Pine Beams Retrofitted with FRP and Poplar Planks: Mechanical Behavior

The paper presents an experimental analysis of the bending behavior of pine beams (Pinus Sylvester) retrofitted with fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) and poplar planks used as external covering. Poplar wood was chosen because of its rapid growth in planted forests, its homogeneity and attributes for sustainable local development, and high CO2 absorption rate. Vibration tests were also conducted in order to evaluate the stiffness in a non-destructive way and compare it with that obtained by means of the destructive tests. Three types of reinforcement were compared, namely: basalt fabric (FB), carbon fabric (FC) and carbon laminate (LC). In addition, some pine beams were reinforced only with poplar planks and used as control specimens in order to evaluate the improvement provided by the FRP. It was observed that a strong delamination preceded the final breakage of beam. Moreover, the results indicated that stiffness is provided mainly by the poplar plank and not by the FRP, as was expected.This work was made possible thanks to the financial support of the COMPOP_Timber project “Desarrollo de productos de ingeniería elaborados a base de tablones y chapas de chopo con inserciones de material compuesto para su uso en construcción”, BIA2017-82650-R

Metal mesh filters based on Ti, ITO and Cu thin films for terahertz waves

In this study, we have investigated the spectral performance of resonant terahertz (THz) bandpass filters which were produced from thin films with a metal-mesh shape. The aforementioned filters were fabricated from titanium, copper and indium tin oxide thin films on fused silica substrates by UV lithography with an array of cross-shaped apertures. Since the mesh period, cross-arm length and its width specify the spectral characteristics of the filters, we were able to reveal the performance of these filters experimentally using both a THz time domain spectrometer and a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. A commercial electromagnetic simulation software, CST microwave studio, was used to verify the experimental data. The transmission of the filters are in the range 20–55 % at their relevant center frequencies. To our knowledge this study is the first to show that fabricated patterns based on ITO thin films can be used to filter THz radiation.TUBITAK (114F091