Graduation Year

2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

Ph.D.

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Degree Granting Department

Mechanical Engineering

Major Professor

Rasim Guldiken, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Necati Catbas, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Michael Wang, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Jing Wang, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Tansel Yucelen, Ph.D.

Keywords

Adhesion, Delamination, Glasses, Layered structures, Manufacturing economics

Abstract

All composites are formulations of materials that allow for the improvement of material properties by compositing materials with differing properties. For example, straw, which has a low compression strength and stiffness but relatively high tensile stiffness, composites well with clay, which has a high compression stiffness and low tensile strength, to create a material that utilizes a clay base with straw to greatly improve the strength of clay. In general, the most economical composites are those that combine a low-cost binder, or matrix, with higher strength reinforcing materials.

Contrary to popular knowledge, bulk glass is an exceedingly strong material when placed exclusively in compression. In fact, in comparing ratios, whether cost-to-strength, CO2 generated-to-strength, or embodied energy-to-strength, glass outperforms many other conventional structural materials when compared on a compressive strength basis. Glass, however, also features unique weaknesses, including a tendency to fracture, low tensile strength, relatively low stiffness, and high cost per cross-sectional area of structural element. Therefore, the application of bulk glass as a structural material has been somewhat limited.

This dissertation explores the possible applications of bulk glass to the use of a structural materials in the application of civil infrastructure projects by compositing the glass with lower strength, lower cost matrices. In particular, this dissertation explores bulk glass as a compressive reinforcement for column type applications.

Despite the numerous advantages of glass when compared on a strength basis, it still lacks stiffness in comparison to other materials. Specifically, the compressive Young’s modulus of glass becomes a limiting factor, disallowing its widespread use even in the studied applications.

This limiting Young’s modulus for glass factors into the buckling strength of the material. Frequently, for many practical designs in industry, columns are slender. In most slender-column type applications, compressive strength can be ignored. These columns’ maximum load is dictated by buckling strength and not compressive strength.

Despite these limitations, our research has led us to conclude that glass, if properly utilized in a column-type application, can result in superior costs per buckling strength when compared to conventional civil structural materials. We have determined that a glass composite column can be produced at a 11% savings over wooden columns and a 50% savings over structural steel columns.

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