No abstract

No abstract

A molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was carried out to characterize the dynamic evolution of void defects in crystalline octahydro-1, 3, 5, 7-tetranitro-1, 3, 5, 7-tetrazocine (HMX). Different models were constructed with the same concentration of vacancies (10 %) to discuss the size effects of void. Energetic ground state properties were determined by annealing simulations. The void formation energy per molecule removed was found to be 55-63 kcal/mol(-1), and the average binding energy per molecule was between 32 and 34 kcal/mol(-1) according to the change in void size. Voids with larger size had lower formation energy. Local binding energies for molecules directly on the void surface decreased greatly compared to those in defect-free lattice, and then gradually increased until the distance away from the void surface was around 10 Å. Analysis of 1 ns MD simulations revealed that the larger the void size, the easier is void collapse. Mean square displacements (MSDs) showed that HMX molecules that had collapsed into void present liquid structure characteristics. Four unique low-energy conformers were found for HMX molecules in void: two whose conformational geometries corresponded closely to those found in HMX polymorphs and two, additional, lower energy conformers that were not seen in the crystalline phases. The ratio of different conformers changed with the simulated temperature, in that the ratio of α conformer increased with the increase in temperature.

No abstract

Topological-reinforcement and material-strengthening were used and employed to improve the mechanical properties of lattice truss sandwich structures. This new type of three-dimensional aluminum alloy lattice truss (named enhanced lattice truss) sandwich structure, with a relative density ranging from 1.7% to 4.7%, was designed and fabricated by interlocking and vacuum-brazing method. The out-of-plane compression and shear properties of the enhanced lattice truss sandwich structures (both as-brazed and age-hardened cores) were experimentally and analytically investigated. Good correlations between analytical predictions and experiment results were achieved. Experimental results showed that the mechanical properties of the enhanced lattice truss cores were sensitive to the unit-cell size and parent-alloy properties (i.e. inelastic buckling and tangential modulus). The compressive and shear characteristics of enhanced lattice truss sandwich structures were discussed and found superior to competing lattice truss structures in low density area (0.046–0.124 g/cm3) of material property charts. The combination of topological-reinforcement and material-strengthening provided a way to achieve lightweight sandwich structures with high specific strengths and low densities.