Papers by Author: Joris Degrieck

Abstract: An accurate isotropic and kinematic hardening model and description of the strain rate dependent material behaviour is necessary for simulation of fast forming processes. Consequently, the material model parameter identification requires experiments where large strains, high strain rates and strain path changes can be attained. Usually, quasi-static tension-compression Bauschinger tests are used to assess the materials kinematic hardening. Hereby it’s important to have the same specimen geometry and boundary conditions in the forward and reverse loading step which is not easily achieved in high strain rate testing techniques. In this work, high strain rate split Hopkinson bar torsion experiments on Ti6Al4V are carried out to study the constitutive material behaviour at large plastic strain and strain rate. In torsion experiments, due to the absence of cross sectional area reduction, higher strains than in tensile tests can be obtained. In addition, a modified torsional split Hopkinson bar setup is developed to perform dynamic Bauschinger tests. A shear reversed-shear load is applied instead of the classical tension-compression load cycle. The test results are analysed to find out if the technique can be used for characterisation of the kinematic material behaviour. Digital image correlation and finite element simulations are used to improve the interpretation of the experimental results.

Abstract: Three different high strain rate shear test techniques are applied on the titanium alloy Ti6Al4V. Two techniques for testing of bulk materials and one technique for sheet materials are used: torsion of thin-walled tubes, compression of hat-shaped specimens and tension of planar shear specimens. The tests are carried out on respectively torsion, compression and tensile split Hopkinson bar setups. Although shear stresses dominate the stress state in these three tests, the local stress state and its distribution and evolution are different. Therefore, the three techniques are considered to be rather complementary than equivalent tests. In this work, the value of the three test techniques for material characterization is evaluated. Where possible, digital image correlation (DIC) is used to clarify the test results. In addition, parameters difficult to assess experimentally are estimated through finite element simulations of the three tests.

Abstract: This paper demonstrates the use of recyclable waste products such as typical empty metal beverage cans available in the market for the protection of civil engineering structures from an explosive load. The sacrificial cladding structure was made of empty recyclable beverage cans and sandwich composite skin plates. To measure the protection efficiency of these structures large-scale air blast experiments have been conducted. To create a perfect plane shock wave the concept of shock tube was used using concrete sewage pipes. The experimental and numerical crushing performance of the empty beverage cans is studied in detail. Finally, this study concludes that the waste empty metal cans can be considered as a potential member to protect civil engineering structures from the air blast load.

Abstract: Glass-metal joints are needed for the optical windows in ITER to perform diagnostics. These joints must be leak tight for the safety (presence of tritium in ITER) and to preserve the vacuum. They must also withstand the ITER environment: temperatures around 250 °C and neutron fluxes of 109 n/cm2.s. At the moment, little information is available about glass-metal joints suitable for ITER. Therefore, we set-up a 2D elastic model of prototype Al diffusion bonded optical windows using Abaqus code to model temperature effects on the windows. With this model we analyzed the influence of different parameters like the joint area and the braze thickness on the mechanical properties of the joint. Calculations of the thermal stress created by a temperature field of 150 °C (normal ITER temperature) showed that the Al-bond is the weakest part of the window. To find a way of reducing the thermal stress, the influence of some parameters has been studied. In particular, a specific thickness of the Al layer can result in a minimum of stress in the Al bond while the joint area and the thickness of the glass have only a small influence on the stress in the windows. The calculations allowed to propose an optimized design for the windows prototypes.

Abstract: In this study, results are presented of an extensive experimental program to investigate the strain rate dependent mechanical properties of various Transformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) steel grades. A split Hopkinson tensile bar setup was used for the high strain rate experiments and microstructural observation techniques such as LOM, SEM and EBSD revealed the mechanisms governing the observed behavior. With elevated testing temperatures and interrupted tensile experiments the material behavior and the austenite to martensite transformation is investigated. In dynamic conditions, the strain rate has limited influence on the material properties. Yet an important increase is noticed when comparing static to dynamic conditions. The differences in strength, elongation and energy absorption levels observed between the investigated materials can be attributed to their chemical composition. Adiabatic heating during high strain rate deformation tends to slow down the strain induced martensitic deformation. The elongation of the ferritic and austenite constituents is found to be strain rate dependent and the strain induced martensitic transformation occurs gradually in the material.

Abstract: In this paper some highlights are presented of an integrated numerical and experimental approach to obtain an in-depth understanding of the high strain rate behavior of materials. This is illustrated by an investigation of the multiphase TRansformation Induced Plasticity (TRIP) steel. ‘Classic’ high strain rate tensile experiments using a split Hopkinson tensile bar setup are complemented with strain rate jump tests, tensile tests at elevated temperatures and interrupted experiments. High strain rate compression and three-point bending experiments are performed on the steel sheets as well. The results reveal the excellent energy-absorption properties in dynamic circumstances of TRIP steels. Advanced experimental setups using the Hopkinson principle provide indeed tools for validation of the material and structural properties of TRIP steels.

Abstract: In this contribution, two experimental techniques to study the dynamic shear behaviour of metals are presented and applied to Ti-6Al-4V. For bulk materials hat-shaped specimens are subjected to a high-strain-rate load in a split Hopkinson compression bar set-up. For sheet materials a purpose-developed, novel shear specimen geometry, is loaded in a Hopkinson tensile bar set-up. The value of both techniques to assess the dynamic material behaviour is discussed. The experiments are optimized by means of numerical simulations. Digital image correlation is used to extract the specimen deformation from high speed camera recordings. It is shown that the dynamic behaviour, including fracture of Ti-6Al-4V differs considerably from the static behaviour. Both experimental techniques gain complementary information.

Abstract: This paper presents the experimental study of fibre Bragg grating sensors for measuring strain inside composite laminates during fatigue loading. The optical fibres are imbedded inside thermoplastic CFRP test-coupons which have an ultimate strain of about 1.1%. Tension – tension fatigue cycling at a rate of 5Hz is been carried out at 314MPa with a maximum strain of 0.51%. At such extreme strain levels the use of high strength sensors becomes inevitable. Neither the sensor nor the composite test-coupons showed any significant degradation even after more than 500000 cycles. Fibre optic Bragg grating sensors are known to be very accurate strain sensors but one should be very careful interpreting their response once they are imbedded inside composite materials. In this study high strength fibre Bragg grating sensors with coating are imbedded in composite test coupons and a pretty good correlation was found between the strain measurements of an electrical extensometer and the imbedded sensor during the complete cycling. The high strength sensor show to be very feasible for extreme and long term strain measurements.

Abstract: This paper presents a strain monitoring approach for following up FRP elements (in this case a [90°] CFRP laminate) using an embedded fibre optic sensor. The sensor exists of two fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) written in a polarization maintaining fibre (PMF). First, the strain response of the non-embedded sensor is determined which makes it possible to relate the different bragg peak shifts with the induced strain field in the core of the optical fibre. Secondly, a transfer coefficient matrix is presented and calculated using finite element simulations which relates the measured strain field of the sensor with the adjacent one existing in the structure as if no sensor would be present.

Abstract: This article summarizes the efforts done for using acoustic emission as wear mechanisms monitoring technique for wear testing in a pin-on-disc setup. The basic characteristics of the mechanisms were previously determined via controlled tensile testing (fiber breakage, debonding …). The knowledge of these basic characteristics then resulted in an easier classification of wear mechanisms related to wear testing of pultruded glass fiber reinforced polyester.