A novel co-extrusion process for the production of coaxially reinforced hollow profiles has been developed. Using this process, hybrid hollow profiles made of the aluminum alloy EN AW-6082 and the case-hardening steel 20MnCr5 (AISI 5120) were produced, which can be forged into hybrid bearing bushings by subsequent die forging. For the purpose of co-extrusion, a modular tooling concept was developed where steel tubes made of 20MnCr5 are fed laterally into the tool. This LACE (lateral angular co-extrusion) process allows for a variation of the volume fraction of the reinforcement by using steel tubes with different wall thicknesses, which enabled the production of compound profiles having reinforcement contents of either 14 vol.% or 34 vol.%. The shear strength of the bonding area of these samples was determined in push-out tests. Additionally, mechanical testing of segments of the hybrid profiles using shear compression tests was employed to provide information about the influence of different bonding mechanisms on the strength of the composite zone.

The effects of strain rate, size (height × width), and pre-existing crack length on the mechanical response of polycaprolactone electrospun membranes were investigated by tension tests conducted at room temperature. In particular, tensile tests were performed with three different strain rates for strain rate effect tests, seven different geometries for elucidating the size effect, and three different initial notch lengths for crack growth experiments. The electrospun membranes were produced by the electrospinning technique using a polycaprolactone solution prepared in 1, 1, 1, 3, 3, 3-hexafluoro-2-propanol as the solvent. Scanning electron microscopy was utilized to show the continuous fiber structure without bead formation. The average fiber diameter was calculated as 1.113 ± 0.270 μm by using scanning electron microscopy images of the membranes. The chemical structure of polycaprolactone was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and the toxicity and cell viability of the electrospun membranes were shown by CellTiter 96® Aqueous One Solution Cell Proliferation Assay (MTS test). It was observed that the ultimate tensile strength and Young’s modulus decreased, and the elongation at failure value increased as the strain rate decreased from 10−1 to 10−3 s−1. Besides, positive strain rate sensitivity was observed on the mechanical response of electrospun polycaprolactone membranes. Moreover, the dependency of mechanical response on the size geometry has been well studied, and the optimum height and width combinations were specified. Also, crack growth was studied in terms of both macroscopic and microstructural deformation mechanisms and it is observed that individual fiber deformations and interactions are highly effective on the mechanical behavior and also propagation of the crack. Consequently, in this study, the size and strain rate effects and crack growth on the mechanical response of electrospun polycaprolactone membranes have been investigated extensively, and the results presented herein constitute an essential guideline for the usage of polycaprolactone electrospun membranes at different loading scenarios.

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