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HEMI Seminar: Pavana Pravbhakar

March 24, 2016 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Mechanics and Manufacturing of Hybrid Materials for Durability and Damage Tolerance

Damage resistance, tolerance and long-term durability of materials are major design considerations for aerospace, naval and civil structures. The priority is to improve the life cycle and durability of hybrid materials for enhanced performance, affordability and reliability of structures. Tolerance towards extreme environments is essential for drastically enhancing the response of a structure, in addition to mitigating defects imparted during the fabrication process. Hybrid materials in particular experience high stress concentrations and residual stresses internally during the manufacturing process due to drastic differences in the physical and mechanical properties of their constituent materials. This often causes defects that manifest themselves as failure initiating regions in heterogeneous materials, which can potentially lead to the premature failure of structures in-service. Therefore, it is critical to explore the fundamental connections between manufacturing and the mechanics of defect formation in heterogeneous materials for constructing resilient structures.

In this talk, I will present on-going work in the computational framework development and experimental investigation of damage and failure mechanics of advanced composites in the following areas:

  • Manufacturing induced defects in textile composites
  • Novel through-thickness reinforcements for damage mitigation in layered composites
  • Ceramic matrix composites subjected to high thermal shock

To summarize, the focus of this talk will be on research activities that collectively utilize concepts from mechanics and manufacturing of hybrid composites to achieve damage tolerant and durable structures for sustaining extreme environments.

Seminar will be held in Malone Hall G33/35.

Prabhakar-Seminar-web