Effect of functionally-graded interphase on the elasto-plastic behavior of nylon-6/clay nanocomposites; a numerical study

In nanocomposites, the interphase thickness may be comparable to the size of nano-particles, and hence, the effect of interphase layers on the mechanical properties of nanocomposites may be substantial. The interphase thickness to the nano-particle size ratio and properties variability across the interphase thickness are the most important affecting parameters on the overall behavior of nanocomposites. In this study, the effect of properties variability across the interphase thickness on the overall elastic and elasto-plastic properties of a polymeric clay nanocomposite (PCN) using a functionally graded (FG) interphase is investigated in detail. The results of the computational homogenization on the mesoscopic level show that Young's modulus variation of the interphase has a significant effect on the overall elastic response of nanocomposites in a higher clay weight ratio (Wt). Moreover, strength variation through the interphase has a notable effect on the elasto-plastic properties of PCNs. Also, the increase or decrease in stiffness of interphase from clay to matrix and vice versa have a similar effect in the overall behavior of nanocomposites.     

Experimental and numerical investigations of interface properties of Ti6Al4V/CP-Ti/Copper composite plate prepared by explosive welding

Explosive welding technique is widely used in many industries. This technique is useful to weld different kinds of metal alloys that are not easily welded by any other welding methods. Interlayer plays an important role to improve the welding quality and control energy loss during the collision process. In this paper, the Ti6Al4V plate was welded with a copper plate in the presence of a commercially pure titanium interlayer. Microstructure details of welded composite plate were observed through optical and scanning electron microscope. Interlayer-base plate interface morphology showed a wavy structure with solid melted regions inside the vortices. Moreover, the energy dispersive spectroscopy analysis in the interlayer-base interface reveals that there are some identified regions of different kinds of chemical equilibrium phases of Cu–Ti, i.e. CuTi, Cu₂Ti, CuTi₂, Cu₄Ti, etc. To study the mechanical properties of composite plates, mechanical tests were conducted, including the tensile test, bending test, shear test and Vickers hardness test. Numerical simulation of explosive welding process was performed with coupled Smooth Particle Hydrodynamic method, Euler and Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method. The multi-physics process of explosive welding, including detonation, jetting and interface morphology, was observed with simulation. Moreover, simulated plastic strain, temperature and pressure profiles were analysed to understand the welding conditions. Simulated results show that the interlayer base plate interface was created due to the high plastic deformation and localized melting of the parent plates. At the collision point, both alloys behave like fluids, resulting in the formation of a wavy morphology with vortices, which is in good agreement with the experimental results.     

高温空气下C/SiC复合材料力学性能测试

测试了C/SiC复合材料在高温空气下的压缩、弯曲和拉伸性能,利用扫描电子显微镜分析复合材料在室温与高温条件下的断口微观形貌。结果表明:从室温升温到1 000 ℃测试温度时,C/SiC复合材料的压缩强度由247 MPa降低至78 MPa,性能降低68%;弯曲强度由480 MPa降低至277 MPa,性能降低42%;拉伸强度由247 MPa降低至152 MPa,性能降低38%。高温氧化导致界面退化,损伤材料基体与碳纤维结构,加剧了纤维断裂程度,改变了纤维与基体的结合状态,纤维增韧机制逐渐消失,导致复合材料性能下降。     

大深度复合同振式矢量水听器设计

针对目前深海无人移动平台缺乏与其工作深度相匹配的复合同振式矢量水听器的问题,采用薄壁铝合金球壳作为矢量通道,压电陶瓷圆环作为声压通道,设计制作了一型大深度复合同振式矢量水听器,并用理论计算、有限元仿真和实验测试的方法对其声学性能和耐压性能进行了验证。该水听器的外径为85 mm,质量为398 g,平均密度为1 240 kg/m~3,工作频段为20～3 000 Hz,矢量通道呈余弦指向性,灵敏度为-187 dB@500 Hz,声压通道无指向性,灵敏度为-191 dB@500 Hz,耐压深度为2 000 m。海上试验表明,该水听器能够搭载在水下滑翔机等深海无人平台上执行声学探测任务,在大深度声学探测领域具有重大的应用价值。     

长向量处理器高效RNN推理方法

模型深度的不断增加和处理序列长度的不一致对循环神经网络在不同处理器上的性能优化提出巨大挑战。针对自主研制的长向量处理器FT-M7032,实现了一个高效的循环神经网络加速引擎。该引擎采用行优先矩阵向量乘算法和数据感知的多核并行方式,提高矩阵向量乘的计算效率;采用两级内核融合优化方法降低临时数据传输的开销;采用手写汇编优化多种算子,进一步挖掘长向量处理器的性能潜力。实验表明,长向量处理器循环神经网络推理引擎可获得较高性能,相较于多核ARM CPU以及Intel Golden CPU,类循环神经网络模型长短记忆网络可获得最高62.68倍和3.12倍的性能加速。     

The ballot or the bomb belt: the roots of female suicide terrorism before and after 9/11

ABSTRACT

In recent years, an upward trend in terrorist attacks has mirrored an increase in suicide attacks. According to our preliminary analysis, the events of September 11^th marked a sea change in the number of terrorist attacks. While a rich literature has evaluated why terrorists participate in suicide attacks, none have considered the uptick in volume after 9/11, and fewer yet have considered how female fighters may be contributing to this. We evaluate how both structural and female-specific factors affect the likelihood of female fighter suicide attacks. Recent literature discovered a trend in terrorist groups using females as suicide bombers due to cultural norms that permit them to get closer to targets. We test our theory using data from the Chicago Project on Security and Threats Suicide Attack Database (CPOST-SAD) and various datasets from the Quality of Government (QOG) compendium for the 1986–2016 time period. We construct a series of models that consider both female-specific and structural factors that could explain variation in the number of female suicide attacks. Our results indicate that our models encompass relatively stable patterns. Female political empowerment, female educational attainment, and female employment rates are significant and positive in our post-9/11 models, indicating that they may increase female suicide attacks. Democracy is a relevant structural factor and generally yields a positive effect on female suicide attacks across both time periods and multiple models. Ethnic fractionalization is significant in both time periods but yields a negative effect before 9/11 and a positive effect in the later period.