1. Definition of nanocomposites Nanocomposites are a novel class of composite materials whose reinforcements have dimensions in the range of 1-100 nm. Although nanoscale reinforcements (or nanofillers) of nanocomposites have different kinds of fillers such as nanofibers, nanowires, nanotubes and nanoparticles etc, their mechanical behaviors have some common features. Figure 1 shows a potential use of nanocomposites as multifunctional materials. Since many important chemical and physical interactions are governed by surfaces and surface properties, and nanoscale reinforcements have a large surface area for a given volume, nanocomposites are ideal multifunctional materials. For nanotube-reinforced materials, coupled mechanical and electric properties of nanotubes can be used for very small-scale health monitoring.

You are invited to present your research work on the mechanical behavior of nanocomposite materials (Oct. 31-Nov. 6, 2008 in Boston, MA). This topic will be focused on systematic mechanics experiments, modeling and simulations to solve new challenging mechanics problems such the effect of nanofiller agglomeration on the stiffness and strength reduction; interfacial stress transferring and interface strength evaluation at the nanoscale.  Deadline for abstract submission is March 3, 2008 (next Monday).

A Ph.D. student opening is currently available in my group in the area of computational nanomechanics and atomistic simulation in order to study the thermo-mechanical properties of carbon-based ablative nanocomposites for thermal protection systems (TPS).  Further details about the project and requirements can be found in the attached file.

Best regards, 

 Prof. Fred Sansoz

 School of Engineering

University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont (USA) 

New students may start from January 2008 if the graduate students have previous research experience in solid mechanics (e.g., nano/micro-mechanics, computational mechanics) or material engineering (MD simulation, mechanical behaviors). Students will have the opportunities to conduct balanced experimental and computational work on the durabilty and impact failure of marine composite materials; failure and material designs of nanocomposite materials; or rehabilitation of infrastructure materials using composites and other materials.  An MS degree is required.

CONTINUUM MODELING OF INTERFACES IN POLYMER MATRIX COMPOSITES REINFORCED BY CARBON NANOTUBES

L. Y. JIANG, H. TAN, J. WU, Y. HUANG, K. -C. HWANG
Review Article, 2007, accepted by NANO

The interface behavior may significantly influence the mechanical properties of carbon nanotube (CNT)-reinforced composites due to the large interface area per unit volume at the composite. The modeling of CNT/polymer interfaces has been a challenge in the continuum modeling of CNT reinforced composites.

The effect of van der Waals-based interface cohesive law on carbonnanotube-reinforced composite materials

H. Tan, L. Y. Jiang, Y. Huang, B. Liu, and K. C. Hwang
Composite Science and Technology, 2007, accepted.

We observed that all nanofibers are curved not straight. So the Young’s modulus of the nanocomposite material is always lower than the model prediction using traditional micro-mechanics theory assuming straight nanofibers/nanotubes, as reported by Prof. Y. Huang’s group at UIUC.