Collaborative Research: Multifunctional Performance of Carbon Nanotube-Polymer Composites

本研究的目的是开发和表征基于碳纳米管的多功能复合材料，其将结构功能与自传感和驱动相结合。所提出的方法是使用电场在聚合物基体中排列碳纳米管，以实现高浓度的夹杂物，同时保持复合材料低于逾渗极限。这样的复合材料，具有良好分散的夹杂物，预计表现出自驱动和自感测能力匹配的最好的电活性陶瓷，同时保持强度，耐环境性和聚合物的可制造性。长期目标是在大批量制造过程中将所有这些功能集成到单一材料中，例如注塑成型，所提出的研究提出了一种创新的设计范式，即通过在制造过程中的微观水平上进行控制来优化复合材料的特定应用。碳纳米管的优异性能与聚合物的轻质、柔性和可制造性相结合，导致多功能结构材料具有降低的成本、重量、功耗和设计复杂性，但表现出上级性能。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、自我维持的医疗设备、能量收集、高科技消费行业等。通过整合这些研究成果，以加强现有的和新的课程，预计将产生教育效益。教育工作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的影响。在这个项目上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.