The paper presents an effective implementation of a semi-concurrent multiscale method in the commercial finite element software package ABAQUS. The method is applied to the pre-localized damage initiation and propagation in the fully exfoliated clay/epoxy nanocomposite. The obtained results of the proposed method is also compared with the hierarchical multiscale approach. This method can be eas...

Nanocomposite films of metal nitrides such as TiN/Si3N4, TiN/BN, and CrN/AlN have attracted substantial attention as coating materials for improving hardness and saving rare metals. It is difficult to prepare composite films consisting of nitride and oxide by conventional reactive sputtering methods. Nose et al. developed a differential pumping cosputtering (DPCS) system, which can fabricate di...

Piezoelectric initiators are a unique form of ignition for energetic material because the current and voltage are tied together by impact loading on the crystal. This study examines the ignition response of an energetic composite composed of aluminum (Al) and molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) nano-powders to the arc generated from a lead zirconate and lead titanate (PZT) piezocrystal. The mechanical s...

The unusual electrical, optical, magnetic, and chemical properties of metal colloids (better known in nowadays as metal nanoparticles, MNPs) have attracted increasing interest of scientists and technologists during the last decade. In fact, although Nanoscience and Nanotechnology are quite recent disciplines, there have already been a high number of publications that discuss these topics. [1-11...

This critical review provides an overview of current research activities that focused on the synthesis and application of multi-functional gold and iron oxide (Au-Fe(x)O(y)) hybrid nanoparticles and nanocomposites. An introduction of synthetic strategies that have been developed for generating Au-Fe(x)O(y) nanocomposites with different nanostructures is presented. Surface functionalisation and ...

*We present a near-field optical technique *-hich makes use of the strongly enhanced optical field at a laser-illuminated metal tip. The enhanced field is used to locally excite the sample under investigation by multiphoton absorption. An optical scan image w-ith spatial resolutions dow-n to 20 nm is established by detecting the emitted fluorescence. The principle of the method is described and...