Chung-Souk Han

On the origin of indentation size effects and depth dependent mechanical properties of elastic polymers

Abstract Indentation size effects have been observed in both polymers and metals but, unlike in metals, the origin of size effects in polymers is not well understood. To clarify the role of second order gradients of displacements, a model polymer is examined with spherical and Berkovich tips at probing depths between 5 and 25 μm. Applying different theories to determine the elastic modulus, it is found that with a pyramidal tip, the elastic modulus increases with decreasing indentation depth, while tests with the spherical tip yielded essentially constant values for the elastic modulus independent of indentation depth. The differences between these tips are attributed to second order displacement gradients, as they remain essentially constant with a spherical tip while they increase in magnitude with decreasing indentation depth applying a Berkovich tip.

Indentation Depth Dependent Mechanical Behavior in Polymers

Various experimental studies have revealed size dependent deformation of materials at micro and submicron length scales. Among different experimental methods, nanoindentation testing is arguably the most commonly applied method of studying size effect in various materials where increases in the hardness with decreasing indentation depth are usually related to indentation size effects. Such indentation size effects have been observed in both metals and polymers. While the indentation size effects in metals are widely discussed in the literature and are commonly attributed to geometrically necessary dislocations, for polymer the experimental results are far sparser and there does not seem to be a common ground for their rationales. The indentation size effects of polymers are addressed in this paper, where their depth dependent deformation is reviewed along with the rationale provided in the literature.

A micro-CT approach for determination of insect respiratory volume

Variation in the morphology of the insect tracheal system can strongly affect respiratory physiology, with implications for everything from pest control to evolution of insect body size. However, the small size of most insects has made measuring the morphology of their tracheal systems difficult. Historical approaches including light microscopy and scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM, TEM) are technically difficult, labor intensive, and can introduce preparation artifacts. More recently, synchrotron X-ray microtomography (SR-μCT) has allowed for detailed analysis of tracheal morphology of diverse insects. However, linear accelerators required for SR-μCT are not readily available, making the approach unavailable for most labs. Recent advancements in microcomputed tomography (μCT) have made possible fine resolution of internal morphology of very small insects. However, μCT has never been used to quantify insect tracheal system dimensions. We measured respiratory volume of a grasshopper (Schistocerca americana) by analysis of high resolution μCT scans. Volume estimates from μCT closely matched volume estimates by water displacement as well as literature estimates for this species. The μCT approach may thus provide a widely available, cost-effective, and straightforward approach to characterizing the internal morphology of insect respiratory systems.

Length Scale Dependent Deformation in Polymers

Length scale dependent deformation of polymers has been observed in different experiments including micro-beam bending and indentation tests. Here the length scale dependent deformation of polydimethylsiloxane is examined in indentation testing at length scales from microns down to hundreds of nanometers. Strong indentation size effects have been observed in these experiments which are rationalized with rotation gradients that can be related to Frank elasticity type molecular energies known from liquid crystal polymers. To support this notion additional experiments have been conducted where Berkovich and spherical indenter tips results have been compared with each other.© 2012 ASME

On the demographical changes of U.S. research doctorate awardees and corresponding trends in research fields

The demographical data of the National Science Foundation on research doctorate awardees in the United States is studied in this article. While the overall growth rate of research doctorate awardees is approximately the same as the growth rate of the whole population in the U.S. there are considerable changes in the sub-populations of research doctorate awardees. The demographic data is evaluated/discussed in more detail with respect to gender and research fields of the doctorate awardees. In particular the notion of the primacy of technology over science in the postmodern era is examined and found to be justified.

On thresholds in the indentation size effect of polymers

Length scale-dependent deformation in polymers has been observed by various research groups in the last years. Here, the indentation size effect of polymers is studied where the hardness increases with decreasing indentation depth. As a model polymer, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) of two different cross-link densities is studied as it has been found in previous studies to exhibit very strong indentation size effects. It is found that there is an upper threshold in the indentation depth range of 17.9 and 41.6xa0μm, respectively, below which the indentation size effect can be observed and above which the hardness does not change with the indentation depth. Similar phenomena can be determined for other polymers, however, at much smaller length scales.

INDENTER TIP DEPENDENCE IN THE DETERMINATION OF ELASTIC MODULUS IN POLYMERS

The two most common outputs of nanoindentation experiment are hardness and elastic modulus. Length scale dependent deformation in polymers has however been observed in different experiments such as microbeam bending, torsional thin wires and indentation testing which may affect the mechanical testing. Unlike in metals where the size dependency is attributed to necessary geometry dislocations, the origin of length scale dependent deformation in polymers is not well understood. In this study, elastic modulus of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is determined using both Berkovich and spherical tips. Observing different trends for elastic modulus upon the change of indentation depth using these two different tips brings up the question which tip should be used to get the real mechanical properties of PDMS which is discussed here. Surface roughness, surface effects and the imperfection of the Berkovich indenter tip are negligible at the studied length scale.Copyright

ON THE TIME DEPENDENCE OF SIZE EFFECT IN POLYDIMETHYLSILOXANE

Nanoindentation tests at the nano-micrometer scales are conducted to investigate the depth and time dependent deformation mechanisms of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Astonishing indentation size effects observed in these experiments are analyzed with an existing theoretical hardness model, and the effects of loading time on the hardness and indentation stiffness of PDMS are studied. The change in the indentation recovery with respect to indentation depth and loading time are analyzed. Furthermore, it is shown that the stiffness of PDMS obtained at the maximum applied force can be efficiently applied to validate the applied theoretical hardness model with the experimental results.Copyright

Indentation Depth Dependent Hardness in Polydimethylsiloxane

Size dependent deformation in polymers has been observed in various experiments including microbeam bending, foams, composites and indentation. For indentation depths from 100 microns down to hundreds of nanometers strong increases in the hardness has been observed where the hardness has been determined with a Berkovich indenter tip on polydimethylsiloxane. These observations are related to other existing experimental data of the literature and possible rationales for these indentation size effects are discussed.Copyright