Collaborative Research: Multifunctional Performance of Carbon Nanotube-Polymer Composites

本研究的目标是开发和表征基于碳纳米管的多功能复合材料，该复合材料将结构功能与自感知和驱动相结合。所提出的方法是利用电场将碳纳米管排列在聚合物基质中，以获得高浓度的夹杂物，同时将复合材料保持在渗流极限以下。这种复合材料具有分散良好的夹杂物，有望表现出与最好的电活性陶瓷相媲美的自驱动和自感知能力，同时保持聚合物的强度、耐环境和可制造性。其长期目标是在注塑等大批量制造过程中将所有这些功能集成到一种材料中。所提出的研究提出了一种创新的设计范式，即在制造过程中通过微观级别的控制来优化复合材料的特定应用。碳纳米管的卓越性能与聚合物的轻质、柔性和可制造性相结合，产生了多功能结构材料，这些材料降低了成本、重量、功耗和设计复杂性，但表现出优异的性能。这种发展的影响将远远超出航空航天应用中的结构健康监测和振动控制，扩展到医疗诊断、自我可持续的医疗设备、能源收集、高科技消费行业等。整合这项研究成果，提升现有课程和新课程，可望带来教育效益。教育努力将对教育下一代劳动力利用现代技术解决复杂的工程问题产生广泛影响。在这个项目上接受培训的研究生和本科生将获得跨学科的研究经验和研究指导技能。

The objective of this research is to develop and characterize carbon nanotubes-based multifunctional composites that merge structural functions with self-sensing and actuation. The proposed approach is aligning carbon nanotubes in a polymeric matrix using an electric field to achieve a high concentration of inclusions while keeping the composite below the percolation limit. Such composite, having well-dispersed inclusions, is expected to exhibit self-actuation and self-sensing capabilities matching those of the best electroactive ceramics while preserving the strength, environmental resistance and manufacturability of polymers. The long-range goal is to integrate all of these functions into a single material during high volume manufacturing processes such as injection molding.The proposed research advances an innovative design paradigm that composites are optimized for a particular application by control at the microscale-level during manufacturing. The superb properties of carbon nanotubes combined with the lightweight, flexibility, and manufacturability of polymers results in multifunctional structural materials that have reduced cost, weight, power consumption, and design complexity yet exhibit superior performance. The impact of such development will spread significantly beyond structural health monitoring and vibration control in aerospace applications to medical diagnosis, self-sustainable medical devices, energy harvesting, high-tech consumer industry and others. Educational benefits are expected by integrating this research results to enhance existing and new courses. Educational efforts will have a broad impact on teaching the next generation of the workforce to utilize modern technology for solving complex engineering problems. Graduate and undergraduate students trained on this project will acquire interdisciplinary research experience and research mentorship skills.