Health monitoring systems for plastic based structures require the capability of real time tracking of changes in response to the time-dependent behavior of polymer based structures. The paper proposes artificial neural networks as a tool of solving inverse problem appearing within time-dependent material characterization, since the conventional methods are computationally demanding and cannot operate in the real time mode. Abilities of a Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and a Radial Basis Function Neural Network (RBFN) to solve ill-posed inverse problems on an example of determination of a time-dependent relaxation modulus curve segment from constant strain rate tensile test data are investigated. The required modeling data composed of strain rate, tensile and related relaxation modulus were generated using existing closed-form solution. Several neural networks topologies were tested with respect to the structure of input data, and their performance was compared to an exponential fitting technique. Selected optimal topologies of MLP and RBFN were tested for generalization and robustness on noisy data; performance of all the modeling methods with respect to the number of data points in the input vector was analyzed as well. It was shown that MLP and RBFN are capable of solving inverse problems related to the determination of a time dependent relaxation modulus curve segment. Particular topologies demonstrate good generalization and robustness capabilities, where the topology of RBFN with data provided in parallel proved to be superior compared to other methods.
COBISS.SI-ID: 15013147
Flow of granular materials is a complex process but it is important to measure, because the flow of granular material during processing, handling and transportation strongly influences the quality of the final product and its cost. Flowability of granular materials depends on the characteristics of the material and on the conditions at which flow is occurring. Existing methods of measuring flowability of powders are described in this paper, and a new methodology is introduced to measure friction between granular materials under pressure induced with uniaxial compression. Apparatus also allows analysis of conditions at which granular material starts to flow when exposed to uniaxial compressive load, i.e., zero-rate flowability. We call the apparatus the Granular Friction Analyzer (GFA). The concept of the GFA was tested by measuring four different materials with different average particle sizes. It was observed that as the particle size decreases so does its zero-rate flowability. This is in agreement with powder literature. Therefore, it can be concluded that in general the GFA method can be a very useful tool to study friction between granular materials and conditions at which the granular material flow initiates, i.e. zero-rate flowability of powders under pressure. However, further improvements are required to increase its sensitivity and accuracy.
COBISS.SI-ID: 14351899
The viscosity of feedstock materials is directly related to its processability during injection molding; therefore, being able to predict the viscosity of feedstock materials based on the individual properties of their components can greatly facilitate the formulation of these materials to tailor properties to improve their processability. Many empirical and semi-empirical models are available in the literature that can be used to predict the viscosity of polymeric blends and concentrated suspensions as a function of their formulation; these models can partly be used also for metal injection molding binders and feedstock materials. Among all available models, we made a narrow selection and used only simple models that do not require knowledge of molecular weight or density and have parameters with physical background. In this paper, we investigated the applicability of several of these models for two types of feedstock materials each one with different binder composition and powder loading. For each material, an optimal model was found, but each model was different; therefore, there is not a universal model that fits both materials investigated, which puts under question the underlying physical meaning of these models.
COBISS.SI-ID: 14692379
The viscosity of feedstocks for powder injection molding is crucial for a proper quality of the final products. Feedstocks show a complex rheological behavior which can be characterized by mainly two methods – rotational and high pressure capillary rheometers. In this paper these methods have been described and some important aspects of measuring feedsocks were discussed. Since feedstocks are more complex than other materials, care must be taken to ensure that no-slip condition at the solid boundary exists, that the flow is laminar, and corrections are made to take into account their non-Newtonian behavior. For the case of rotational rheometer it was found that serrated plates prevent slip, compared to smooth plates, slit plates and plates with sand paper.
COBISS.SI-ID: 15130395
The interactions and conformational characteristics of confined molten polypropylene (PP) chains between ferric oxide (Fe2O3) substrates were investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. A comparative analysis of the adsorbed amount shows strong adsorption of the chains on the high-energy surface of Fe2O3. Local structures formed in the polymer film were studied utilizing density profiles, orientation of bonds, and end-to-end distance of chains. At interfacial regions, the backbone carbon-carbon bonds of the chains preferably orient in the direction parallel to the surface while the carbon-carbon bonds with the side groups show a slight tendency to orient normal to the surface. Based on the conformation tensor data, the chains are compressed in the normal direction to the substrates in the interfacial regions while they tend to flatten in parallel planes with respect to the surfaces. The orientation of the bonds as well as the overall flattening of the chains in planes parallel to the solid surfaces are almost identical to that of the unconfined PP chains. Also, the local pressure tensor is anisotropic closer to the solid surfaces of Fe2O3 indicating the influence of the confinement on the buildup imbalance of normal and tangential pressures.
COBISS.SI-ID: 15130139