In many engineered structures and components, impact events frequently occur between sub-components. Numerical models are able to adequately capture the salient features of these events; however, with high fidelity finite element models, an unreasonably large number of elements are needed to accurately model just the elastic regime when arbitrary contact is considered. In order to solve real engineering problems with elastic-plastic impacts in complex or built up systems, an analytical expression is needed to make solutions practical. To this end, a series of experiments are designed to test a new elastic plastic model for impact dynamics. A hard metal ball is attached as the end of a pendulum, and is struck against a relatively compliant metal puck. Digital image analysis is used to measure the displacement and velocity of the metal ball across the impact events. Frictional losses in the system are minimized, and the coefficient of restitution is calculated as a function of velocity. These measurements are used to validate an elastic-plastic impact model, which is further compared to and other models from the literature. Good agreement is found between the new analytical model and the experiments.

This report documents the results obtained during a one-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) initiative aimed at investigating coupled structural acoustic interactions by means of algorithm development and experiment. Finite element acoustic formulations have been developed based on fluid velocity potential and fluid displacement. Domain decomposition and diagonal scaling preconditioners were investigated for parallel implementation. A formulation that includes fluid viscosity and that can simulate both pressure and shear waves in fluid was developed. An acoustic wave tube was built, tested, and shown to be an effective means of testing acoustic loading on simple test structures. The tube is capable of creating a semi-infinite acoustic field due to nonreflecting acoustic termination at one end. In addition, a micro-torsional disk was created and tested for the purposes of investigating acoustic shear wave damping in microstructures, and the slip boundary conditions that occur along the wet interface when the Knudsen number becomes sufficiently large. 4

This report summarizes a survey of several new methods for obtaining mechanical and rheological properties of single biological cells, in particular: 1. The use of laser Doppler vibrometry (LDV) to measure the natural vibrations of certain cells. 2. The development of a novel micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) for obtaining high-resolution force-displacement curves. 3. The use of the atomic force microscope (AFM) for cell imaging 4. The adaptation of a novel squeezing-flow technique to micro-scale measurement.The LDV technique was used to investigate the recent finding reported by others that the membranes of certain biological cells vibrate naturally, and that the vibration can be 4 detected clearly with recent instrumentation. The LDV has been reported to detect motions of certain biological cells indirectly through the motion of a probe. In this project, trials on Saccharomyces cerevisiae tested and rejected the hypothesis that the LDV could measure vibrations of the cell membranes directly.The MEMS investigated in the second technique is a polysilicon surface-micromachined force sensor that is able to measure forces to a few pN in both air and water. The simple device consists of compliant springs with force constants as low as 0.3 milliN/m and Moiré patterns for nanometer-scale optical displacement measurement. Fields from an electromagnet created forces on magnetic micro beads glued to the force sensors. These forces were measured and agreed well with finite element prediction. It was demonstrated that the force sensor was fully functional when immersed in aqueous buffer. These results show the force sensors can be useful for calibrating magnetic forces on magnetic beads and also for direct measurement of biophysical forces on-chip.The use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) for profiling the geometry of red blood cells was the third technique investigated here. An important finding was that the method commonly used for attaching the cells to a substrate actually modified the mechanical properties of the cell membrane. Thus, the use of the method for measuring the mechanical properties of the cell may not be completely appropriate without significant modifications.The latest of the studies discussed in this report is intended to overcome the drawback of the AFM as a means of measuring mechanical and rheological properties. The squeezingflow AFM technique utilizes two parallel plates, one stationary and the other attached to an AFM probe. Instead of using static force-displacement curves, the technique takes advantage of frequency response functions from force to velocity. The technique appears to be quite promising for obtaining dynamic properties. More research is required to develop this technique.5

This report summarizes research into effects of electron gun control on piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) structures. The experimental apparatus specific to the electron gun control of this structure is detailed, and the equipment developed for the remote examination of the bimorph surface profile is outlined. Experiments conducted to determine the optimum electron beam characteristics for control are summarized. Clearer boundaries on the bimorphs' control output capabilities were determined, as was the closed loop response. Further controllability analysis of the bimorph is outlined, and the results are examined. In this research, the bimorph response was tested through a matrix of control inputs of varying current, frequency, and amplitude. Experiments also studied the response to electron gun actuation of piezoelectric bimorph thin film covered with multiple spatial regions of control. Parameter ranges that yielded predictable control under certain circumstances were determined. Research has shown that electron gun control can be used to make macrocontrol and nanocontrol adjustments for PVDF structures. The control response and hysteresis are more linear for a small range of energy levels. Current levels needed for optimum control are established, and the generalized controllability of a PVDF bimorph structure is shown. 4This page intentionally left blank.5

The primary goals of the present study are to: 1) determine how and why MEMSscale friction differs from friction on the macro-scale, and 2) to begin to develop a capability to perform finite element simulations of MEMS materials and components that accurately predicts response in the presence of adhesion and friction.Regarding the first goal, a newly developed nanotractor actuator was used to measure friction between molecular monolayer-coated, polysilicon surfaces. Amontons' law does indeed apply over a wide range of forces. However, at low loads, which are of relevance to MEMS, there is an important adhesive contribution to the normal load that cannot be neglected. More importantly, we found that at short sliding distances, the concept of a coefficient of friction is not relevant; rather, one must invoke the notion of "pre-sliding tangential deflections" (PSTD). Results of a simple 2-D model suggests that PSTD is a cascade of small-scale slips with a roughly constant number of contacts equilibrating the applied normal load.Regarding the second goal, an Adhesion Model and a Junction Model have been implemented in PRESTO, Sandia's transient dynamics, finite element code to enable asperity-level simulations. The Junction Model includes a tangential shear traction that opposes the relative tangential motion of contacting surfaces. An atomic force microscope (AFM)-based method was used to measure nano-scale, single asperity friction forces as a function of normal force. This data is used to determine Junction Model parameters. An illustrative simulation demonstrates the use of the Junction Model in conjunction with a mesh generated directly from an atomic force microscope (AFM) image to directly predict frictional response of a sliding asperity.Also with regards to the second goal, grid-level, homogenized models were studied. One would like to perform a finite element analysis of a MEMS component assuming nominally flat surfaces and to include the effect of roughness in such an analysis by using a homogenized contact and friction models. AFM measurements were made to determine statistical information on polysilicon surfaces with different roughnesses, and this data was used as input to a homogenized, multi-asperity contact model (the classical Greenwood and Williamson model). Extensions of the Greenwood and Williamson model are also discussed: one incorporates the effect of adhesion while the other modifies the theory so that it applies to the case of relatively few contacting asperities.5