio because of the loss of the B during high temperature synthesis. However, as a result of B excess, the amorphous boron, located along the grain boundaries of polycrystalline ReB2, would degrade the ReB2 properties. Therefore, techniques which could allow synthesizing the stoichiometric ReB2 preferably at room temperature are in high demand. ReB2 powder was synthesized at low temperature using mechanochemical route by milling elemental crystalline Re and amorphous B powders in the SPEX 8000 high energy ball mill for 80 hours. The formation of boron and perrhenic acids are also reported after ReB2 powder was exposed to the moist air environment for a twelve month period of time.Hexagonal osmium diboride (h-OsB2), a theoretically predicted high-pressure phase, has been synthesized for the first time by a mechanochemical method, i.e., high energy ball milling. X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicated the formation of h-OsB2 after 2.5 hours of milling, and the reaction reaches equilibrium after 18 hours of milling. The lattice parameters of the h-OsB2 are a=2.916(&)#197; and c=7.376 (&)#197;, with a P63/mmc space group. Transmission electron microscopy confirmed the appearance of the h-OsB2 phase. The thermal stability of h-OsB2 powder was studied by heating under argon up to 876 (&)deg;C and cooling in vacuo down to -225 (&)deg;C. The oxidation mechanism of h-OsB2 has also been proposed. The hexagonal phase partially converted to the orthorhombic phase (20 wt.%) after spark plasma sintering of h-OsB2 at 1500(&)deg;C and 50MPa for 5 minutes. Hardness and Young's modulus of the h-OsB2 were measured to be 31 (&)#177; 9 GPa and 574 (&)#177; 112 GPa, respectively by nanoindentation method.Prior to this research a number of compounds have been prepared in Ir-B system with lower than 2 boron stoichiometry, and no IrB2 phases have been synthesized experimentally. In this dissertation, three new iridium boride phases, ReB2-type IrB2, AlB2-type IrB2 and IrB have been synthesized with a similar mechanochemical method. The formation of these three phases has been confirmed by both X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) after 30 hours of ball milling and 48 hours of annealing. The IrB2 phases have hexagonal crystal structures and the new IrB phase has an orthorhombic crystal structure. The segregation of iridium from iridium borides' lattices has also been studied by high resolution TEM.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005911, ucf:50832
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005911
- Title
- Mechanistic Behavior of UHPC and UHPC Composite Structural Components.
- Creator
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Al-Ramahee, Munaf, Mackie, Kevin, Makris, Nicos, Nam, Boo Hyun, Gou, Jihua, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The resistance of reinforced concrete is mobilized through the composite action of two materials with different mechanical behaviors and physical features. Enabling the composite action requires a transfer mechanism between the concrete and the reinforcement which is referred to as bond. The bond model can be defined as a traction-slip relation tangent to the interface. The bond strength between different types of concrete, internal reinforcement, and external reinforcement has been of...
Show moreThe resistance of reinforced concrete is mobilized through the composite action of two materials with different mechanical behaviors and physical features. Enabling the composite action requires a transfer mechanism between the concrete and the reinforcement which is referred to as bond. The bond model can be defined as a traction-slip relation tangent to the interface. The bond strength between different types of concrete, internal reinforcement, and external reinforcement has been of interest to structural engineers for decades. Experimental tests have been carried out to validate the existing bond models and introduce new bond models for special cases of concrete or reinforcement. The effect of various parameters on the bond stress, such as bar diameter, concrete compressive strength, presence of fibers, cyclic loading, etc. have been investigated. However, little attention has been directed to the contribution of normal (to the interface) stress and state of stress of the substrate layer on the mechanical response of the interface. Since the state of stress (tangential, normal, and substrate) within each type of experimental test is different, the resulting bond models are not consistent.Behavior of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) composite flexural members are studied using experimental, analytical, and numerical approaches in this research. A new bond-slip model is proposed that contains an explicit representation of the normal stress and constitutive model of the substrate. The parameters of the model were calibrated from beam and pullout tests using UHPC and HSS. The calibrated results showed consistency in the material point behavior between the pullout and beam test although the states of stress were different. The effect of the normal force was verified throughout a numerical model compared with experimental flexural tests. Single and double lap shear tests were carried out for UHPC and FRP, and parameters of the bilinear model were calibrated and used in the finite element model of the new composite deck.A new lightweight composite deck system is proposed that uses fiber reinforced polymers (FRP) bonded to UHPC using vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding. The high-performance deck system has application in deck design and replacement for bridges with weight restrictions as well as for accelerated bridge construction. Results show the deck satisfies strength and serviceability criteria under monotonic load. The bond strength between the UHPC and the glass fiber reinforced polymers (GFRP) plays a significant role in the performance of the proposed deck and controls the behavior of the system. However, live loads on bridges are inherently cyclic and therefore research on serviceability and fatigue behavior of UHPC and UHPC composite members were carried out. The UHPC beams were strengthened using glass GFRP plates on compression side to obtain data that could be utilized for the future design. The effect of fatigue loading on the interfacial shear stress between UHPC and GFRP was also investigated and it is found to be minor under low load level. However, a noticeable progression in the interfacial shear stress was found for the higher load ratio.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006431, ucf:51464
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006431
- Title
- POLYURETHANE FIBER REINFORCED POLYMER STRENGTHENING OF SHEAR DEFICIENT REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAMS.
- Creator
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Al-Lebban, Yasir, Mackie, Kevin, Chopra, Manoj, Makris, Nicos, Gou, Jihua, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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The use of externally-bonded fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites has been established as an effective means for the strengthening of shear-deficient reinforced concrete (RC) flexural members. Epoxy-based wet layup systems were predominantly employed in previous studies. In this study, carbon FRP pre-impregnated with polyurethane resin is utilized in strengthening shear-deficient RC beams and compared to an epoxy resin. Fourteen small-scale (96 in span, 6 in width, and 12 in height) and...
Show moreThe use of externally-bonded fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites has been established as an effective means for the strengthening of shear-deficient reinforced concrete (RC) flexural members. Epoxy-based wet layup systems were predominantly employed in previous studies. In this study, carbon FRP pre-impregnated with polyurethane resin is utilized in strengthening shear-deficient RC beams and compared to an epoxy resin. Fourteen small-scale (96 in span, 6 in width, and 12 in height) and five large-scale (132 in span, 12 in width, and 17 in height) flexural specimens were tested, considering FRP system type (polyurethane versus epoxy), size effect, shear span-to-depth ratio, FRP configuration (U-wraps versus side bonding), and FRP scheme (sheets versus strips with 45o or 90o). Experimental strength testing under four-point loading demonstrated similar or enhanced shear capacity when strengthening by the polyurethane compared to the epoxy composite systems.The shear behavior of polyurethane-based FRP composite system is investigated in this research using analytical and numerical approaches. A closed-form mechanics-based analytical model, utilizing the principle of effective FRP stress and upper-bound theorem, illustrated that the shear behavior and debonding mechanism were dependent on both FRP composite and bond characteristics. The analytical model is expressed in terms of shear crack opening crossed by the FRP laminate and gives good agreement with experimental results. The finite element analysis (FEA) model shows that the stresses in the FRP are not in single direction as in the coupon tests, and the biaxial stress states should be taken into consideration.The structural behavior of RC members strengthened with externally-bonded FRP composites is mobilized through the composite action technique. Bond stress can be defined as the shear stress acting in the interface between FRP and concrete. It is of crucial importance to evaluate the failure mode behavior. Debonding (loss of adhesion) failure is one of the most common modes of failure encountered in shear strengthening RC members in practice. Numerous constitutive bond-slip models have been proposed and derived numerically and mathematically based on experimental data with an assumption that the FRP width bp is taken as a variable and all stresses or strains at the same longitudinal coordinate (L direction) are uniform. No attention has been given to study the bond states of stress which are mainly altered by the inclined shear cracks in concrete. A new bond-slip law was proposed to address the biaxial two-dimensional (2D) states of stress problem. Numerical solution by finite difference (FD) was conducted to solve four partial differential equations per node (2 for FRP and 2 for concrete in each direction) with appropriate boundary conditions to obtain the stresses, slips, and strains based on the proposed bond-slip model. A new experimental setup was proposed to represent the 2D bond-slip model by lap shear tests in both directions by laminating two perpendicular strips on concrete blocks with the proposed strain profile. Experimental calibration has been carried out by using nonlinear least-squares regression (fitting) of the experimental strain data with the numerical FD equations to obtain the bond-slip parameters for the 2D FRP-to-concrete polyurethane interface system.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006852, ucf:51737
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006852
- Title
- SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF STABLE AND METASTABLE PHASES IN Ni- AND Fe-BASED ALLOY SYSTEMS BY MECHANICAL ALLOYING.
- Creator
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Al-Joubori, Ahmed, Challapalli, Suryanarayana, Vaidyanathan, Raj, Gou, Jihua, Bai, Yuanli, Lin, Kuo-Chi, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Mechanical Alloying (MA) is a process that involves repeated cold welding, fracturing and rewelding of powder particles in a high-energy ball mill and has been used extensively to synthesize both stable (equilibrium) and metastable phases in a number of alloy systems. This is due to its ability to achieve many effects simultaneously, viz., reduction in grain size, introduction of a variety of crystal defects, disordering of the lattice, and modifying the crystal structures of materials; all...
Show moreMechanical Alloying (MA) is a process that involves repeated cold welding, fracturing and rewelding of powder particles in a high-energy ball mill and has been used extensively to synthesize both stable (equilibrium) and metastable phases in a number of alloy systems. This is due to its ability to achieve many effects simultaneously, viz., reduction in grain size, introduction of a variety of crystal defects, disordering of the lattice, and modifying the crystal structures of materials; all these allowing alloying and phase transformations to occur in powders. In this Dissertation, we have synthesized a number of different alloy phases in Ni- and Fe-based alloy systems using MA.The as-received, blended, and milled powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy techniques to obtain information about the overall microstructure and chemical compositions. The NiX2 (X = Ge and Si) phases were synthesized in the Ni-Ge and Ni-Si systems. MA of Ni-Ge powder blends was investigated to study phase evolution as a function of milling time. On milling the powders for 5 h, the equilibrium NiGe phase started to form, and its amount in the powder increased with increasing milling time. On milling for about 60 h, the equilibrium intermetallic NiGe and Ge powder particles reacted to form the metastable NiGe2 phase. However, on milling for a longer time (75 h), the metastable phase transformed back to the equilibrium NiGe phase.Synthesis of the NiSi2 intermetallic phase depended on the Si content in the initial powder blend. For example, while in the Ni-60 at.% Si powder blend, only the NiSi phase was present homogeneously, the powder blend of the Ni-67 at.% Si composition contained the NiSi phase along with a small amount of unreacted Si. But in the Ni-75 at.% Si and Ni-80 at% compositions, the NiSi phase that had formed earlier (after 2 h of milling) and the remaining free Si powder reacted to form the equilibrium intermetallic NiSi2 phase. This constitution in the milled powder has been attributed to a partial loss of Si content during MA. Formation of Ni(Si) solid solutions with a solubility of about 18.2 at.% and 20.6 at.% for the Ni-75 at.% Si and Ni-80 at.% Si powder blends, respectively, was also achieved in the early stages of MA.In the Fe-C system, we were able to synthesize ferrite, cementite, and mixtures of the two phases. We were able to obtain the Fe-C solid solution phase (ferrite) with a BCC structure and the cementite phase with an orthorhombic structure in the eutectoid Fe-0.8 wt. % C composition, while a homogeneous cementite phase had formed at the higher carbon content of Fe-7.0 wt. % C after 30 h of milling time.In the case of the Fe-18Cr-xNi (x = 8, 12, and 20) system, the current investigation showed that the phase constitution depended significantly on the Ni content in the powder blend. Whereas mostly the martensite or the ferrite and austenite phase mixture was present at lower Ni contents, a completely homogeneous austenite phase was present in the alloy with 20% Ni.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006244, ucf:51059
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006244
- Title
- Study On Anisotropic Plasticity And Fracture Of Lightweight Metal Sheets.
- Creator
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Jia, Yueqian, Bai, Yuanli, Kassab, Alain, Raghavan, Seetha, Gou, Jihua, Wu, Thomas, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
How to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency is a critical challenge in transportation industries. One way to resolve the problem is to adopting lightweight alloys (i.e. advanced high strength steel, aluminum alloys, or magnesium alloy) in structure designs and manufacturing. Fully understanding the mechanical properties of these materials is a key step.In order to fully characterize the plasticity and fracture of magnesium AZ31B-H24 sheets, a set of mechanical experiments (170 in total)...
Show moreHow to reduce weight and increase fuel efficiency is a critical challenge in transportation industries. One way to resolve the problem is to adopting lightweight alloys (i.e. advanced high strength steel, aluminum alloys, or magnesium alloy) in structure designs and manufacturing. Fully understanding the mechanical properties of these materials is a key step.In order to fully characterize the plasticity and fracture of magnesium AZ31B-H24 sheets, a set of mechanical experiments (170 in total) were performed under both monotonic and non-proportional loading conditions, including monotonic uniaxial tension, notch tension, in-plane uniaxial compression, wide compression (or called biaxial compression), plane strain compression, through-thickness compression, in-plane shear, punch test, uniaxial compression-tension reverse loading, and two-step uniaxial tension (cross-loading).Both the plastic strain histories and stress responses were obtained under the above loading conditions, which give a comprehensive picture of mechanical behaviors of this material. No apparent cross-hardening effect was observed for this material.An extended orthotropic yield criterion involving two linear anisotropic transformation tensors, CPB06ex2, in conjunction with its associated flow rule was fully calibrated to describe both the anisotropy in plastic flow and tension-compression asymmetry in stress-strain behaviors.A fully modularized framework to combine isotropic, kinematic, and cross hardening behaviors was established under non-monotonic loading conditions. Three sets of state variables were defined and applied to consider the effects of, a) loading history, b) twinning and de-twinning and c) different pre-strain.In order to predict ductile fracture of metal sheets, the (")mixed(") stress/strain invariants based Modified-Mohr-Coulomb (MMC) fracture model was transferred into an all-strain based MMC (eMMC) model under plane stress condition, predicting the fracture strain dependent on strain ratio or ? angle, instead of stress triaxiality and Lode angle parameter. The strain ratio or ? angle could be directly measured by digital image correlation (DIC), while the latter required finite element analysis to be determined. This method makes it possible to study material fracture behavior while bypassing plasticity. The eMMC fracture locus can be fully calibrated by fracture strains directly measured from DIC. The fracture strain was also extended by a linear transformation operating to the plastic strain tensor to incorporate the fracture anisotropy. All models were implemented into Abaqus/Explicit as a user material subroutine (VUMAT). Good prediction capability has been demonstrated for magnesium AZ31B-H24 sheets by FE simulation using shell elements.The current framework was also applied for TRIP780, BH240, DP600, and EDDQ steel sheets with adjustment, under different loading conditions. The FE simulation results for TRIP780 correlated well with experimental data under different monotonic loading conditions. The analytical results for BH240, DP600, and EDDQ demonstrated good prediction capability for cross-hardening behavior, and validated by the non-proportional experimental data under two-stage uniaxial tension.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006121, ucf:51165
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006121
