The aim of the PhD is to develop a micromechanical model for forming of non-crimp fabrics (NCFs), and use this to optimise the pre-forming process for manufacture of complex shapes. The work will include both experimental work and finite element modelling. The work will benefit from close links with industrial partners Formax (manufacturer of NCFs), Simulia (developers of Abaqus forming simulation tools) and Jaguar Land Rover.

Self-shaping of curved structures, especially those involving flexible thin layers, is attracting increasing attention because of their broad potential applications in, e.g., nanoelectromechanical andmicroelectromechanical systems, sensors, artificial skins, stretchable electronics, robotics, and drug delivery.

The 21st International Conference on Wear of Materials will take place in California, USA from the 26-30 March 2017.

In this review of particularly readworthy papers in EFM, I have selected a paper about the tearing of large ductile plates, namely:

”Cohesive zone modeling and calibration for mode I tearing of large ductile plates”  by P.B. Woelke, M.D. Shields, J.W. Hutchinson, Engineering Fracture Mechanics, 147 (2015) 293-305.

Deformation Mechanics of Granular Materials:

Local deformation of Polymer-bonded sugar at high strain rate loading

 Addis Kidane, Suraj Ravindran

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, 300 Main Street, Columbia, SC 29208

Introduction

EUROMECH Conference: MULTI-UNCERTAINTY AND MULTI-SCALE METHODS AND RELATED APPLICATIONS

13 September – 16 September 2016, Portugal

http://584.euromech.org/

The conference aims to:

(a) present the state-of-the-art in this field by showing the most recent developments by leading experts, and

Thanks to the efforts of the associate editors and reviewers, JAM continues to publish very fast.  Among ~800 submissions in 2015, there are only 19 papers that are still under review as of February 1, 2016.  In addition, the acceptance rate continues to decline, to ~16% in 2015. 

 Nanobrücken 2016: A Nanomechanical Testing Workshop & Hysitron User Meeting will take place March 2nd - 4th, 2016 at the INM - Leibniz Institute for New Materials in Saarbrücken, Germany. This will be the 6th edition of the now-annual Nanobrücken workshop series. 

Below are references to some of our ongoing work that is published and is related to study the role of microcracking (in particular) and porosity to the thermo-mechanical response of functional ceramics. This study is  relevant to understand the structural reliability of the systems such as the SOFC's (solid oxide fuel cells) and DPF's (diesel particulate filters).