Collaborative Research: Nanofluidics Enabled Attenuation of Dynamic Impacts and Stress Waves

动态冲击会在固体材料中引起应力波，从而损坏基础设施、人员或设备。然而，目前缓解应力波的方法是不够的，因为它们依赖于与材料和结构的不可恢复的屈曲和/或塑性变形相关的能量吸收。此外，使这些材料变形所需的时间通常比动态冲击和应力波在这些保护材料中传播所需的时间长得多。纳米流体是指液体在外部压力或应力的作用下被强迫进入纳米尺度的通道，有望衰减应力波，为保护材料和结构的设计提供了一种全新的范式。该项目的主要目标是调查和了解纳米流体对动态冲击和应力波的缓解，特别是三维纳米孔道网络中的纳米流体。这个合作项目还将对教育产生广泛的影响，包括对研究生和本科生的专业培训，以及对外展的影响，包括与当地高中的启发互动。该合作项目的目标是系统地研究非润湿液-固纳米多孔复合材料中的纳米流体学，并探索其对减轻动态冲击和应力波的潜在保护机制。为此，拟议的研究将集中于三项任务：(I)利用原子模拟技术研究和揭示高速加载下非润湿液-固纳米孔结构中的纳米流体科学；(Ii)建立纳米流体能量捕获机制的理论模型，以量化纳米流体对动态冲击和应力波的响应；以及(Iii)利用非润湿液-固纳米孔材料平台设计并进行高应变率下的验证实验。纳米流体能量捕获机制将更新承受应力波的保护材料和结构的现有设计策略，从而使基本纳米流体和应用技术都发生革命性变化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Dynamic impacts can cause stress waves within solid materials, resulting in damage to infrastructure, personnel, or devices. However, current approaches to mitigate stress waves are inadequate in that they rely on energy absorption associated with unrecoverable buckling and/or plastic deformation of materials and structures. Moreover, the time required to deform these materials is typically much longer than the time needed for dynamic impacts and stress waves to propagate through these protection materials. Nanofluidics, in which the liquid is forced into nanoscale channels by an external pressure or stress, is expected to attenuate stress waves and offers a entirely new paradigm for the design of protection materials and structures. The overarching goal of this project is to investigate and understand nanofluidics-enabled mitigation of dynamic impacts and stress waves with particular focus on nanofluidics in three-dimensional nanoporous networks. This collaborative project will also provide a broad impact on education including professional trainings to both graduate and undergraduate students, and on outreach including inspiring interactions with local high schools.The objective of this collaborative project is to systematically investigate the science of nanofluidics in non-wetting liquid-solid nanoporous composite materials, and to explore its underlying protection mechanism for mitigating dynamic impacts and stress waves. To this end, the proposed research will focus on three tasks: (i) to investigate and unveil the science of nanofluidics in non-wetting liquid-solid nanoporous structures under a high speed loading using atomistic simulations, (ii) to develop a theoretical model of nanofluidic energy capture mechanism to quantify nanofluidic responses to dynamic impacts and stress waves, and (iii) to design and carry out verification experiments at high strain rates by employing non-wetting liquid-solid nanoporous materials platforms. The nanofluidic energy capture mechanism will refresh existing design strategies of protection materials and structures subjected to stress waves, thereby revolutionizing both fundamental nanofluidics and application technologies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.