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Mechanical Engineering MS Thesis Defense by Mr. Sen Yang

When: Tuesday, May 24, 2016
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Where: Textiles Building 101E
Description: Mechanical Engineering MS THESIS DEFENSE by Mr. Sen Yang


May 24, 2016

10:00 a.m. 12:00 p.m.

Textile Building, Room 101E


TOPIC:
Fracture and Impact Characterization of Auxetic Kevlar Laminated Composites


ABSTRACT:
A comprehensive experimental study was performed to investigate fracture and impact properties of novel Auxetic Kevlar preform laminated composites. To make comparison, standard Kevlar woven preform composites with and without polyurethane treatment were also considered in this study. For these three types of laminated Kevlar/epoxy resin composites, short nylon fibers of two different fiber lengths and three different fiber densities were flocked on laminates. Vacuum infusion process (VIP) was employed to fabricate composites. Also, an optimized wet compaction process is implemented to reduce void volume fraction of fabricated composites by an average of 2.5%. The double cantilever beam (DCB) configuration was used to investigate the fracture properties. The Auxetic Kevlar composites showed a significant improvement of 225% in fracture toughness compared to regular woven Kevlar composites. Furthermore, the initiation toughness was increased by 577% with the application of flocking in Auxetic Kevlar. There is a clear distinction in crack growth in these two types of composites. The polyurethane treatment on woven Kevlar composites showed the enhancement in the initiation toughness by 44%. By combining treatment with flocking, further improvement of fracture toughness by 122% was achieved for a particular combination of flock length and density. During impact testing, the Auxetic Kevlar reinforced composites showed a significant reduction in damaged area compared to woven Kevlar composites. On the other hand, the reduction in damaged area influenced the reduction in impact energy absorption for Auxetic Kevlar reinforced composites. The damage area is very high for woven Kevlar composites, resulting the improved impact energy absorption. The relation between polyurethane treatment and flocking on fracture toughness and impact behavior of composites were also investigated in this study.


ADVISOR:
Dr. Vijaya B. Chalivendra, Department of Mechanical Engineering (vchalivendra@umassd.edu, 508-910-6572)


COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Dr. Yong K. Kim, Department of BioEngineering
Dr. Wenzhen Huang, Department of Mechanical Engineering


Open to the public. All MNE students are encouraged to attend.


Thank you,

Sue Cunha (scunha@umassd.edu, 508-999-8492)
Topical Areas: Faculty, General Public, Students, University Community, College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Lectures and Seminars