Engineering Nanocellulose Materials for High Ballistic Impact Performance
Abstract
Major Goals: The goal of our research over the first three years was to investigate the size, microstructure, and surface chemistry dependent mechanics of neat nanocellulose thin films from a molecular viewpoint, and establish design principles for maximizing the performance of these nanostructured materials under microballistic impact. Our first aim was to establish a coarse-grained molecular dynamics (CG-MD) modeling framework for nanocellulose fibrils. Building on this capability, our second aim was to relate nanocellulose fibril microstructure in thin films to ballistic impact performance, mimicking laser-induced projectile impact tests (LIPIT) with coarse-grained molecular simulations. The goal of the add-on thrust in Year 4 was to understand the mechanics of atomically layered nanocomposite films (ALNFs) under high-strain rate deformation and impact conditions using chemistry-specific multi-scale modeling approaches. The knowledge gaps we wish to address here are how strain rate or projectile speed influences dissipation in ALNFs and how different microstructures attainable with these systems should be tailored to maximize performance in extreme mechanical deformations. As a model material system, we focused on reduced graphene oxide - polymer nanocomposites subject to high-strain rate impact deformations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 30, 2022
- Accession Number
- AD1229390
Entities
People
- Sinan Keten
Organizations
- Northwestern University