Publications

Wind turbine blades are manufactured by molding them in two halves and joining them using thick adhesive joints. The failure of these adhesive joints, particularly in the trailing edge of the blades, compromises the structural integrity of the wind turbine. Therefore, comprehending the mechanisms of failure in adhesive joints is critical to designing wind turbine blades efficiently. For this purpose, the present study proposes a novel approach ...

This paper studies thermomechanical coupling during room-temperature tensile testing of polyamide-6 (PA6) and 50 wt% short glass fibre/PA6. The tests were performed for different fibre angles (0°, 45°, 90°), moisture contents (dry, 50%RH), and strain rates (10^(-4), 10^(-2), 10^(-1) s^(-1)). Digital image correlation (DIC) was coupled with infrared thermography. The contribution of the local strains, strain rates and temperatures to the global ...

In short fibre composites, debonding cracks usually initiate from fibre tips and their growth is governed by the properties of the fibre/matrix interface. These properties are ideally acquired from a model test similar to the real composite, while excluding the effects of fibre fractures and the induced debonding interactions. Therefore, in this study, debonding growth was examined in detail, using novel single short fibre specimens, which were ...

This research presents a numerical multi-scale approach that efficiently addresses the inelastic and timedependent mechanical response of short fiber reinforced polymers (SFRPs) under monotonic loading conditions by linking the mechanical analysis from microscale analysis to a continuum model. To do so, first, the mechanical performance of a recently suggested unit cell, considering the intrinsic mechanical characteristics of both fiber and ...

Polymer composites have been extensively used for the last 30 years in the automotive, green-energy, maritime and aerospace industries. While the demands of composites' applications are increasing, complications are arising regarding their sustainability. In this work, a siloxane-based vitrimer with fast stress-relaxation, and its Glass-Fibre-Reinforced Vitrimer (GFRV) were manufactured and mechanically characterised as a sustainable alternative ...

Despite all recent progresses in nerve tissue engineering, critical-sized nerve defects are still extremely challenging to repair. Therefore, this study targets the bridging of critical nerve defects and promoting an oriented neuronal outgrowth by engineering innovative nerve guidance conduits (NGCs) synergistically possessing exclusive topographical, chemical, and mechanical cues. To do so, a mechanically adequate mixture of polycaprolactone ...

The significant variability in the high-cycle fatigue of additive manufactured (AM) Ti-6Al-4V has impeded its confident application in fatigue-critical components. One of the major factors responsible for the fatigue-life variability is the presence of intrinsic defects left by the additive manufacturing process. The goal of this work is to investigate the fatigue-life variability as the function of (i) the locations of the defects, viz., ...

Digital image correlation (DIC) in combination with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and in-situ mechanical testing has great potential to study the micro-mechanical behavior of materials. Yet, the application of a high-quality speckle pattern for DIC remains challenging at this scale. Here, we present a versatile polymer particle-based speckle pattern with adjustable speckle size (0.17–1.04 μm) to cover a wide range of magnifications (500x to ...

The nonlinear behaviour of fibre-reinforced polymer composites (FRPC) in transverse loading is mainly induced by the constituent polymer matrix. The thermoset and thermoplastic matrices are typically rate and temperature-dependent, complicating the dynamic material characterization process. Under dynamic compression, the microstructure of the FRPC develops local strains and local strain rates whose values can be much higher than those applied at ...