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Cyclic bending under tension (CBT) has been shown to increase room temperature elongation-to-failure in various sheet metals beyond that of simple tension. A greater understanding of deformation mechanisms in CBT would allow for its elongation-enhancing effects to be more fully exploited, creating potential for new forming strategies. CBT-induced cyclic bending/unbending stresses combined with applied macroscopic tensile stresses create complex through-thickness stress profiles, where differing hardening behavior is expected near the surfaces compared with the middle of the sheet. This work uses high resolution electron backscatter diffraction characterization of geometrically necessary dislocation density together with X-ray diffraction-based evaluations of total dislocation density and in-plane digital image correlation to provide an in-depth analysis of through-thickness dislocation development and associated hardening rates throughout the CBT process in CP-Ti Grade 4 sheet metal. It was found that dislocation density is relatively uniform across the sheet at lower cycles, increases in the sheet center at higher cycles, and eventually approaches saturation near failure. Namely, dislocation accumulation occurs more slowly in the ratcheting, bending/unbending portions of the sheet (i.e., near the surfaces) from cyclic load reversals, and develops faster in the central tensile portion, where dislocation density up to 1.43x higher than near the surfaces was observed. High dislocation densities in the sheet center were found to precede significant central void accumulation, concentrating damage away from peak surface stresses, presumably contributing to delayed failure.

Nanocomposite foam (NCF) is a multifunctional material that can be used to measure impact. Interactions between the flexible polymer matrix and conductive particles dispersed throughout it produce a voltage signal under dynamic strain, which correlates to the magnitude of impact. Though promising in applications requiring both impact sensing and energy absorption, NCF’s voltage response has been observed to suffer from significant signal drift. This paper investigates several causes of variance in the response of NCF sensors to consistent impacts. These effects can be classified into three general types: recoverable transient effects (such as those relating to viscoelasticity or capacitive charging), environmental drift (due to humidity and temperature), and permanent signal decay from material degradation. The motivation for the study arises from various potential repeat-impact applications where periodic recalibration of the sensor would be difficult (such as a gait-tracking insole in use for a marathon event). A cyclic drop testing machine was used to apply consistent impacts to NCF, and drift resulting from each factor (in ranges typical of an insole environment) was experimentally isolated. Models representing each factor’s contribution to signal drift are presented. Of the factors investigated, humidity and temperature caused the most significant drift, with permanent material degradation accounting for only minor decay in voltage response. Transient effects were also observed, with a characteristic ‘warm-up’ (or ‘charging’) time required for the NCF to achieve steady-state; this phenomenon, and the related ‘recovery’ time for the material to return to its original state, were determined. The resultant data can be leveraged to implement a correction algorithm or other drift-compensating method to retain an NCF sensor’s accuracy in both long and short data collection scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]