Development of Palmprint Verification System Using Biometrics

Palmprint verification system using Biometrics is one of the emerging technologies, which recognizes a person based on the principle lines, wrinkles and ridges on the surface of the palm. These line structures are stable and remain unchanged throughout the life of an individual. More importantly, no two palmprints from different individuals are the same, and normally people do not feel uneasy to have their palmprint images taken for testing. Therefore palmprint recognition offers a promising future for medium-security access control systems. In this paper, a new approach for personal authentication using hand images is discussed. Gray-Scale palm images are captured using a digital camera at a resolution of 640×480. Each of these gray-scale images is aligned and then used to extract palmprint and hand geometry features. These features are then used for authenticating users. The image acquisition setup used here is inherently simple and it does not employ any special illumination nor does it use any pegs that might cause any inconvenience to users. Experimental results show that the designed system achieves an acceptable level of performance.

Numerical Analysis of Stresses on Layer-by-Layer Basis in FML Composite Cylinder Subjected to External Hydrostatic Loading

The aim of the research work was to numerically investigate the residual stresses induced between the layers of fiber metal laminate (FML) cylinder (glass/epoxy reinforced aluminum laminates) under buckling hydrostatic loading. For the analysis of buckling behavior of FML cylinders, various fiber orientations such as 0/90&deg, 60/30&deg, ±45&deg and ±55&deg and different FRP thickness of 1, 2, and 3 mm were considered. The aluminum cylinder of inner diameter 80 mm, length 800 mm and wall thickness 1 mm was modeled with SHELL281 element type and a total of 1033 elements were used for computing the induced residual stresses between the layers. The results show that magnitude of residual stresses between the layers decreased along the thickness from outer layer towards the inner layer in sine wave form. The maximum residual Von-Mises stress was at inner aluminum layer while the maximum residual radial stress was at the outermost layer of FML cylinder due to the inward pressure. Among all types of FML cylinder 0/90&deg fiber oriented FML cylinder exhibited the least radial stress and a maximum Von-Mises stress along the FRP thickness.

Mechanical behavior of organo-modified Indian bentonite nanoclay fiber-reinforced plastic nanocomposites

The aim of the research was to examine the influence of organo-modified Indian bentonite （IB） nanoclay dispersed in vinyisster on the mechanical properties of nanoclaylvinylesterlglass nanocomposRes. Nanoclay was organically modified using cationic surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide （HDTMA-Br） by cation exchange method and dispersed in vinylester using ultrasonication and twin screw extrusion. XRD of nanoclaylvinylester revealed exfoliaUon at 4 wt.% nanoclay indicating uniform dispersion in the polymer. DSC results showed improvement in glass transition temperature by 22.3% in 4 wt.% nanoclaylvinylester/glass when compared with that of vinylester/glass. Nanoclay/vinylester/glass with 4 wt,% nanoclay showed 29.23%, 23.84% and 60.87% improvement in ultimate tensile strength （UTS）, fiexural strength （FS） and interlaminar shear strength （ILSS） respectively when compared with those of vinylester! glass. The mode of tensile failure examined by SEM showed no agglomeration of nanoclay in 4 wt.% nanoclayNinylester/glass specimens.

Mechanical, thermal and fire nanoclay/vinylester retardation behaviours of nanocomposites

The dispersion of montmorillonite （MMT） in vinylester for preparing nanoclay/vinylester gel coat was reported. Two sets of MMT/vinylester specimens, namely Type I and Type 2, were prepared for comparative studies. Type I specimens were prepared using ultrasonication only, and Type 2 specimens were prepared using both ultrasonication and twin-screw extrusion. According to XRD and TEM results, Type 2 specimens showed lower levels of nanoclay agglomeration and higher levels o! exfoliation. DSC results showed that the glass transition temperatures of Type 2 specimens are higher than those of Type 1 specimens. TGA results showed that the residual weight of 4 wt.% MMT/vinylester of Type 1 was 7.38%, while the corresponding value of Type 2 was 13,5%, indicating lower thermal degradation in the latter. MMTt vinylester/glass and MMT/vinylester/carbon specimens were fabricated and tested for mechanical and fire retardation behaviours. Type 2 based nanocomposite laminates showed greater values of ultimate tensile strength, flexural strength, interlaminar shear strength, impact strength, horizontal burning rate, and vertical burning rate than Type 1 based laminates. SEM images of tensile fractured surfaces revealed that Type 2 based laminates have no or less agglomeration of nanoclay than Type 1 based laminates.