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，以便将其包含在聚合物基体中。所得到的纳米复合材料将在理论上和实验上进行表征，以阐明压电成分的影响。S几何形状对纳米复合材料机电性能的影响。这些柔性压电材料已被提议用于各种各样的应用，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。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库，以实现机电耦合所需的增加。这些努力的预期成果包括预测活性纳米复合材料电弹性性能的新微观力学模型，设计具有所需性能的纳米复合材料的启发式方法，以及工程学生教育和课后拓展计划的发展，以教育学生了解工程领域的科学多样性。在这个项目下计划的外展活动将影响从中学到研究生的学生。一个可持续发展的项目，让学生熟悉工程学科，让他们亲身体验如何相互联系的领域将被开发。该计划将通过一系列的演讲和实践练习来实施，这些演讲和实践练习将在亚利桑那州立大学学生拓展和保留计划（SORP）赞助的持续项目中提供给学生。本科生将通过实习项目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，形态和机电表征），因为他们学习扩展他们的沟通技巧和跨学科的知识基础。

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.