Papers by Author: P. Sedlak

Abstract: In order to better understand the unique functional responses of shape memory alloys, improve the currently existing SMA modeling tools and used them beneficially in smart structure applications, it is desirable to investigate the deformation/transformation processes in these materials in action – i.e. under stress and temperature variation. In this work, an overview is presented on the applications of various recently developed or originally employed in-situ experimental methods and approaches to martensitic transformations in SMAs.

Abstract: The Kaiser Effect in acoustic emission is often used for an estimation of the stress to which rocks have been subjected. However, there are cases in which the Kaiser Effect is not clear, since the noises due to the contact and/or the stick slip between the pre-induced fracture surfaces are measured during the reloading process. In such cases, estimation of previous stress is difficult by the conventional method which is based on the acoustic emission activity observed under reloading process. In the tests for the Kaiser Effect on rocks, therefore, the noises must be eliminated from the acoustic emission generated from newly created cracks during the second loading process. Such techniques as analysis of the difference between the acoustic emission activity observed in the first and second reloading and the analysis of the change in the slope of the acoustic emission amplitude distribution have been proposed. In this paper we present a new method by which the maximum previous stress in rocks can be directly estimated without any post signal analysis. In the new method, simultaneous measurement of acoustic and electromagnetic emission during loading test of rock sample is employed. The electromagnetic emission in the deformation of rock sample generates only when the fresh surfaces due to cracking are created in the material, and the source of electromagnetic emission is the electrification between the fresh crack surfaces. This paper describes the simultaneous measurement of acoustic and electromagnetic emission useful for estimating the rock in-situ stress.

Abstract: A new measuring method for the detection of fine spectra of electromagnetic and acoustic emission (EME and AE) signals from small cracks is described. It requires wide band ultra-low noise amplifiers, analogue filters, the optimization of signal to noise ratio of sensors and the application of noise elimination methods. Analyses of noise sources in sensors and preamplifiers are given. They are thermal noise, polarization noise and low frequency 1/f noise. Measuring set-up background noise suppression involving also the electromagnetic shielding allows us to detect signals in the range of 1 to 100 nV. This measuring set-up was used to observe crack initiation in granite samples. AE and EME signals show different behaviour in the first interval of about 20 μs just after crack initiation. For the first stage of crack initiation the frequency spectrum of EME signal is given by the eigen vibrations of crack walls, by the internal friction and the sample electrical conductivity. We observed that the crack opening and crack wall vibration create the high frequency signal in the frequency band up to 10 MHz. These signals were observed in the first time interval of about 20 μs. After that the frequency spectrum is given by the sample eigen vibration or the sample boundary conditions, and we have observed the spectra in the frequency range 100 kHz to 2 MHz.