A switchable high-sensitivity strain sensor based on piezotronic resonant tunneling junctions

Developing emerging technologies in Internet of Things and artificial intelligence requires high-speed, low-power, high-sensitivity, and switchable-functionality strain sensors capable of sensing subtle mechanical stimuli in complex ambience. Resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) are the good candidate for such sensing applications due to the ultrafast transport process, lower tunneling current, and negative differential resistance. However, notably enhancing sensing sensitivity remains one of the greatest challenges for RTD-related strain sensors. Here, we use piezotronic effect to improve sensing performance of strain sensors in double-barrier ZnO nanowire RTDs. This strain sensor not only possesses an ultrahigh gauge factor (GF) 390 GPa^(−1), two orders of magnitude higher than these reported RTD-based strain sensors, but also can switch the sensitivity with a GF ratio of 160 by adjusting bias voltage in a small range of 0.2 V. By employing Landauer–Büttiker quantum transport theory, we uncover two primary factors governing piezotronic modulation of resonant tunneling transport, i.e., the strain-mediated polarization field for manipulation of quantized subband levels, and the interfacial polarization charges for adjustment of space charge region. These two mechanisms enable strain to induce the negative differential resistance, amplify the peak-valley current ratio, and diminish the resonant bias voltage. These performances can be engineered by the regulation of bias voltage, temperature, and device architectures. Moreover, a strain sensor capable of electrically switching sensing performance within sensitive and insensitive regimes is proposed. This study not only offers a deep insight into piezotronic modulation of resonant tunneling physics, but also advances the RTD towards highly sensitive and multifunctional sensor applications.

The strain rate sensitive and anisotropic behavior of rare-earth magnesium alloy ZEK100 sheet

To overcome the limitation in formability at room temperature,manufacturers have developed magnesium alloys with remarkable properties by adding rare-earth elements.The rare-earth magnesium alloys behave differently from the conventional alloys,especially with respect to their coupled anisotropic and strain rate sensitive behavior.In the current work,such behavior of the rare-earth Mg alloy ZEK100 sheet at room temperature is investigated with the aid of the elastic viscoplastic self-consistent polycrystal plasticity model.Different strain rate sensitivities(SRSs)for various deformation modes are employed by the model to simulate the strain rate sensitive behaviors under different loading directions and loading rates.Good agreement between the experiments and simulations reveals the importance and necessity of using different SRSs for each deformation mode in hexagonal close-packed metals.Furthermore,the relative activities of each deformation mode and the texture evolution during different loadings are discussed.The anisotropic and strain rate sensitive behavior is ascribed to the various operating deformation modes with different SRSs during loading along different directions.

Effect of Strain Rate on Tensile Behavior of Sn-9Zn-xAg-ySb;{(x, y) = (0.2, 0.6), (0.2, 0.8), (0.6, 0.2), (0.8, 0.2)} Lead-Free Solder Alloys

The tensile properties of Sn-9Zn-xAg-ySb;{(x, y) = (0.2, 0.6), (0.2, 0.8), (0.6, 0.2), (0.8, 0.2)} lead-free solders were investigated. All the test samples were annealed at 150°C for 1 hour. The tests are carried out at room temperature at the strain rate of 4.17 × 10-3 s-1, 20.85 × 10-3 s-1, and 208.5 × 10-3 s-1. It is seen that the tensile strength increases and the ductility decrease with increasing the strain rate over the investigated range. From the strain rate change test results, the strain sensitivity values are found in the range of 0.0831 to 0.1455 due to the addition of different alloying elements.

Uniaxial compressive behavior of equal channel angular pressing Al at wide temperature and strain rate range

Uniaxial compressive experiments of ultrafine-grained Al fabricated by equal channel angular pressing(ECAP) method were performed at wide temperature and strain rate range. The influence of temperature on flow stress, strain hardening rate and strain rate sensitivity was investigated experimentally. The results show that both the effect of temperature on flow stress and its strain rate sensitivity of ECAPed Al is much larger than those of the coarse-grained Al. The temperature sensitivity of ultrafine-grained Al is comparatively weaker than that of the coarse-grained Al. Based on the experimental results, the apparent activation volume was estimated at different temperatures and strain rates. The forest dislocation interactions is the dominant thermally activated mechanism for ECAPed Al compressed at quasi-static strain rates, while the viscous drag plays an important role at high strain rates.

Effect of strain rate on the compressive deformation behaviors of lotus-type porous copper

Lotus-type porous copper was fabricated by unidirectional solidification, and compressive experiments were subsequently conducted in the strain rate range of 10-3-2400 s-1 with the compressive direction parallel to the pores. A GLEEBLE-1500 thermal-mechanical simulation system and a split Hopkinson pressure bar （SHPB） were used to investigate the effect of strain rate on the compressive deforma-tion behaviors of lotus-type porous copper. The influence mechanism of strain rate was also analyzed by the strain-controlling method and by high-speed photography. The results indicated that the stress-strain curves of lotus-typed porous copper consist of a linear elastic stage, a plateau stage, and a densification stage at various strain rates. At low strain rate （〈1.0 s^-1）, the strain rate had little influence on the stress-strain curves; but when the strain rate exceeded 1.0 s^-1, it was observed to strongly affect the plateau stage, showing obvious strain-rate-hardening characteristics. Strain rate also influenced the densification initial strain. The densification initial strain at high strain rate was less than that at low strain rate. No visible inhomogeneous deformation caused by shockwaves was observed in lotus-type porous copper during high-strain-rate deformation. However, at high strain rate, the bending deformation characteristics of the pore walls obviously differed from those at low strain rate, which was the main mechanism by which the plateau stress exhibited strain-rate sensitivity when the strain rate exceeded a certain value and exhibited less densification initial strain at high strain rate.

Irradiation effect on strain sensitivity coefficient of strain sensing fiber Bragg gratings

The effect of irradiation on the strain sensitivity coefficient of strain sensing fiber Bragg gratings （FBGs） has been investigated through experiments. FBGs were fabricated in single mode fibers with 3 tool% Ge-concentration in the core and with a H2-1oading treatment. In experiments, the FBGs were subjected to y-radiation exposures using a Co6~ source at a dose-rate of 25 Gy/min up to a total dose of 10.5 kGy. The GeO defect in fiber absorbs photons to form a GeE＇ defect; the interaction with H2 is a probable reason for the y-radiation sensitivity of gratings written in hydrogen loaded fibres, The effect mechanism of radiation on the strain sensitivity coefficient is similar to that of radiation on the temperature sensitivity coefficient. Radiation affects the effective index neff, which results in the change of the thermo-optic coefficient and the strain-optic coefficient. Irradiation can change the strain sensitivity coefficient of FBGs by 1.48%-2.71%, as well as changing the Bragg wavelength shift （BWS） by 22 pm-25 pm under a total dose of 10.5 kGy. Our research demonstrates that the effect of irradiation on the strain sensitivity coefficient of FBG is small and that strain sensing FBGs can work well in the radiation environment.

Strain-hardening and warm deformation behaviors of extruded Mg-Sn-Yb alloy sheet

Strain-hardening and warm deformation behaviors of extruded Mg-2Sn-0.5Yb alloy(at.%)sheet were investigated in uniaxial tensile test at temperatures of 25-250 ℃ and strain rates of 1×10^(−3) s^(−1)-0.1 s^(−1).The data fit with the Kocks-Mecking type plots were used to show different stages of strain hardening.Besides III-stage and IV-stage,the absence of the II-stage strain hardening at room temperature should be related to the sufficient dynamic recrystallization during extrusion.The decrease of strain hardening ability of the alloy after yielding was attributed to the reduction of dislocation density with increasing testing temperature.Strain rate sensitivity(SRS)was significantly enhanced with increasing temperature,and the corresponding m-value was calculated as 0.07-0.12,which indicated that the deformation mechanism was dominated by the climb-controlled dislocation creep at 200 ℃.Furthermore,the grain boundary sliding(GBS)was activated at 250 ℃,which contributed to the higher SRS.The activation energy was calculated as 213.67 kJ mol^(−1),which was higher than that of lattice diffusion or grain boundary self-diffusion.In addition,the alloy exhibited a quasi superplasticity at 250 ℃ with a strain rate of 1×10^(−3) s^(−1),which was mainly related to the fine microstructure and the presence of the Mg2Sn and Mg2(Sn,Yb)particles.

Electric-magnetic-force characteristics of rare earth barium copper oxide superconductor high-field coils based on screening effect and strain sensitivity

Rare earth barium copper oxide(REBCO)is the most researched and commercialized second-generation high-temperature superconducting material.Due to the anisotropic structure,strong deformation sensitivity,and central field errors caused by screening current effects,it is still a challenge for commercialization applications.In this study,the transversely isotropic constitutive relationship is selected as the mechanical model based on the structural characteristics of REBCO tapes,and suitable microelements are selected to equate the elastic constants using their average stress-strain relationships.Then,a two-dimensional axisymmetric model for coils wound by single-layer tapes is constructed to analyze the dependence of the electric-magnetic-force distribution in the tape on the strain.Finally,the anisotropic approximation of the homogenized bulk method is used to equate large-turn high-field coils,and the electric-magnetic-force distribution characteristics of the coils with/without screening effects and mechanical strain conditions are investigated,respectively.The results reveal that the mechanical strain has a weakening effect on the electromagnetic field distribution of superconducting tapes,but causes a significant enhancement in the force field distribution.In the presence of 0.5% mechanical strain,the maximum weakening of the peak value of the current density and the critical current density inside the high-field coil can reach about 8% and 13%,respectively,with a nearly 5 times increase in the peak stress.The screening current makes the current field distribution inside the coil improve by about 10 times.The screening current induced magnetic field can reach up to 0.8 T,making the relative error of the high-field coil center up to 7.8%.

Strain hardening behavior, strain rate sensitivity and hot deformation maps of AISI 321 austenitic stainless steel

Hot compression tests were performed on AISI 321 austenitic stainless steel in the deformation temperature range of 800–1200℃ and constant strain rates of 0.001,0.01,0.1,and 1 s^(−1).Hot flow curves were used to determine the strain hardening exponent and the strain rate sensitivity exponent,and to construct the processing maps.Variations of the strain hardening exponent with strain were used to predict the microstructural evolutions during the hot deformation.Four variations were distinguished reflecting the different microstructural changes.Based on the analysis of the strain hardening exponent versus strain curves,the microstructural evolutions were dynamic recovery,single and multiple peak dynamic recrystallization,and interactions between dynamic recrystallization and precipitation.The strain rate sensitivity variations at an applied strain of 0.8 and strain rate of 0.1 s^(−1) were compared with the microstructural evolutions.The results demonstrate the existence of a reliable correlation between the strain rate sensitivity values and evolved microstructures.Additionally,the power dissipation map at the applied strain of 0.8 was compared with the resultant microstructures at predetermined deformation conditions.The microstructural evolutions strongly correlated to the power dissipation ratio,and dynamic recrystallization occurred completely at lower power dissipation ratios.

Continuous Deformation Monitoring by Polymermatrix Carbon Fiber Sensitive Layer

Composite made of short-cut carbon fiber mat and vinyl ester resin was observed to be an effective sensor for tensile strain up to 6 000με. Based on its strain sensitivity, a skin-like sensitive layer which can continuously cover the structural surface to sense strain in large area was developed. The sensitive layer was applied to continuously monitor the deformation of a simply supported beam. The result indicates that the fractional change in electrical resistance of the sensitive layer reversibly reflects the beam deformation in each section and describes the distribution of the average strain of the beam. The effect of temperature change on the monitoring was studied by monitoring tests conducted at different temperatures ranging from 20 to 80 ℃, which reveals temperature sensitivity in the sensitive layer and the temperature dependence of the piezoresistive behavior when the temperature exceeds 50 ℃. By the application of differential conaection principle, a method for temperature compensation was established and the gauge factor for the monitoring was dramatically increased. This method was verified experimentally.

Strain rate sensitivity of closed cell aluminium fly ash foam

With the increasing use of metal foams in various engineering applications, investigation of their dynamic behaviour under varying strain rate is necessary. Closed cell aluminium fly ash foam developed through liquid metallurgy route was investigated for its stress--strain behaviour at different strain rates ranging from 700 s^-1 to 1950 s^-1. The numerical model of split Hopkinson pressure bar （SHPB） was simulated using commercially available finite element code Abaqus/Explicit. Validation of numerical simulation was carried out using available experimental and numerical results. Full scale stress--strain curves wez＇e developed for various strain rates to study the effect of strain rate on compressive strength and energy absorption. The results showed that the closed cell aluminium fly ash foam is sensitive to strain rate.

STRAIN RATE SENSITIVITY OF ULTRAFINE-GRAINED Cu WITH NANOSIZED TWINS

An ultrafine-grained Cu sample with a high density of growth twins was synthesized by means of pulsed electrodeposition technique. The strain rate sensitivity of the Cu sample was measured by strain rate cycling tests under tension. The effects of grain size as well as twin density on the strength and strain rate sensitivity were discussed.

Strain rate sensitivity and activation volume of electrodeposited nanocrystalline Ni and Ni-Co alloys

Tensile deformation behaviors of the electrodeposited 40 nm grain sized Ni,25 nm Ni-1.7 wt.%Co,and 13 nm Ni-8.6 wt.%Co alloys at various strain rates and room temperature were reviewed with emphasis on strain rate sensitivity and activation volume,respectively.It is found that the strain rate sensitivity and activation volume were strongly grain size dependent.An analytic model based on the bow out of a single dislocation well predicted the relationship between the strain rate sensitivity and the activation volumes for these nanocrystaline metals.

Annealing and strain rate effects on the mechanical behavior of ultrafine-grained iron produced by SPD

Thermal stability and strain rate sensitivity of ultrafine-grained(UFG)Fe produced by severe plastic deformation(SPD)were investigated.The UFG Fe was processed by equal-channel angular pressing(ECAP)via route Bc.After 6 passes,the grain size of UFG Fe reaches 600 nm, as confirmed by means of electron back scatter diffraction(EBSD).Examination of micro-hardness and grain size of UFG Fe as a function of post-ECAP annealing temperature shows a transition from recovery to recrystallization.The critical transition temperature is approximately 500℃,and the material has a bimodal structure after annealing at this temperature.Deformation behaviors of ECAP Fe and ECAP + annealing Fe were studied under both quasi-static and dynamic compressive loadings.The UFG iron shows increased strength and reduced strain rate sensitivity compared with its coarse-grained counterparts.The appropriate post-ECAP annealing can increase strain hardening ability and cancel out thermal softening effect with only a small loss of strength under dynamic loading.

STRAIN RATE SENSITIVTTY OF POLYCRYSTALLINE AND SINGLE CRYSTAL NiAl

The compressive and tensile strain rate sensitivities of polycrystalline and single crystal NiAl have been evaluated at 877 ℃ which is well above DBTT. Samples were prepared to specific sizes by hot press consolidation of appropriate powder sizes and minimizing past consolidation thermal exposures. NiAl single crystals were grown in the [100]orientation using a modified Bridgeman technique. The yield and tensile strength of polycrystalline NiAl as a function of grain size generally follows a Hall-Petch type relationship . A tensile strain rate effect was found at strain rate of 1 to 10-4 sec-1. The strain rate sensitivity coefficient, m,in the equation of σ = Kε is in the range of 0. 10 to 0. 13. The highest strain rate (1 sec-1) resulted in significantly higher strengths and little or no observed ductility. Compressive strain rate testing al strain rate of 10-5to 10-2 sec-1 and at temperature of 1050°to 1250°K was conducted both for polycrystalline and for single crystal NiAl. The calculated stress exponents and the activation energy for creep were compared with the reference data.

Effects of Strain Rate and Texture on the Tensile Behavior of Pre-strained NiCr Microwires

The stress–strain behavior and strain rate sensitivity of pre-strained Ni80Cr20（Ni20Cr） were studied at strain rates from 4.8×10^（–4）s^（–1） to 1.1×10^（–1）s^（–1）. Specimens were prepared through cold drawing with abnormal plastic deformation. The texture of the specimen was characterized using electron backscatter diffraction. Results revealed that the ultimate tensile strength and ductility of the pre-strained Ni20Cr microwires simultaneously increased with increasing strain rate. Twinning-induced negative strain rate sensitivity was discovered. Positive strain rate sensitivity was present in fracture flow stress, whereas negative strain rate sensitivity was detected in flow stress values of σ_（0.5%） and σ_（1%）. Tensile test of the pre-strained Ni20Cr showed that twinning deformation predominated, whereas dislocation slip deformation dominated when twinning deformation reached saturation. The trends observed in the fractions of 2°-5°, 5°-15°, and 15°-180° grain boundaries confirmed that twinning deformation dominated the first stage.

Superplastic behavior of a fine-grained Mg-Gd-Y-Ag alloy processed by equal channel angular pressing

An extruded Mg-6Gd-3Y-1.5Ag(wt%) alloy was processed by 6 passes of equal channel angular pressing(ECAP) at 553 K using route Bc to refine the microstructure. Electron back-scattered diffraction(EBSD) analysis showed a fully recrystallized microstructure for the extruded alloy with a mean grain size of 8.6 μm. The microstructure of the ECAP-processed alloy was uniformly refined through dynamic recrystallization(DRX). This microstructure contained fine grains with an average size of 1.3 μm, a high fraction of high angle grain boundaries(HAGBs), and nano-sized Mg_(5)Gd-type particles at the boundaries of the DRXed grains, detected by transmission electron microscopy(TEM). High-temperature shear punch testing(SPT) was used to evaluate the superplastic behavior of both the extruded and ECAP-processed alloys by measuring the strain rate sensitivity(SRS) index(m-value). While the highest m-value for the extruded alloy was measured to be 0.24 at 673 K, the ECAP-processed alloy exhibited much higher m-values of 0.41 and 0.52 at 598 and 623 K, respectively,delineating the occurrence of superplastic flow. Based on the calculated average activation energy of 118 kJ mol^(-1) and m-values close to 0.5, the deformation mechanism for superplastic flow at the temperatures of 598 and 623 K for the ECAP-processed alloys was recognized to be grain boundary sliding(GBS) assisted by grain boundary diffusion.

Effect of initial microstructure on hot workability of 7085 aluminum alloy

The hot workability of 7085 aluminum alloys with different initial microstructures （as-homogenized and as-solution treated） was studied by isothermal compression tests at the deformation temperature ranging from 300 to 450 ℃ and the strain rate ranging from 0.0001 to 1 s 1. The strain rate sensitivity of the alloy was evaluated and used for establishing the power dissipation maps and instability maps on the basis of the flow stress data. The results show that the efficiency of power dissipation for the as-homogenized alloy is lower than that of the as-solution treated alloy. The deformation parameters of the dynamic recrystallization for the as-homogenized and as-solution treated alloy occur at 400 ℃, 0.01 s i and 450 ℃, 0.001 s-1, respectively. The flow instability region of the as-homogenized alloy is narrower than that of the as-solution treated alloy. These differences of the alloys with two different initial microstructures on the processing maps are mainly related to the dynamic precipitation characteristics.

Plastic flow behavior of superalloy GH696 during hot deformation

In order to investigate the hot deformation behavior of superalloy GH696, isothermal compression experiments were carried out at deformation temperatures of 880?1120 °C and strain rates of 0.01?10 s?1. And the deformation amount of all the samples was 50%. The strain rate sensitivity exponent (m) and strain hardening exponent (n) under different deformation conditions were calculated, meanwhile the effects of the processing parameters on the values ofm andn were analyzed. The results show that the flow stress increases with the increase of strain rate and the decrease of deformation temperature. The value ofm increases with the increase of deformation temperature and decreases with the increase of strain rate, while the value ofn decreases with the increase of deformation temperature. A novel flow stress model during hot deformation of superalloy GH696 was also established. And the calculated flow stress of the alloy is in good agreement with the experimental one.

THE LAYOUT OPTIMIZATION OF STIFFENERS FOR PLATE-SHELL STRUCTURES

The plate-shell structures with stiffeners are widely used in a broad range of engineering structures. This study presents the layout optimization of stiffeners. The minimum weight of stiffeners is taken as the objective function with the global stiffness constraint. In the layout optimization, the stiffeners should be placed at the locations with high strain energy/or stress. Conversely, elements of stiffeners with a small strain energy/or stress are considered to be used inefficiently and can be removed. Thus, to identify the element efficiency so that most inefficiently used elements of stiffeners can be removed, the element sensitivity of the strain energy of stiffeners is introduced, and a search criterion for locations of stiffeners is presented. The layout optimization approach is given for determining which elements of the stiffeners need to be kept or removed. In each iterative design, a high efficiency reanalysis approach is used to reduce the computational effort. The present approach is implemented for the layout optimization of stiffeners for a bunker loaded by the hydrostatic pressure. The numerical results show that the present approach is effective for dealing with layout optimization of stiffeners for plate-shell structures.