The brittle-to-ductile transition (BDT) is not an intrinsic phenomenon of material, and depends not only on the strain rate but also on the constraint at crack tip. By employing a dislocation mobility based continuum model, we found that the change of the stress distribution ahead of crack tip due to the T-stress dictates the fracture toughness in the transition region; lower constraint leads to a higher fracture toughness, a smoother transition curve and a lower critical transition temperature. A quantitative relation between fracture toughness and T-stress is established such that the transition curve with constraint can be estimated from a reference BDT curve.

PDMS sponge structures-based coatings fabricated by NTNU Nanomechanical Lab reached a record super-low ice adhesion strength below 1 kPa! Details can be found in a new paper published in the June issue of  Soft Matter.

Design and preparation of sandwich-like polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sponges with super-low ice adhesion

Congratulations to Sigrid!

Hun blir nytt medlem i NTNU-styret

Liquefaction of vapor is a necessary, but energy intensive step in several important process industries. This review identifies possible materials and surface structures for promoting dropwise condensation, known to increase efficiency of condensation heat transfer. Research on superhydrophobic and superomniphobic surfaces promoting dropwise condensation constitutes the basis of the review. In extension of this, knowledge is extrapolated to condensation of CO₂. Global emissions of CO₂ need to be minimized in order to reduce global warming, and liquefaction of CO₂ is a necessary step in some carbon capture, transport and storage (CCS) technologies. The review is divided into three main parts: 1) An overview of recent research on superhydrophobicity and promotion of dropwise condensation of water, 2) An overview of recent research on superomniphobicity and dropwise condensation of low surface tension substances, and 3) Suggested materials and surface structures for dropwise CO₂ condensation based on the two first parts.

Icephobic surfaces are crucial to all cold-condition applications, ranging from nano to macro scales. The study presented in this manuscript focuses on enabling new functionality, namely self-healing, in passive icephobic surfaces. The aim of the work is to improve the common durability issue of all the state-of-the-art icephobic surfaces. Here, we designed and fabricated a novel icephobic material by integrating interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) into autonomous self-healing elastomer. The material showed great potentials in anti-icing applications with an ultralow ice adhesion and long-term durability. Most importantly, the material was able to demonstrate self-healing from mechanical damages in a sufficiently short time, which shed light on the longevity of icephobic surface in practical applications. Moreover, we studied the creep behaviours of the elastomer that were absent in most relevant studies on self-healing materials. We also provided molecular mechanisms of the self-healing and creep resistance of the IPN in the manuscript.

Quasi-static tensile tests with smooth round bar and axisymmetric notched tensile specimens have been performed to study the low-temperature effect on the fracture locus of a 420-MPa structural steel. Combined with a digital high-speed camera and a 2-plane mirror system, specimen deformation was recorded in 2 orthogonal planes. Pictures taken were then analysed with the edge tracing method to calculate the minimum cross-section diameter reduction of the necked/notched specimen. Obvious temperature effect was observed on the load-strain curves for smooth and notched specimens. Both the strength and strain hardening characterized by the strain at maximum load increase with temperature decrease down to −60°C. Somewhat unexpected, the fracture strains (ductility) of both smooth and notched specimens at temperatures down to −60°C do not deteriorate, compared with those at room temperature. Combined with numerical analyses, it shows that the effect of low temperatures (down to −60°C) on fracture locus is insignificant. These findings shed new light on material selection for Arctic operation.

Large-area chemical-vapor-deposited monolayer MoS2 tends to be polycrystalline with intrinsic grain boundaries (GBs). Topological defects and grain size skillfully alter its physical properties in a variety of materials; however, the polycrystallinity and its role played in the mechanical performance of the emerging single-layer MoS2 remain largely unknown. Using large-scale atomistic simulations, GB structures and mechanical characteristics of realistic single-layered polycrystalline MoS2 of varying grain size prepared by confinement-quenched method are investigated. Depending on misorientation angle, structural energetics of polar-GBs in polycrystals favor diverse dislocation cores, consistent with experimental observations. Polycrystals exhibit grain size dependent thermally-induced global out-of-plane deformation, although defective GBs in MoS2 show planar structures that are in contrast to the graphene. Tensile tests show that presence of cohesive GBs pronouncedly deteriorates the in-plane mechanical properties of MoS2. Both stiffness and strength follow an inverse pseudo Hall-Petch relation to grain size, which is shown to be governed by the weakest link mechanism. Under uniaxial tension, transgranular crack propagates with small deflection, whereas upon biaxial stretching the crack kinkily grows with large deflection. These findings shed new light in GB-based engineering and control of mechanical properties of MoS2 crystals towards real-world applications in flexible electronics and nanoelectromechanical systems.

Hydrogen embrittlement of metallic materials is far from being understood. In this work, we develop a hydrogen-informed expanding cavity model for the first time to describe the dynamic evolution of load-displacement curve obtained from nanoindentation tests. What we want to specially mention is that the proposed model takes into account the kinetic diffusion of H atoms towards the plastic region and the H-induced decrease of the formation energy of dislocations. This new model allows us to make comparison with atomistic simulations and nanoindentation experiments, and bridge the gap between the knowledge obtained from nano and micro-scales.

The nanofluids or nanoparticles (NPs) transport in confined channel is of great importance for many biological and industrial processes. In this study, molecular dynamics simulation has been employed to investigate spontaneous two-phase displacement process in ultra-confined capillary controlled by surface wettability of NPs. The results clearly show that the presence of NPs modulates the fluid-fluid meniscus and hinders displacement process compared with NP-free case. From the perspective of motion behavior, hydrophilic NPs disperse in water phase or adsorb on the capillary, while hydrophobic and mixed-wet NPs are mainly distributed in the fluid phase. The NPs dispersed into fluids tend to increase the viscosity of fluids, while the adsorbed NPs contribute to wettability alteration of solid capillary. Via capillary number calculation, it is uncovered that the viscosity increase of fluids is responsible for hindered spontaneous displacement process by hydrophobic and mixed NPs. Wettability alteration of capillary induced by adsorbed NPs is dominating the enhanced displacement in the case of hydrophilic NPs. Our findings provide the guidance to modify the rate of capillary filling and reveal microscopic mechanism of transporting NPs into porous media, which is significant to the design of NPs for target applications.