A Preliminary Study on the Interfacial Strength of Red Abalone
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University of Vermont ScholarWorks @ UVM Graduate College Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses 2016 A Preliminary Study On The nI terfacial Strength Of Red Abalone Saleh Jaman Alghamdi University of Vermont Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis Part of the Civil Engineering Commons Recommended Citation Alghamdi, Saleh Jaman, "A Preliminary Study On The nI terfacial Strength Of Red Abalone" (2016). Graduate College Dissertations and Theses. 633. https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/633 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks @ UVM. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate College Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ UVM. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON THE INTERFACIAL STRENGTH OF RED ABALONE A Thesis Presented by Saleh J Alghamdi to The Faculty of the Graduate College of The University of Vermont In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science Specializing in Civil Engineering October, 2016 Defense Date: June 14, 2016 Thesis Examination Committee: Ting Tan, Ph.D, Advisor Jie Yang, Ph.D., Chairperson George Pinder, Ph.D. Cynthia J. Forehand, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate College Abstract Nacre is a hierarchical material found within the tough shells of red abalone. Despite being composed of calcium carbonate, nacre exhibits remarkable mechanical properties resulting from the nanoscale brick-and-mortar structure made from aragonite polygons. The objective of this research is to elucidate the toughening mechanisms associated with the interfacial resistance of red abalone. This was achieved by studying the mechanical behavior of dry nacre under pure shear and tension, and characterizing the associated fracture mechanisms using optical and scanning electron microscopes. Mathematical modeling was applied to further quantify the contribution of protein chains, nano-asperities and shear pillars to interfacial strengths. Preliminary conceptual models were proposed to elucidate the toughening mechanisms of polymorphic aragonite structures in red abalone. The findings can extend our understanding of the mechanical behavior of natural materials and promote the research and development of high performance bioinspired materials. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Prof. Ting Tan for his endless support, patience, motivation, and immense knowledge. His guidance has been a critical factor in my ability to do research and enjoy doing it. Besides my advisor, I would like to thank the rest of my thesis committee: Prof. George Pinder and Prof. Jie Yang, not only for their insightful comments and valuable guidance, but also for their hard questions which driven me to broaden my scope of knowledge. I would like to acknowledge the help and collaboration of Dr. Tian Xia and Dr. Dryver Huston. I also would like to take this opportunity to express sincere gratitude to my parents and my sisters for their unceasing encouragement and support. I would particularly like to thank my friend Mousa Amery and the members of my research group, Christopher Hale-Sills, Yujie Li and Zhuang Liu who helped and supported me throughout this venture. My sincere thanks also goes to Michele von Turkovich who gave me access to the Scanning Electron Microscope at the University of Vermont. Without her precious support I would not be able to take some great SEM images. I also would like to thank Floyd Vilmont, for his continuous assistance throughout the research involved in this thesis. Finally, I would like to express my appreciation to Taif University for giving me this scholarship. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... vii INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Motivation............................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Research Objectives................................................................................................ 4 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................ 5 2.1 Red Abalone .............................................................................................................. 5 2.1.1 Red Abalone Shell Composition ....................................................................... 6 2.1.2 Nacre .................................................................................................................. 8 2.2 Previous Work ...................................................................................................... 16 2.2.1 Mechanical Tests ............................................................................................. 16 2.2.2 Finite Elements Studies ................................................................................... 25 2.2.3 Analytical Models ............................................................................................ 26 2.2.4 Large Deformation and Toughening Mechanisms of Nacre ........................... 26 2.2.5 Torsion ............................................................................................................. 27 2.2.6 Tension ............................................................................................................ 29 2.2.7 Mechanical Properties ..................................................................................... 31 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................ 32 3.1 Sample Preparation ............................................................................................... 32 iii 3.2 Mechanical Testing ............................................................................................... 37 3.2.1 Fixtures ............................................................................................................ 37 3.2.2 Mechanical Testing system .............................................................................. 37 3.2.3 Mechanical Testing System ............................................................................. 39 3.2.4 Load Cells Calibrations and Pseudo-Samples Tests ........................................ 41 3.2.5 Mechanical Tests ............................................................................................. 42 3.2.7 Test Data .......................................................................................................... 44 3.3 Tensile and Shear Strength ................................................................................... 45 3.3.1 Tensile Strength Calculations .......................................................................... 45 3.3.2 Shear Strength .................................................................................................. 46 3.4 Microscopic Characterization ............................................................................... 46 3.4.1 Optical Imaging ............................................................................................... 46 3.4.2 Scanning Electron Microscopy ........................................................................ 46 3.5 Finite Element Models .......................................................................................... 47 3.5.1 Objectives of the Finite Elements Study ......................................................... 48 3.5.2 Models Features ............................................................................................... 49 3.5.3 Boundary Conditions ....................................................................................... 49 3.5.4 Meshes ............................................................................................................. 50 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ...................................................................................... 50 4.1 Torsion Tests Results ............................................................................................ 50 4.2 Tension Tests Results ........................................................................................... 55 FRACTOGRAPHIC CHARACTERIZATION ............................................................. 59 5.1 Torsional Specimens ............................................................................................. 59 5.2 Tension Specimens ............................................................................................... 63 iv 5.3 Preliminary Conceptual Models ........................................................................... 65 FINITE ELEMENT MODEL RESULTS ...................................................................... 66 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................... 72 REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 74 v LIST OF TABLES Table page Table 1: Taxonomic hierarchy of red abalone. ..................................................................