Abstract

Graphene deposited on planar surfaces often exhibits sharp and localized folds delimiting seemingly planar regions, as a result of compressive stresses transmitted by the substrate. Such folds alter the electronic and chemical properties of graphene, and therefore, it is important to understand their emergence, to either suppress them or control their morphology. Here, we study the emergence of out-of-plane deformations in supported and laterally strained graphene with high-fidelity simulations and a simpler theoretical model. We characterize the onset of buckling and the nonlinear behavior after the instability in terms of the adhesion and frictional material parameters of the graphene-substrate interface. We find that localized folds evolve from a distributed wrinkling linear instability due to the nonlinearity in the van der Waals graphene-substrate interactions. We identify friction as a selection mechanism for the separation between folds, as the formation of far apart folds is penalized by the work of friction. Our systematic analysis is a first step towards strain engineering of supported graphene, and is applicable to other compressed thin elastic films weakly coupled to a substrate.

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Abstract

The recent trend to replace Body-in-White components with carbon fibre laminates, known as “Body in Black”, has been taking hold in new vehicle designs. This is how various hybrids with a thermoplastic matrix are born, such as CAPET, which has titanium with carbon fibres in PEEK, CAPAAL, which has aluminium with carbon fibres and glass in PA 6, CATPUAL based on CAPAAL, with thermoplastic polyurethane matrix and aluminium sheets. This project includes the study and design of hybrid laminates that can replace a monolithic steel sheet. Analytical models based on the classical laminate theory and models based on the rule of mixtures were used to predict the mechanical behaviour of the material. The structural behaviour of a semi-product was analysed using finite element simulations. The results show that it is possible to obtain a weight reduction between 13% and 22% when using a hybrid laminate, but it is required to increase the thickness of the lamina up to 3 times compared to the metal. Subsequently, studies were carried out to measure the wetness of the surface and the adhesion resistance of a carbon fibre prepreg with PA6 matrix on aluminium. A life cycle analysis (LCA) of hybrid laminates designed to observe the environmental impact on energy consumption and carbon footprint was carried out. 

Abstract

The current work contemplates both the scaling in the production of an icephobic coating based on an aeronautical paint as well as the automatic application of the aforementioned coating. In the automation process, a complex geometry demonstrator representative of a composite leading edge was selected. The functionality of the coating, which is based on getting low ice adhesion values, is strongly influenced by the morphology of the last sol-gel layer applied over the paint. For this reason, during the automation process it has been necessary to readjust different parameters of the robotic arm to achieve an adequate size and distribution of sol-gel droplets.

Abstract

In modeling and numerically implementing a follower pressure in a geometrically nonlinear setting, one needs to compute the volume enclosed by a surface and its variation. For closed surfaces, the volume can be expressed as a surface integral invoking the divergence theorem. For periodic systems, widely used in computational physics and materials science, the enclosed volume calculation and its variation is more delicate and has not been examined before. Here, we develop simple expressions involving integrals on the surface, on its boundary lines, and point contributions. We consider two specific situations, a periodic tubular surface and a doubly periodic surface enclosing a volume with a nearby planar substrate, which are useful to model systems such as pressurized carbon nanotubes, supported lipid bilayers or graphene. We provide a set of numerical examples, which show that the familiar surface integral term alone leads to an incorrect volume evaluation and spurious forces at the periodic boundaries.

Abstract

The origin of fracture in epithelial cell sheets subject to stretch is commonly attributed to excess tension in the cells' cytoskeleton, in the plasma membrane, or in cell-cell contacts. Here, we demonstrate that for a variety of synthetic and physiological hydrogel substrates the formation of epithelial cracks is caused by tissue stretching independently of epithelial tension. We show that the origin of the cracks is hydraulic; they result from a transient pressure build-up in the substrate during stretch and compression manoeuvres. After pressure equilibration, cracks heal readily through actomyosin-dependent mechanisms. The observed phenomenology is captured by the theory of poroelasticity, which predicts the size and healing dynamics of epithelial cracks as a function of the stiffness, geometry and composition of the hydrogel substrate. Our findings demonstrate that epithelial integrity is determined in a tension-independent manner by the coupling between tissue stretching and matrix hydraulics.

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Abstract

Composites of thermoplastics reinforced with natural fibres have been widely used in recent years. Natural fibres are considered as a greener substitute due to their advantages over conventional fibres such as low cost, low density, high availability, excellent mechanical properties, biodegradability and to be environmentally friendly. However, they present an important limitation, the weak interaction between fibres and matrix. Therefore, surface treatments on natural fibres are very common in order to increase wettability and surface energy and thus to promote good fibre-matrix adhesion. The objective of this work is to study adhesion between flax fibres, under different surface treatments, and LDPE matrix. Pull-out tests were carried out with flax fibres yarns treated with low pressure plasma, atmospheric pressure plasma torch,silane coating and different alkaline treatments as well as with untreated fibres.  Afterwards,  composites materials were manufactured using unidirectional flax fabric and LDPE in a hot plate press. Finally, mechanical properties of each composite material were evaluated by tensile tests using an universal test machine. In this way, a greater interaction between LDPE and flax fibres can be compared with the final properties.