SGER: Exploratory Investigations on a Novel Process for the Fabrication of Multiscale Reinforced Polymer Composites

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Polymeric composites with cylindrical fiber reinforcements are employed in many engineering applications. The service life of these composite structures is significantly impacted by failures such as fiber debonding and pull-out from the matrix. One approach to improving the engineering of advanced materials stems from an examination of the morphological architectures in biological systems and natural materials, which owe their impressive structural properties to the hierarchical, multi-scale microstructures. Engineered composite materials with multiscale, branched reinforcement structures mimicking biological and natural systems can, therefore, potentially offer significant property enhancements over conventional cylindrical fiber reinforced composites. This Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) project seeks to perform pilot investigations on a technique for the fabrication of such biomimetic composites. An innovative processing method based on the fluid instability phenomenon of viscous fingering, which under appropriate flow conditions generates fractal arborescent structures spanning several length scales, is proposed to be explored for obtaining the desired reinforcement structures in the composites. The fundamental unknowns concerning the practical feasibility of the technique are proposed to be resolved through systematic experimental studies. The anticipated impact of the proposed innovation is that of opening up a new class of composite structures with superior properties, for use in diverse applications.