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Postdoctoral Fellow - Mechanics of Nano and Biomaterials

Submitted by hdespinosa on

Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position within the Micro and Nano Mechanics Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Northwestern University.  The candidate will perform research in the area of nanomechanics of high-performance materials such as 2D materials, nanowires, and biomaterials. The candidate will be expected to contribute to a vibrant multidisciplinary research group and be able to work in close collaboration with chemists and theoreticians.

 

Requirements:

Dispersion properties of vortex-type monatomic lattices

Submitted by Giorgio Carta on

The paper presents a systematic study of dispersive waves in an elastic chiral lattice. Chirality is introduced through gyroscopes embedded into the junctions of a doubly periodic lattice. Bloch-Floquet waves are assumed to satisfy the quasi-periodicity conditions on the elementary cell.

Pull-in instability of multi-phase nanocrystalline silicon beams under distributed electrostatic force

Submitted by M. Shaat on

The effects of the material structure on the pull-in instability of nano-actuated beams made of nanocrystalline silicon (Nc-Si) and subjected to a distributed electrostatic force are investigated. Nc-Si is represented as a multi-phase material composed of nano-sized grains, nano voids, and an amorphous-like interface to consider the effects of the interface, grain size, porosity, and the inhomogeneities surface energies on the elastic properties of the composite material.

Modeling of mechanical resonators used for nanocrystalline materials characterization and disease diagnosis of HIVs

Submitted by M. Shaat on

The modeling and performance of mechanical resonators used for mass detection of bio-cells, nanocrystalline materials characterization, and disease diagnosis of human immune-viruses (HIVs) are investigated. To simulate the real behavior of these mechanical resonators, a novel distributed-parameter model based on Euler-Bernoulli beam theory is developed. This model is equipped with a micromechanical model and an atomic lattice model to capture the inhomogeneity nature of the material microstructure.

Effects of grain size and microstructure rigid rotations on the bending behavior of nanocrystalline material beams

Submitted by M. Shaat on

Due to the intensive decrease in grain sizes of nanocrystalline materials (NcMs), a large volume fraction of atoms reside in the interface regions between crystals forming an atom-cloud phase with a distinct atomic structure. Moreover, the surface to volume ratio of the grain increases, thus its surface energy will significantly affect the mechanical properties of NcMs.

 

Iterative nonlocal elasticity for Kirchhoff plates

Submitted by M. Shaat on

Recently, the nonlocal elasticity theories have been used in studying the different behaviors of micro/nanostructures. However, there is a complicity in applying the natural boundary conditions in the context of the nonlocal differential elasticity models. Also, the nonlocal integral elasticity could provide a suitable remedy for this type of problems but with paying highly computational efforts.

 

Physical and Mathematical Representations of Couple Stress Effects on Micro/Nanosolids

Submitted by M. Shaat on

In the present paper, for linear elastic materials, effects of couple stresses on micro/nanosolids are physically discussed and mathematically represented in the context of the classical, the modified and the consistent couple–stress theories. Then, an evaluation is provided showing the validity and the limit of applicability of each one of these theories. At first, the possible couple stress effects on mechanics of particles and on continuum mechanics are represented.

Which is the best model to capture brittle fracture and failure of ceramics at moderate velocities?

Submitted by rctron on

Several models have been developed over the past decades to capture the fracture and failure of ceramic materials. JH2, JHB models are widely used for simulating the behavior of armor plates upon ballistic impact. I have a doubt regarding these models. Are these models only valid when the impact velocity is in the order of 1000m/s, as under such circumstances material transitions from elastic to elastic-plastic regime defined by the HEL Pressure? But what about when the impact velocity of the ceramic is around 300-400 m/s (a fraction of ballistic impact)?

postdoctoral position - isogeometric analysis

Submitted by sangalli on

IMATI-CNR and the Mathematics Department of the University of Pavia offer a postdoc position on isogeometric analysis. This research project focuses on the design and implementation of innovative isogeometric methods for solid/fluid mechanics.  In particular the target applications are related to

- nearly-incompressible and fibered materials

- fluids in geological formations

This research project is partially supported by the private sector, and is supervised by Annalisa Buffa (IMATI) and  Giancarlo Sangalli (University of Pavia).