A Full-Field Calibration Approach on Material Parameter Identification

In the recent years, the usage of HS-steels has risen significantly in the automotive field. Their characteristics, such as hardness and favorable weight to strength ratio, can increase safety, fuel efficiency and overall product profitability. In this context, for the design with this material it has become crucial to be able to characterize precisely HS-steels and accurately predict their failure in many complex conditions, to fully exploit their capabilities. One of the most accredited ways to approach the prediction of failure for a wide range of materials is the generalized incremental stress-state dependent damage model GISSMO. The model is highly flexible and provides a framework inside LS-DYNA in which failure parameters can be tuned to reproduce experimental data. The definition of the optimal parameters is an inverse problem, therefore it was implemented using LS-OPT. In this work, the experimental evaluation of the MS1500 was carried out using the digital image correlation (DIC). With such technology, the displacements’ field of the test specimen is recorded.The evalueted field was processed as a family of stress-strain curves (hyper-curves) and became the objective of the optimization. This approach is named full field calibration and in this work was split in two phases. First, the stress-strain curve of the material was defined, then the tuning of the GISSMO parameters was performed. To evaluate the effectiveness of the full field approach a parallel study was implemented. The same routine of optimization run with a single stress-strain curve, which was measured with an extensometer. The comparison between the results obtained with the traditional approach and the results obtained with the full field approach highlighted the strenghts and the limitations of the two methods

in keeping with the spirit of the albertine statute constitutionalisation of the national unification

This chapter deals with the difficult process of constitutionalisation which characterised Italian Unification. Constitutionalisation is a long-term phenomenon which had the purpose of giving constitutional forms to the Nation. The promulgation of the Albertine Statute is more the start than the arrival of this phenomenon. The focus of this investigation is, therefore, to study the Constitution through its evolution paying particular attention to the process of legal integration within the structures of the Albertine Statute and to the amendment mechanisms of the constitutional text. The preamble of the Albertine Statute speaks of «perpetual and irrevocable fundamental law». The word «perpetual» meant the prohibition of revoking constitutional concession, while the word «irrevocable» was intended as a pact between the Sovereign and the Nation. Over the years, very few were the changes to the letter of the Albertine Statute. The interpretation and the practice represented the most important mechanisms of constitutional change (implicit constitutional changes). A primary role was acknowledged to non-written norms. In this perspective, it may well be said that the Italian Constitution consisted in something more than the written text and dwelt in the spirit and not in the letter of the Albertine Statute

A simple scanning spectrometer based on a stretchable elastomeric reflective grating

We report a scanning optical spectrometer based on the use of a stretchable elastomeric reflective grating. The grating is obtained by supersonic cluster beam implantation of silver nanoparticles on polydimethylsiloxane previously grooved by molding to create a replica of a commercial digital versatile disk grating. The use of a stretchable grating allows the spectrometer spanning the whole optical wavelength range by solely extending the diffraction element by more than 100% of its original dimensions. The stretchable reflective optical grating shows excellent performances and stability upon thousands of stretching cycles. The use of this elastomeric element makes the optical layout and the mechanics of the spectrometer extremely simple and advantageous for those applications where spectral resolution is not a major requirement. As a proof of principle, we present the absorption spectrum of Rhodamine B in solution obtained by our spectrometer and compared to commercial instruments

Patterning of gold–polydimethylsiloxane (Au–PDMS) nanocomposites by supersonic cluster beam implantation

Patterned gold\u2013polydimethylsiloxane (Au\u2013PDMS) nanocomposites were fabricated by supersonic cluster beam implantation (SCBI) of neutral gold nanoparticles in PDMS through stencil masks. The influence of nanoparticle dose on the surface roughness and morphology of the micropatterned regions of the nanocomposite was characterized. Nanoparticle implantation causes the swelling of PDMS without affecting substantially the lateral resolution of the patterns. In order to have an insight on the mechanism and the influence of nanoparticle implantation on the polymeric matrix, large-scale molecular dynamics simulations of the implantation process have been performed. The simulations show that even a single cluster impact on PDMS substrate strongly affects the polymer local temperature and density. Our results show that SCBI is a promising methodology for the efficient fabrication of nanocomposite microstructures on polymers with interesting morphological, structural and functional properties

Patterning of gold–polydimethylsiloxane (Au–PDMS) nanocomposites by supersonic cluster beam implantation

Patterned gold–polydimethylsiloxane (Au–PDMS) nanocomposites were fabricated by supersonic cluster beam implantation (SCBI) of neutral gold nanoparticles in PDMS through stencil masks. The influence of nanoparticle dose on the surface roughness and morphology of the micropatterned regions of the nanocomposite was characterized. Nanoparticle implantation causes the swelling of PDMS without affecting substantially the lateral resolution of the patterns. In order to have an insight on the mechanism and the influence of nanoparticle implantation on the polymeric matrix, large-scale molecular dynamics simulations of the implantation process have been performed. The simulations show that even a single cluster impact on PDMS substrate strongly affects the polymer local temperature and density. Our results show that SCBI is a promising methodology for the efficient fabrication of nanocomposite microstructures on polymers with interesting morphological, structural and functional properties

Flexible and biocompatible microelectrode arrays fabricated by supersonic cluster beam deposition on SU-8

We fabricated highly adherent and electrically conductive micropatterns on SU-8 by supersonic cluster beam deposition (SCBD). This technique is based on the aerodynamical acceleration of neutral metallic nanoparticles produced in the gas phase. The kinetic energy acquired by the nanoparticles allows implantation in an SU-8 layer, thus producing a metal-polymer nanocomposite thin layer. The nanocomposite shows ohmic electrical conduction and it can also be used as an adhesion layer for further metallization with a metallic overlayer. We characterized the electrical conduction, adhesion and biocompatibility of microdevices obtained by SCBD on SU-8 demonstrating the compatibility of our approach with standard lift-off technology on 4\u2033 wafer. A self-standing and flexible microelectrode array has been produced. Cytological tests with neuronal cell lines demonstrated improved cell growth on the nanocomposite layer

Stretchable nanocomposite electrodes with tunable mechanical properties by supersonic cluster beam implantation in elastomers

We demonstrate the fabrication of gold-polydimethylsiloxane nanocomposite electrodes, by supersonic cluster beam implantation, with tunable Young's modulus depending solely on the amount of metal clusters implanted in the elastomeric matrix. We show both experimentally and by atomistic simulations that the mechanical properties of the nanocomposite can be maintained close to that of the bare elastomer for significant metal volume concentrations. Moreover, the elastic properties of the nanocomposite, as experimentally characterized by nanoindentation and modeled with molecular dynamics simulations, are also well described by the Guth-Gold classical model for nanoparticle-filled rubbers, which depends on the presence, concentration, and aspect ratio of metal nanoparticles, and not on the physical and chemical modification of the polymeric matrix due to the embedding process. The elastic properties of the nanocomposite can therefore be determined and engineered a priori, by controlling only the nanoparticle concentratio