Abstract
Cellular materials are abundant in nature in most plants, in wood, in many shells, in bones and elsewhere. Synthetic cellular materials such as honeycombs and foams can be made from most materials including polymers, metals, ceramics and carbon. When compressed, most cellular materials exhibit first a nearly linear elastic regime that is terminated by an instability and localization. Localized deformation is arrested but tends to spread to previously intact neighboring material while the load traces a plateau. The relatively low stress level and extent of such plateaus are responsible for the excellent energy absorption characteristics of these materials, properties that make them widely used in cushioning in vehicles, in packaging, and as cores in sandwich structures. The speaker will use experimental and analytical results from several studies to demonstrate how the microstructure and the properties of the base material govern the global behavior. Examples that will be discussed include honeycombs loaded in-plane (2-D crushing) as well as transversely (concertina folding), space-filling polymeric and metallic open cell foams, balsa wood, and trabecular bone.
About the Speaker
Stelios Kyriakides obtained his PhD in aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology in 1980. He joined the Department of Aerospace Engineering and Engineering Mechanics of The University of Texas at Austin in the same year, where he has served as professor since 1989. Currently he is Director of the Center for Research in Mechanics of Solids, Structures and Materials and holder of the Cockrell Family Chair in Engineering No. 10.
Prof Kyriakides' research focuses on instabilities that limit the extent to which solids, structures and materials can be loaded or deformed. He has published more than 175 technical articles, one book and one monograph. He served as chair of the Executive Committee of the Applied Mechanics Division-ASME, as President of the American Academy of Mechanics (AAM), and presently is vice-chair of the US National Committee of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, member of the Congress Committee and General Assembly of IUTAM, and is Editor of the International Journal of Solids and Structures. His recognitions include the 2009 Warner T. Koiter Medal from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), Member of the US National Academy of Engineering, and Fellow of ASME and AAM.
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