Characterization of challenging materials: what a change in mechanical behaviour can imply

Alessia Prato
Research Associate at University of Bristol
Bristol Composite Institute

Let’s consider for a moment a material like water ice or a typical carbon fibres composite. Both of them are generally defined as brittle materials. But what if, due to specific loading conditions or particular layups they start behaving like a fluid or showing a pseudo-ductile response? How can they be properly analysed from an experimental and/or numerical point of view? Is it still correct considering, for example, a spherical ice object, simulating a hailstone, like a pure brittle or pure fluid projectile? How can we properly define pseudo-ductility in a material, like composite?

In this short talk, I’d like to explore with you some cases I have studied in the last years in materials that we “already know” in order to try to understand how a different approach in experimental techniques or numerical modelling can be of help in the investigation of the “transition” in materials’ response and what a change in mechanical behaviour can in ply from a physical and engineering point of view.