This MRI award will provide funds for the acquisition of a biaxial test system to strengthen research, education, and training at Howard University in the area of materials synthesis, processing, testing, and characterization. This research instrumentation is ideal for performing higher-capacity bi-axial tests and will be used to test and characterize various materials including nickel-base super alloys, aluminum alloys, polymer matrix composite, and nanocomposites for current projects funded by the Department of the Defense, Army Research Office, the National Science Foundation, and Boeing. The acquisition of the biaxial test system will facilitate more realistic materials testing and characterization that will advance fundamental understanding of the complex interactions between advanced materials microstructure and stress/strain gradients in the formation and the growth of small cracks at notch root regions in safety critical components such as gas turbine engines. The outcome of this work will (a) provide a great deal of information and considerable insight into local phenomena such as crack initiation and growth, and (b) facilitate more efficient design and better life predictions of advanced materials for various applications in the aerospace, civil structures, and defense sectors where fatigue is a critical issue in reliability and design. The biaxial system will also be used to conduct extensive experimental tests needed to establish a quantitative assessment of the mechanical property change for functionalized carbon nanotube filled epoxy nanocomposites under complex loads. Other research projects that will benefit from the acquisition of the requested biaxial test system include: i) full-scale system-level validation studies of structural systems with several innovative retrofit systems, ii) investigation of stress distributions in composite members at joints, where details of stress distribution are difficult to simulate analytically using closed-form solutions, and iii) investigation of the role of surface characteristics on rolling contact fatigue in ceramics for gas turbine engines.
The biaxial test system will have broader impacts on the research, education, and training capabilities of Howard University; the largest HBCU research intensive University in the nation, and also the nation?s largest on-campus producer of African-American PhD degree. Specifically, the research of 11 current PhD/M.S, and several undergraduate students in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Chemistry will be enhanced through exposure to this requested research instrumentation. Our collaboration with the defense and the commercial sectors will also create a unique opportunity for more funding opportunities that will enable the training of well qualified underrepresented groups at Howard University. The equipment will also enhance Howard University?s capability to recruit, retain, and develop minorities and less privileged students with lower than average social-economic. This will be achieved through the integration of the research activities in this project into the Minority Science and Engineering Improvement Program (MSEIP). MSEIP is a summer program at Howard University sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education designed to give 30 selected high school students from the minority groups the opportunity to explore many exciting education and research opportunities in science and engineering.
in the area of materials testing and characterization. The biaxial system and its associated high temperature measurement capability is ideal for performing higher-capacity bi-axial tests and will be used to test and characterize advanced materials including nickel-base superalloys, shape memory alloys and nanocomposites for applications in the aerospace, civil structures and defense sectors. The biaxial test system is also critical to the continued successful implementation of currently funded research projects and for the training of well-qualified graduate and undergraduate students that can make significant contributions to the science and engineering fields.Our collaboration with the defense and the commercial sectors will also create a unique opportunity for more funding opportunities that will enable the training of well qualified graduates at Howard University. The biaxial test system was purchased from Instron and was delivered in August 2013. The pictorial view of the installed biaxial test system is shown in image included. Expected deliverables as a result of the use of the biaxial test system include: i) facilitate more realistic materials testing and characterization under biaxial loads, ii) establish a quantitative assessment of the mechanical property change for functionalized carbon nanotube filled epoxy nanocomposites, iii) innovative seismic retrofits for reinforced concrete building and iv) provide the role of surface characteristics on rolling contact fatigue in ceramics for gas turbine engines.
