A novel triple periodic minimal surface-like plate lattice and its data-driven optimization method for superior mechanical properties

Lattice structures can be designed to achieve unique mechanical properties and have attracted increasing attention for applications in high-end industrial equipment,along with the advances in additive manufacturing(AM)technologies.In this work,a novel design of plate lattice structures described by a parametric model is proposed to enrich the design space of plate lattice structures with high connectivity suitable for AM processes.The parametric model takes the basic unit of the triple periodic minimal surface(TPMS)lattice as a skeleton and adopts a set of generation parameters to determine the plate lattice structure with different topologies,which takes the advantages of both plate lattices for superior specific mechanical properties and TPMS lattices for high connectivity,and therefore is referred to as a TPMS-like plate lattice(TLPL).Furthermore,a data-driven shape optimization method is proposed to optimize the TLPL structure for maximum mechanical properties with or without the isotropic constraints.In this method,the genetic algorithm for the optimization is utilized for global search capability,and an artificial neural network(ANN)model for individual fitness estimation is integrated for high efficiency.A set of optimized TLPLs at different relative densities are experimentally validated by the selective laser melting(SLM)fabricated samples.It is confirmed that the optimized TLPLs could achieve elastic isotropy and have superior stiffness over other isotropic lattice structures.

A modified single edge V-notched beam method for evaluating surface fracture toughness of thermal barrier coatings

The surface fracture toughness is an important mechanical parameter for studying the failure behavior of air plasma sprayed(APS)thermal barrier coatings(TBCs).As APS TBCs are typical multilayer porous ceramic materials,the direct applications of the traditional single edge notched beam(SENB)method that ignores those typical structural characters may cause errors.To measure the surface fracture toughness more accurately,the effects of multilayer and porous characters on the fracture toughness of APS TBCs should be considered.In this paper,a modified single edge V-notched beam(MSEVNB)method with typical structural characters is developed.According to the finite element analysis(FEA),the geometry factor of the multilayer structure is recalculated.Owing to the narrower V-notches,a more accurate critical fracture stress is obtained.Based on the Griffith energy balance,the reduction of the crack surface caused by micro-defects is corrected.The MSEVNB method can measure the surface fracture toughness more accurately than the SENB method.

WAVE PROPAGATION IN PIEZOELECTRIC/PIEZOMAGNETIC LAYERED PERIODIC COMPOSITES

This paper is concerned with the dynamic behaviors of wave propagation in layered periodic composites consisting of piezoelectric and piezomagnetic phases. The dispersion relations of Lamb waves axe derived. Dispersion curves and displacement fields are calculated with different piezoelectric volume fractions. Numerical results for BaTiO3/CoFe2O4 composites show that the dispersion curves resemble the symmetric Lamb waves in a plate. Exchange between the longitudinal （i.e. thickness） mode and coupled mode takes place at the crossover point between dispersion curves of the first two branches. With the increase of BaTiO3 volume fraction, the crossover point appears at a lower wave number and wave velocity is higher. These findings are useful for magnetoelectric transducer applications.

PROPAGATION BEHAVIORS OF SHEAR HORIZONTAL WAVES IN PIEZOELECTRIC-PIEZOMAGNETIC PERIODICALLY LAYERED STRUCTURES

This paper investigates shear horizontal （SH） waves propagating in a periodically layered structure that consists of piezoelectric （PE） layers perfectly bonded with piezomagnetic （PM） layers alternately. The explicit dispersion relations are derived for the two cases when the propagation directions of SH waves are normal to the interface and parallel to the interface, respectively. The asymptotic expressions for dispersion relations are also given when the wave number is extremely small. Numerical results for stop band effect and phase velocity are presented for a periodic system of alternating BaTiO3 and Terfenol-D layers. The influence of volume fraction on stop band effect and dispersion behaviors is discussed and revealed.

All-carbon positive electrodes for stable aluminium batteries

For addressing the critical problems in current collectors in the aluminium batteries,a variety of carbonbased current collectors,including carbon fiber textiles and three-dimensional(3D)biomass-derivative carbon(BDC)networks,are employed for serving as lightweight non-metal current collectors.The results indicate that all the carbon-based current collectors have electrochemical stability in the acidic electrolyte environments.In the assembled aluminium batteries with all-carbon positive electrodes,thermal annealing process on the carbon-based current collectors has substantially promoted the entire electrochemical energy storage performance.Additionally,both the structure configuration and chemical components of the current collectors have also great impact on the rate capability and cycling stability,implying that the 3D BDC networks are more favorable to offer promoted energy storage capability.Implication of the results from suggests that the carbon-based current collectors and all-carbon positive electrodes are able to deliver more advantages in energy storage behaviors in comparison with the traditional positive electrodes with metal Mo current collectors.Such novel strategy promises a new route for fabricating highperformance positive electrodes for stable advanced aluminium batteries.

Analysis of the electromechanical behavior of ferroelectric ceramics based on a nonlinear finite element model

A nonlinear finite element （FE） model based on domain switching was proposed to study the electromechanical behavior of ferroelectric ceramics. The incremental FE formulation was improved to avoid any calculation instability. The problems of mesh sensitivity and convergence, and the efficiency of the proposed nonlinear FE technique have been assessed to illustrate the versatility and potential accuracy of the said technique. The nonlinear electromechanical behavior, such as the hysteresis loops and butterfly curves, of ferroelectric ceramics subjected to both a uniform electric field and a point electric potential has been studied numerically. The results obtained are in good agreement with those of the corresponding theoretical and experimental analyses. Furthermore, the electromechanical coupling fields near （a） the boundary of a circular hole, （b） the boundary of an elliptic hole and （c） the tip of a crack, have been analyzed using the proposed nonlinear finite element method （FEM）. The proposed nonlinear electromechanically coupled FEM is useful for the analysis of domain switching, deformation and fracture of ferroelectric ceramics.

A molecular mechanics approach for analyzing tensile nonlinear deformation behavior of single-walled carbon nanotubes

In this paper, by capturing the atomic information and reflecting the behaviour governed by the nonlinear potential function, an analytical molecular mechanics approach is proposed. A constitutive relation for single-walled carbon nanotubes （SWCNT＇s） is established to describe the nonlinear stress-strain curve of SWCNT＇s and to predict both the elastic properties and breaking strain of SWCNT＇s during tensile deformation. An analysis based on the virtual internal bond （VIB） model proposed by P. Zhang et al. is also presented for comparison. The results indicate that the proposed molecular mechanics approach is indeed an acceptable analytical method for analyzing the mechanical behavior of SWCNT＇s.

A phase-field study on the oxidation behavior of Ni considering heat conduction

Phase-field modeling approach has been used to study the oxidation behavior of pure Ni when considering heat conduction. In this calculation, the dependence of the coefficient of the Cahn–Hilliard equation Lc on the temperature T was considered. To this end, high-temperature oxidation experiments and phase-field modeling for pure Ni were performed in air under atmospheric pressure at 600,700, and 800？C. The oxidation rate was measured by thermogravimetry and Lc at these temperatures was determined via interactive algorithm. With the Lc-T relationship constructed, oxidation behavior of Ni when considering heat conduction was investigated. The influence of temperature boundaries on the oxidation degree, oxide film thickness, and specific weight gain were discussed. The phase-field modeling approach proposed in this study will give some highlights of the oxidation resistance analysis and cooling measures design of thermal protection materials.

The temperature-dependent fracture strength model for ultra-high temperature ceramics

Breaking down the entire structure of a material implies severing all the bonds between its atoms either by applying work or by heat transfer. Because bond-breaking is indifferent to either means, there is a kind of equivalence between heat energy and strain energy. Based on this equivalence, we assume the existence of a constant maximum storage of energy that includes both the strain energy and the corresponding equivalent heat energy. A temperaturedependent fracture strength model is then developed for ultrahigh temperature ceramics （UHTCs）. Model predictions for UHTCs, HfB2, TiC and ZrB2, are presented and compared with the experimental results. These predictions are found to be largely consistent with experimental results.

Thickness evolution of graphite-based cathodes in the dual ion batteries via in operando optical observation

Graphite has been currently considered as a promising cathode material in dual ion batteries(DIBs)due to its unique features of sp2 hybridized carbon and stacked two-dimensional layered structures.However,unexpected volume/thickness changes in the graphite cathodes,induced by the intercalation/deintercalation of anions with large molecular size have been known to be a critical problem in designing DIB cells.To understand the volume/thickness changes in the DIB electrodes,in operando optical observing apparatus has been employed to observe the cross-section view of a graphite-based cathode upon cycles in the present work.The observation suggests that the cathode initially presented a huge irreversible thickness change(60%),and such thickness variation was prone to reduce and remain <20% in the following cycles.The results from both in operando observation and electrochemical characterizations collectively indicate that the greater thickness variation at initial cycle should be attributed to both anion intercalation into graphite-based cathodes and irreversible decomposition of chemical components in the DIB system.The method here highlights a universal route for fundamentally understanding the electrodes of huge volume variation.

Atomic-scale simulations for lithium dendrite growth driven by strain gradient

Dendrite formation is a major obstacle, e.g., capacity loss and short circuit,to the next-generation high-energy-density lithium(Li)-metal batteries. The development of successful Li dendrite mitigation strategies is impeded by an insu?cient understanding in Li dendrite growth mechanisms. The Li-plating-induced internal stress in Li-metal and its e?ects on dendrite growth have been widely studied, but the underlying microcosmic mechanism is elusive. In the present study, the role of the plating-induced stress in dendrite formation is analyzed through ?rst-principles calculations and ab initio molecular dynamic(AIMD) simulations. It is shown that the deposited Li forms a stable atomic nano?lm structure on the copper(Cu) substrate, and the adsorption energy of Li atoms increases from the Li-Cu interface to the deposited Li surface, leading to more aggregated Li atoms at the interface. Compared with the pristine Li-metal, the deposited Li in the early stage becomes compacted and su?ers the in-plane compressive stress. Interestingly,there is a giant strain gradient distribution from the Li-Cu interface to the deposited Li surface, making the deposited atoms adjacent to the Cu surface tend to press upwards with perturbation and causing the dendrite growth. This provides an insight into the atomicscale origin of Li dendrite growth, and may be useful for suppressing the Li dendrite in Li-metal-based rechargeable batteries.

MAGNETOMECHANICAL BEHAVIORS OF GIANT MAGNETOSTRICTIVE MATERIALS

The Laves phase alloy Tb-Dy-Fe, commercially known as Terfenol-D, exhibits the giant room-temperature magnetostriction at moderate field strength of a few kOe due to its combination of high magnetostriction and low magnetocrystalline anisotropic energy. Thus, this pseudobinary rare earth iron compound has found quite a number of applications such as in magnetomechanical transducers, actuators and adaptive vibration control systems. The simultaneous measurements of magnetostriction and magnetization at various fixed compressive pre-stresses applied in the axial direction for Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe1.95 samples are presented. The results show that the magnetostriction increases with increasing compressive stress until it reaches 1742 ×10^6 under 25 MPa, so does the coercive magnetic field. And the hysteresis loop area for magnetization and magnetostriction also increases with the increment of applied compressive stresses. But the maximum magnetic susceptibility χ（dM/dH） is obtained under zero stress field and the strain derivative dλ/dH increases to the highest amplitude of 0.039×10^-6 A^-1m at a stress level of 5 MPa. In the strain versus magnetization intensity curve, the initial fiat stage mainly consisting of a 180° domain wall motion becomes shorter with increasing stress. It means more initial domains are driven to the transversal direction under the compressive stress before magnetization, which is consistent with the improvement of the magnetostriction.

Mechanical properties of lattice grid composites

An equivalent continuum method only considering the stretching deformation of struts was used to study the in-plane stiffness and strength of planar lattice grid com- posite materials. The initial yield equations of lattices were deduced. Initial yield surfaces were depicted separately in different 3D and 2D stress spaces. The failure envelope is a polyhedron in 3D spaces and a polygon in 2D spaces. Each plane or line of the failure envelope is corresponding to the yield or buckling of a typical bar row. For lattices with more than three bar rows, subsequent yield of the other bar row after initial yield made the lattice achieve greater limit strength. The importance of the buckling strength of the grids was strengthened while the grids were relative sparse. The integration model of the method was used to study the nonlinear mechanical properties of strain hardening grids. It was shown that the integration equation could accurately model the complete stress-strain curves of the grids within small deformations.

Analysis of piezoelectric ceramic multilayer actuators based on an electro-mechanical coupled meshless method

This paper presents an efficient meshless method for analyzing cracked piezoelectric structures subjected to mechanical and electrical loading. In this method, an element free Galerkin （EFG） formulation, an enriched basic function and some special shape functions that contain discontinuous derivatives are employed. Based on the moving least squares （MLS） interpolation approach, the EFG method is one of the promising methods for dealing with problems involving progressive crack growth. Since the method is meshless and no element connectivity data are needed, the burdensome remeshing procedure required in the conventional finite element method （FEM） is avoided. The numerical results show that the proposed method can yield an accurate near-tip stress field in an infinite piezoelectric plate containing an interior hole. In another example studying a ceramic multilayer actuator, the proposed model was found to be accurate in the simulation of stress and electric field concentrations arround the abrupt end of an internal electrode.

Mechanical properties of lattice grid composites

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Effects of mechanical boundary conditions on thermal shock resistance of ultra-high temperature ceramics

The effects of mechanical boundary conditions, often encountered in thermalstructural engineering, on the thermal shock resistance（TSR） of ultra-high temperature ceramics（UHTCs） are studied by investigating the TSR of a UHTC plate with various types of constraints under the first, second, and third type of thermal boundary conditions. The TSR of UHTCs is strongly dependent on the heat transfer modes and severity of the thermal environments. Constraining the displacement of the lower surface in the thickness direction can significantly decrease the TSR of the UHTC plate, which is subject to the thermal shock at the upper surface. In contrast, the TSR of the UHTC plate with simply supported edges or clamped edges around the lower surface is much better.

Uneven deposition on the Al electrode under tension strain

Structural deformation and dendrite formation, which would impact the electrochemical processes of rechargeable metal batteries, are usually observed in the high-energy density metal electrodes. Herein,we design an in-situ optical mechano-electrochemical system to study Al deposition on the Al electrode in non-aqueous Al batteries under non-uniform strain. Inhomogeneous distribution of applied strain is realized by creating an oval hole in the Al electrode. The results of the in-situ experiments suggest that the dense Al deposition, which is related to the evolution of surface morphology and increasing reactive sites, is achieved in the regions of stress concentration. The evolution of surface morphology is monitored by the in-situ tension experiments using scanning electron microscope and atomic force microscope.Besides, a qualitative mathematical model is employed to analyze the changes of the local reaction rate owing to the changed surface morphology and the cracks of oxide film under tensile stress. The results are useful to understand the Al deposition when the mechanical force is applied to the metal electrode.

An improved time integration scheme based on uniform cubic B-splines and its application in structural dynamics

A time integration algorithm for structural dynamic analysis is proposed by uniform cubic B-spline functions. The proposed algorithm is successfully used to solve the dynamic response of a single degree of freedom （SDOF） system, and then is generalized for a multiple-degree of freedom （MDOF） system. Stability analysis shows that, with an adjustable algorithmic parameter, the proposed method can achieve both conditional and unconditional stabilities. Validity of the method is shown with four numerical simulations. Comparison between the proposed method and other methods shows that the proposed method possesses high computation accuracy and desirable computation efficiency.

Improved quadratic isogeometric element simulation of one-dimensional elastic wave propagation with central difference method

Two improved isogeometric quadratic elements and the central difference scheme are used to formulate the solution procedures of transient wave propagation prob- lems. In the proposed procedures, the lumped matrices corresponding to the isogeomet- ric elements are obtained. The stability conditions of the solution procedures are also acquired. The dispersion analysis is conducted to obtain the optimal Courant-Friedrichs- Lewy （CFL） number or time-step sizes corresponding to the spatial isogeometric elements. The dispersion analysis shows that the isogeometric quadratic element of the fourth-order dispersion error （called the isogeometric analysis （IGA）-f quadratic element） provides far more desirable numerical dissipation/dispersion than the element of the second-order dis- persion error （called the IGA-s quadratic element） when appropriate time-step sizes are selected. The numerical simulations of one-dimensional （1D） transient wave propagation problems demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solution procedures.

Stiffness and toughness of soft/stiff suture joints in biological composites

Biological composites can overcome the conflict between strength and toughness to achieve unprecedented mechanical properties in engineering materials.The suture joint,as a kind of heterogeneous architecture widely existing in biological tissues,is crucial to connect dissimilar components and to attain a tradeoff of all-sided functional performances.Therefore,the suture joints have attracted many researchers to theoretically investigate their mechanical response.However,most of the previous models focus on the sutural interface between two chemically similar stiff phases with(or without)a thin adhesive layer,which are under the framework of linear elasticity and small deformation.Here,a general model based on the finite deformation framework is proposed to explore the stiffness and toughness of chemically dissimilar suture joints connecting soft and stiff phases.Uniaxial tension tests are conducted to investigate the tensile response of the suture joints,and finite element simulations are implemented to explore the underlying mechanisms,considering both material nonlinearity and cohesive properties of the interface.Two failure modes are quantitively captured by our model.The stored elastic energy in the soft phase competes with the energy dissipation due to the interface debonding,which controls the transition among different failure modes.The toughness of the suture joints depends on not only the intrinsic strengths of the constituent materials and their cohesive strength,but also the interfacial geometry.This work provides the structureproperty relationships of the soft/stiff suture joints and gives a foundational guidance of mechanical design towards high-performance bioinspired composites.