(DURIP) AN EXPERIMENTAL-COMPUTATIONAL STUDY OF LENGTH-SCALE BASD TOUGHNESS ENHANCEMENT IN GRAPHENE/EPOXY NANOCOMPOSITES SUBJECTED TO CRYOGENIC TEMPER
Abstract
The objectives of this proposal are: (a) to develop a fundamental physics-based model to exploit the reinforcement capability of nanostructured particles in a polymer through a novel length-scale based toughness enhancement mechanism applicable at cryogenic temperature, (b) to verify the proposed model through macro-scale fracture experiments performed at the University of Alabama at cryogenic temperature and through concurrently coupled Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, and (c) to develop an atomistic J-integral to quantify the toughness enhancement at the nanoscale due to the length-scale effect at cryogenic temperature. Although the proposed approach requires the addition of a very small percentage of nanoplatelets (<1 weight %) to the composite structure, it is anticipated that the resulting increase in fracture toughness (>100%) would lead to significant weight reduction in the design of the overall structure due to increased toughness and flaw tolerance, especially at cryogenic temperature.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Aug 12, 2021
- Source ID
- FA95502010181
Entities
People
- Samit Roy
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Alabama