Multifunctional Piezoelectric Carbon Fibers for Enhanced Structural Safety and Performance

本研究的目标是：a）建立理论和有限元模型来预测活性压电陶瓷碳纤维的耦合和强度; B）确定几何形状以最大化纤维强度和耦合以用于各种应用; c）确定活性碳纤维的制造技术; d）构造一系列活性纤维和活性纤维层以用于实验分析。 这将是一种具有多种多功能特性的新型复合材料，其特性将在本研究中进行探索。 压电陶瓷材料用于结构致动是一种相当成熟的实践，已经在各种各样的应用中得到了应用。然而，正如先进的复合材料提供了许多好处，传统的工程材料的结构设计，致动器，利用压电纤维的主动性能可以改善许多限制时遇到的使用单片压电陶瓷器件。许多新的压电纤维复合材料已被开发，但几乎所有的研究都实现了这些设备，使他们的表面粘结贴片用于传感或驱动。该研究计划将开发一种新型的活性压电碳纤维，该纤维可以铺设在复合结构材料中，除了提供关键的承载功能外，还可以进行传感和驱动。该多功能纤维的成功开发将对工程学科产生广泛的影响，使研究具有重大的社会价值。 多功能材料的传感和驱动方面将允许复合材料设计有嵌入式结构健康监测，发电，振动传感和控制，阻尼和形状控制通过各向异性驱动。 此外，多功能光纤可以允许该结构用于能量存储，这是无线电子和传感器进步的主要问题。活性碳纤维的基本发展所带来的这些潜在应用中的每一个都将对现代结构的性能和安全产生广泛的影响。此外，通过开发多功能材料系统所取得的进展将推进自适应结构的设计和具有活性界面层的复合材料的建模。 该项目将通过利用本科生研究实习来招募代表性不足的参与者。 此外，研究人员将参加密歇根理工大学夏季青年计划，为代表性不足的大学预科学生开发和教授为期一周的夏季课程。这些课程将结合本研究的结果，并将鼓励个人通过介绍其多学科性质来追求工程学的大学教育。 随着新的桌面实验的设计，基础设施将得到加强，这将蔓延到教室教育。 这项工作还包括与洛斯阿拉莫斯国家实验室和NASA喷气推进实验室的领先研究小组合作研究和技术想法。此外，与洛斯阿拉莫斯的合作将导致在他们的动态暑期学校计划的研究项目，以鼓励本科生攻读动力学领域的研究生学位。

The research goals are to a) develop theoretical and finite element models to predict the coupling and strength of active piezoceramic carbon fiber, b) determine the geometry to maximize the fiber strength and coupling for various applications, c) identify the fabrication techniques for the active carbon fiber and d) construct a series of active fibers and active fiber lamina for experimental analysis. This will be a new composite material with several multifunctional properties whose properties will be explored in this research. The use of piezoceramic materials for structural actuation is a fairly well developed practice that has found use in a wide variety of applications. However, just as advanced composites offer many benefits over traditional engineering materials for structural design, actuators that utilize the active properties of piezoelectric fibers can improve upon many of the limitations encountered when using monolithic piezoceramic devices. Many new piezoelectric fiber composites have been developed, however almost all studies have implemented these devices such that they are surface bonded patches used for sensing or actuation. The research program will develop a novel active piezoelectric carbon fiber that can be laid up in a composite structural material to perform sensing and actuation, in addition to providing critical load bearing functionality.The successful development of the multifunctional fiber will make broad impacts across engineering disciplines making the research of great value to society. The sensing and actuation aspects of the multifunctional material will allow composites to be designed with embedded structural health monitoring, power generation, vibration sensing and control, damping and shape control through anisotropic actuation. Additionally, the multifunctional fiber could allow the structure to be used for energy storage, which is a major issue with the advancement of wireless electronics and sensors. Each of these potential applications resulting from the fundamental development of the active carbon fiber will have broad impacts on the performance and safety of modern structures. Furthermore, the advances made through the development of multifunctional material systems will advance the way in which adaptive structures are designed and the modeling of composite materials with an active interphase layer. The project will recruit underrepresented participants through the use of undergraduate research internships. Additionally, researchers will participate in the Michigan Tech summer youth program by developing and teaching week long summer courses to under represented groups of pre-college students. These lessons will incorporate results of this research and will encourage individuals to pursue a college education in engineering through an introduction to its multidisciplinary nature. Enhancement of infrastructure will occur, as new desktop experiments are designed, and this will spill over into class room education. The effort also contains a collaboration of research and technical ideas with a leading research groups at Los Alamos National Labs and the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab. Furthermore, the collaboration with Los Alamos will lead to research projects in their Dynamic Summer School program to encourage undergraduate students to pursue a graduate degree in the field of dynamics.