Some recent advances in nanomechanical testing: High strain rates, variable temperatures, fatigue and stress relaxation, combinatorial experimentation

In the first part of the talk, I will present two recently developed platforms for high temperature nanomechanical testing. The first platform allows for variable temperature and variable strain rate testing of micropillars in situ in the scanning electron microscope. By utilizing an intrinsically displacement-controlled micro-compression setup, which applies displacement using a miniaturized piezo-actuator, we’ve recently extended the attainable range of strain rates to up to~ 103 s−1, and enabled cyclic loading up to 107 cycles and load relaxation tests. Stable, variable temperature indentation/micro-compression in the range of -45°C to 600°C is achieved through independent heating and temperature monitoring of both the indenter tip and sample and by cooling the instrument frame. A second system allows for measurements at lower loads ex-situ in a dedicated vacuum chamber in the range of -150 °C to 700 °C. The cryo temperature is achieved by means of a liquid nitrogen line, while the high temperature is generated by three independent heat sources for the sample and the two tips of the differential displacement measurement system, establishing an infrared bath in the measurement area. In the second part several case studies will be presented. Using these new capabilities, we examine the plasticity of electrodeposited nanocrystalline Nickel, of combinatorial thin film libraries, of hard nanocrystalline ceramic thin films. Activation parameters such as activation volume and activation energy were determined and discussed in view of the most probable deformation mechanism. High strain rates and cyclic fatigue tests were performed on nanocrystalline Ni. The strain rate sensitivity seems to increase for strain rates higher than 10 s-1 suggesting a change in deformation mechanism with increasing strain rate. Cyclic fatigue tests up to 1 million cycles were performed on nanocrystalline Ni microbeams and compared with existing data from literature. Combinatorial libraries of bulk metallic glasses were synthesized by a combination of gradient sputtering and evaporation. Hardness and Young’s modulus was mapped as a function of temperate, strain rate and composition. The results are discussed in the light of shear band kinetics. Finally, a wide range of chromium nitride-based hard coatings was investigated using in situ micro-cantilever bending and compression testing. This allowed the first direct measurement of the high temperature compressive strength and fracture toughness

Diffusion of Chemically Reacting Fluids through Nonlinear Elastic Solids and 1D Stabilized Solutions

This paper summarizes a 1D adaptation (Hall et al., Math Mech Solids, 2014) of the reactive fluid–solid mixture theory of Hall and Rajagopal (Math Mech Solids 17(2):131–164, 2012), which considers an anisotropic viscous fluid diffusing and chemically reacting with an anisotropic elastic solid. The present implementation introduces a stabilized mixed finite element method for advection–diffusion–reaction phenomena, which is applied to 1D isothermal problems involving Fickian diffusion, oxidation of PMR-15 polyimide resin, and slurry infiltration. The energy and entropy production relations are captured via a Lagrange multiplier that results from imposing the constraint of maximum rate of entropy production, reducing the primary PDEs to the balance equations of mass and linear momentum for the fluid and the solid, together with an equation for the Lagrange multiplier. The Fickian diffusion application considers a hyperbolic first order system with a boundary discontinuity and stable approach to the usual parabolic model. Results of the oxidation modeling of Tandon et al. (Polym Degrad Stab 91(8):1861–1869, 2006) are recovered by employing the reaction kinetics model and properties assumed there, while providing in addition the individual constituent kinematic and kinetic behaviors, thus adding rich interpretive detail in comparison to the original treatment (Tandon et al., Polym Degrad Stab 91 (8):1861–1869, 2006); two adjustable parameters describing coupled chemomechanical and purely chemical dissipation are added. The slurry infiltration application simulates the imposed mass deposition process and consequent effects on the kinematic and kinetic behaviors of the constituents.Ope

Mismatched anti-predator behavioral responses in predator-naïve larval anurans

Organisms are adept at altering behaviors to balance the tradeoff between foraging and predation risk in spatially and temporally shifting predator environments. In order to optimize this tradeoff, prey need to be able to display an appropriate response based on degree of predation risk. To be most beneficial in the earliest life stages in which many prey are vulnerable to predation, innate anti-predator responses should scale to match the risk imposed by predators until learned anti-predator responses can occur. We conducted an experiment that examined whether tadpoles with no previous exposure to predators (i.e., predator-naive) exhibit innate antipredator behavioral responses (e.g., via refuge use and spatial avoidance) that match the actual risk posed by each predator. Using 7 treatments (6 free-roaming, lethal predators plus no-predator control), we determined the predation rates of each predator on Lithobates sphenocephalus tadpoles. We recorded behavioral observations on an additional 7 nonlethal treatments (6 caged predators plus no-predator control). Tadpoles exhibited innate responses to fish predators, but not non-fish predators, even though two non-fish predators (newt and crayfish) consumed the most tadpoles. Due to a mismatch between innate response and predator consumption, tadpoles may be vulnerable to greater rates of predation at the earliest life stages before learning can occur. Thus, naïve tadpoles in nature may be at a high risk to predation in the presence of a novel predator until learned anti-predator responses provide additional defenses to the surviving tadpoles.ECU Open Access Publishing Support Fun

C4.4A as a candidate marker in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer

C4.4A is a member of the Ly-6 family with restricted expression in non-transformed tissues. C4.4A expression in human cancer has rarely been evaluated. Thus, it became important to explore C4.4A protein expression in human tumour tissue to obtain an estimate on the frequency of expression and the correlation with tumour progression, the study focusing on colorectal cancer. The analysis of C4.4A in human tumour lines by western blot and immunoprecipitation using polyclonal rabbit antibodies that recognize different C4.4A epitopes revealed C4.4A oligomer and heavily glycosylated C4.4A isoform expression that, in some instances, inhibited antibody binding and interaction with the C4.4A ligand galectin-3. In addition, tumour cell lines released C4.4A by vesicle shedding and proteolytic cleavage. C4.4A was expressed in over 80% of primary colorectal cancer and liver metastasis with negligible expression in adjacent colonic mucosa, inflamed colonic tissue and liver. This compares well with EpCAM and CO-029 expression in over 90% of colorectal cancer. C4.4A expression was only observed in about 50% of pancreatic cancer and renal cell carcinoma. By de novo expression in colonic cancer tissue, we consider C4.4A as a candidate diagnostic marker in colorectal cancer, which possibly can be detected in body fluids

Investigating polyethersulfone interleaved Glass/Carbon hybrid composite under impact and its comparison with GLARE

A tough polyethersulfone (PES) membrane was utilized as a novel reinforcement to improve impact performance of a carbon/glass hybrid composite. The hybrid composite was made of a glass fibre/epoxy block that was sandwiched between two carbon fibre/epoxy blocks. The PES reinforced hybrid composite was compared with an unmodified hybrid composite and a glass reinforced aluminium (GLARE) laminate. During impact testing, results showed that incorporation of PES led to an increase in toughness with a reduction in damage propagation in the investigated composite panels. Furthermore, the results showed that for low impact energy levels (6 J, 12 J and 18 J), the addition of the PES membrane reduced the area of damage by an average of 67%, compared to the virgin laminate. By increasing the impact energy level (24 J and 32 J), fibre breakage was the dominant failure mode and the PES had a negligible effect on the impact performance. A comparable load bearing performance was observed with the hybrid composites and the GLARE laminate for the low energy levels (6 J, 12 J and 18 J). However, the GLARE laminate had a better performance during high energy impacts (24 J and 32 J), due to the high ductility of the aluminium plates