The dynamic response of carbon fiber-filled polymer composites

The dynamic (shock) responses of two carbon fiber-filled polymer composites have been quantified using gas gun-driven plate impact experimentation. The first composite is a filament-wound, highly unidirectional carbon fiber-filled epoxy with a high degree of porosity. The second composite is a chopped carbon fiber- and graphite-filled phenolic resin with little-to-no porosity. Hugoniot data are presented for the carbon fiber-epoxy (CE) composite to 18.6 GPa in the through-thickness direction, in which the shock propagates normal to the fibers. The data are best represented by a linear Rankine-Hugoniot fit: Us = 2.87 + 1.17 ×up(ρ0 = 1.536g/cm3). The shock wave structures were found to be highly heterogeneous, both due to the anisotropic nature of the fiber-epoxy microstructure, and the high degree of void volume. Plate impact experiments were also performed on a carbon fiber-filled phenolic (CP) composite to much higher shock input pressures, exceeding the reactants-to-products transition common to polymers. The CP was found to be stiffer than the filament-wound CE in the unreacted Hugoniot regime, and transformed to products near the shock-driven reaction threshold on the principal Hugoniot previously shown for the phenolic binder itself. [19] On-going research is focused on interrogating the direction-dependent dyanamic response and dynamic failure strength (spall) for the CE composite in the TT and 0∘ (fiber) directions

Diversity in Australian higher education?

This study explores systematic relationships between management attitudes about recent transitions in the funding and structure of higher education in Australia (Meek and Goedegebuure, 1989) and the domains of the taxonomy emerging from ongoing organisational effectiveness research based on these institutions (Lysons, 1990b). The results reinforce the integrity of the previously established 4 group framework and flesh-out more fine-grained issues which may militate against the smooth transition of amalgamated institutions to university status, on the one hand, and the enhancement of diversity on the other

Solute-derived thermal stabilization of nano-sized grains in melt-spun aluminum

Thermal stabilization of nanograined metallic microstructures (or nanostructures) can be difficult due to the large driving force for growth that arises from the inherently significant boundary area. Kinetic approaches for stabilization of the nanostructure effective at low homologous temperatures often fail at higher homologous temperatures. Alternatively, thermodynamic approaches for thermal stabilization may offer higher temperature stability. In this research, modest alloying of aluminum with solute (1 pct by mole Sc, Yb, or Sr) was examined as a means to thermodynamically stabilize a bulk nanostructure at elevated temperatures. Following 1-hour annealing treatments at 673 K (400 °C) (0.72 Tm), 773 K (500 °C) (0.83 Tm), and 873 K (600 °C) (0.94 Tm), the alloys remain nanocrystalline (nm) as measured by Warren–Averbach Fourier analysis of X-ray diffraction peaks and direct observation of TEM dark-field micrographs, with the efficacy of stabilization: Sr ≈ Yb \u3e Sc. The disappearance of intermetallic phases in the Sr- and Yb-containing alloys in the X-ray diffraction spectra is observed to occur coincident with the stabilization after annealing, suggesting that precipitates dissolve and the boundaries are enriched with solute