Acquisition of High-Rate Loading and Damage Characterization Equipment for Advanced Materials Research and Education

这笔赠款支持表征先进结构材料的机械性能所需的设备，特别是在动态、高速断裂表征和损伤检测领域。该设备包括(1)带有集成环境舱的Dynatup仪器低速/高速冲击测试系统和(2)Panametrics超声波扫描系统。当与现有设施相结合时，这些仪器为机械工程和土木工程系的教师、研究生和本科生在与材料有关的研究和教育活动中提供直接和即时的好处。这些设备将被整合到本科生和研究生级别的几门课程中，提供实践培训和接触先进材料、表征和评价方法。在为关键部件设计先进的结构材料时，一个值得关注的问题是它们在各种载荷和环境条件下的耐久性和损伤容限。在利用先进材料之前，必须充分了解它们的生存能力。撞击事件，包括高速装载(弹道弹丸)和低速事件(例如，工具掉落、鸟撞、冰雹破坏等)尤其令人担忧，因为它们可能造成表面看不见的损害，但可能导致性能显著下降。要充分描述材料对冲击载荷的响应，需要具备在实验中产生受控冲击条件的能力，以及能够定量测量这种动态加载形式造成的内部损伤的程度和增长的能力。

This grant supports equipment needed for characterizing mechanical behavior of advanced structural materials, specifically in the areas of dynamic, high-rate fracture characterization and damage detection. The equipment consists of (1) a Dynatup instrumented low/high-velocity impact test system with an integrated environmental chamber and (2) a Panametrics ultrasonic scanning system. When integrated with the existing facilities, these instruments provide a direct and immediate benefit to faculty and graduate and undergraduate students in the Mechanical Engineering and Civil Engineering Departments in their materials-related research and education activities. The equipment will be integrated into several courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels providing hands-on training and exposure to advanced materials characterization and evaluation methods. A significant area of concern when designing advanced structural materials for critical components is their durability and damage tolerance under a variety of loading and environmental conditions. The survivability of advanced materials must be fully understood before they can be utilized. Impact events, including high-velocity loading (ballistic projectiles) and low-velocity events (e.g., tool drops, bird strikes, hail damage, etc.) are of particular concern, as they can cause damage not visible on the surface, but which can result in significant degradation of performance. Full characterization of the response of materials to impact loading requires the capacity to experimentally generate controlled impact conditions as well as the ability to quantitatively measure the extent and growth of internal damage resulting from this dynamic form of loading.