Mechanics and Materials Engineering

Academic Year 2005-2006

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Monday, April 17, 2006
11:00 AM
479 EBU-II

Professor Costas P. Grigoropoulos

Laser Thermal Laboratory

Department of Mechanical Engineering
University of California, Berkeley

“Micro/Nanoscale Transport and Laser-Assisted Processing”

In the first part of the seminar, research on micro/nanoscale fluidic transport will be presented. Acoustically excited boundary layers in liquids are investigated by micro-particle image velocimetry (-PIV). The interplay between resonance standing modes and the highly confined near the solid boundary viscous effects is analyzed experimentally and theoretically. Fluidic transport in buried microchannels micromachined in Si devices is probed by infrared thermal velocimetry. Gas and water transport in sub-2 nm carbon nanotube membranes is examined. The observed water flow rates are much too high to reconcile with continuum mechanics, and the slip flow corrections. On the other hand the gas transport exceeds the Knudsen predictions. In the second part of the seminar, research on laser-assisted micro and nanoprocessing, nanomachining, nanolithography and nanodeposition is summarized. Fundamental aspects of ultrafast laser coupling with materials are probed by time-resolved diagnostics. A new paradigm is presented for the maskless fabrication of passive and active functional macroelectronic devices on flexible substrates.

 

 

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Monday, March 20, 2006
11:00 a.m.
479 EBU-II

John Raymond Willis
Professor of Theoretical Solid Mechanics
University of Cambridge

“Scale Effects Induced by Strain-Gradient Plasticity and Interfacial Resistance in Randomly-Inhomogeneous Media"

The theory and physical origin of strain-gradient plasticity will be briefly outlined, and a "deformation theory" (as opposed to "flow theory") version will be developed. A distinctive aspect of the theory is that it requires an additional boundary condition, or condition across any interface. This may be turned to advantage by introducing an "interfacial potential" that penalizes the development of plastic flow at an interface, by impeding the motion of dislocations. A scale-dependent hardening effect in any material such as a composite or a polycrystal is generated thereby. Treatment of such materials as having random microgeometry renders exact solution intractable but approximations (which in some cases are bounds) can be developed via a variational formulation. This will be illustrated with simple examples.

 

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Monday, February 27, 2006
11:00 a.m.
479 EBU-II

Guglielmo Scovazzi, Ph.D.
1431 Computational Shock- & Multi-physics
Sandia National Laboratories

"SUPG-stabilized Lagrangian shock hydrodynamics"

A new SUPG-stabilized formulation for Lagrangian Hydrodynamics of materials satisfying the Mie-Gr\"{u}neisen class of constitutive laws will be presented. The proposed method can be used in conjunction with simplex-type (triangular/tetrahedral) meshes, as well as the more commonly used brick-type (quadrilateral/hexahedral) meshes. The motivation for the presented work is that simplex-type meshes offer significant advantages in the automatic mesh generation process, and they are usually preferred in multi-physics problems involving radiation effects. The proposed method results in a globally conservative formulation, in which equal-order interpolation (P1 or Q1 isoparametric finite elements) is applied to velocities, displacements, and thermodynamic variables, namely pressure. As a direct consequence, a natural representation of the pressure gradient on element interiors bypasses all problematic issues related to pressure gradient reconstruction, typical of standard, cell-centered, multidimensional hydrocode implementations. SUPG stabilization in the Lagrangian context involves specific design requirements such as Galilean invariance, an overlooked aspect in standard SUPG stabilized methodologies. A discontinuity capturing operator in the form of a Noh-type viscosity with artificial heat flux is used to preserve stability and smoothness of the solution in the shock regions. Numerical results for the Euler equations of gas dynamics will be presented.

 

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Monday, February 13, 2006
11:00 a.m.
479 EBU-II

Brad Lee Holian, Ph.D.
Los Alamos National Laboratory

"Dynamics at the Mesoscale"

Studying phenomena at the mesoscale -- between atomistic and macroscopic  scales -- requires significant modifications of the atomistic-level molecular dynamics. In mesodynamics, the mass points, instead of being atoms, are mesoscopic, such as the centers of mass of polycrystalline grains or molecules. Mesodynamics requires the formulation of both an interaction potential between these mesoparticles and dissipative energy exchange that satisfies Galilean invariance. Mesodynamics simulations of shock waves in a crystalline polymer describe the thermal behavior nearly as well as all-atom molecular dynamics, at considerable computational savings.

 

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Monday, February 6, 2006
11:00 a.m.
479 EBU-II

Professor Federico Rosei
Canada Research Chair in Nanostructured Organic and Inorganic Materials
INRS Energie, Materiaux et Telecommunications
Université du Québec, Canada

"Strategies for controlled assembly at the nanoscale"


The bottom–up approach is emerging as a viable alternative for low cost manufacturing of nanostructured materials [1]. It is based on the concept of self–assembly of suitable nanostructures on a substrate. We propose various strategies to control the assembly of nanostructures (both organic and inorganic) at the nanoscale [1, 2]. Our approaches include surface patterning through a nanostencil [3, 4] (i.e. a shadow mask with nanoscale features) and deposition on naturally patterned substrates, which take advantage of long–range reconstructions [5, 6]. New experimental tools are presented to gain atomic scale insight into the surface processes that govern nucleation, growth and assembly [7–9]. The controlled assembly of building blocks at the nanoscale will be effective for a variety of applications, ranging from nanoelectronics to chemical and biosensors.

 

[1] F. Rosei, J. Phys. Cond. Matt. 16, S1373 (2004).
[2] F. Rosei et al., Prog. Surf. Sci. 71, 95 (2003).
[3] C.V. Cojocaru, C. Harnagea, F. Rosei et al., Appl. Phys. Lett 86, 183107 (2005).
[4] C.V. Cojocaru, et al., Microel. Eng. 80, 448 (2005).
[5] A. Sgarlata, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 4002 (2003).
[6] R. Otero, Y. Naitoh, F. Rosei et al., Angew. Chem. 43, 4092 (2004).
[7] F. Ratto, F. Rosei et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 4526 (2004).
[8] F. Ratto, F. Rosei et al., J. Appl. Phys. 97, 043516 (2005).
[9] F. Ratto, F. Rosei et al., Small in press (2006).
 

 

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Friday, February 3, 2006
3:00 p.m.
CMRR Auditorium

Wing Kam Liu, Walter P. Murphy Professor
Director of NSF Summer Institute on Nano Mechanics and Materials
Department of Mechanical Engineering
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

"Modeling Electric Field Guided Assembly of Nano/Bio Filaments"

The characterization and manipulation of complex biological systems has reached a stage to resolve various levels of details. We briefly outline the immersed electrohydrodynamics finite element method (IEFEM) coupled with multiphysics features such as protein molecular dynamics and adhesion mechanics for solving a class of bio-nano-fluidics problems. We then apply the multiphysics of the composite electric field for the guided alignment of the carbon nanotube (CNT) and DNA. Preliminary multi-scale and multi-physics examples demonstrate that the proposed IEFEM provides an ideal modeling platform for the modeling of multi-physics biological systems, including heart, arteries and veins, microcirculation blood flow, cell-extra cellular matrix interaction, and electric field guided assembly of nanowires. In particular, the IEFEM code is being used in the modeling of nano-electromechanical (NEM) sensor fabrications. The dynamic process of the attraction, alignment, and deposition of nano/bio filaments between micro-electrodes is modeled by integrating electrophoretic and dielectrophoretic forces in addition to a drag force caused by electroosmosis. The various dynamic processes and assembled patterns are explored by comparing our simulation results with experimental observations. The NEM sensors will be used for the measurement of cell traction forces for the understanding of the focal adhesion complex and cell motility.

 

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Wednesday, January 25, 2005
2:00 p.m.
479 EBU-II

Professor John W. Hutchinson
Division of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Harvard University


"On The Design Of Metallic Plate Structures Under Intense Dynamic Loads"

Can metal sandwich plate construction be more effective in resisting intense dynamic loads than solid plate structure of the same mass and material?  The answer is yes, but establishing this relative advantage and designing the most effective structure requires an understanding of basic aspects of fluid-structure interaction and plastic deformation of the components (faces and core) of the sandwich plate.  Core topology (e.g., honeycomb, corrugated plate or truss elements) is an important consideration in the development of effective sandwich plates, as is the relative allocation of material to the faces and core.  Dissipation of energy occurs in compaction of the core and in bending and stretching of the faces.  The seminar will present an overview of the mechanics underlying these issues and will review simulations of plates subject to impulsive loads.  Results of sandwich plates optimized against air and water shocks are discussed.

 

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Monday, January 9, 2006
11:00 a.m.
479 EBU-II

E.M. Bringa
Chemistry and Material Sciences, Materials Science and Technology Division
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

“Atomistic simulations of high strain rate deformation of materials: from nanocrystals to astrophysics”

High strain rate deformation of condensed materials offers a window to new phases, novel material properties, and ultra-fast microstructure evolution. Recent experiments using laser-induced shocks have unveiled a rich deformation scenario depending on shock pressure and strain rate. The new National Ignition Facility (NIF), which just started reduced operation, will give a new window to study materials at extreme conditions.

 

Large-scale non-equilibrium atomistic molecular dynamics simulations of shocks in embedded atom method (EAM) metals, using up to 4 108 atoms during 0.2 ns will be presented. A new method, informed by molecular dynamics results, and mixing on the fly dislocation dynamics and finite element methods coupling, will be presented to describe microstructure produced by isentropic (ICE) loading. These simulations help interpreting experimental data and suggest new experiments to elucidate deformation pathways at high strain rate. The onset of dislocation slip and twinning, together with the “long”-time plastic evolution and resulting X-ray diffraction evolution will be discussed, explaining recent experimental X-ray diffraction results. Simulations of shocks in samples with dislocation loops, voids (1) and grain boundaries have been carried out to study the effect of pre-existing defects on the final shock-induced microstructure. In particular, there is an experimental and modeling effort at LLNL to understand shocks in nanocrystals (2). New experimental results on shocks in nanocrystalline Ni will be presented, which are consistent with atomistic simulation results. Finally, experiments and simulations on high-strain rate deformation of sub-micron clusters/grains will be discussed, in the context of damage due to micrometeoroid impacts relevant to space missions.

 

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Monday, December 5, 2005
11:00 a.m.
479 EBU-II

Katja Lindenberg
Distinguished Professor of Chemistry
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
University of California, San Diego

Energy Localization and Dynamics in Nonlinear Molecular and Granular Media

The localization of mechanical energy in discrete nonlinear molecular arrays has attracted a huge amount of interest in the past two decades as a possible mechanism for the efficient storage and transport of energy. The reasons for the broad interest in these phenomena are at least two-fold: on the one hand, they embody many of the interesting effects of the interplay of nonlinearity, discretization, and stochasticity, and on the other they may be of use in explaining a variety of physical and biophysical phenomena. The examination of such arrays as energy storage and transfer assemblies for chemical or photochemical processes goes back to the early days of this problem. More recently, the localization and transport of vibrational energy has been invoked in a number of physical settings including DNA molecules, hydrocarbon structures, the creation of vibrational intrinsic localized modes in anharmonic crystals, photonic crystal waveguides, and targeted energy transfer between donors and acceptors in biomolecules.

 

A parallel and equally important context for energy localization occurs at a more macro­scopic level in the propagation of pulses in dense strongly nonlinear granular materials. A recent revival of interest in the subject has been trig­gered in part by a concern with important technological applications such as the design of efficient shock absorbers, the detection of buried objects, and the fragmentation of granular chains.

 

While these interesting applications fuel the continued intense study of these phenomena, so does the desire to understand these behaviors at a fundamental level. In this talk we will present highlights of the analytical and numerical analysis of energy localization and dynamics in model nonlinear discrete media. We focus on the roles and interplays of linear and nonlinear interactions, thermal fluctuations where appropriate, and frictional energy dissipation on these behaviors.

 

 

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Monday, November 14, 2005
11:00 a.m.
479 EBU-II

Professor Bernard D. Coleman
J. Willard Gibbs Professor of Thermomechanics
Rutgers University


"On the elastic behavior of DNA, with intramolecular electrostatic effects and intrinsic curvature"

A molecule of DNA can be treated as though it is a rod-like structure that in a nanoscale drawing looks roughly like a stack of dominos (called base pairs) with each rotated approximately 36 degrees relative to its predecessor in the stack.  The step from one base pair to the next can be one of ten distinct types each having its own mechanical properties (that are determined by the nucleotide composition of the step). The complexities of the genetic code are such that a DNA molecule found in nature is not mechanically homogeneous.

 
Of particular importance is the realization of the fact that, because each base pair carries two (negative) charges, under physiological conditions a DNA molecule is subject to strong long range intramolecular electrostatic forces that, because they are partially screened out by positively charged counter ions, can render the equilibrium configurations of the DNA sensitive to changes in the concentration of salt in the medium.


Thus DNA is not what we call "a simple material", "a higher gradient material", or even a material with mechanical behavior that can be well approximated by the behavior of such materials.


This talk will be about the mathematical theory of a naturally discrete (i.e., base-pair level) model of the mechanics of DNA molecules that takes account of both the long-­range intramolecular electrostatic forces and the dependence of the elastic properties of DNA on the base-pair sequence.  The theory was developed by Yoav Biton, David Swigon, and the speaker.  Recent calculations of Yoav Biton will be presented for cases in which the theory predicts that the dependence of DNA configurations on salt concentration is much stronger than might have been conjectured previously.

 

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Friday, October 28, 2005
1:30 p.m.
479 EBU-II

Chantal Darquenne, Ph.D.
School of Medicine
University of California, San Diego

"The use of experimental and computational techniques to study aerosol transport and deposition in the lung"

       Because of the difficulty of obtaining in-vivo data of particle transport in the alveolar region of the lung, most studies have been based on non-invasive measurements and computational modeling. Our laboratory has undertaken an extensive experimental and computational research program on the effect of gravity on aerosol transport in the human lung. The results from these studies will be presented in the seminar.

       Experimental studies. First, an overview of the anatomy of the lung and of the mechanisms affecting aerosol transport in the lung will be discussed. Then the experimental studies carried aboard the NASA Microgravity Research Aircraft in microgravity (µG), normal gravity (1G) and hypergravity (~1.6G) will be presented. In the first set of studies, human volunteers continuously breathed aerosol with a size ranging between 0.5 and 3 µm in diameter. Data showed that deposition (DE) increased with increasing G. However, in µG, DE of the small particles was higher than predicted by the numerical models. As inertia is negligible for these small particles and sedimentation is absent in µG, the higher DE was explained by a larger DE by enhanced diffusion resulting from unaccounted mixing effects.

A series of bolus deposition (DE) and dispersion (H) studies in altered G levels was then performed. A bolus containing 0.5, 1.0 or 2.0 mm aerosol particles was introduced at predetermined points in an inspiration immediately followed by an expiration. Penetration volumes (Vp) of the bolus ranged from 150 to 1500 ml. For each particle size (dp), the data show that, at shallow Vp, DE and H were not different between gravity levels. In contrast, at larger Vp, when the aerosol bolus reached the alveolar regions of the lung, DE and H were strongly dependent on the G level. The steady increase in H with increasing Vp suggests a continued presence of mixing processes in the early generations of the acinar region. This mixing may facilitate particles entering the alveolar cavities and eventually depositing. In the studies performed in μG, the lung is in the most uniform state possible, and there are no losses due to sedimentation. Yet there is clearly a consistent increase in bolus dispersion as Vp increases. This is the first clear experimental evidence that airway geometries, lung expansion, and the flow patterns that they generate directly result in convective mixing in the human lung.

      Computational studies. For particle sizes that are most affected by gravitational sedimentation (0.5-5µm), a comprehensive study of aerosol deposition was performed in a two-dimensional (2D) model of a symmetric 6-generation structure of identical alveolated ducts (AD) and in a three-dimensional (3D) model of a single bifurcation of AD. Simulations were performed for a typical breath pattern consisting of a 2-sec inspiration immediately followed by a 2-sec expiration. Up to five breath cycles were simulated. Simulations were performed for different orientations of the structure with respect to the gravity vector. The data clearly showed that, for each dp and structure orientation, there was a larger heterogeneity in DE among ducts of the structure. Local concentrations of deposited particles could be at least one order of magnitude larger than mean alveolar DE. A large number of the small particles (0.5-2 mm) failed to exit the structure at the end of expiration and remained in suspension in the distal part of the structure. During subsequent breaths, these particles penetrated beyond the inspired volume of air where they eventually deposited. These are important observations when one has to determine the potential effects of airborne pollutants to human health or the effectiveness of drugs administered by inhalation therapy.

       More recently, a 3D model of an alveolated duct with expanding and contracting walls has been developed in which similar DE predictions were made for 1 to 5 µm particles. Data showed that for each dp, DE was significantly higher in the moving-walled model than in a comparable rigid-walled model.  These results strongly demonstrate the importance of modeling the expansion and contractions of the alveolar structure in future modeling studies.

 

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Monday, October 24, 2005
11:00 a.m.
479 EBU-II

Professor Subhash Mahajan
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering
Arizona State University


"Origins and Reduction of Threading Dislocation in GaN layers Deposited on (0001) Sapphire"

We have investigated origins of threading dislocations (TDs) in GaN Layers grown on (0001) sapphire substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition using two-step epitaxy.  This growth protocol involved the deposition of GaN nucleation layers (NLs) at low temperature, followed by the growth of GaN layers at high temperatures (HT).  Two sources of TDs have been identified: highly defective NLs and points defects in HT GaN layers.  TDs evolve by glide and climb of dislocations from NLs into HT overgrowths and condensation of point defects to form dislocation loops.  In no case, TDs are observed at the coalescence of growth islands.

           

We have developed a simple growth scheme to reduce the density of TDs in GaN overgrowths.  This process entails in situ deposition of very thin layers (2nm or less) of silicon nitride on NLs, followed by thermal annealing.  This step creates GaN seeds that are separated from each other, by silicon nitride.  The subsequent growth of HT GaN appears to initiate from these seeds.  Initially, GaN growth occurs vertically, and later on lateral growth takes over, resulting in a continuous film.  Using this approach, the density of TDs is reduced from ~1010 cm-2 to 3X108 cm-2.  Observations will be presented to understand the mechanism of reduction.

           

The support of the above work by AFOSR, NSF and ONR is gratefully acknowledged.

 

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Monday, October 17, 2005
11:00 a.m.
479 EBU-II

Elena Grekova
Institute for Problems in Mechanical Engineering of Russian Academy of Sciences
St.
Petersburg
, Russia

“Wave propagation in rocks and soils modelled as reduced Cosserat continuum”

We consider rocks and compressed soils as elastic reduced Cosserat continuum, i.e. an elastic medium whose point-bodies are able to rotate,which induces asymmetric stresses, but according to our constitutive hypothesis does not induce couple stresses. The basic idea for such a modelling is that in a real rock or a compressed soil there are many heterogeneities, posessing rotational degrees of freedom, which influence wave propagation. Instead of considering in a detailed way a complex scattering problem we take as an effective model the reduced Cosserat continuum. We consider wave propagation for an isotropic case, and for the case of general weak anisotropy in coupling of rotational and translational degrees of freedom.  In both cases the microstructure of the kind under consideration provides a strong dispersive behaviour, and the "attenuation" caused by the trapping of kinetic energy by rotation, for certain frequencies. The Green functions are constructed for the isotropic medium.  The influence of inhomogeneities in the inertial properties on the wave propagation is considered for some cases.

 

This work has been done in collaboration with Gerard C. Herman (Shell E. & P., Rijswijk; TU Delft, the Netherlands) and financially supported by  Shell E. &P. in frame of the project "Waves in complex media".

 

 

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Friday, October 14, 2005
11:00 a.m.
584 EBU-II

Professor Antonio Castellanos
Physics Faculty, Avda. Reina Mercedes
Seville
, Spain


"Flow regime boundaries in cohesive powders"

Granular materials exhibit several regimes of behavior: plastic, inertial, fluidized, and entrained flow. Particle size, particle density, cohesiveness and gas flow govern which of these types of behavior occur, but not all materials can pass through all of these states. For each regime of granular behavior there is a dominant mechanism that determines the order of magnitude of the stresses in the bulk, and the transitions between the various flow regimes can then be obtained by comparing the magnitude of these stresses. In general the motion of coarse granular material is characterized by transition from plastic to inertial flow, whereas a fine powder at atmospheric pressure is characterized by the transition from plastic to fluidized flow. This transition makes powders qualitatively different from coarse granular materials, and it is the most important single fact to be taken in account when designing industrial devices for handling, transport and mixing of fine powders.

 

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Monday, October 3, 2005
11:00 a.m.
479 EBU-II

M. I. Baskes
Los Alamos National Laboratory

“Atomistic calculations of shock induced phase transformations and spall

 

Shock waves in materials produce a number of interesting phenomena including phase transformations and spall.  This presentation will discuss recent calculations of these phenomena at the atomic level using an embedded atom method (EAM) potential.  Since the phenomena of interest involve subtle energy differences in the phase transformations and generation of free surface in spall, a realistic many-body EAM potential that represents the properties of nickel, a typical fcc material is used.

Using a standard flyer-plate geometry, many molecular dynamics calculations at different sample sizes, orientations, grain structure, and initial velocity were performed.  In general the following observations about shock induced phase transformations may be made: (1) the fcc crystal transforms to a bcc-like crystal structure just behind the shock wave; (2) after a period of time, the bcc structure transforms to a layered hcp/fcc material; and (3) when the reflected shock wave traverses this material, the system mostly transforms back to fcc.  These phase transformations produce a multi-wave velocity profile at the free surfaces of the sample in agreement with many experimental observations.

Due to the tension produced by the reflected shock waves, spall then occurs in this almost pristine material by void nucleation at a grain boundary facet and growth of this void.  The spall strength is found to be a strong function of the large strain rates in these computer experiments.  Extrapolation of the spall strength to true experimental strain rates yields excellent agreement with experiment.

 

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Monday, September 26, 2005
11:00 a.m.
479 EBU-II

Professor Joseph ZARKA
Scientific Director CADLM

“Some Questions in Materials and Structures”

During the seminar this fundamental question will be underlined:

 

Nobody in mechanical, civil or transportation engineerings can escape from nano modelling/nano technologies, is it possible to keep our main hypothesis of continuous media ?

 

What are the possible directions to reach solutions ?

 

Using some examples, it will be shown the importance of the Advanced Intelligent Design of Systems to such general problems when we know that we don’t know and when we need to reach real practical and optimal solutions.

 

 

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Information: (858) 534-3980