Residual Plastic Research Articles

In-situ nanomechanical study on bending characteristics of individual multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Bending characteristics of individual thin-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are investigated through a novel in-situ nanoindentation in transmission electron microscopy. Unlike thick-walled CNTs, the graphitic layers of thin ones buckle into V-shaped kinks rather than Yoshimura ripples. These kinks are found to be entirely reversible without residual plastic deformation following unloading.

Creep and Long-Term Strength of Molybdenum Alloy

Mechanical behavior of a molybdenum alloy for high-temperature application was investigated at monotonic loading up to fracture, stress-and strain-controlled cyclic loading and short-term creep (less than 9 hours) under the temperatures from 293 to 1773 K using Gleeble-3800 physical simulator. The tests show that plastic strain corresponding to the tensile strength of the material under monotonic loading is small enough (<1%) whereas residual plastic strain after fracture exceeds by 50%. Repeated loading decreases the tensile strength and yield stress, but increases stable (rising) part of stress-strain curve. Increase in the test temperature leads to the change in fracture type from ductile to quasi-brittle distributed at a temperature above 1673 K. Under relatively low temperatures the rheological properties of the material depend strongly on the material processing history. Obtained creep data allows putting up a thermo-activational type equation used to calculate the steady creep rate. Coupling with the known Hoff's model for the creep prefracture stage, this equations allow not only strain rate but also adequate estimation of fracture time.

Hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility of prestressing steel wires: the role of the cold-drawing conditions

Prestressing steel wires are highly susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement (HE). Residual stress-strain state, produced after wire drawing, plays an essential role since hydrogen damage at certain places of the material is directly affected by stress and strain fields. Changes in wire drawing conditions modify the stress and strain fields and, consequently, the HE susceptibility and life in service of these structural components in the presence of a hydrogenating environment. This paper analyzes the distributions of residual stress and plastic strain obtained after diverse drawing conditions (inlet die angle, die bearing length, varying die angle and straining path) and their influence on HE susceptibility of the wires. The conditions for industrial cold drawing can thus be optimized, thereby producing commercial prestressing steel wires with improved performance against HE phenomena.

Analysis of Residual Stress and Deformation of Rolling Strengthen Crankshaft Fillet

Based on the analysis of crankshaft fillet rolling process, used ANSYS finite element analysis software to conduct the elastic-plastic mechanical simulation of crankshaft rolling process, and gained the variation law of the residual stress and plastic deformation in the radial path of the fillet under different rolling laps and rolling pressure. Established the relationship between the rolling pressure and the plastic deformation and residual stress of the fillet, and provided theoretical support for the evaluation and detection of the crankshaft rolling quality.

Amblyopia: neural basis and therapeutic approaches.

Abnormalities in visual processing caused by visual deprivation or abnormal binocular interaction may induce amblyopia, which is characterized by reduced visual acuity. Occlusion therapy, the conventional treatment, requires special attention as occlusion of the fellow normal eye may reduce its visual acuity and impair binocular vision. Besides recovering visual acuity, some researchers have recommended restoration of stereoacuity and motor fusion and reverse suppression in order to prevent diplopia. Recent studies have documented that the amblyopic visual cortex has a normal complement of cells but reduced spatial resolution and a disordered topographical map. Changes occurring in the late sensitive period selectively impact the parvocellular pathway. Distinct morphophysiologic and psychophysical deficits may demand individualization of therapy, which might provide greater and longer-lasting residual plasticity in some children.

Multi Scale Models for Flexure Deformation in Sheet Metal Forming

This paper presents the application of multi scale techniques to the simulation of sheet metal forming using the one-step method. When a blank flows over the die radius, it undergoes a complex cycle of bending and unbending. First, we describe an original model for the prediction of residual plastic deformation and stresses in the blank section. This model, working on a scale about one hundred times smaller than the element size, has been implemented in SIMEX, one-step sheet metal forming simulation code. The utilisation of this multi-scale modeling technique improves greatly the accuracy of the solution. Finally, we discuss the implications of this analysis on the prediction of springback in metal forming.

A numerical analysis of the mechanisms behind plasticity induced crack closure: Application to variable amplitude loadings

The effect of loading parameters on fatigue crack growth has been explained using the concept of crack closure. Plasticity induced crack closure (PICC) is linked to the crack tip plastic deformation, which becomes residual with crack propagation. The objective here is to identify the main mechanisms behind PICC, and for that different loading cases were considered namely overloads and load blocks. An analytical model was used to isolate the effect of residual plastic deformation on PICC, however significant differences were obtained relatively to finite element results. A second mechanism, which is crack tip blunting, was used to explain the transient behaviour observed after overloads and load blocks. For overloads and low–high load sequences there is a sudden increase of crack tip blunting with load increase which explains the sudden decrease of crack opening level. For high–low load sequences there is a sudden decrease of crack tip blunting which enhances the effect of residual plastic wake. Finally, the partial closure concept was tested looking to non-linear crack tip parameters but no evidences of Donald’s effect were found for the material studied.

Effects of Annealing Treatment Prior to Cold Rolling on Delayed Fracture Properties in Ferrite-Austenite Duplex Lightweight Steels

Tensile properties of recently developed automotive high-strength steels containing about 10 wt pct of Mn and Al are superior to other conventional steels, but the active commercialization has been postponed because they are often subjected to cracking during formation or to the delayed fracture after formation. Here, the delayed fracture behavior of a ferrite-austenite duplex lightweight steel whose microstructure was modified by a batch annealing treatment at 1023 K (750 °C) prior to cold rolling was examined by HCl immersion tests of cup specimens, and was compared with that of an unmodified steel. After the batch annealing, band structures were almost decomposed as strong textures of {100}〈011〉 α-fibers and {111}〈112〉 γ-fibers were considerably dissolved, while ferrite grains were refined. The steel cup specimen having this modified microstructure was not cracked when immersed in an HCl solution for 18 days, whereas the specimen having unmodified microstructure underwent the delayed fracture within 1 day. This time delayed fracture was more critically affected by difference in deformation characteristics such as martensitic transformation and deformation inhomogeneity induced from concentration of residual stress or plastic strain, rather than the difference in initial microstructures. The present work gives a promise for automotive applications requiring excellent mechanical and delayed fracture properties as well as reduced specific weight.

Integrated duration effects on seismic performance of concrete gravity dams using linear and nonlinear evaluation methods

For the assessment of seismic performance of concrete gravity dams, ground motions with horizontal and vertical components are usually selected as seismic excitations. Although various definitions have been proposed to compute strong motion duration from a single component (either horizontal or vertical one) of seismic excitations, duration definitions accounting for the contributions of all components of seismic excitations are still lacking. In order to bridge the gap between duration definitions and multi-component seismic excitations used for simulation, a concept of integrated duration is proposed in this contribution. With the definition of integrated duration, a unified strong motion duration can be calculated for a seismic excitation with multiple components, which facilitates the quantitative evaluation of duration effects. To examine the influence of integrated duration on the seismic performance of concrete gravity dams, both the linear and nonlinear evaluation methods considering the dam-reservoir-foundation interaction are adopted in this study. The linear evaluation method is based on demand capacity ratio, cumulative overstress duration and spatial extent of overstressed regions, whereas the nonlinear seismic analysis of concrete gravity dam-water-foundation systems is on the basis of a Concrete Damaged Plasticity model. 20 real earthquake records with a broad range of durations are selected as seismic excitations to quantify the correlation between the proposed integrated duration and the seismic performance of concrete gravity dams. It is found that the cumulative overstress duration, the accumulative damage and the residual plastic deformation are strongly affected by the integrated duration. Apart from the integrated duration effects, the influence of the vertical component of ground motions is also discussed.

Localized microstructural characterization of a dissimilar metal electron beam weld joint from an aerospace component

Hydrogen induced cold cracking (HICC) and hydrogen embrittlement (HE) are influenced by the microstructural evolution, residual plastic strain (i.e. local misorientation), recrystallization of grains and the resultant grain boundary characteristic distribution (GBCD) brought about by welding processes. HICC and HE are known to cause failures in aerospace components and it is vitally important to quantify the microstructural evolution, degree of residual plastic strain and determine the GBCD across dissimilar weld joints in order to assess the susceptibility of the weld joint to these phenomena. In this investigation a full a microstructural characterization study was carried out at various locations within and around a dissimilar weld joint of pulse-plated nickel (PP-Ni) and Inconel 718 (IN718), taken from an aerospace component. Areas examined included the base metals, weld fusion zone and heat affected zones on both sides of the weld joint, formed via electron beam welding. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in combination with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) was employed to measure the residual plastic strain, grain structure, grain size distribution, crystal orientation distribution, grain boundary misorientation distribution and GBCD of the dissimilar metal weld joint. Finally a metallurgical examination was carried out using SEM on the IN718 HAZ in order to investigate the secondary phase precipitation arising from the welding process. The results shows large variety of GBCD, crystallographic orientation distribution, local plastic strain distribution and grain size, shape and structure distribution across dissimilar weld joint. And these localized microstructural characterized data sets need to be carefully transferred using data-driven approach in order to develop predictive multiscale material modelling for hydrogen induced cracking and hydrogen embrittlement.

Fatigue life prediction for 7050-T7451 aluminum alloy plate with scratch defect

Fatigue damage of 7050-T7451 aluminum alloy plate with scratch was studied,and the fatigue life of aluminum alloy plate after scratching was predicted considering the common effects of the residual stress,plastic damage and fatigue load. The nonlinear dynamic finite element( FE) analysis was conducted to simulate scratch generation,and the residual stress field and plastic strain field near scratch were obtained.According to the equation of plastic damage,the initial damage field near scratch caused by plastic deformation in the scratching process was calculated. Based on the multiaxial fatigue damage model,the finite element numerical method was established to analyze fatigue damage,and the calibration of material parameters in the damage evolution equation was conducted. This method was used to predict the fatigue life of scratched aluminum alloy plates with synthetically considering the residual stress field,the initial plastic damage and fatigue damage. The predicted results were compared with results from the fatigue test of specimens,and the theoretical prediction was in accordance with the test results of fatigue life. A new method and a practical means for fatigue life prediction of metal component with scratch defect were provided.

Improvement of pavement foundation response with multi-layers of geocell reinforcement: Cyclic plate load test

Comprehensive results from cyclic plate loading at a diameter of 300 mm supported by layers of geocell are presented. The plate load tests were performed in a test pit measuring in plane and 700 mm in depth. To simulate half and full traffic loadings, fifteen loading and unloading cycles were applied to the loading plate with amplitudes of 400 and 800 kPa. The optimum embedded depth of the first layer of geocell beneath the loading plate and the optimum vertical spacing of geocell layers, based on plate settlement, are both approximately 0.2 times loading plate diameter. The results show that installation of the geocell layers in the foundation bed, increase the resilient behavior in addition to reduction of accumulated plastic and total settlement of pavement system. Efficiency of geocell reinforcement was decreased by increasing the number of the geocell layers for all applied stress levels and number of cycles of applied loading. The results of the testing reveal the ability of the multiple layers of geocell reinforcement to 'shakedown' to a fully resilient behavior after a period of plastic settlement except when there is little or no reinforcement and the applied cyclic pressure are large. When shakedown response is observed, then both the accumulated plastic settlement prior to a steady-state response being obtained and the resilient settlements thereafter are reduced. The use of four layers of geocell respectively decreases the total and residual plastic settlements about 53% and 63% and increases the resilient settlement 145% compared with the unreinforced case. The inclusion of the geocell layers also reduces the vertical stress transferred down through the pavement by distributing the load over a wider area. For example, at the end of the load cycle of the applied pressure of 800 kPa, the transferred pressure at the depth of 510 mm is reduced about 21.4%, 43.9%, 56.1% for the reinforced bases with one, two, and three layers of geocell, respectively, compared to the stress in the unreinforced bed.

Residual Stress Analysis of Cold-Sprayed Copper Coatings by Numerical Simulation

In this paper, an analysis on the residual stress evolution of cold-sprayed copper coatings on Cu and Al substrates was performed. To investigate the influences of particle velocity, temperature and material combination on the final residual stresses, an integrated frame of calculation was proposed based on the simulation results obtained from the developed thermo-mechanically coupled Eulerian model. In a single Cu splat, generally speaking, the maximum residual stress and plastic deformation are concentrated at the outside contact zone rather than at the center point of initial impact. The action of friction shear between the particle and substrate during impacting should be considered as one of the essential factors on the final residual stress. And the states of residual stresses can vary significantly depending on the material combination, particle velocity, and temperature. In a single pass Cu coating, the residual stress fluctuates across the coating and there exists both compressive stress and tensile stress within the coating. At a certain range of impacting velocities, the resultant residual stresses increase with the increase of particle velocity. The present simulated results are related to the reported experiments by others, showing that the residual stress states and stress change trend are different from some of the reported results.

What Atypical Adults Can Teach Us about Development

In my presidential address, I described the early trap I fell into of describing the super-baby capable of one after another adult perceptual ability, then how I discovered that two atypical populations of adults allowed me to study developmental mechanisms, namely, the role of early sensory input in sculpting the nervous system and the biological preparedness that constrains the experiential effects. Specifically, studies of adults who had dense central cataracts during childhood revealed that there are multiple critical periods during which visual input alters the potential of the nervous system for later refinement. Studies of adults with synesthesia generated novel hypotheses, subsequently supported experimentally, about the details of the biological preparedness that bias the child's early learning. Nevertheless, later studies indicated that considerable residual plasticity remains in adulthood.

Critical Factors Governing the Residual Response of Reinforced Concrete Beams Exposed to Fire

This paper presents results from a set of numerical studies on critical factors influencing residual response of fire exposed reinforced concrete (RC) beams. The numerical model, developed using finite element computer program ABAQUS, accounts for distinct material properties of reinforcing steel and concrete during fire exposure (both heating and cooling phases) and residual (after cool down) phase. In addition, residual plastic deformations that develop in the beam during fire exposure are also taken into consideration in evaluating post-fire response of RC beams. The validity of the model is established by comparing predictions from the numerical analysis with response parameters measured during fire and residual capacity tests. The validated model is employed to conduct a parametric study for varying fire intensity, level of loading (load ratio), restraint conditions, and cross-sectional sizes of the beam. Results from the parametric study indicate that load level has significant influence on both post-fire residual capacity, as well as residual deformations in the beam. The cross-sectional size of the beam also influences residual capacity and increasing the depth of section leads to improved residual capacity in the RC beam. Presence of axial restraint however, has only moderate influence on the residual response of RC beams exposed to fire. Moreover, under most parametric fire scenarios, RC beams can retain up to 70% of their room temperature capacity provided tensile rebar temperature does not exceed 450°C.

Dimensional Changes of Veneer Layered Materials after Cold Pressing

Dimensional changes in both non-densified and densified, thin, wooden components and layered materials after external pressing forces were released were evaluated in this work. Densification was carried out using a cold process on a semi-automatic hydraulic pressing machine. The specimens’ dimensional stabilities, focusing mainly on their residual plastic deformations, were monitored. The impacts of several factors, such as wood species, material thickness, densification degree, and their combinations, were analyzed. Results showed that, with increased degree of densification, the relative plastic deformations (pressing degree) usually decreased. With regard to the compositions explored, the best combination was a top poplar layer densified by 10% plus a bottom beech layer densified by 20%. The impacts of each of the factors on the pressing degree values proved to be significant; the least significant was the bottom beech layer thickness and degree of densification. The greatest practical benefits can be obtained using the recommended combinations of composite layers.

Molecular basis of ribosome recognition and mRNA hydrolysis by the E. coli YafQ toxin.

Bacterial type II toxin-antitoxin modules are protein–protein complexes whose functions are finely tuned by rapidly changing environmental conditions. E. coli toxin YafQ is suppressed under steady state growth conditions by virtue of its interaction with its cognate antitoxin, DinJ. During stress, DinJ is proteolytically degraded and free YafQ halts translation by degrading ribosome-bound mRNA to slow growth until the stress has passed. Although structures of the ribosome with toxins RelE and YoeB have been solved, it is unclear what residues among ribosome-dependent toxins are essential for mediating both recognition of the ribosome and the mRNA substrate given their low sequence identities. Here we show that YafQ coordinates binding to the 70S ribosome via three surface-exposed patches of basic residues that we propose directly interact with 16S rRNA. We demonstrate that YafQ residues H50, H63, D67 and H87 participate in acid-base catalysis during mRNA hydrolysis and further show that H50 and H63 functionally complement as general bases to initiate the phosphodiester cleavage reaction. Moreover YafQ residue F91 likely plays an important role in mRNA positioning. In summary, our findings demonstrate the plasticity of ribosome-dependent toxin active site residues and further our understanding of which toxin residues are important for function.

Short-term monocular deprivation alters early components of visual evoked potentials.

Short-term monocular deprivation in adult humans produces a perceptual boost of the deprived eye reflecting homeostatic plasticity. Visual evoked potentials (VEPs) to transient stimuli change after 150min of monocular deprivation in adult humans. The amplitude of the C1 component of the VEP at a latency of about 100ms increases for the deprived eye and decreases for the non-deprived eye after deprivation, the two effects being highly negatively correlated. Similarly, the evoked alpha rhythm increases after deprivation for the deprived eye and decreases for the non-deprived eye. The data demonstrate that primary visual cortex excitability is altered by a short period of monocular deprivation, reflecting homeostatic plasticity. Very little is known about plasticity in the adult visual cortex. In recent years psychophysical studies have shown that short-term monocular deprivation alters visual perception in adult humans. Specifically, after 150min of monocular deprivation the deprived eye strongly dominates the dynamics of binocular rivalry, reflecting homeostatic plasticity. Here we investigate the neural mechanisms underlying this form of short-term visual cortical plasticity by measuring visual evoked potentials (VEPs) on the scalp of adult humans during monocular stimulation before and after 150min of monocular deprivation. We found that monocular deprivation had opposite effects on the amplitude of the earliest component of the VEP (C1) for the deprived and non-deprived eye stimulation. C1 amplitude increased (+66%) for the deprived eye, while it decreased (-29%) for the non-deprived eye. Source localization analysis confirmed that the C1 originates in the primary visual cortex. We further report that following monocular deprivation, the amplitude of the peak of the evoked alpha spectrum increased on average by 23% for the deprived eye and decreased on average by 10% for the non-deprived eye, indicating a change in cortical excitability. These results indicate that a brief period of monocular deprivation alters interocular balance in the primary visual cortex of adult humans by both boosting the activity of the deprived eye and reducing the activity of the non-deprived eye. This indicates a high level of residual homeostatic plasticity in the adult human primary visual cortex, probably mediated by a change in cortical excitability.

Disturbance induced by surface preparation on instrumented indentation test

Surface preparation, which may induce considerable sample disturbance, plays an important role in instrumented indentation test (IIT). In this study, the sample disturbance (mainly divided into residual stresses and plastic strain) induced by the surface preparation process of instrumented indentation test specimens were investigated with both experimental tests and numerical simulations. Grazing incidence X-ray diffractions (GIXRD) and uniaxial tensile tests were conducted for characterizing the residual stresses and high plastic strain in the top surface layers of a carefully mechanically polished indentation sample, which, in the present work, is made of commercially pure titanium. Instrumented indentation tests and the corresponding finite element simulations were performed as well. For comparison, a reference sample (carefully mechanically polished & electrolytically polished) which represents the raw material was prepared and tested. Results showed that a careful mechanical polishing procedure can effectively reduce the level of residual stresses induced by this process. However, the high plastic strain in the surface region imposed by the polishing process is significant. The induced plastic strain can affect a depth up to 5µm, which is deeper than the maximum penetration depth hmax (3µm) used for the instrumented indentation tests. In the near surface layer (in the range of depth about 350nm), the plastic strain levels are fairly high. In the very top layer, the plastic strain was even estimated to reach more than 60%. The simultaneous use of indentation tests and numerical simulations showed that the existence of high plastic strain in the surface region will make the load vs depth (P–h) curve shift upwards, the contact hardness (H) increase and the contact stiffness (S) decrease.

Short-Term Monocular Deprivation Alters GABA in the Adult Human Visual Cortex

Neuroplasticity is a fundamental property of the nervous system that is maximal early in life, within the critical period [1-3]. Resting GABAergic inhibition is necessary to trigger ocular dominance plasticity and to modulate the onset and offset of the critical period [4, 5]. GABAergic inhibition also plays a crucial role in neuroplasticity of adult animals: the balance between excitation and inhibition in the primary visual cortex (V1), measured at rest, modulates the susceptibility of ocular dominance to deprivation [6-10]. In adult humans, short-term monocular deprivation strongly modifies ocular balance, unexpectedly boosting the deprived eye, reflecting homeostatic plasticity [11, 12]. There is no direct evidence, however, to support resting GABAergic inhibition in homeostatic plasticity induced by visual deprivation. Here, we tested the hypothesis that GABAergic inhibition, measured at rest, is reduced by deprivation, as demonstrated by animal studies. GABA concentration in V1 of adult humans was measured using ultra-high-field 7T magnetic resonance spectroscopy before andafter short-term monocular deprivation. After monocular deprivation, resting GABA concentration decreased in V1 but was unaltered in a control parietal area. Importantly, across participants, the decrease in GABA strongly correlated with the deprived eye perceptual boost measured by binocular rivalry. Furthermore, after deprivation, GABA concentration measured during monocular stimulation correlated with the deprived eye dominance. We suggest that reduction in resting GABAergic inhibition triggers homeostatic plasticity in adult human V1 after a brief period of abnormal visual experience. These results are potentially useful for developing new therapeutic strategies that could exploit the intrinsic residual plasticity of the adult human visual cortex.