Polarimetric optical fibre sensors have been embedded within the 0° ply and close to the 0/90 interface of transparent cross-ply GFRP coupons. The coupons have been subjected to an increasing quasi-static load so that transverse ply cracks initiate and propagate across the coupon. Crack accumulation has been monitored using the optical output signal from the polarimetric sensor, strain measurem...

It is known that micron-scale polycrystalline silicon thin films can fail in room air under high frequency (40kHz) cyclic loading at fully-reversed stress amplitudes as low as half the fracture strength, with fatigue lives in excess of 1011 cycles. This behavior has been attributed to the sequential oxidation of the silicon and environmentally-assisted crack growth solely within the SiO2 surfac...

ull-field analysis of optical data is routinely carried out for extracting crack tip parameters.'-6 Typically, surface or thickness average measurements are analyzed using overdeterministic least-squares procedure with two-dimensional plane stress asymptotic field equations as basis functions. Commonly used linear and nonlinear algorithms in such analyses have been reviewed by Sanford.' Experim...

Thermo-mechanical reliability of the solder bumped flip chip packages having underfill encapsulant was evaluated with thermal shock testing. In the initial reaction, the reaction product between the solder and Cu mini bump of chip side was Cu6Sn5 IMC layer, while the two phases which were (Cu,Ni)6Sn5 and (Ni,Cu)3Sn4 were formed between the solder and electroless Ni-P layer of the package side. ...

Severe wounds in biological systems such as human skin cannot heal themselves, unless they are first stitched together. Healing of macroscopic damage in thermoset polymer composites faces a similar challenge. Stimuli-responsive shape-changing polymeric fibres with outstanding mechanical properties embedded in polymers may be able to close macro-cracks automatically upon stimulation such as heat...

ÐA functionally graded composite is prepared and the spatial gradation of Young's modulus in the functionally graded material (FGM) is measured. Elastic modulus gradients occur over length scales suitable for experimental mechanics investigations using optical interferometry. Crack tip ®elds are mapped in the FGM under quasi-static loading conditions with cracks oriented perpendicular to the di...

We investigate the dynamic fracture of a close-packed monolayer of particles, or particle raft, floating at a liquid-gas interface induced by the localized addition of surfactant. Unusually for a two-dimensional solid, our experiments show that the speed of crack propagation here is not affected by the elastic properties of the raft. Instead it is controlled by the rate at which surfactant is a...

Long-term durability is a major obstacle limiting the widespread use of lithium-ion batteries in heavy-duty applications and others demanding extended lifetime. As one of the root causes of the degradation of battery performance, the electrode failure mechanisms are still unknown. In this paper, we reveal the fundamental fracture mechanisms of single-crystal silicon electrodes over extended lit...