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Bioinspired architectures are effective in enhancing the mechanical properties of materials, yet are difficult to construct in metallic systems. The structure-property relationships of bioinspired metallic composites also remain unclear. Here, Mg-Ti composites were fabricated by pressureless infiltrating pure Mg melt into three-dimensional (3-D) printed Ti-6Al-4V scaffolds. The result was composite materials where the constituents are continuous, mutually interpenetrated in 3-D space and exhibit specific spatial arrangements with bioinspired brick-and-mortar, Bouligand, and crossed-lamellar architectures. These architectures promote effective stress transfer, delocalize damage and arrest cracking, thereby bestowing improved strength and ductility than composites with discrete reinforcements. Additionally, they activate a series of extrinsic toughening mechanisms, including crack deflection/twist and uncracked-ligament bridging, which enable crack-tip shielding from the applied stress and lead to “Γ”-shaped rising fracture resistance R-curves. Quantitative relationships were established for the stiffness and strengths of the composites by adapting classical laminate theory to incorporate their architectural characteristics. Bioinspired architectures are desired to achieve improved mechanical properties, but challenging to achieve in metallic systems. Here the authors fabricate a Mg-Ti interpenetrating phase composite with brick-and-mortar, Bouligand, and crossed-lamellar architectures by pressureless infiltrating method.

Stone relics are among the most important cultural heritages as they preserve a trove of cultural information of historical import. Many of these relics have sustained damage due to extensive periods weathering outdoor environment conditions causing different weathering patterns’, including cracking, fracture, blistering, efflorescence, peeling, flaking and exfoliation. Among the main environmental factors causing these types of decay are water, acids, temperature fluctuations, soluble salts, and microorganisms. To preserve these stone monuments, Extensive research efforts have been devoted toward protecting these artifacts from environmental deterioration. The present paper reviews the pros and cons as well as future development perspectives of inorganic, organic, inorganic/organic composites and biological protective materials for prevention of stone relics deterioration from physical, chemical, and biological factors, which indicates that inorganic/organic composites possess obvious advantages for preventing water deterioration. Which provide future development perspectives about the protective materials.

Catastrophically mechanical failure of soft self-healing materials is unavoidable due to their inherently poor resistance to crack propagation. Here, with a model system, i.e., soft self-healing polyurea, we present a biomimetic strategy of surpassing trade-off between soft self-healing and high fracture toughness, enabling the conversion of soft and weak into soft yet tough self-healing material. Such an achievement is inspired by vascular smooth muscles, where core-shell structured Galinstan micro-droplets are introduced through molecularly interfacial metal-coordinated assembly, resulting in an increased crack-resistant strain and fracture toughness of 12.2 and 34.9 times without sacrificing softness. The obtained fracture toughness is up to 111.16 ± 8.76 kJ/m 2 , even higher than that of Al and Zn alloys. Moreover, the resultant composite delivers fast self-healing kinetics (1 min) upon local near-infrared irradiation, and possesses ultra-high dielectric constants (~14.57), thus being able to be fabricated into sensitive and self-healing capacitive strain-sensors tolerant towards cracks potentially evolved in service. Catastrophically mechanical failure, of soft self-healing materials often stems from its poor resistance to crack, propagation. Here, the authors present a strategy of surpassing trade-off, between soft self-healing and high fracture toughness, enabling the, conversion of soft and weak into soft yet tough self-healing materials.

To circumvent the numerous deficiencies inherent to water-based fracturing fluids and the associated greenhouse effect, CO2 fracturing fluids are employed as a novel reservoir working fluid for reservoir reconstruction in unconventional oil fields. Herein, a mathematical model of CO2 fracturing crack propagation based on seepage–stress–damage coupling was constructed for analysing the effects of different drilling fluid components and reservoir parameters on the crack propagation behaviour of low permeability reservoirs. Additionally, the fracture expansion mechanism of CO2 fracturing fluid on low permeability reservoirs was elucidated through mechanical and chemical analysis. The findings demonstrated that CO2 fracturing fluid can effectively facilitate the expansion of cracks in low-permeability reservoirs, and thickener content, reservoir pressure, and reservoir parameters were identified as influencing factors in the expansion of reservoir cracks and the evolution of rock damage. The 5% CO2 thickener can increase the apparent viscosity and fracture length of CO2 fracturing fluid to 5.12 mPa·s and 58 m, respectively, which are significantly higher than the fluid viscosity (0.04 mPa·s) and expansion capacity (13 m) of pure CO2 fracturing fluid. Furthermore, various other factors significantly influence the fracture expansion capacity of CO2 fracturing fluid, thereby offering technical support for fracture propagation in low-permeability reservoirs and enhancing oil recovery.

Hydraulic fracturing has been widely used to enhance reservoir permeability during the extraction of shale gas. As one of the external input parameters, injection rate has a significant impact on formation breakdown pressure and the complexity of hydraulic fractures. To gain deeper insights into the effect of injection rate on breakdown pressure and fracture morphology, we conducted five hydraulic fracturing experiments on Changning shale in the laboratory. We used five different injection rates between 3 and 30 mL/min to fracture cylindrical core samples with 50 mm in diameter and 100 mm in length. We monitored acoustic emissions and surface displacements during the tests, and analyzed the fracture pattern post mortem by using a fluorescent tracer. We find a semi-logarithmic relationship between the breakdown pressure and the injection rates. Second, we find that it is the injection rate that dictates sample deformation and crack formation during breakdown rather than the fluid volume injected during the whole process. The analysis of amplitudes and frequency of acoustic signals indicates that hydraulic fracturing of Changning shale is overall dominated by tensile fractures (> 60%). However, at low injection rates, shear events are facilitated before rock breakdown. On the other hand, high injection rates result in reducing fracture tortuosity and surface roughness due to limited fluid infiltration in the relatively short injection window. We close this study with a conceptual model to explain the difference between fluid infiltration (low injection rates) and the loading rate effect (high injection rate) in low-permeability shale rocks. The findings obtained in this study can help to adjust injection rates in the field to economically and safely produce gas from shale.HighlightsRock expansion upon breakdown is dominated by instantaneous crack opening caused by injection rates.Low injection rates reduce the breakdown strength by activating shear cracks in a larger fluid infiltration zone.High injection rates have limited effects on fracture morphology.A theoretical model is proposed to elucidate the competing mechanism between fluid infiltration and the loading rate effect.

Cracking from a fine equiaxed zone (FQZ), often just tens of microns across, plagues the welding of 7000 series aluminum alloys. Using a multiscale correlative methodology, from the millimeter scale to the nanoscale, we shed light on the strengthening mechanisms and the resulting intergranular failure at the FQZ. We show that intergranular AlCuMg phases give rise to cracking by micro-void nucleation and subsequent link-up due to the plastic incompatibility between the hard phases and soft (low precipitate density) grain interiors in the FQZ. To mitigate this, we propose a hybrid welding strategy exploiting laser beam oscillation and a pulsed magnetic field. This achieves a wavy and interrupted FQZ along with a higher precipitate density, thereby considerably increasing tensile strength over conventionally hybrid welded butt joints, and even friction stir welds. Fusion welding of 7000 series aluminum alloy is plagued by cracking from a fine equiaxed zone (FQZ). Here, the authors quantify key softening mechanisms, show the damage accumulation sequence, and propose a hybrid laser/arc welding strategy to mitigate the FQZ and increase weld strength and toughness.

Liquid nitrogen (LN2) fracturing is a technology that can dramatically enhance the stimulation performances of high-temperature reservoirs, such as hot dry rock geothermal and deep/ultra-deep hydrocarbon reservoirs. The aim of the present study was to investigate the damage characteristics of high-temperature rocks subjected to LN2 thermal shock, which is a critical concern in the engineering application of LN2 fracturing. In our work, the rocks (granite, shale and sandstone) were slowly heated to different temperatures (25 °C, 150 °C and 260 °C) and maintained at the target temperatures for 10 h, followed by LN2 quenching. After thermal treatments, we tested the physical and mechanical properties of the rocks to evaluate their damages. Additionally, sensitivities of the three rocks to thermal shock were also compared and analyzed. According to our experiments, LN2 thermal shock can enhance the permeability of the rocks and deteriorate their mechanical properties significantly. Increasing rock temperature helps strengthen the effect of LN2 thermal shock, leading to more severe damage. Inter-granular cracking is the primary contribution to the rock damage in the LN2 cooling process. Compared with granite and shale, sandstone is less sensitive to LN2 thermal shock. The lower sensitivity of sandstone to thermal shock is mainly attributed to its larger pore spaces and weaker heterogeneity of mineral thermal expansion. The present paper can provide some guidance for the engineering application of LN2 fracturing technology.

Cracks and cavities belong to two basic forms of damage to the concrete structure, which may reduce the load-bearing capacity and tightness of the structure and lead to failures and catastrophes in construction structures. Excessive and uncontrolled cracking of the structural element may cause both corrosion and weakening of the adhesion of the reinforcement present in it. Moreover, cracking in the structure negatively affects its aesthetics and in extreme cases may cause discomfort to people staying in such a building. Therefore, the following article provides an in-depth review of issues related to the formation and development of damage and cracking in the structure of concrete composites. It focuses on the causes of crack initiation and characterizes their basic types. An overview of the most commonly used methods for detecting and analyzing the shape of microcracks and diagnosing the trajectory of their propagation is also presented. The types of cracks occurring in concrete composites can be divided according to eight specific criteria. In reinforced concrete elements, macrocracks depend on the type of prevailing loads, whereas microcracks are correlated with their specific case. The analyses conducted show that microcracks are usually rectilinear in shape in tensioned elements; in shear elements there are wing microcracks with straight wings; and torsional stresses cause changes in wing microcrack morphology in that the tips of the wings are twisted. It should be noted that the subject matter of microcracks and cracks in concrete and structures made of this material is important in many respects as it concerns, in a holistic approach, the durability of buildings, the safety of people staying in the buildings, and costs related to possible repairs to damaged structural elements. Therefore, this problem should be further investigated in the field of evaluation of the cracking and fracture processes, both in concrete composites and reinforced concrete structures.

Determination of the cracking levels during the crack propagation is one of the key challenges in the field of fracture mechanics of rocks. Acoustic emission (AE) is a technique that has been used to detect cracks as they occur across the specimen. Parametric analysis of AE signals and correlating these parameters (e.g., hits and energy) to stress–strain plots of rocks let us detect cracking levels properly. The number of AE hits is related to the number of cracks, and the AE energy is related to magnitude of the cracking event. For a full understanding of the fracture process in brittle rocks, prismatic specimens of granite containing pre-existing flaws have been tested in uniaxial compression tests, and their cracking process was monitored with both AE and high-speed video imaging. In this paper, the characteristics of the AE parameters and the evolution of cracking sequences are analyzed for every cracking level. Based on micro- and macro-crack damage, a classification of cracking levels is introduced. This classification contains eight stages (1) crack closure, (2) linear elastic deformation, (3) micro-crack initiation (white patch initiation), (4) micro-crack growth (stable crack growth), (5) micro-crack coalescence (macro-crack initiation), (6) macro-crack growth (unstable crack growth), (7) macro-crack coalescence and (8) failure.

As a core component of ethylene production, the cracking furnace tube needs to be in service under the environment of high temperature and high carbon potential, which makes it highly susceptible to failure. This paper utilizes macroinspection, chemical analysis, mechanical property testing, metallographic analysis, scanning electron microanalysis(SEM), energy dispersive spectrometer(EDS), and other methods to analyze the bulging and cracking failure of the 35Cr-45Ni ethylene cracking furnace tube in actual service for six years. The results show that the expansion, deformation, and cracking of the furnace tube are caused by local hightemperature creep, and the main damage mechanism is high-temperature creep. According to the operational experience and failure characteristics of the cracking furnace, this article speculates on the causes of high temperature creep and gives corresponding suggestions for the subsequent management of the cracking furnace tube.