Structural Materials Laboratory

Research Activities

The structural materials laboratory is a central facility that is available for faculty in Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering among others. This laboratory has been used to drive a number of research projects including but not limited to:

  • Development of Barium Aluminosilicate-Silicon Nitride Composites
  • Fatigue of Titanium Aluminides and Titanium Matrix Composites
  • Fracture behavior of Polymer Pyrolyzed Ceramic Matrix Composites
  • Mechanical properties of Graphite Epoxy composites
  • Mechanical properties of Biomaterials
  • Mechanical Behavior of Shape memory alloys
  • Fracture of Bamboo and Bamboo reinforced concrete

Personnel

  • Pranesh B. Aswath, Ph.D. Professor and Graduate Advisor
  • Wen S. Chan, Ph.D. Professor

Collaborators

  • Robert Eberhart Ph.D. (Prof. Bioengineering)
  • Panayotis Shiakolas Ph.D. (Assoc. Prof. Mechanical Engineering)

Funding

  • Center for Convergent Biotechnology
  • Micro and Macrocracks in Blackglas™ Matrix Composites
  • Advanced Technology Program (THECB)
  • National Science Program
  • Bell Helicopter

Graduate students

  • Ms. Hande Demirkiran (Ph. D.)
  • Mr. Thomas Das (Ph. D.)
  • Mr Puneet Saggar (M.S.)

Alumni of Group (Select)

  • Dr. Anurag Pandey (Chemica Corp)
  • Dr. Dipen Shah (HSN Associates)
  • Dr. Amit Bandyopadhyay (Washington State University)
  • Dr. Stephen Quander (Nokia)
  • Dr. Melinda Stewart (Bell Helicopter)
  • Dr. Murali Hanabe (Texas Instruments)
  • Dr. Sriram Rangarajan (Corning)
  • Dr. Laura Sullivan (Kettering Institute)
  • Dr. Dale Ball (Lockheed Martin)

Facilities and Equipment

Structural Testing

  • Instron 1331 20 Kip Tensile and Fatigue Servohydraulic System
  • Instron 1331 5 Kip Extra long stroke High Strain Rate Servohydraulic system
  • MTS 810 50 Kip Servohydraulic System.
  • Homebuilt 20 Kip Servohydraulic System.
  • QTest MTS Screw Driven test frame
  • Leco Rockwell and Vickers Hardness testers.
  • ATS Tensile and 4 point bend Creep frames with 1540°C furnaces.

Selected Publications

  • Hysteresis Behavior of T-Stub Connections with Superelastic Shape Memory Fasteners, Ali Abolmaali, Jason Treadway, Pranesh Aswath, Frank Lu and Emily McCarthy, Journal of Constructional Steel Research, 62(8), 831-838 (2006).
  • Physical and Mechanical Behavior of Hot rolled HDPE/HA composites, Anurag Pandey, Eric Jan and Pranesh Aswath, Journal of Materials Science 41(11), 3369-3376 (2006). Processing, Physical and Thermal Properties of Blackglas™ Matrix Composites reinforced with Nextel™ 440, S. Rangarajan, R. Belardinellu and P.B. Aswath, Journal Materials Science 34, 515-533 (1999). Microstructural Stability, Microhardness and Oxidation Behavior of In-Situ Reinforced Ti-8.5Al-1B-1Si (wt.%), B. G. Velasco and Pranesh Aswath, Journal of Materials Science 33, 2203-2214 (1998).
  • Microstructure and Fracture Behavior of a Ti-24Al-11Nb Intermetallic, W.O. Soboyejo, P.B. Aswath and L. Xu, Journal of Materials Science 32, 5833-5847 (1997). Microstructural Stability and Mechanism of Fatigue and Creep Crack Growth in Ti-24Al-11Nb, P.B. Aswath, R.D. Goolsby and L.W. Graham, Journal of Materials Science 32, 2191-2206 (1997).
  • Fatigue of In-Situ Reinforced Ti-8.5Al-1B-1Si, S. Rangarajan, P.B. Aswath and W.O. Soboyejo, Journal of Materials Research 12(4), 1102-1111 (1997).