research

In this paper, the mechanical behavior of freestanding thin sputter-deposited films of Au is studied at temperatures up to 340°C using tensile testing. Films tested at elevated temperatures exhibit a significant decrease in flow stress and stiffness. Furthermore the flow stress decreases with decreasing film thickness, contravening the usual notion that “smaller is stronger”. This behavior is attributed mainly to diffusion-facilitated grain boundary sliding.

This paper has been accepted by Scripta Materialia.

Consider the set of monic fourth-order real polynomials transformed so that the constant term is one. In the three-dimensional space of the coefficients describing this set, the domain of asymptotic stability is bounded by a surface with the Whitney umbrella singularity. The maximum of the real parts of the roots of these polynomials is globally minimized at the Swallowtail singular point of the discriminant surface of the set corresponding to a negative real root of multiplicity four.

Calorimetry is a widely used technique to study the thermal properties of materials including heat capacity, temperature and enthalpy of transformation/chemical reaction. In a typical calorimetry mesurement, a controlled power is supplied to the material to heat it up, and the resulting temperature as a function of time is recorded.

Dear all,

these papers might interest those engaged in the assessment of the mechanical properties of nanocomposites using multiscale approaches.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0266353812002709

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s1359835x13000298

Dear all,

This paper might interest those engaged in the assessment of non-linear notch root stresses and strains. Please take a look, the paper is free.

http://www.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ffe.12124/full

Bests 

Michele