Search results for "force"

Mechanical and Thermal Stability of Adhesive Membranes with Nonzero Bending Rigidity

2010

Membranes at a microscopic scale are affected by thermal fluctuations and self-adhesion due to van der Waals forces. Methods to prepare membranes of even molecular scale, e.g., graphene, have recently been developed, and the question of their mechanical and thermal stability is of crucial importance. To this end we modeled microscopic membranes with an attractive interaction and applied Langevin dynamics. Their behavior was also analyzed under external loading. Even though these membranes folded during isotropic compression as a result of energy minimization, the process at high confinement was similar to crumpling of macroscopic nonadhesive sheets. The main difference appeared when the com…

2016

AbstractMaterials that demonstrate long-range magnetic order are synonymous with information storage and the electronics industry, with the phenomenon commonly associated with metals, metal alloys or metal oxides and sulfides. A lesser known family of magnetically ordered complexes are the monometallic compounds of highly anisotropic d-block transition metals; the ‘transformation’ from isolated zero-dimensional molecule to ordered, spin-canted, three-dimensional lattice being the result of through-space interactions arising from the combination of large magnetic anisotropy and spin-delocalization from metal to ligand which induces important intermolecular contacts. Here we report the effect…

Discontinuous FRP-Confinement of Masonry Columns

2020

Recent seismic events, all over the world, demonstrated that masonry constructions are prone to brittle collapses when shear or compression capacity is reached. It is clear that, in many real cases, masonry columns need to be strengthened for enhancing their load-carrying capacity and to develop a more ductile response. The Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRPs) confinement of masonry columns is a well-known technique that may produce these advantages. Unfortunately, full-wrapping insulates the column from the environment; so interstitial humidity can easily occur and cause the acceleration of the masonry's decay. In order to prevent it, partial-confinement is commonly assessed instead of total-j…

Lessons Learned on the Tensile and Bond Behavior of Fabric Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM) Composites

2020

Fabric Reinforced Cementitious Matrix (FRCM) composites represent an effective, compatible and cost-efficient solution for strengthening and retrofitting existing structures. A strong research effort was done to investigate the tensile and bond properties of these materials, as well as the overall behaviour of strengthened members. A Round Robin Test was organized by Rilem TC 250-CSM on 28 FRCM composites comprising basalt, carbon, glass, PBO, aramid and steel textiles, embedded in either cement, lime or geopolymer mortars, to collect an experimental dataset and define test protocols. This paper collects the outcomes of this study to highlight fundamental properties of FRCM and to investiga…

Molecular structure and multi-body potential of mean force in silica-polystyrene nanocomposites

2018

We perform a systematic application of the hybrid particle-field molecular dynamics technique [Milano et al, J. Chem. Phys. 2009, 130, 214106] to study interfacial properties and potential of mean force (PMF) for separating nanoparticles (NPs) in a melt. Specifically, we consider Silica NPs bare or grafted with Polystyrene chains, aiming to shed light on the interactions among free and grafted chains affecting the dispersion of NPs in the nanocomposite. The proposed hybrid models show good performances in catching the local structure of the chains, and in particular their density profiles, documenting the existence of the "wet-brush-to-dry-brush" transition. By using these models, the PMF b…

Wetting of a short chain liquid on a brush: First-order and critical wetting transitions

2001

We investigate the wetting behaviour of short chains on a surface covered with a brush of end-grafted chains of the same architecture by a combination of self-consistent field calculations and liquid-state theory. The surface interacts with the monomers via (non-retarded) van der Waals interactions of strength A. At low grafting densities, we find first-order wetting transitions. The value of the effective Hamaker constant Awet > 0, at which the transition occurs, decreases and the strength of the first-order transition becomes weaker as we increase the grafting density. In an intermediate range of grafting densities, we encounter second-order wetting transitions at a vanishing Hamaker cons…

Effect of curing time on the performances of hybrid/mixed joints

2013

Abstract The aim of this work is the study of a mixed method used for the joining of aluminum alloys with glass reinforced polymer’s substrates (in the next GFRP). In particular, the technique of self-piercing riveting (in the next SPR) was applied on a co-cured joint in order to evaluate the influence of the time of inserting the rivet on the mechanical behavior of the mixed joints. Three different joints were realized: adhesive by co-curing technique, mechanical by self piercing riveting (in the next SPR) and a mixed one in which the joining techniques (i.e. adhesive and mechanical) were combined. In particular, to determine the optimum time to insert the rivet, three different times from…

Series of charge transfer complexes obtained as crystals in a confined environment

2021

A series of charge transfer complexes (CTCs) were successfully formed by solvent free processing techniques, using the 1,2,4,5-tetracyano benzene (TCNB) as πA molecule and a series of p-dihydroquinones (H2Qs) as πD counterparts. Additionally to the classical co-evaporation techniques, we obtained CTCs in less than an hour, in a very simple confined environment, between two 100 μm – spaced glass plates. A systematical study by Raman spectroscopy on crystals highlighted the CTCs formation. Moreover, three new crystalline structures were obtained, namely TCNB-H2Q that crystallizes in columns connected to each other by H-bonds, while with the methoxy- and dimethoxy-H2Qs the CTC forms crystals w…

Columnar phases from semi-discoid molecules. Phase induction via hydrogen bonding and charge transfer interactions

1991

Abstract To investigate the non-linear optical properties of nitrophenylhydrazones, a series of 4-nitro- and 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazones of substituted aromatic aldehydes were synthesized. It was found that many of the dinitrophenythydrazone derivatives are liquid-crystalline and X-ray investigations show that the mesophase corresponds to a hexagonal columnar structure. To explain this unusual behaviour it is necessary to assume that a mesogenic structure is formed by intramolecular hydrogen bonding of the dinitrophenylhydrazones. Charge transfer induced antiparallel alignment of these moleculer dipoles leads to discoid structures, forming the columnar phases.

Atomic-resolution imaging of clean and hydrogen-terminated C(100)-(2×1)diamond surfaces using noncontact AFM

2010

Received 22 April 2010; published 14 May 2010High-purity, type IIa diamond is investigated by noncontact atomic force microscopy NC-AFM .Wepresent atomic-resolution images of both the electrically conducting hydrogen-terminated C 100 - 2 1 :Hsurface and the insulating C 100 - 2 1 surface. For the hydrogen-terminated surface, a nearly square unitcell is imaged. In contrast to previous scanning tunneling microscopy experiments, NC-AFM imaging allowsboth hydrogen atoms within the unit cell to be resolved individually, indicating a symmetric dimer alignment.Upon removing the surface hydrogen, the diamond sample becomes insulating. We present atomic-resolutionimages, revealing individual C-C dim…