CAREER: Dissipation Mechanisms and Damping in Smart Elastomers with Intermolecular Organization

能量收集是许多工业应用的有前途的技术。然而，当将能量转换成容易储存的形式时，大量的能量由于耗散而损失。该学院早期职业发展（CAREER）奖支持使用智能弹性体在低容量下有效耗散机械能的研究。本项目研究智能弹性体（如液晶弹性体（LCE））的内部运动，作为新的耗散机制，可以显着提高阻尼器的性能。了解这些LCE的变形机制将允许根据所需应用定制材料特性，例如能量收集，医疗保健和软机器人。这项研究与持续的教育和推广活动相结合，旨在开发机械工程中的女孩和妇女的管道，将研究计划的结果与软机器人和编码启动联系起来。活动将集中在三个目标：引入软机器人，提高编码技能，并通过研究指导。这些活动将提高妇女的信心、业绩和从事工程职业的兴趣。该项目的目标是了解分子间组织智能弹性体的耗散变形机制，以设计高效的复合阻尼器。从介晶和聚合物链之间的耦合起源的耗散机制的基本理解将有助于一个全面的宏观建模方法的热粘弹性行为的LCE，打开大门，强大的设备设计。这项调查将在多个尺度使用相结合的实验和数值方法来确定和建模的耗散变形机制，固化动力学，和阻尼LCE复合材料。将开发新的实验方法，使用去极化拉曼光谱和核磁共振弛豫测量来映射LCE中的微观结构的组织与变形。光滑粒子流体动力学（SPH）将用于研究变形过程中自组织微观结构的演变。此外，固化动力学、交联密度和微观结构有序化之间的相互作用对于准确预测增材制造的LCE的性质是至关重要的。该项目由材料力学（MoMS）计划和刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Energy harvesting is a promising technology for numerous industrial applications. However, when converting energy into an easily stored form, significant amount of energy is lost due to dissipations. This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award supports research on efficient dissipation of mechanical energy at low volume using smart elastomers. This project investigates internal movements in smart elastomers, such as liquid crystal elastomers (LCE), as new dissipation mechanisms that could significantly improve the performance of dampers. Understanding the deformation mechanisms of these LCEs will allow tailoring of the material properties to the desired application, such as energy harvesting, healthcare, and soft robotics. This research is integrated with a sustained educational and outreach activity aimed at developing a pipeline of girls and women in Mechanical Engineering, linking the results of the research program to soft robotics and coding initiation. Activities will focus on three objectives: introducing soft robotics, improving coding skills, and mentoring through research. These activities will increase women’s confidence, performance, and interest in pursuing an engineering career. The project’s goal is to understand the dissipation deformation mechanisms in smart elastomers with intermolecular organization to design highly efficient composite dampers. The fundamental understanding of the dissipation mechanisms originating from the coupling between mesogens and polymer chains will help a comprehensive macroscopic modeling approach for the thermoviscoelastic behavior of LCEs, opening the door to robust device designs. This investigation will be carried out using combined experimental and numerical methods at multiple scales to determine and model the dissipative deformation mechanisms, the curing kinetics, and the damping in a LCE composite. New experimental methods will be developed to map the organization of the microstructure in LCEs to the deformation using depolarized Raman spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometry. Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) will be used to study the evolution of a self-organizing microstructure during deformation. Additionally, the interactions between curing kinetics, crosslink density, and microstructure ordering are primordial to accurately predict properties of additively manufactured LCEs. Additionally, the potential for LCE composites to exhibit extreme damping at low cost will be explored.This project is jointly funded by Mechanics of Materials (MoMS) program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.