U.S.-France Cooperative Research: Deformation Properties of Elastomers and Fiber Suspensions

9981404Cohen这项为期三年的美法材料工程合作研究奖的获得者包括来自康奈尔大学的Claude Cohen和一名研究生，以及法国卡尚高等师范学院的Arnaud Poitou和Mohend Chaouche。该项目是由美国国家科学基金会和法国国家科学研究中心（CNRS）联合资助的，将促进在双轴变形条件下明确定义和表征弹性体行为的本构模型开发方面的合作。弹性体是类橡胶的合成聚合物。研究人员将合成纤维增强的、定义明确的弹性体，并研究纤维之间的粘合接触的作用。由于纤维的接触、取向和分布决定着电导率，因此它们的研究对预测模型的发展非常重要。该项目利用了美国和法国互补的专业知识，并获得了一种独特的多轴法国仪器，称为ASTREE。该仪器将使研究人员能够在电场下处理材料，并允许他们区分现有的模型，这些模型的预测在单轴流下相似。该提案还将促进对弹性体的性质、加工及其在汽车工业中的潜在用途的理解。该奖项将支持国际合作的增量成本；即前往法国巴黎的旅费和美国调查人员的生活费。CNRS将支持法国调查人员访问美国。

9981404CohenThis three-year award for U.S.-France cooperative research in materials engineering involves Claude Cohen and a graduate student from Cornell University and Arnaud Poitou and Mohend Chaouche of the Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan, France. The project, supported under a joint program of the National Science Foundation, and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), will facilitate collaboration on the development of constitutive models for the behavior of well-defined and characterized elastomers under biaxial deformation conditions. Elastomers are rubber-like synthetic polymers. The investigators will synthesize fiber-reinforced, well-defined elastomers and study the role of adhesive contact between fibers. Because fiber contact, orientation and distribution govern electrical conductivity, their study is important to the development of a predictive model. The project takes advantage of U.S. and French complementary expertise and access to a unique multiaxial French instrument, known as ASTREE. The instrument will enable the researchers to process the materials under an electrical field and permit them to discriminate among existing models whose predictions are similar under uniaxial flows. The proposal will also advance understanding of the properties, processing of elastomers and their potential uses in the automotive industry. The award will support the incremental costs of the international collaboration; that is, the travel to Paris, France and subsistence expenses of the U.S. investigators. The CNRS will support visits to the U.S. by the French investigators.