Calcium Carbonate Particles Filled Homopolymer Polypropylene at Different Loading Levels: Mechanical Properties Characterization and Materials Failure Analysis

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) particles have been widely used in filling thermoplastics for different applications in automotive, packaging, and construction. No agreement has been reached in the research community regarding the function of CaCO3 for enhancing toughness of homopolymer polypropylene (HPP). This study was to understand the effect of different loading levels of CaCO3 on HPP toughness, including notched and unnotched impact strength. A batch mixer was used to thermally compound CaCO3 particles with HPP at loading levels of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt.%, followed by specimen preparation using an injection molding process. The mechanical properties of the composites, including tensile, flexural, and impact were characterized. The results indicated that tensile strengths decreased significantly with increasing loading levels of CaCO3 particles while the tensile and flexural modulus increased significantly with increasing particle loadings. The composite tensile properties changed linearly with increasing CaCO3 loadings. The notched Izod impact strength of the composites was sustained by adding CaCO3 particles up to 40 wt.% while the unnotched impact strength decreased significantly with the addition of CaCO3 particles. Different deformation mechanisms between notched (fracture propagation) and unnotched (fracture initiation and propagation) impact tests were proposed to be the reason.

Homogeneous and Isotropic Materials Failure Theory: A Critical Appraisal

The historical status of failure theory is surveyed and found to be close to chaotic. Abandoning that source, the constructive associations and operations that must be required in order to form a viable theory of materials failure are examined in critical detail. The consequent failure theory has been established and its future is discussed.

The Three Controlling Modes of Failure in Homogeneous and Isotropic Materials With Proof Thereof Through Critical Plane Stress Conditions

The recently developed general materials failure theory is specialized to the two-dimensional state of plane stress. It takes a form that is virtually no more involved than that of the Mises criterion. Yet it remains applicable to the entire range of materials types and thus retains that generality. The Mises form has absolutely no capability for generality. This plane stress form of the new failure theory reveals the existence of three independent modes and mechanisms of failure, not two, not four, purely three. The Mises criterion has one mode of failure. These three modes of failure are fully examined. It is verified that these modes of failure under plane stress conditions are exactly the same as those operative in the three-dimensional case. The simple plane stress form of the failure theory has major appeal and likely use as a teaching tool to introduce failure and to help de-mystify the vitally important general subject of materials failure.

Ca2+-activated sphingomyelin scrambling and turnover mediate ESCRT-independent lysosomal repair

Lysosomes are vital organelles vulnerable to injuries from diverse materials. Failure to repair or sequester damaged lysosomes poses a threat to cell viability. Here we report that cells exploit a sphingomyelin-based lysosomal repair pathway that operates independently of ESCRT to reverse potentially lethal membrane damage. Various conditions perturbing organelle integrity trigger a rapid calcium-activated scrambling and cytosolic exposure of sphingomyelin. Subsequent metabolic conversion of sphingomyelin by neutral sphingomyelinases on the cytosolic surface of injured lysosomes promotes their repair, also when ESCRT function is compromised. Conversely, blocking turnover of cytosolic sphingomyelin renders cells more sensitive to lysosome-damaging drugs. Our data indicate that calcium-activated scramblases, sphingomyelin, and neutral sphingomyelinases are core components of a previously unrecognized membrane restoration pathway by which cells preserve the functional integrity of lysosomes.

Designing a knowledge management system for Naval Materials Failures

NAVMAT Research project attempts an interdisciplinary approach by integrating Materials Engineering and Informatics under a platform of Knowledge Management. Failure analysis expands into forensics engineering for it aims not only to identify individual and symptomatic reasons of failure but to assess and understand repetitive failure patterns, which could be related to underlying material faults, design mistakes or maintenance omissions. NAVMAT approach utilizes a focused common-cause failure methodology for the naval and marine environment, to begin with. It will eventually support decision making through appropriate Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing methods. The presented work describes the design of a knowledge based system dedicated to effective recording, efficient indexing, easy and accurate retrieval of information, history of maintenance and secure operation concerning failure incidents of marine materials, components and systems in a fleet organisation. Based on materials failure ontology, utilising artificial intelligence algorithms and modern approaches in data handling, NAVMAT aims at the optimisation of naval materials failure management and the support of decision making in Maintenance and Repair Operations (MRO), materials supplies and staff training.

A Computational Framework Enabling Comparative Analysis of Progressive Damage Models for Composite Materials

The present work is motivated by the need for an efficient and quantifiable assessment of how various strain- or stress-based composite materials failure criteria and damage evolution models that capture the load-induced material degradation, along with their intrinsic parameters, can affect our understanding of material behavior and facilitate suitability decisions of such criteria. The difficulty of performing comparative analysis among many of these criteria and models has been a significant impediment to the composite materials design and material certification communities. In response to these needs, the present work describes the development, verification and validation of such a general computational framework. This framework enables not only increasing the user’s understanding of the effect of parameters associated with models under consideration on the model predicted results but also allowing the user to address more advanced problems such as material design, optimization and potentially certification. The framework implemented into “COMSOL Multiphysics” utilizes symbolic algebra to automatically generate the required expressions to be used in the respective computational modules. Two strain-based models for two distinct specimen geometries are used to show the framework capabilities: one model is described by three damage modes and a second one is given by four damage modes. The first geometry is that of a unnotched coupon whereas the second is that of an open hole specimen in tension. The theoretical predictions are compared with the experimental ones in terms of load-strain responses. The results indicate that by proper selection of specific input parameters, these models can accurately predict the structural response of composite laminate structural systems up to failure.