Investigation of Structure-Property Relations in Active Piezoelectric Nanocomposites

该奖项的研究目标是开发制造压电纳米材料（以颗粒，棒和线的形式）的方法，以将其纳入聚合物基质中。 所产生的纳米复合材料将在理论和实验上的特点，以阐明压电成分的影响？的几何形状对纳米复合材料的机电性能。 这些顺应性压电材料已被提议用于各种应用，包括聚合物致动器、传感器和多功能材料，用于结构健康监测、传感、能量收集和自适应结构控制等应用。 然而，为了实现这些纳米复合材料的潜力，需要提高耦合效率。 这项研究工作将建立所需的知识基础，以实现所需的机电耦合增加。 这些努力的预期成果包括一个新的微观力学模型来预测活性纳米复合材料的电弹性性能，设计具有所需性能的纳米复合材料的方法，以及工程学生教育和课后推广计划的发展，以教育学生工程领域的科学多样性。 该方案计划开展的外联活动将影响到从中学到研究生院的学生。 将开发一个可持续的计划，让学生熟悉工程学科，并让他们亲身体验这些领域是如何相互联系的。 该计划将通过一系列演示和实践练习来实施，这些练习将在亚利桑那州立大学的学生推广和保留计划（SORP）赞助的持续计划中提供给学生。 本科生将通过实习计划直接参与这项研究工作，他们将与研究生并肩工作。 这个机会将使学生接触到跨学科的技能（聚合物加工，材料合成，形态学和机电表征），因为他们学习扩展跨学科的沟通技能和知识基础。

The research objective of this award is to develop methodologies to fabricate piezoelectric nanomaterials (in the form of particle, rods and wires) for their inclusion into polymer matrices. The resulting nanocomposites will be theoretically and experimentally characterized to elucidate the impact of the piezoelectric constituent?s geometry on the electomechanical properties of the nanocomposite. These compliant piezoelectric materials have been proposed for use in a wide variety of applications including polymeric actuators, sensors and multifunctional materials for applications including structural health monitoring, sensing, energy harvesting, and control of adaptive structures. However to realize the potential of these nanocomposites improvements in the coupling efficiency is required. This research effort will build the knowledge base required to achieve the required increase in electromechanical coupling. Expected deliverables from these efforts include a new micromechanics model to predict the electroelastic properties of active nanocomposites, heuristics for designing a nanocomposite with the desired properties, and engineering student education and the development of an after school outreach program to educate students on the scientific diversity of the engineering field. The outreach activities planned under this program will impact students from middle school to graduate school. A sustainable program to familiarize the students with the engineering discipline and allow them to experience hands on how the fields are interconnected will be developed. This program will be implemented through a series of presentations and hands-on exercises that will be delivered to the students in ongoing programs sponsored by the Student Outreach and Retention Program (SORP) at Arizona State University. Undergraduate students will be directly incorporated into this research effort through an internship program where they will work side-by-side with the graduate student. This opportunity will expose the students to a cross-disciplinary skill set (polymer processing, materials synthesis, morphological and electromechanical characterization) as they learn to expand their communication skills and knowledge base across disciplines.