Abstract:There is growing evidence that the standard Weibull strength distribution is not always accurate for the description of variability in tensile strength and its dependence on the gauge size of brittle fibers. In this work, a modified Weibull model by incorporating the diameter variation of bamboo fiber is proposed to investigate the effect of fiber length and diameter on the tensile strength. Fiber strengths are obtained for lengths ranging from 20 to 60 mm and diameters ranging from 196.6 to 584.3 μm through tensile tests. It is shown that as the within-fiber diameter variation increases, the fracture strength of the bamboo fiber decreases. In addition, the accuracy of using weak-link scaling predictions based on the standard and modified Weibull distribution are assessed, which indicates that the use of the modified distribution provides better correlation with the experimental data than the standard model. The result highlights the accuracy of the modified Weibull model for characterizing the strength and predicting the size dependence of bamboo fiber.

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In this study, we report a theoretical model for the temperature and size dependent surface energy of metallic nanomaterials. The model is verified by making a comparison with the available simulation and experimental data. Reasonable agreement has been observed between these results. This study reveals that the decrease of surface energy at high temperatures is caused by cohesive energy weakening and bond expansion. With the same nanomaterial size, the sequence of size effects on the surface energy from weak to strong is thin films, nanowires, and nanoparticles. In particular, this work can provide a theoretical basis for the prediction of size dependent surface energy of metallic nanomaterials at different temperatures, which can help in the understanding of the mechanical and thermodynamic properties of metal surfaces.

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Tensile strength is a key mechanical property of fibers used as sustainable reinforcements for advanced fiberreinforced composites. This study aims to conduct experimental investigation on the fracture strength of bamboo fibers of different dimensions subjected to longitudinal tensile loading. The statistical distributions of the fracture strength in bamboo fibers are correlated with the effects of fiber length and diameter variation. These are described according to Weibull statistics, which exhibit the random nature of fiber strength. The Weibull function parameters used for strength prediction are obtained from the test specimens. A comparison of predicted results and experimental data is presented to assess the accuracy of using weak-link scaling. Furthermore, the findings of this study also indicate that fiber strength statistics dominate size dependence of tensile strength. POLYM. COMPOS.,