CAREER: Scalable Processing of Novel Multi-scale Hybrid Composites

教师早期职业发展（Career）基金的主要研究目标是建立一种环境友好和可扩展的加工方法，将碳纳米管与传统的微米级高级纤维增强材料结合起来，创造出新型的多尺度混合微/纳米复合材料。通过与微米级纺织纤维杂交，碳纳米管的选择性和智能集成为形成局部多尺度增强结构提供了独特的机会，从而可以定制机械和物理性能。初步研究已经建立了一种高效的技术，可以在一个处理步骤中产生高度分散的碳纳米管的极其稳定的水悬浮液。通过对纳米管的选择性化学功能化和在碳纤维上的控制沉积，证明了碳纳米管可以完全穿透纤维束，并与纤维表面形成化学键。采用多尺度杂化材料制备的先进复合材料在抗剪强度和断裂韧性方面有显著提高。这种处理方法的意义在于它可以精确控制纳米前驱体材料的纯度、结构和化学功能。该工艺也可在环境条件下进行，并可在工业上扩展，以适应未来的应用。如果成功，这项研究的结果将扩大纳米结构材料制造的科学基础，并了解制造工艺参数、所得微纳米结构和材料性能之间的基本相互关系。碳纳米管基复合材料的环境友好和经济高效的制造方法有可能极大地促进结构和功能纳米复合材料的大规模应用。最终，对加工-结构-性能关系的基本知识将使多功能纳米结构材料的纳米级设计具有新的应用。该研究将为结构材料中纳米结构的自适应、传感、活性和能量存储能力的整合提供潜在的支持能力。教育计划包括一个协同的本科生研究和设计项目，以开发一个实验室规模的连续沉积试验设施。然后将建造一个工作试验设施，作为后续的高级研究项目。作为职业教育计划的一部分，PI打算将纳米技术课程模块扩展到当地的高中，以帮助建立对材料和纳米技术职业感兴趣的工程师的管道。

The primary research objective of the Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant is to establish the processing science for an environmentally friendly and scalable processing approach toward integrating carbon nanotubes with conventional micron-sized advanced fiber reinforcement to create novel multi-scale hybrid micro/nanocomposites. The selective and intelligent integration of carbon nanotubes by hybridizing with micron-sized textile fibers enables the unique opportunity to form local multi-scale reinforcement architectures for the tailoring of both mechanical and physical properties. Preliminary research has established an efficient technique for producing extremely stable aqueous suspensions of highly dispersed carbon nanotubes in a single processing step. Through selective chemical functionalization of the nanotubes and controlled deposition onto carbon fibers it has been demonstrated that carbon nanotubes can fully penetrate fiber bundles and form chemical bonds with the fiber surface. Advanced composite materials produced from the multi-scale hybrids show remarkable improvements in shear strength and fracture toughness. The significance of the processing approach is that it allows precise control over the purity, structure and chemical functionality of the nanoscale precursor materials. The process is also carried-out under ambient conditions and is industrially scalable for future applications.If successful, the results of this research will expand the science-base for the manufacturing of nanostructured materials and understanding the basic interrelationship between manufacturing process parameters, the resulting micro- and nano-structure, and the material properties. Environmentally-friendly and cost-effective means for manufacturing carbon nanotube-based composites have the potential to dramatically enhance the large scale applications of structural and functional nanocomposites. Ultimately a fundamental knowledge of the processing-structure-property relationships will enable the nanoscale design of multifunctional nanostructured materials for new applications. The research will provide potential enabling capabilities towards the integration of adaptive, sensory, active and energy storage capabilities of nanostructures within structural materials. The educational plan involves a synergistic undergraduate research and design project to develop a lab-scale pilot facility for continuous deposition. A working pilot facility will then be constructed as a follow-on senior research project. As part of the CAREER educational plan the PI intends to extend a nanotechnology course module to reach-out to local high schools to help to build the pipeline of engineers interested in careers in materials and nanotechnology.