Search results for "Polycrystalline material"
showing 10 items of 45 documents
Boundary Element Crystal Plasticity Method
2017
A three-dimensional (3D) boundary element method for small strains crystal plasticity is described. The method, developed for polycrystalline aggregates, makes use of a set of boundary integral equations for modeling the individual grains, which are represented as anisotropic elasto-plastic domains. Crystal plasticity is modeled using an initial strains boundary integral approach. The integration of strongly singular volume integrals in the anisotropic elasto-plastic grain-boundary equations are discussed. Voronoi-tessellation micro-morphologies are discretized using nonstructured boundary and volume meshes. A grain-boundary incremental/iterative algorithm, with rate-dependent flow and har…
An integral framework for computational thermo-elastic homogenization of polycrystalline materials
2023
A grain scale framework for thermo-elastic analysis and computational homogenization of polycrystalline materials is proposed. The morphology of crystal aggregates is represented employing Voronoi tessellations, which retain the main statistical features of polycrystalline materials. The behaviour of the individual grains is modelled starting from an integral representation for anisotropic thermo-elasticity, which is numerically addressed through a dual reciprocity boundary element method. The integrity of the aggregate is enforced through suitable intergranular thermo-elastic continuity conditions. By virtue of the features of the underlying formulation, the polycrystalline thermo-elastic …
two-scale three-dimensional boundary element framework for degradation and failure in polycrystalline materials
2014
A fully three-dimensional two-scale boundary element approach to degradation and failure in polycrystalline materials is proposed. The formulation involves the engineering component level (macroscale) and the material grain scale (micro-scale). The damage-induced local softening at the macroscale is modelled employing an initial stress approach. The microscopic degradation processes are explicitly modelled by associating Representative Volume Elements (RVEs) to relevant points of the macro continuum and employing a three-dimensional grain-boundary formulation to simulate intergranular degradation and failure in the microstructural Voronoi-type morphology through cohesive-frictional contact …
Template electrosyntesis of CeO2 nanotubes
2007
Nanotube arrays of CeO2 were produced in a single step by potentiostatic electrochemical deposition from a non-aqueous electrolyte, using anodic alumina membrane templates. The CeO2 nanotubes showed a polycrystalline structure, and they were assembled in the membrane nanochannels. The nanotubes had somewhat uniform diameters, with an average external value of about 210 nm, and a maximum length of about 60 µm; the latter parameter was controlled by the electrodeposition time. Each single nanotube was found to consist of crystalline grains having a size of about 3 nm. Raman analysis shows that these CeO2 nanotubes are suitable for catalytic applications.
Microcracking in piezoelectric materials by the Boundary Element Method
2019
A 3D boundary element model for piezoelectric polycrystalline micro-cracking is discussed in this contribution. The model is based on the boundary integral representation of the electro-mechanical behavior of individual grains and on the use of a generalized cohesive formulation for inter-granular micro-cracking. The boundary integral formulation allows to address the electro-mechanical boundary value problem in terms of generalized grain boundary and inter-granular displacements and tractions only, which implies the natural inclusion of the cohesive laws in the formulation, the simplification of the analysis pre-processing stage, and the reduction of the number of degrees of freedom of the…
Modelling stress-corrosion microcracking in polycrystalline materials by the Boundary Element Method
2019
The boundary element method is employed in this study in conjunction with the finite element method to build a multi-physics hybrid numerical model for the computational study of stress corrosion cracking related to hydrogen diffusion in polycrystalline microstructures. More specifically a boundary integral representation is used to represent the micro-mechanics of the aggregate while an explicit finite element method is used to model inter-granular hydrogen diffusion. The inter-granular interaction between contiguous grains is represented through cohesive laws, whose physical parameters depend on the concentration of inter-granular hydrogen, diffusing along the interfaces according to the …
A BOUNDARY ELEMENT FORMULATION FOR MICROMECHANICAL HOMOGENIZATION OF POLYCRYSTALLINE MATERIALS WITH PIEZOELECTRIC COUPLING
2019
A novel boundary element formulation for the evaluation of the effective properties of threedimensional polycrystalline aggregates with piezoelectric coupling is presented. The aggregates are modelled at the scale of their constituent crystals and are artificially generated through Voronoi-Laguerre tessellations. The electro-mechanical behaviour of each crystal is represented upon introducing an ad-hoc mesh of its boundary and a generalised integral representation of the governing equations of the piezoelectric problem. The behaviour of the whole aggregate is then retrieved upon introducing a suitable set of electro-mechanical interface conditions at the grain boundaries. With respect to cl…
Brittle failure in polycrystalline RVEs by a grain-scale cohesive boundary element formulation
2013
Polycrystalline materials are commonly employed in engineering structures. For modern applica- tions a deep understanding of materials degradation is of crucial relevance. It is nowadays widely recognized that the macroscopic material properties depend on the microstructure. The polycrystalline microstructure is characterized by the features of the grains and by the phys- ical and chemical properties of the intergranular interfaces, that have a direct influence on the evolution of the microstructural damage. The experimental investigation of failure mechanisms in 3D polycrystals still remains a challenging task. A viable alternative, or complement, to the experiments is Computational Microm…
A multiscale approach to polycrystalline materials damage and failure
2015
A two-scale three-dimensional approach for degradation and failure in polycrystalline materials is presented. The method involves the component level and the grain scale. The damageinduced softening at the macroscale is modelled employing an initial stress boundary element approach. The microscopic degradation is explicitly modelled associating Representative Volume Elements (RVEs) to relevant points of the macro continuum and employing a cohesive-frictional 3D grain-boundary formulation to simulate intergranular degradation and failure in the Voronoi morphology. Macro-strains are downscaled as RVEs' periodic boundary conditions, while overall macro-stresses are obtained upscaling the micro…
Porosity effects on elastic properties of polycrystalline materials: a three-dimensional grain boundary formulation
2013
Polycrystalline materials are widely used in many technological applications of engineering interest. They constitute an important class of heterogeneous materials, and the investigation of the link between their macro and micro properties, main task of the micromechanics [1], is of relevant technological concern. The internal structure of a polycrystalline material is determined by the size and the shape of the grains, by their crystallographic orientation and by different type of defects within them. In this sense, the presence of internal voids, pores, is important to take into account in the determination of the polycrystalline aggregate properties. Porosity exists in almost all materia…