Comparison of tab-to-busbar ultrasonic joints for electric vehicle li-ion battery applications

Recent uptake in the use of lithium-ion battery packs within electric vehicles has drawn significant attention to the selection of busbar material and corresponding thickness, which are usually based on mechanical, electrical and thermal characteristics of the welded joints, material availability and cost. To determine joint behaviour corresponding to critical-to-quality criteria, this study uses one of the widely used joining technologies, ultrasonic metal welding (UMW), to produce tab-to-busbar joints using copper and aluminium busbars of varying thicknesses. Joints for electrical and thermal characterisation were selected based on the satisfactory mechanical strength determined from the T-peel tests. Electrical contact resistance and corresponding temperature rise at the joints were compared for different tab-to-busbar joints by passing current through the joints. The average resistance or temperature increase from the 0.3 mm Al tab was 0.6 times higher than the 0.3 mm Cu[Ni] tab, irrespective of busbar selection

Role of the sample thickness in planar crack propagation

We study the effect of the sample thickness in planar crack front propagation in a disordered elastic medium using the random fuse model. We employ different loading conditions and we test their stability with respect to crack growth. We show that the thickness induces characteristic lengths in the stress enhancement factor in front of the crack and in the stress transfer function parallel to the crack. This is reflected by a thickness-dependent crossover scale in the crack front morphology that goes from from multiscaling to self-affine with exponents, in agreement with line depinning models and experiments. Finally, we compute the distribution of crack avalanches, which is shown to depend on the thickness and the loading mode.Peer reviewe

Fracture roughness in three-dimensional beam lattice systems

We study the scaling of three-dimensional crack roughness using large-scale beam lattice systems. Our results for prenotched samples indicate that the crack surface is statistically isotropic, with the implication that experimental findings of anisotropy of fracture surface roughness in directions parallel and perpendicular to crack propagation is not due to the scalar or vectorial elasticity of the model. In contrast to scalar fuse lattices, beam lattice systems do not exhibit anomalous scaling or an extra dependence of roughness on system size. The local and global roughness exponents (ζloc and ζ, respectively) are equal to each other, and the three-dimensional crack roughness exponent is estimated to be ζloc=ζ=0.48±0.03. This closely matches the roughness exponent observed outside the fracture process zone. The probability density distribution p[Δh(ℓ)] of the height differences Δh(ℓ)=[h(x+ℓ)−h(x)] of the crack profile follows a Gaussian distribution, in agreement with experimental results.Peer reviewe

Imaging in extrapulmonary tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global public health problem, with 1.5 million deaths annually worldwide. One in five cases of TB present as extrapulmonary TB (EPTB), posing major diagnostic and management challenges. Mycobacterium tuberculosis adapts to a quiescent physiological state and is notable for its complex interaction with the host, producing poorly understood disease states ranging from latent infection to active clinical disease. New tools in the diagnostic armamentarium are urgently required for the rapid diagnosis of TB and monitoring of TB treatments, and to gain new insights into pathogenesis. The typical and atypical imaging features of EPTB are reviewed herein, and the roles of several imaging modalities for the diagnosis and management of EPTB are discussed

Radial Velocities of Six OB Stars

We present new results from a radial velocity study of six bright OB stars with little or no prior measurements. One of these, HD 45314, may be a long-period binary, but the velocity variations of this Be star may be related to changes in its circumstellar disk. Significant velocity variations were also found for HD 60848 (possibly related to nonradial pulsations) and HD 61827 (related to wind variations). The other three targets, HD 46150, HD 54879, and HD 206183, are constant velocity objects, but we note that HD 54879 has H$\alpha$ emission that may originate from a binary companion. We illustrate the average red spectrum of each target.Comment: Accepted for publication in PASP July 2007 issu

Mechanical modeling of porous oxide fuel pellet A Test Problem

A poro-elasto-plastic material model has been developed to capture the response of oxide fuels inside the nuclear reactors under operating conditions. Behavior of the oxide fuel and variation in void volume fraction under mechanical loading as predicted by the developed model has been reported in this article. The significant effect of void volume fraction on the overall stress distribution of the fuel pellet has also been described. An important oxide fuel issue that can have significant impact on the fuel performance is the mechanical response of oxide fuel pellet and clad system. Specifically, modeling the thermo-mechanical response of the fuel pellet in terms of its thermal expansion, mechanical deformation, swelling due to void formation and evolution, and the eventual contact of the fuel with the clad is of significant interest in understanding the fuel-clad mechanical interaction (FCMI). These phenomena are nonlinear and coupled since reduction in the fuel-clad gap affects thermal conductivity of the gap, which in turn affects temperature distribution within the fuel and the material properties of the fuel. Consequently, in order to accurately capture fuel-clad gap closure, we need to account for fuel swelling due to generation, retention, and evolution of fission gas in addition to the usual thermal expansion and mechanical deformation. Both fuel chemistry and microstructure also have a significant effect on the nucleation and growth of fission gas bubbles. Fuel-clad gap closure leading to eventual contact of the fuel with the clad introduces significant stresses in the clad, which makes thermo-mechanical response of the clad even more relevant. The overall aim of this test problem is to incorporate the above features in order to accurately capture fuel-clad mechanical interaction. Because of the complex nature of the problem, a series of test problems with increasing multi-physics coupling features, modeling accuracy, and complexity are defined with the objective of accurate simulation of fuel-clad mechanical interaction subjected to a wide-range of thermomechanical stimuli