Microdamage Initiation Research Articles

Effect of Thermomechanical Loading at Low Temperatures on Damage Development in Glass Fiber Epoxy Laminates.

Due to the high interest in the use of glass/epoxy laminates in aerospace applications, aviation, and as cryogenic tanks, it is crucial to understand the behavior of composites under challenging environmental conditions. Polymer composites are exposed to low temperatures, including cryogenic temperatures, which can lead to the initiation of microdamage. This paper investigates damage initiation/accumulation and its influence on the properties of cross-ply woven glass fiber epoxy composites at low temperatures compared to room temperature conditions. To evaluate the influence of a low-temperature environment on the mechanical performance of glass fiber reinforced epoxy composite (GFRP) laminates, three types of test campaigns were carried out: quasi-static tensile tests and stepwise increasing loading/unloading cyclic tensile tests at room temperature and in a low-temperature environment (-50 °C). We demonstrated that the initial stiffness of the laminates increased at low temperatures. On the other hand, there were no observed changes in the type or mechanism of developed damage in the two test conditions. However, the reduction in stiffness due to the accumulated damage was more significant for the laminates tested at low temperatures (~17% vs. ~11%). Exceptions were noted in a few formulations where the extent of damage at low temperatures was insignificant (<1%) compared to that at room temperature. Since some of the studied laminates exhibited a relatively minor decrease in stiffness (~2-3%), we can also conclude that the formulation of matrix material plays an important role in delaying the initiation and formation of damage.

The synergy of synchrotron imaging and convolutional neural networks towards the detection of human micro-scale bone architecture and damage

The growing health and economic burden of bone fractures, their intricate multiscale features and the existing knowledge gaps in the comprehension of micro-scale bone damage occurrence make fracture diagnosis a challenging issue. In this scenario, deep-learning and artificial intelligence embody the new frontier of healthcare system, by overcoming the subjectivity of clinicians in the analysis of medical images. However, the preliminary attempts in exploiting the power of machine learning algorithms such as neural networks are still limited to bone macro-scale, while there is an evident lack in their application to smaller scales, where damage starts nucleating. Currently, speculations at the micro-scale are only feasible with the aid of high-resolution imaging techniques, that are particularly time consuming in terms of output images analysis. In this context, this works aims at combining the visualization of the micro-crack propagation mechanism with the promising application of convolutional neural networks. The implemented artificial intelligence tool is based for the first time on a large number of human synchrotron images coming from healthy and osteoporotic femoral heads tested under micro-compression. The designed convolutional neural networks are able to automatically detect lacunae and micro-cracks at different compression levels with high accuracy levels; indeed, with the baseline setup, networks achieve more than 0.99 level of accuracy for both cracks and lacunae, and more than 0.87 of the meanIoU adopted as validation metric. This approach is particularly encouraging for the development of powerful recognition system to comprehend bone micro-damage initiation and propagation, paving the way to the application of machine learning studies to bone micromechanics. This could be additionally crucial for future patient specific micro-scale observations to be related to the clinical practice.

Constitutive modelling of a self-healing composite matrix polymer material

In this work, a constitutive model of an intrinsically self-healing composite matrix material is presented. The developed model comprises a micro-damage initiation and evolution model, and a healing evolution model, which are combined with the von Mises linear isotropic hardening plasticity. It is implemented into the Abaqus/Standard user material subroutine UMAT and validated using experimental results of static tensile and two-cycle tensile tests performed on partially neutralised poly(ethylene-co-methacrylic acid) (EMAA) ionomer copolymer, Surlyn® 8940. In the development of the model, Continuum Damage Healing Mechanics (CDHM) concepts of nominal and healing configurations are used. In addition, these concepts are used along with the strain equivalence hypothesis to streamline the numerical implementation. The strain equivalence hypothesis relates strain and stress tensors in the nominal and the healing configuration. Finally, successful validation has shown that the developed model is able to accurately predict behaviour of Surlyn® 8940 coupons during tensile tests and it can precisely predict the accumulation of plastic strain.

AE Monitoring of Damage in Flexible Solar Cells under Biaxial Loading

Microdamage initiation and accumulation processes in flexible solar cells under biaxial tensile loading were monitored by acoustic emission (AE) technique. Furthermore, the contribution to the degradation of power generation performance was evaluated using lock-in thermography (LT). Comparing the results of uniaxial with biaxial tensile tests, it was shown that the strains at the onset of the degradation in the maximum power Pmax and the short circuit current Isc were equivalent for both tests. Whereas the open circuit voltage Voc decreased at lower strain in the biaxial test than the uniaxial. Furthermore, it was also observed that the cracks near the current collection holes were perpendicular to the tensile direction in the uniaxial, whereas in the biaxial, the cracks were radial from the current collection holes. Consequently, the fundamental knowledge on the characterization of durability of flexible solar cells, such as the prediction of degradation was obtained.

Micro-mechanical modelling of low temperature-induced micro-damage initiation in asphalt concrete based on cohesive zone model

Asphalt pavement is subjected to cyclic temperature variations during its service life owing to changes in daily and seasonal climatic conditions. These variations tend to accumulate thermally induced distress leading to initiation and evolution of micro-cracks. The effect of cyclic thermal variations as well as thermal incompatibility of mastic and aggregates is of major significance for understanding the behavior of thermally induced damage in pavements. Thermal stress is developed due to differential contraction of mastic relative to aggregates in asphalt concrete at low temperatures. In this paper, low temperature micro-damage initiation in asphalt concrete due to differential thermal contraction is modelled using 2D micro-mechanical volume element. Cohesive zone model (CZM) is adopted to simulate low temperature damage initiation at the mastic-aggregate interface (adhesive failure) within the mixtures. A cycle of cooling and heating is applied in the micro-mechanical model in order to capture the effect of thermal damage initiation on the overall stiffness modulus of the mixtures. The results from the model reveal a reduction in stiffness modulus (as compared to the values at similar temperatures within a cycle) after the temperature of −40 °C is reached within the applied cyclic cooling and heating. The effects of aggregate gradation and binder grade are also monitored by considering four cases of mixtures formed from a combination of two different gradations and two different mastics. Results of the micro-mechanical modelling are also compared with experimental observations of comparable mixture types.

Micro-damage initiation evaluation of z-pinned laminates based on a new three-dimension RVE model

Z-pinning is an effective method to increase the delamination resistance of composite laminate. To optimize the design of z-pinned reinforced composite material, the paper proposes a new three-dimension RVE model for z-pinned laminates based on the manufacturing process, which involves the evolution of microstructures inside the laminate. First, an insertion and curing simulation is conducted by the finite element method to obtain an initial three-dimension microstructure RVE grid. Then, use the Delaunay triangulation method to regenerate the grids of resin-rich zone, matrix layer and steel z-pin. Finally, the regenerated grid is transformed into a finite element RVE model. Local material properties and local fiber orientation are determined by the Chamis model and grid geometries, respectively. Periodic boundary conditions are defined to confirm deformation compatibility and continuous stress. The RVE model is used to investigate the effects of z-pinned process parameters on the in-plane compressive strength and micro-damage evolution of laminates, and is eventually verified by the experimental results.

Floor water inrush analysis based on mechanical failure characters and microseismic monitoring

Failure characteristics of the coal seam floor above-confined aquifer are the key to understanding water inrush mechanism during mining. Due to the heterogeneity of coal strata and complex structures of the coal seam floor, it is still difficult to comprehensively reveal failure characteristics of the coal seam floor and accurately determine the floor failure depth during mining above the confined aquifer. In this research, Dongjiahe coal mine, where the coal seam floor is exposed to abundant Ordovician limestone water, is taken as a case study. An improved theoretical model is firstly proposed, in which the whole confined aquifer in the floor is taken into account for stress and failure analysis. Then, RFPA (Rock Failure Process Analysis), a numerical test method considering the heterogeneity of coal and rock, is adopted to simulate the progressive failure process of coal seam floor during mining. Moreover, The microseismic monitoring system is constructed and the 3D visualization is realized through virtual reality, which can sense the initiation and expansion of microdamage in real-time. Based on microseismic monitoring results, we investigate and calculate the floor disturbance depth. By comparing the failure characteristics obtained by different methods, we discuss the pros and cons of the above methods. Finally, a comprehensive analysis method and roadmap are proposed to analyze the failure characteristics of the coal seam floor more accurately based on theoretical calculation, numerical simulation, and microseismic monitoring. The results can provide some reference for the evaluation and prevention of floor water inrush hazards.

Automated RVE computations for evaluation of microdamage initiation in structural stitched non-crimp fabric composites

This contribution presents an approach to generate unit-cell models of structural stitched non-crimp fabric composites. Resin-rich regions and out-of-plane undulations caused by the stitching yarn are represented by initially straight discretised lines, while the stitching yarn is represented initially by a single discretised line which can be transformed into a multi-line configuration to model stitch cross-section variations. The discretised lines are shaped by geometrical operations with a contact treatment and boundary conditions being used to account, respectively, for line interactions and to control the shape of the bottom and top surfaces of each lamina respectively. A fiber-reinforced distorted zone with local variations in fiber volume fraction and fiber direction is modelled in cross-sections of the lamina in a post-processing step. Models for different stacking sequences and stitching parameters are then automatically generated and subsequently being in the stiffness calculation and damage initiation assessment using finite element based mechanical simulations.

A microstructural model for homogenisation and cracking of piezoelectric polycrystals

An original three-dimensional generalised micro-electro-mechanical model for computational homogenisation and analysis of degradation and micro-cracking of piezoelectric polycrystalline materials is proposed in this study. The model is developed starting from a generalised electro-mechanical boundary integral representation of the micro-structural problem for the individual bulk grains and a generalised cohesive formulation is employed for studying intergranular micro-damage initiation and evolution into intergranular micro-cracks. To capture the electro-mechanical coupling at the evolving damaging intergranular interfaces, standard mechanical cohesive laws are enriched with suitable electro-mechanical terms. The boundary integral formulation allows the expression of the microstructural piezo-electric boundary value problem in terms of generalised grain boundary and intergranular displacements and tractions only, which implies some definite modelling advantages, namely: a) the natural inclusion of the intergranular cohesive laws in the formulation; b) a meaningful simplification of the analysis pre-processing stage, i.e. input data and mesh preparation; c) the reduction of the number of degrees of freedom of the overall analysis with respect to other popular numerical methods. The developed formulation has been applied to the computation of the effective properties, i.e. material homogenisation, of BaTiO3 crystal aggregates and to the investigation of micro-cracking in PZT-4 ceramics, providing consistent results.

Stress concentrations and bone microdamage: John Currey's contributions to understanding the initiation and arrest of cracks in bone.

The microarchitecture of bone tissue presents many features that could act as stress concentrators for the initiation of bone microdamage. This was first identified by John Currey in a seminal paper in 1962 in which he presented the mechanical and biological evidence for stress concentrations at the bone surface, within the bone through the action of stiffness differentials between architectural features including between lamellae, and at the level of the lacunar and canalicular walls. Those early observations set the stage to consider how microscopic damage to bone tissue might affect the properties of bone at a time when most in the scientific community dismissed microcracks in bone as artifact. Evidence collected in the nearly 60 years since those important initial observations suggest that some of these architectural features in bone tissue are more effective as crack arrestors than as crack initiators. Sites of higher mineralization in the bone matrix, particularly interstitial sites in both cortical and trabecular bone, may serve preferentially as locations for crack initiation, whereas those boundaries identified by Currey as both stress concentrators and stress arrestors are more effective at stopping cracks than at initiating them.

Spatiotemporal Distribution of Linear Microcracks and Diffuse Microdamage Following Daily Bouts of Fatigue Loading of Rat Ulnae.

Microdamage accumulation contributes to impaired skeletal mechanical integrity. The bone can remove microdamage by initiating targeted bone remodeling. However, the spatiotemporal characteristics of microdamage initiation and propagation and theirrelationship with bone remodeling in response to fatigue loading, especially for more physiologically relevant daily bouts of compressive loading, remain poorly understood. The right forelimbs of 24 rats were cyclically loaded with a ramp waveform for 1,500 cycles/day, and contralateral ulnae were not loaded as the controls. The rats were divided into four equal groups and loaded for 1, 4, 7, and 10 days, respectively. We demonstrated that linear microcracking accumulation exhibited a non-linear time-varying process within 10 days of loading with peaked microcrack density at Day 7. Disrupted canaliculi surrounding linear microcracks showed high similarity with the temporal changes of linear microcracking accumulation. Observable intracortical resorption regions were found onDay 10. We found more linear microcracks accumulated in the tensile cortex, but longer cracks were observed in the compressive sides. Increased accumulation of diffuse microdamage was observed from Day 4, but no obvious peak was observed within the 10-day loading period. Diffuse damage first initiated in the compressive cortices but extended to tension from Day 7. The diffuse damage exhibited no impacts on the surrounding osteocyte integrity. Together, our findings revealed a time-dependent, bone remodeling-mediated varying process of linear microcracking accumulation following daily bouts of fatigue loading (with observable peak at Day 7 under our loading regime). Our study also identified distinct spatial accumulation of linear and diffuse microdamage in rat ulnae with tensile and compressive strains. © 2019 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res 37:2112-2121, 2019.

Full-Field Strain Analysis of Bone-Biomaterial Systems Produced by the Implantation of Osteoregenerative Biomaterials in an Ovine Model.

Osteoregenerative biomaterials for the treatment of bone defects are under much development, with the aim of favoring osteointegration up to complete bone regeneration. A detailed investigation of bone-biomaterial integration is vital to understand and predict the ability of such materials to promote bone formation, preventing further bone damage and supporting load-bearing regions. This study aims to characterize the ex vivo micromechanics and microdamage evolution of bone-biomaterial systems at the tissue level, combining high-resolution synchrotron microcomputed tomography, in situ mechanics and digital volume correlation. Results showed that the main microfailure events were localized close to or within the newly formed bone tissue, in proximity to the bone-biomaterial interface. The apparent nominal compressive load applied to the composite structures resulted in a complex loading scenario, mainly due to the higher heterogeneity but also to the different biomaterial degradation mechanisms. The full-field strain distribution allowed characterization of microdamage initiation and progression. The findings reported in this study provide a deeper insight into bone-biomaterial integration and micromechanics in relation to the osteoregeneration achieved in vivo for a variety of biomaterials. This could ultimately be used to improve bone tissue regeneration strategies.

Experimental study on micro-damage identification in reinforced concrete beam with wavelet packet and DIC method

Abstract Structural damage identification has become a research hotspot in the field of science and engineering. Previous predominant lines of research on structural damage identification methods focused on macroscopic damage, which is visible to naked eyes, but there are few studies on structural micro-damage identification. Towards this end, this paper proposes a combination of digital image correlation (DIC) technique and wavelet packet analysis for micro-damage identification and to achieve real-time early warning of micro-damage initiation in concrete structures. This work implements a four-point bending test of reinforced concrete beams, as well as adopts the step loading and unloading method, following which, the beam acceleration response signal and the damage strain field are collected. Subsequently, the collected response and excitation are processed to obtain the excitation response function, reflecting the dynamic structural state. The wavelet packet is used to process the excitation response function and image under each load level to obtain the corresponding energy spectrum. In this way, the respective micro-damage identification indices are calculated for comparison. The experimental results show that the proposed methodology can properly characterize the damage state of structures under various stages of stress, provide a warning for the initiation of micro-damage, and even accurately determine the location and degree of micro-damage, based on the damage strain field.

A Continuum Damage Mechanics Model Of The Microdamage Process Zone During Cortical Bone Fracture

During fracture, cortical bone develops a large micro-damage process zone, which is thought to be vital to bone’s intrinsic fracture toughness. Willett et al. (2017) measured the micro-damage process zone using micro-computed tomography and barium sulphate staining after sub-critical loading of single edge notch (bending) (SEN(B)) specimens. Recently, we sought to provide a computational model of this important mechanism. A finite element (FE) model of a SEN(B) specimen was developed in ABAQUS using continuum damage mechanics (CDM) to simulate non-linear behavior due to micro-damage. Elastic behavior was modeled as linear, transversely isotropic. Micro-damage initiation was incorporated using the Hashin failure criterion. Failure behavior was modeled using a damage law based on fracture energies. CDM-FE can model the micro-damage process zone with good fidelity if relatively high viscous regularization settings are used. The process zone was found to mimic that measured experimentally. The load-deflection curve from the FE model was similar to experimental curves within < 3% error. CDM-FE may be a robust means for modeling micro-damage in cortical bone with potential application towards understanding how bone quality affects fracture

Structural role of osteocalcin and osteopontin in energy dissipation in bone

Non-collagenous proteins are a vital component of bone matrix. Amongst them, osteocalcin (OC) and osteopontin (OPN) hold special significance due to their intimate interaction with the mineral and collagenous matrix in bone. Both proteins have been associated with microdamage and fracture, but their structural role in energy dissipation is unclear. This study used bone tissue from genetic deficient mice lacking OC and/or OPN and subjected them to a series of creep-fatigue-creep tests. To this end, whole tibiae were loaded in four-point bending to 70% stiffness loss which captured the three characteristic phases of fatigue associated with initiation, propagation, and coalescence of microdamage. Fatigue loading preceded and followed creep tests to determine creep and dampening parameters. Microdamage in the form of linear microcracks and diffuse damage were analyzed by histology. It was shown that OC and OPN were ‘activated’ following stiffness loss associated with fatigue damage where they facilitated creep and dampening parameters (i.e. increased energy dissipation). More specifically, post-fatigue creep rate and dampening were significantly greater in wild-types (WTs) than genetic deficient mice (p < 0.05). These results were supported by microdamage analysis which showed significant increase in creep-associated diffuse damage formation in WTs compared to genetic deficient groups (p < 0.05). Based on these findings, we propose that during local yield events, OC and OPN rely on ionic interactions of their charged side chains and on hydrogen bonding to dissipate energy in bone.

Quantification of strain-induced damage in semi-crystalline polymers: a review

Semi-crystalline polymers are now extensively used in various applications such as aircrafts, civilian structures, oil and gas platforms and electronics. They are, however, inherently damage prone, and over time, the formation of damages such as cavitation and crazing causes degradation in mechanical properties, which eventually results in the permanent failure of the materials. This paper provides an overview of the principal approaches to assess and characterize damage in semi-crystalline polymers. The damage characterization methods are divided into two categories: mechanical characterization methods, aiming at describing damage growth based on the measurement of mechanical or physical properties and structural characterization methods, focusing on the assessment of microdamage initiation and evolution. Special attention has been paid to in situ non-destructive damage characterization methods. For better understanding deformation/damage behavior in semi-crystalline polymers, two major damage theories currently used to describe damage development are also described. The paper concludes with a discussion of limitations and critical issues for characterizing damage in semi-crystalline polymers.

Evaluation of microdamage initiation in Z-pinned laminates by means of automated RVE computations

Z-pinning was originally designed to improve the delamination toughness and the impact resistance of composite laminates. However, there is extensive experimental evidence that this improvement is accompanied by a reduction of the in-plane properties. The main mechanisms responsible for this deterioration are the local change in fiber content, fiber distortion, and the inclusion of resin-rich regions near the Z-pin. The shape of these geometrical features strongly depends on the laminate stacking sequence and on pin parameters such as pin diameter, pin content, and initial pin inclination angle. Their shape complexity challenges analytical modelling approaches which are currently used to generate RVE geometries for simulations.A computational approach is presented to generate such geometrical models. Resin-rich regions are modelled by initially straight discretized lines which are gradually shaped by a set of geometrical operations mimicking pin insertion, pin rotation and fiber deflection. Fiber distortion is modelled in a post-processing stage in cross-sections accounting for the preservation of the amount of fibers. These models are then transformed into finite element mechanical models in order to investigate how local fiber volume fraction changes, fiber misalignment, or distortions in reinforcement due to pin rotation, affect the global stiffness and local stress concentrations.

A hybrid damage assessment for E-and S-glass reinforced laminated composite structures under in-plane shear loading

Micro-damage initiation and accumulation in two different Glass Fiber Reinforced -E-glass and S-glass- Laminated Composite Structures (LCS) subjected to in-plane shear stressing are monitored with Acoustic Emission (AE) and thermography methods. AE signals caused by micro-damage formation are graphed as a scatter plot of Weighted Peak Frequency (WPF) versus Partial Power 2 (PP2) features and clustered using the K-means algorithm with Bray Curtis dissimilarity function thus resulting in three different well-separated clusters. Each of these clusters corresponds to different micro damages, i.e., transverse cracks, delaminations, or fiber ruptures. It is observed that the E-glass reinforced LCS has higher numbers of AE hits. Thus, the total amount of micro-damage incurred as well as the average temperature change measured by thermography is higher for the E-glass reinforced LCS. It is shown that due to the curing induced residual tensile stress in E-glass reinforced LCS, the initial formation of delamination in E-glass reinforced LCS starts at higher load level. Under the applied shear load, a significant reduction in in-plane shear modulus is observed both for the E-glass and S-glass-reinforced LCS where the E-glass reinforced LCS shows greater reduction. The decrease in in-plane shear modulus is attributed to micro-damage accumulated in the LCS.

Damage Initiation in Dual-Phase Steels: Influence of Crystallographic and Morphological Parameters

Typical microstructures of dual-phase (DP) steels consist of hard martensite particles dispersed within a ductile ferritic matrix. These microstructures possess a complex network of grain and interphase boundaries, which, together with the mechanical contrast of their phase composition, control micro-damage initiation mechanisms, induced by deformation. Accordingly, in this study we analyze the influence of individual microstructural features and interfaces on damage nucleation and progression in DP steels with respect to applied tensile strain. Prominent micro-damage mechanisms include cracking of martensite and damage initiation at interphase boundaries. Influence of martensite morphology is discussed based on a statistical analysis of the damage features as observed by electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) maps. Prior austenite grain boundaries (PAGbs) in martensite show a brittle behavior and are highly susceptible to crack propagation.

Failure analysis of C-5 after total disc replacement with ProDisc-C at 1 and 2 levels and in combination with a fusion cage: finite-element and biomechanical models.

OBJECT The purpose of this study was to evaluate the failure risk of cervical vertebrae after total disc replacement with a keel-design prosthesis (ProDisc-C), taking into consideration the effects of vertebral body height, multilevel replacement, and the association with an adjacent fusion cage. Although promising clinical results have been reported for the ProDisc-C, some clinical studies have reported vertebral body-splitting fractures at single- and multilevel arthroplasty sites. This implant has central keels to provide solid initial stability, and some authors associate the potential risk of vertebral body failure with the keel design, especially in patients with small vertebral body height or when the implant is used at multiple levels. METHODS The study was performed using a specimen-specific C4-6 cervical-segment finite-element model to assess the compressive strains on the C-5 vertebral body for each cervical segment configuration, and synthetic polyurethane models to experimentally predict the compressive load at failure for 3 vertebral body heights. RESULTS The use of a keeled ProDisc-C prosthesis at multiple levels or in combination with a fusion cage increases by a factor of 2-3 the compressive strains at the C-5 vertebral body relative to single-level arthroplasty. All implanted segment configurations tested demonstrated a continuum of the load at failure and the vertebral body height, but no significant differences were found between the 3 vertebral body heights in each segment configuration. CONCLUSIONS The use of a keeled ProDisc-C prosthesis at 2 adjacent levels or combined with a fusion cage presented the lowest load-at-failure values, 2 times higher on average than the ones occurring during physiological tasks. This fact indicates an identical and limited risk of vertebral body failure for these 2 segment configurations, whereas vertebral body height appears to slightly affect this risk. However, for some tasks that place higher physical demands on the neck, beyond what was represented by our models, there may also be risk of microdamage initiation, which is not present in the single-level arthroplasty.