Papers by Author: Kin Tak Lau

Abstract: ncreased use of FRP composites for critical load bearing components and structures in recent years has raised the alarm for urgent need of a comprehensive health mentoring system to alert users about integrity and the health condition of advanced composite structures. A few decades of research and development work on structural health monitoring systems using Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) sensors have come to an accelerated phase at the moment to address these demands in advanced composite industries. However, there are many unresolved problems with identification of damage status of composite structures using FBG spectra and many engineering challenges for implementation of such FBG based SHM system in real life situations. This paper details a research work that was conducted to address one of the critical problems of FBG network, the procedures for immediate rehabilitation of FBG sensor networks due to obsolete/broken sensors. In this study an artificial neural network (ANN) was developed and successfully deployed to virtually simulate the broken/obsolete sensors in a FBG sensor network. It has been found that the prediction of ANN network was within 0.1% error levels.

Abstract: A compact flow-through plate silencer is constructed for low frequency noise control by using new reinforced composite plates. The concept comes from the previous theoretical study [1] that in a duct, a clamped supported plate covered with a rigid cavites. The structural property of the very light plate with high bending stiffness is very crucial element in such plate silencer. In this study, an approach to fabricate new reinforced composite panel with light weight and high bending stiffness is developed in order to realize the function of this plate silencer practically. The performance of two plate silencer with the stopband from 229 to 618Hz in which the transmission loss is higher than 10 dB over the whole frequency band can be achieved.

Abstract: Reaction injection molding process of phenolic foam sandwich plate was introduced in order to resolve the difficulties in repetitive continuous manufacturing process of such product. The phenolic foam produced here have uniform pore diameter, good fireproof property and there need not any glue between phenolic foam and color steel plate which could make it a potential building material instead of polysterol sandwich plate.

Abstract: In this study, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was conducted to analyze the chemical composition between epoxy matrix and nanocomposite. This experiment revealed that a chemical bonding at an interface between the matrix and nanoclay of the composites did exist. Thus, such bonding can enhance the mechanical and thermal properties of resultant polymer composites as reported in many literatures.

Abstract: Nafion-clay nanocomposite membrane has been prepared by dispersing unmodified and acid activated Laponite XLS in Nafion 20% dispersion. The resulting membranes possess better proton conductivity and mechanical strength as compared to the virgin membrane. Acid activation of the nanoclay leads to the in-situ generation of H₃PO₄ by the hydrolysis of the peptizer present on the surface of the nanoclay. The in-situ generated H₃PO₄ helps in improving all the technical properties of the nanocomposite including the water uptake and proton conductivity of the nanocomposite, containing acid activated clay compared to the nanocomposite, containing unmodified clay. The maximum proton conductivity of 270.2 mS/cm is achieved at 110 °C for the nanocomposite membrane containing 3% acid-activated Laponite compared to 136.2 mS/cm for the virgin Nafion. Keywords: Nafion, clay, nanocomposite, peptizer, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (FEMFC), proton conductivity, membrane

Abstract: N-(2-Amino-phenyl)-2-{2-[(2-amino-phenylcarbamoyl)-methoxy]-phenoxy}-acetamide (B) was firstly immobilized on the single-walled carbon nanotubes and characterized by ¹H NMR, IR spectra and TEM images. The longer ⁵D₀ fluorescence lifetime was observed in the europium (III) complex of this functionalized carbon nanotube than in the Eu (III) complex of free B.

Abstract: Among different sterilization methods, heat-treatment of bone is recognized as one of the simple and practical methods to lower the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and overcome the risks of rejection and disease transfer from allograft and xenograft during bone transplantation. In order to best characterize the micro-structural mechanical property of bone after heat treatment, the nanoindentation technique was applied in this study to measure the localized elastic modulus and hardness for interstitial lamellae and osteons lamellae of bovine cortical bones at temperature 23°C (room temperature-pristine specimen), 37°C, 90°C, 120°C and 160°C, respectively. The elastic modulus (E) and hardness (H) of interstitial lamellae obtained higher values as compared with osteons lamellae which show that interstitial lamellae are more stiff and mineralized than osteons. Moreover, as a specimen pre-heat treated at 90°C, the E and H values of interstitial lamellae and osteons were closed to a pristine specimen. For a specimen pre-heat treated at 120°C, both interstitial lamellae and osteons obtained an increase in E and H values. As a specimen pre-heat treated at 160°C, the interstitial lamellae and osteons obtained a slight decrease in E and H values. These findings are correlated to results reported by other researchers [1, 2] that calcified collagen molecules starts to degenerate at about 120°C and complete at 160°C. Interestingly, when a specimen was pre-heat treated at 37°C, both interstitial lamellae and osteons obtained significant decreases in E values of 57% and 40%, respectively as compared to the pristine specimen; while in H values, there was a decrease of 27.4% and 15%, respectively. Thus, this paper will investigate the mechanical properties of bovine cortical bones under various temperature ranges by nanoindentation technique.

Abstract: Silk fibre has been popularly used for bio-medical engineering and surgically-operational applications because of its biocompatible and bio-resorbable properties for centuries. Using silk fibre as reinforcement for some bio-polymers to enhance the stiffness of scaffolding and bone implant plates has been developed. However, its dynamic mechanical properties with the biodegradable properties have not yet well understood. In this paper, the dynamic mechanical and thermal properties of degraded and non-degraded silk fibre reinforced Polylactic acid (PLA) composites are discussed.

Abstract: The plate silencer1 which consists of an expansion chamber with two side branch cavities covered by a light panel can achieve a desirable noise reduction in broadband theoretically. The concept is similar to drum silencer2. To attain optimal noise reduction, either the membrane should be of minimal weight while retaining very high tension or the panel should be kept with very high bending stiffness that is dependent on its geometry and mechanical properties. To achieve such goal, various kinds of composite system such as carbon fibers or aluminum were mounted on light core foam. A design of the composite panel which can provide a reduction in panel weight as well as enhance the bending stiffness, is introduced in this project. Predictions of the new model are to be compared with the normal foam plate in the aspects of noise reflection capability and performance of noise abatement apart from the material properties.

Abstract: A new biocomposite based on chicken feather fiber (CFF) and Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) was fabricated for the first time by melting compound methods. Its mechanical properties and fracture surfaces were investigated by using tensile tests and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. The results showed that the tensile modulus and elongation at break of PLA samples were improved by adding a small amount of CFF. The elongation at break of a CFF/PLA sample with 2 wt% of CFF was 56% higher than that of pure PLA. This may ascribe to the good adhesion and interactions between the CFF and PLA matrix.