This paper presents the influence of the position of an applied static load on a honeycomb sandwich with core made of resin impregnated honeycomb and caps made of epoxy resin. The nonlinear analyses were concentrated underneath the area of applied force and on the side of one wall of the honeycomb. The results obtained can be used to determine the effect of a small area impact on a honeycomb sandwich or to establish the stress distribution pattern

Fracture toughness occurring in a material that has micro-cracks may be improved by particle addition, these particles having different properties than the basic material. This paper includes the outcome of a research on the influence of softer or harder particles added to the basic material, on the stresses occurring in the immediate vicinity of micro-cracks. Our research is designed to determine to what extent this process may result into preventing

Fiber-reinforced polymeric composite materials present an orthotropic distribution of their mechanical and elastic characteristics. This behaviour is mainly due to the fact that the fabric used behaves differently under the same type of stress, on different directions. The procedure described by our paper enables researchers to determine the elastic modulus of such materials, on three different directions, using a specially designed specimen. The

Most of the problems of modern engineering are solved using numerical methods. In order to use a numerical method the first step that must be performed is to generate a numerical model that contains all the input data in terms of geometry, material data, boundary conditions (loads and support). Ideally a structure must be defined only using hexahedral elements that are capable to provide the best results. This paper presents a method for generation

This paper presents some modelling techniques useful for the optimisation of numerical models of vehicle interior parts in terms of improving the structural response in impact applications. A procedure regarding the random distribution of thickness of the elements for a selected area within a user-specified tolerance is presented. Procedures implemented in a custom-written code and the algorithms used for the random distribution are also presented.

Organoclays with improved affinity towards carbon dioxide were obtained via montmorillonite intercalation with polyol and amino dendrimers having respectively hydroxyl or amino groups that act as adsorbing sites. Measurements through thermal programmed desorption (TPD) show that higher amounts of CO2 than predicted by stoichiometry were retained by polyol organoclays, suggesting that more than one CO2 molecule adsorb on each OH group. The latter