Axisymmetric Waves in Layered Anisotropic Fibers and Composites

The complicated morphology of the new generation of advanced fibrous composites gave further impetus to the study of the interaction of ultrasonic waves with multilayered concentric cylindrical systems. Typically, the fiber consists of a cylindrical core embedded in a cladding region followed by a distinct interface zone separating the fiber system from the host (matrix) region. In addition, the cladding region itself often consists of subregions which can be identified as distinct layers. Each individual layer can posses certain degree of microscopic anisotropy adding to the macroscopic anisotropy produced by the presence of layering and imperfect interfaces. Relatively few efforts have been spent upon the study of free and immersed homogeneous anisotropic rods [1–5]. These works are insufficient to model real situations encountered in materials characterization of advanced fibrous composites. In order to better model advanced fibrous composites at least three major effects need to be accounted for. These are the inhomogeneous nature of the structure as reflected in its multilayering, the inherent microscopic anisotropy of some of the constituents and finally the quality of the interfaces. In this paper we briefly describe a unified analytical treatment of wave propagation along the fiber direction of multilayered coaxial fibrous systems embedded in a host material. A more detailed discussion of this general treatment will be presented elsewhere [6]. Figure 1 shows typical geometric situations including (a) a single multilayered fiber, (b) a single multilayered fiber either immersed in an infinite fluid or embedded in an infinite solid, and an infinite composite material with periodically distributed multilayered fiber

Heparan sulfates upregulate regeneration of transected sciatic nerves of adult guinea pigs

An acoustic microscope has been proven to be a very effective tool for visualization and characterization of small internal defects in solids[l]. The distinction of internal defects such as cracks and voids from solid inclusions is sometimes necessary for material evaluation. For example in case of light metal casting alloys ultrasonic scattered echo from pores and heavy metal inclusions used for strengthening purposes can give the ultrasonic signal of the same order of magnitude [2]. In this paper it is shown how the phase information of the reflected echo can be used to distinguish void signals from solid inclusion signals. Conventional acoustic imaging techniques that use only amplitude information and ignores the phase information can not distinguish between voids and inclusions