The Department of Structural Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) announces a vacant PhD position and a vacant post doctoral position in the area of multi-scale modelling of mono-sized polymer particles.

Columbia University
Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics

The Department of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics invites applications for TWO tenure-track faculty positions to support a Department initiative in Sustainable Engineering. Qualified individuals are sought with expertise in either:

(1) Computational mechanics - with an emphasis on large-scale computing applied to multi-scale, multi-phase modeling of materials (from nano- to macro-scale), and/or mechanics and materials challenges in energy and/or the environment.

(2) Experimental mechanics - with emphasis on mechanics and materials challenges in energy and/or the environment, composites and other complex multi-scale, multi-phase materials.

Can we map the eastic modulus of a and c domians? Can we mechanically switch the domains and let them function as nanoactuators and sensors?

Adelaide, Australia, August 24 - 29, 2008

Final Announcement and Call for Papers

http://ictam2008.adelaide.edu.au

Hi

I am looking for a postdoctoral research position in experimental mechanics in US. I'll be graduating in January 2008 with a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Drexel University, Philadelphia. 

A Ph.D. student opening is currently available in my group in the area of computational nanomechanics and atomistic simulation in order to study the thermo-mechanical properties of carbon-based ablative nanocomposites for thermal protection systems (TPS).  Further details about the project and requirements can be found in the attached file.

Best regards, 

 Prof. Fred Sansoz

 School of Engineering

University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont (USA) 

This paper proposes and implements a novel hybrid level set method which combines the

You are cordially invited to submit an abstract to the symposium on “Emerging Methods To Understand Mechanical Behavior” at 2008 TMS annual meeting, New Orleans, LA, March 9-13, 2008.  

Coated nanoparticles, which have a core-shell structure, have many applications. The attached manuscript shows some of our progresses in investigating the induced torque and orientation of such nanoparticles in an electric field. We show that the shell of a nanoparticle has an important effect on its orientation, even when the shell is thin and takes only a small portion of the total volume. For instance, a thin layer coating of highly conductive Au can dramatically change the induced torque on a SiO2 or TiO2 nanoparticle.

(cross-post to Biomch-L )

Two symposia solicit papers on biomechanics topics for the upcoming Materials Research Society meeting, November 26-30, 2007, Boston,  MA.  Short-form abstracts are due 20 June, 2007.

Symposium AA, Fundamentals of Nanoindentation and Nanotribology IV, solicits papers on the subject of nanomechanical characterization of  biological materials including biomolecules, cells and tissues.   Further details can be found here .

We invite you to participate in the upcoming Workshop on Materials Characterization for Nanoscale Reliability, to take place 14-16 August, 2007 at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Colorado. Details are posted at http://www.boulder.nist.gov/div853/Nanoscale_Reliability_workshop/index.....

The purpose of the workshop is to bring together recognized experts in a wide variety of fields, representing the multidisciplinary nature of nanoscience, to discuss MATERIALS CHARACTERIZATION and MODELING ISSUES of critical importance to ASSESSING and IMPROVING the MECHANICAL RELIABILITY of extremely fine-scale materials. One goal of the workshop is the creation of a roadmap for nanoscale characterization and modeling techniques for the next 5 to 10 years.

Announcing a special workshop to be held at LBL, Berkeley, CA, Aug 1-3, 2007

First announcement and call for papers.

The symposium "Fundamentals of Nanoindentation and Nanotribology" will run for the fourth time at the Fall, 2007, Materials Research Society Meeting, Boston, MA, USA.   

How to measure the temperature of a nanotube?

Attached is the first announcement and call for papers for "nanomech 8", the 8th European Symposium on Nanomechanical Testing to be held in Huckelhoven, Germany, 3rd-5th September, 2007. Full details are also available at the conference website. The special focus for this year's meeting is "Across the scales: Size effects and scaling phenomena in micro- and nano-mechanics". Abstracts are due 5th May, 2007.

Please find below the announcement for the NSF Summer Institute on Nano Mechanics and Materials:

I wanted to share some our work on the deformation behavior of metal nanowires that was recently published in Advanced Functional Materials. In this work, we considered the tensile deformation of three experimentally observed silver nanowire geometries, including five-fold twinned, pentagonal nanowires. The manuscript abstract and urls to videos of the tensile deformation of the three nanowire geometries are below. A copy of the manuscript is attached.

(Please also refer to http://imechanica.org/node/711 for the introduction of this ASME meeting and some important changes. )

Mechanics has been playing a critical role in understanding the fabrication and reliability of nanostructured material systems, such as the self-assembly of quantum dots during heteroepitaxial thin film growth. Sponsored by the Elasticity Committee of Applied Mechanics Division, this symposium will identify opportunities and challenges in mechanics of materials that are motivated from a variety of novel and emerging nanofabrication and nanostructure growth methods. Presentations in experimental, theoretical, and computational studies are solicited in the following areas (but not limited to):

We report in detail that unlike other materials, carbon nanotubes are so small that changes in structure can affect the Young's modulus. The variation in modulus is attributed to differences in torsional strain, which is the dominant component of the total strain energy. Torsional strain, and correspondingly Young's modulus, increases significantly with decreasing tube diameter and increases slightly with decreasing tube helicity.  Journal of Applied Physics 84, 1939 (1998).

Colleagues and friends,

As 2007 is approaching, our community will have a new platform for information exchange and discussion – J-club (please see previous posts. I would like to propose a topic for upcoming issue (May issue? if possible) – “experimental nanomechanics.” The extremely small dimensions of nano building blocks such as nanotubes, nanowires and nanoparticles present challenges for existing instruments, methodologies and theories.Modeling and computational work is strongly dependent upon accurate (reliable) experimental results which are still lacking. I believe that this topic is timely and of great interest to both experimental and modeling parties.

Department of Engineering Mechanics

Tsinghua University

Beijing 100084, China

The SES 2007 Conference, Oct. 21-24, 2007, Texas A&M University campus in College Station, Texas, home to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

Call for abstract

Symposium: Mechanics of micro/nano structures on soft substrates: applications for flexible and stretchable electronics

Ting Zhu, Ju Li, Amit Samanta, Hyoung Gyu Kim and Subra Suresh

Nano-twinned copper exhibits an unusual combination of ultrahigh strength and high ductility, along with increased strain-rate sensitivity. We develop a mechanistic framework for predicting the rate sensitivity and elucidating the origin of ductility in terms of the interactions of dislocations with interfaces. Using atomistic reaction pathway calculations, we show that twin boundary (TB) mediated slip transfer reactions are the rate-controlling mechanisms of plastic flow. We attribute the relatively high ductility of nano-twinned copper to the hardenability of TBs as they gradually lose coherency during deformation. These results offer new avenues for tailoring material interfaces for optimized properties.

see the attached pdf file

Although it is more realistic to study the mechanical properties of nanostructures such as the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) at room temperature, atomistic simulations at finite temperature (such as molecular dynamics, MD) may cause the following problems: (1) Due to the limitation of the time scale achievable in MD (typically at the nanosecond scale), the loading rate in MD simulation at any finite temperature is not realistic. Very often, the loading rate used in MD simulations may well exceed 10m/s at 300K and thus many orders of magnitude higher than the real loading rate used in experiments. (2) A great advantage of simulation is to be able to turn on and turn off certain features and explore their effects, which is otherwise impossible in experiments. For example, the buckling behavior of CNTs is very sensitive to geometrical perturbations, which is prominent at room temperature and such perturbations causes severe uncertainties and makes it difficult to explore the intrinsic buckling behaviors. Therefore, by removing the temperature effect, we could better evaluate other key factors affecting the intrinsic buckling behavior, such as tube chirality, radius, and length, which could be otherwise covered by the thermal fluctuation effect. (3) Due to both time and length scale limitations, the MD simulations of large system are not yet possible, and thus the effective continuum models must be developed which need to be calibrated by atomistic simulations. At present, the temperature factor is still absent in most continuum models. Therefore, atomistic simulations at 0K or near 0K may provide a useful benchmark for the development of parallel continuum models, focusing on the most intrinsic and basic mechanical properties of nanostructures. Based on the above analysis, atomistic simulations at 0K by using the molecular mechanics (MM) method are still very useful, especially to us as mechanicians.