Blog posts

ELASTOMERS

Submitted by Mohsin Hamzah on Wed, 03/28/2007 - 17:30

Elastomers, or rubber like materials, have many engineering applications due to their wide availability and low cost. They are also used because of their excellent damping and energy absorption characteristics, flexibility, resiliency, long service life, ability to seal against moisture, heat, and pressure, and non-toxic. It can be easily molded into almost any shape. Applications of elastomers include solid propellant, biomechanics and medical/dental, tires, gaskets, and engine mounts.

David C. Schanuel

Submitted by David Schanuel on Wed, 03/28/2007 - 13:12

University of Maryland

My name is David Schanuel and I am enrolled in the flexible macroelectronics course taught by professor Teng Li at the University of Maryland College Park. I am enrolled in this class for a couple of reasons, first being the interest in a new field of science and the second being a course that fufills a graduation requirement.

Locating Journal Article

Submitted by Adrian Podpirka on Tue, 03/27/2007 - 14:47

I was working on the problem set for and on question 16 and 17 refers to a paper by Charalmbides, Lund, Evans and McMeeking entitled

"A Test Specimen for Determining the Fracture Resistance of Bimaterial Interfaces." (1989)

Course announcement: "Fracture Mechanics & Complexity Sciences"

Submitted by Alberto Carpinteri on Tue, 03/27/2007 - 13:36

education

fracture mechanics

complexity sciences

Enclosed please find the announcement of a Short Course on FRACTURE MECHANICS & COMPLEXITY SCIENCES taught by Alberto Carpinteri at the University of Pisa (Italy) on April 11-13, 2007.

Motion of precision linear bearings on nanometre scale

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/27/2007 - 12:45

A systematic characterization of the motion and friction of a linear bearing with rolling elements used for nanopositioning reveals an explicit distinction of static and rolling friction. The effects

Six strategic issues shaping the global future of mechanical engineering

Submitted by Zhigang Suo on Tue, 03/27/2007 - 02:30

future

mechanical engineering

(Initially posted at Applied Mechanics News on 21 May 2006)

The ASME commissioned the Institute for Alternative Futures (IAF), a nonprofit futures think tank, to scan the world for the future of ASME. The IAF report, dated on 30 June 2005, listed the following six strategic issues:

Thickness dependent critical strain in Cu films adherent to polymer substrate

Submitted by Rongmei niu on Tue, 03/27/2007 - 01:14

research

thin film

polymer

For the polymer-supported metal thin films that are finding increasing applications, the critical strain to nucleate microcracks ( εc ) should be more meaningful than the generally measured rupture strain. In this paper, we develop both electrical resistance method and microcrack analyzing method to determine εc of polymer-supported Cu films simply but precisely. Significant thickness dependence has been clearly revealed for εc of the polymer-supported Cu films, i.e., thinner is the film lower is εc . This dependence is suggested to cause by the constraint effect of refining grain size on the dislocation movability.

Innovation and Integration in the Changing Global Higher Education Landscape

Submitted by SHIH Choon Fong on Mon, 03/26/2007 - 08:15

education

I’m delighted that mechanicians now have this platform to discuss our work as well as share ideas and perspectives. While we advance knowledge in our field and come up with innovative solutions for engineering and materials problems, I believe that we also have a responsibility to speak on issues of global significance, especially where the power of science and technology can be harnessed to address challenges and issues impacting the world.

Free screen capture softwares for Win and Mac users

Submitted by Jinglei Yang on Sun, 03/25/2007 - 05:18

I'm writing this post cause it took me much time to find some free softwares that can record activities from screen for Windows and Mac systems. I use both OS at office and lab.

I'm doing some experiments. One is to measure the deformation of microcapsules, both loading curves and deforming capsules via a light microscope displaying on the screen; another is to observe the movement of nano/microcapsules in a cell. For both cases everything is displayed on the screen. I want to record them for kind of live show without using any external recorder and then converting clips.