Growth Ring-dependent Fracture Toughness of Sea Urchin Spines Estimated by Boundary Effect Model

Although the fracture behavior of sea urchin spines has been extensively investigated,there is as yet a lack of quantitative estimation on the effect of growth rings on the fracture properties of sea urchin spines.In sea urchin spines,much denser pores present in growth rings rather than porous layers.The tensile strength and fracture toughness of sea urchin spine samples with different numbers of growth rings are measured by the Boundary Effect Model(BEM).The experimental results of single-edge notched three-point bending tests indicate that the BEM is an appropriate method to estimate the fracture toughness of the present porous sea urchin spines,and the number of growth rings plays an important role in the fracture properties of spines.Specifically,the tensile strength and fracture toughness of sea urchin spines can be significantly improved with the increase in the number of growth rings,and their fracture toughness can even reach a relatively high value compared with some other porous materials with an identical porosity.The present research findings are expected to provide a fundamental insight into the design of high-performance bionic materials with a highly porous structure.

A unifying approach in simulating the shot peening process using a 3D random representative volume finite element model

Using a modified 3D random representative volume（RV）finite element model,the effects of model dimensions（impact region and interval between impact and representative regions）,model shapes（rectangular,square,and circular）,and peening-induced thermal softening on resultant critical quantities（residual stress,Almen intensity,coverage,and arc height）after shot peening are systematically examined.A new quantity,i.e.,the interval between impact and representative regions,is introduced and its optimal value is first determined to eliminate any boundary effect on shot peening results.Then,model dimensions are respectively assessed for all model shapes to reflect the actual shot peening process,based on which shape-independent critical shot peening quantities are obtained.Further,it is found that thermal softening of the target material due to shot peening leads to variances of the surface residual stress and arc height,demonstrating the necessity of considering the thermal effect in a constitutive material model of shot peeing.Our study clarifies some of the finite element modeling aspects and lays the ground for accurate modeling of the SP process.