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Two silane-based hybrid coatings were developed to modify the surface energy of phenolic resin impregnated paper. The coated paper samples were further pressed onto surfaces of plywood. The surface properties and water repellence of coated paper were investigated by AFM, XPS and water contact angle measurements. The water absorption of plywood with pressed paper was studied by water uptake tests. It was found that the sol-gel coatings had slightly improved the water repellence of the impregnated paper. The water absorption of plywood was also slightly decreased.

Effect of Si content of Al-Si matrix on roll cast wire inserted strip was investigated in this paper. 99.5%Al, Al-4%Si , Al-12%Si and Al-18%Si were used as matrix. Slit depth of the nozzle, superheat of melt, wire-diameter and roll speed was chosen as the casting parameters, too. Addition of the Si was useful to prevent the reaction between the matrix and the wire. A downward melt drag twin roll caster could cast the wire inserted strip of the Al-Si matrix of which Si content was ranging up to18%. Composite strip, which matrix was hyper eutectic Al-18%Si, could be cast at the speeds up to 20m/min. The gap between the wire and matrix became thin when the superheat was high. When the slit depth of the nozzle was too shallow, the wire could not be inserted in the strip. The thickness of the wire inserted strip became thinner as the roll speed became higher.

Authors’ group has been done researches on the damage monitoring of the laminated Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) using the electrical resistance change method. The method adopts reinforcement carbon fibers as sensors, and it is called self-sensing method. Using thin CFRP laminates, delamination crack location and dimension are identified with the electrical resistance change method. However, the electrical resistance decreases when a delamination crack is made in a thick CFRP beam. The present paper experimentally investigates the effect of the dent for the measurements of electrical resistance change. Indentation tests are performed for the thick CFRP plates. The effect of the dent is calculated compared with the effect of piezoresistivity caused by the residual stress relief. As a result, the effect of the dent is larger than the effect of the residual stress relief for the thick CFRP. For the thick CFRP, dents cause the significant reduction of the electrical resistance in the thickness direction, and that causes electrical resistance decrease.

Experimental works using a drop weight impact test method have been performed on a circular sheet specimen to evaluate and to characterize the impact resistance of the sheet-type plastic components designed for automotive wheel covers. Evaluation has been conducted for a set of engineering plastics: polycarbonate (PC), acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and their blend (PC/ABS). The testing results showed that the PC/ABS blend specimens failed in brittle manner under higher impact speeds with very few of whitening zones. Secondary cracks captured perpendicular to fracture surface were also found in the mid-plane of the scattered PC/ABS blend specimens. Investigation is then focused on this blend and the testing results describe that impact resistance of the specimen made of this alternative material is determined by ABS not by PC. Combination of structures between PC and ABS through the thickness in the core due to their immiscibility was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) on the etched PC/ABS specimen. This latter result well correlates the results obtained from the testing. It therefore reveals that immiscibility between PC and ABS in the blend plays an important role in determining the impact resistance of the components. This paper also presents simulative results of the test obtained from a FEA work by introducing a 3D- layered finite element (FE) model of the PC/ABS specimen to take into account effect of a layer in the core on the behavior of the blend.