NIRT: NanoManufacturing and Analysis of Active Hierarchical Nanofilamentary Nanostructures

这个纳米级跨学科研究小组（NIRT）项目的研究目标是开发和研究基于活性连续纳米纤维的新型分级纳米导电材料和结构。铁电/压电材料代表了一类技术上重要的活性材料，铁电/压电纤维和纤维增强复合材料具有明显的应用优势。然而，目前的制造技术导致直径为数十至数百微米的粗纤维，从而导致其较差的可加工性和机械性能。在这个项目中，基于新型活性连续纳米纤维的分级纳米材料和结构将被纳米制造，研究和开发。该项目将建立在最近发现的一种纳米制造技术的基础上，该技术能够生产出几乎完美对齐的密集束和连续纳米丝纱线。纳米制造方法将进一步发展和优化，以生产从铁/压电陶瓷和聚合物纳米纤维的分层纳米结构。这些新材料的机械和物理特性将被表征并与其多尺度结构相关联。将进行多尺度建模和分析，并用于了解它们的行为，并将其与它们的结构和工艺参数相关联，这项研究将对活性材料，纳米纤维，纳米组装体和复合材料的纳米制造，表征和建模产生影响。该项目将进一步推进我们对纳米制造和行为的认识和理解。在许多领域和工业中，连续冷却技术正引起迅速增长的兴趣。在这个项目中开发的新材料和纳米制造方法将用于各种各样的应用。教育部分包括对几名博士生进行多学科研究培训和开发相关的新课程。与纳米材料研究相关的社会和伦理问题也将与纳米制造，表征和建模研究一起探讨。

The research objective of this Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) project is to develop and study novel hierarchical nanofilamentary materials and structures based on active continuous nanofibers. Ferro/piezoelectric materials represent a technologically important class of active materials and ferro/piezoelectric fibers and fiber-reinforced composites have distinct advantages for applications. However, current manufacturing techniques result in thick fibers with diameters in the tens to hundreds of microns leading to their poor processability and mechanical properties. In this project, hierarchical nanofilamentary materials and structures based on novel active continuous nanofibers will be nanomanufactured, studied, and developed. The project will build on the recent discovery of a nanomanufacturing technique capable of producing nearly perfectly aligned and dense bundles and yarns of continuous nanofilaments. Nanomanufacturing method will be further developed and optimized to produce hierarchical nanofilamentary structures from ferro/piezoelectric ceramic and polymer nanofibers. Mechanical and physical properties of these novel materials will be characterized and correlated to their multiscale architecture. Multiscale modeling and analyses will be performed and used to understand their behavior and to correlate it with their structure and processing parameters.This research will have impact on nanomanufacturing, characterization, and modeling of active materials, nanofibers, and nanofiber assemblies and composites. This project will further advance our knowledge and understanding of nanofiber nanomanufacturing and behavior. Continuous nanofiber technology is attracting rapidly increasing interest in many fields and industries. The new materials and nanomanufacturing methods to be developed in this project will be used in a broad variety of applications. Educational component includes multidisciplinary research training of several PhD students and development of relevant new courses. Societal and ethical issues associated with nanomaterials research will be also explored in conjunction with the nanomanufacturing, characterization, and modeling research.