Smart Composite Materials Research Articles

Sound isolation via temporal modulation material based on piezoelectric elements

The temporal modulation material is investigated to be used as lightweight sound isolation material. This smart composite material consists of a lightweight structure attached with shunted piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) patches. The shunt circuits are connected to the two poles of PZT patches to act as some local electrical resonators to improve the sound isolation. The circuit is composed of operational amplifiers and passive analog circuit elements, so the system is always stable, and the power consumption is low. The metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect-transistor (MOSFET) is added in the shunt circuit connected to the PZT patches, so the time sequence of the working circuit is controlled with the MOSFET devices in each resonant shunt. The motivation of this study is to improve the sound isolation in the low-to-middle frequency range. The temporal modulation material proposed in this study has many potential applications in environmental acoustics, precise instrument, automotive sector, and aerospace technologies.

Sustainable Smart Polymer Composite Materials: A Comprehensive Review

This review provides a thorough analysis of the progress made in smart polymer composite materials, which have recently been seen as potential game-changers in areas such as construction, aerospace, biomedical engineering, and energy. This article emphasizes the distinctive characteristics of these materials, including their responsiveness to stimuli like temperature, light, and pressure, and their potential uses in different industries. This paper also examines the difficulties and restrictions associated with the creation and utilization of smart polymer composite materials. This review seeks to provide a thorough understanding of smart polymer composite materials and their potential to offer innovative solutions for a variety of applications.

Advances in the Diels-Alder Reaction in Self-Healing Polymeric Materials

Polymeric functional materials are widely used in all aspects of everyday life. However, they are subject to a variety of environmental influences such as chemical attack, mechanical abrasion or impact and thermal decomposition, resulting in a significant shortening of the service life of polymer materials. Using traditional repair methods, the damaged part of the material is only reattached or reinforced at a macro level. Currently, more and more research is focused on smart composite materials with self-healing properties. This eliminates hidden problems in the use of the material, thereby extending its service life and broadening the range of applications. The Diels-Alder (DA) reaction is a [4+2] cycloaddition reaction between a conjugated diene and a substituted alkene. It has become a hot research topic in the field of self-healing due to its mild reaction conditions and lack of catalyst. In this paper, the progress of research on self-healing polymeric materials is reviewed with a focus on applications in DA reactions. The research progress in this field is reviewed based on the chemical structures of the prepared DA reaction-based polymers, and the development of DA reaction based self-healing polymers is investigated. Finally, the development of selfhealing polymers based on DA reactions is given as an outlook.

Design strategies for composite matrix and multifunctional polymeric scaffolds with enhanced bioactivity for bone tissue engineering.

Over the past few decades, various bioactive material-based scaffolds were investigated and researchers across the globe are actively involved in establishing a potential state-of-the-art for bone tissue engineering applications, wherein several disciplines like clinical medicine, materials science, and biotechnology are involved. The present review article's main aim is to focus on repairing and restoring bone tissue defects by enhancing the bioactivity of fabricated bone tissue scaffolds and providing a suitable microenvironment for the bone cells to fasten the healing process. It deals with the various surface modification strategies and smart composite materials development that are involved in the treatment of bone tissue defects. Orthopaedic researchers and clinicians constantly focus on developing strategies that can naturally imitate not only the bone tissue architecture but also its functional properties to modulate cellular behaviour to facilitate bridging, callus formation and osteogenesis at critical bone defects. This review summarizes the currently available polymeric composite matrices and the methods to improve their bioactivity for bone tissue regeneration effectively.

The Study of the Influence of Temperature and Low Frequency on the Performance of the Laminated MFC Piezoelectric Energy Harvester

MFC (Microfiber composite) piezoelectric transducers are one of the smart composite materials used among others in alternative energy sources and autonomous wireless sensors which exploit vibrational energy. This work presents the theoretical and experimental investigations of the integration of MFC piezoelectric transducers on epoxy glass fiber composite material and explores the capacity of power generation based on a variety of ambient temperatures and frequencies. The study examined the use of ambient vibrational energy to power small electronic devices of wireless sensor networks which eliminates the need for external power, periodic battery replacement costs, and chemical waste from conventional batteries. The test was conducted using a laboratory stand equipped with a thermal chamber and an Instron ElectroPulse waveform generator which induces a concentric cyclic load to the laminated beam. Laminated MFC was loaded with a low–frequency range, controlled displacement under different moderate temperatures. The test was conducted at temperatures ranging from 25 to 60 degrees Celsius and at frequencies ranging from 5 to 25 Hz. The results show that the voltage generated by the transducer is highly affected by both temperature and frequency of excitation.

Emerging Deep-Sea Smart Composites: Advent, Performance, and Future Trends.

To solve the global shortage of land and offshore resources, the development of deep-sea resources has become a popular topic in recent decades. Deep-sea composites are widely used materials in abyssal resources extraction, and corresponding marine exploration vehicles and monitoring devices for deep-sea engineering. This article firstly reviews the existing research results and limitations of marine composites and equipment or devices used for resource extraction. By combining the research progress of smart composites, deep-sea smart composite materials with the three characteristics of self-diagnosis, self-healing, and self-powered are proposed and relevant studies are summarized. Finally, the review summarizes research challenges for the materials, and looks forward to the development of new composites and their practical application in conjunction with the progress of composites disciplines and AI techniques.

Recent Advances in Bio-Based Smart Active Packaging Materials.

The shortage of oil resources is currently a global problem. The use of renewable resources instead of non-renewable ones has become a hot topic of research in the eyes of scientists. In the food industry, there is a lot of interest in bio-based smart active packaging that meets the concept of sustainability and ensures safety. The packaging has antibacterial and antioxidant properties that extend the shelf life of food. Its ability to monitor the freshness of food in real time is also beneficial to consumers’ judgement of food safety. This paper summarises the main raw materials for the preparation of bio-based smart active packaging, including proteins, polysaccharides and composite materials. The current status of the preparation method of bio-based smart active packaging and its application in food preservation is summarised. The future development trend in the field of food packaging is foreseen, so as to provide a reference for the improvement of bio-based smart active packaging materials.

Giant magnetostriction in low-concentration magnetorheological elastomers

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) are smart composite materials that can vary their mechanical properties under the influence of an external magnetic field. In the present work, we report the giant magnetostriction of low-concentration isotropic and anisotropic MREs, by combining a soft elastomer matrix with helicoidal-shaped particles. Magnetic characterization has shown high magnetic sensitivity of the anisotropic MREs near H ≅ 0, which can be up to 400% larger comparing to the isotropic counterparts. The determination of tensile elastic modulus (E) of the MREs indicates that the anisotropic samples become softer when the magnetic field is increased from H = 0 to H = 200 Oe. Due to the higher field sensitivity of the anisotropic composites, the magneto-induced elongation contributes to the increase in the overall strain when measuring the elastic modulus at low deformation. This compliance of the MRE explains the decrease in E from H = 0 to H = 200 Oe. Magnetostriction measurements were performed and giant strain values up to 3731 ppm were obtained for isotropic samples with 3.4 vol% of Hiperco particles under a field of H = 3500 Oe. This result stands out from the literature due to the giant induced elongation, with reduced volume fraction of particles. The developments of this work are a step forward on improving smart and efficient composites, that can have many applications, such as switches, controllable valves, and vibration attenuators.

Field investigation of novel self-sensing asphalt pavement for weigh-in-motion sensing

The integration of weigh-in-motion (WIM) sensors within highways or bridge structural health monitoring systems is becoming increasingly popular to ensure structural integrity and users safety. Compared to standard technologies, smart self-sensing materials and systems present a simpler sensing setup, a longer service life, and increased durability against environmental effects. Field deployment of such technologies requires characterization and design optimization for realistic scales. This paper presents a field investigation of the vehicle load-sensing capabilities of a newly developed low-cost, eco-friendly and high durability smart composite paving material. The novel contributions of the work include the design and installation of a full-scale sensing pavement section and of the sensing hardware and software using tailored low-cost electronics and a learning algorithm for vehicle load estimation. The outcomes of the research demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system for traffic monitoring of infrastructures and WIM sensing by estimating the gross weight of passing trucks within a 20% error during an autonomous sensing period of two months.

On twin screw extrusion parametric optimisation using hybrid approach of ANOVA and TOPSIS for 3D printing applications

ABSTRACT In the last decade, several studies have been performed on the preparation of smart composite matrix materials by twin-screw extrusion (TSE) followed by its process parametric optimisation based on analysis of variance (ANOVA) for 3D printing applications. But, hitherto little has been reported on TSE process optimisation using a hybrid approach, that is, ANOVA in the first stage followed by a technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) in the second stage for multi-objective selection. In this study, an effort has been made to develop a feedstock filament of polylactic acid (PLA) based composite matrix (comprising polyvinyl chloride (PVC) – wood dust (WD), and Fe3O4 as reinforcement) with TSE. The result of the study suggests that the proposed hybrid model of analysis is more useful than the single approach (in which the user may first use the ANOVA technique for optimisation followed by TOPSIS for locating the best and worst parametric conditions). Finally, the correlation matrix has been prepared for the mechanical and magnetic properties of the PLA-PVC-WD- Fe3O4 composite matrix.

Wave Energy Harvesting System Using Piezocomposite Materials

Marine energies are a strategic channel for renewable energies to diversify and complement the global energy mix. From this perspective, several researches have seen the light in order to allow the maximum exploitation possible of the energy estimated at 80,000 TWh/year, presenting multiple vacant possibilities concerning energy not yet exploited on a large scale. The purpose of this paper is the use of ocean vibratory energy coupling with a smart composite material in order to harvest the maximum power. This study will be devoted to the design, modeling, and simulation of a floating harvester energy system that combines the mechanical strength and flexibility of polymer with the high piezo and pyroelectric activities of ceramic. The harvester system is composed of a mass-spring system used to transfer wave movements to mechanical vibrations, and two piezoelectric lever devices will be used to amplify and convert the harvested mechanical vibration into electrical power. With this flexible device, the maximum power harvested is 56.45 μW/mm², using PU/PZT composite with the optimal resistance of 108 MΩ. Considering these results, this system can be used in very different ways in marine applications.

Smart membrane absorbing electromagnetic waves based on polyvinyl chloride/graphene composites

The rapid proliferation and intensive use of electronic devices have led to an increase in electronic pollution, such as electronic noise, electromagnetic interference (EMI), and radiofrequency interference (RFI), which cause malfunctions of electronic devices. The emergence of flexible polymer composites has a remarkable potential for electromagnetic shielding depending on their unique characteristics, such as their electrical, thermal, mechanical, and magnetic properties, which are very useful for suppressing electromagnetic noise. Graphene (G) and its composites can serve as better shielding materials against these interferences due to their lightweight and high corrosion resistance. Researchers are still grappling with the need for flexible and scalable smart composite materials to prevent radioactive pollution from electronic devices. The inclusion of next-generation graphene (G) conductive fillers loaded with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) /graphene is the subject of our current research (G). Due to the absorption-dominated shielding process, the composite has an extraordinarily low percolation threshold and a high shielding efficiency (SE) against electromagnetic interference (EMI).The distribution and dispersion patterns of graphene particles in the matrix phase were validated by SEM electron micrographs. The composite, which contains just 40% graphene by weight, has an EMI SE value of 26 dB in the frequency range of 10 to 15 GHz and is only 2 mm thick.In this case, we believe that promoting a scalable and industrially viable G/PVC composite, which is a novel and strong candidate in the burgeoning field of high-stress electromagnetic shielding applications in the future, is the best option.

Comparative modal analysis on fishing rod made of functionally graded composite material using finite element analysis.

The use of smart and advanced composite materials instead of conventional metals is foreseen in material sciences due to the development of novel manufacturing techniques. In this regard, a novel type of composite materials "functionally graded materials (FGM)" has attained great attention owing to their intrinsic mechanical characteristics. FGM have been the focus for researchers for analytical formulation, static structural (large deformation, material nonlinearity) analysis as well as for dynamic analysis on simple beams and on structure having non-uniform tapered rectangular profile considering different boundary conditions. No focus is made to thin structure having non-uniform circular cross-sections. This study aims to deal with analyzing the "dynamic behavior of thin circular non-uniform truncated conical section" which is mostly used for manufacturing of fishing rod. This works primarily compares the static, modal, and harmonic analysis under the application of loads of 50 N acting on fishing rod made up of conventional steel, composite (carbon fiber) steel, and functionally graded material (FGM) with the help of ANSYS®. Firstly, static analysis performed to analyze the structural behavior under the application of static loadings. After that modal analysis performed and first five modes selected for Steel; from 0 to 600 Hz, for Carbon Fiber; from 0 to 850 Hz and for FGM; from 0 to 900 Hz for harmonic analysis. Maximum defection at resonance for steel is 7.94 mm, for composite is 74.4 mm, and for FGM is just 0.032 mm. The comparison of these results clearly depicts that FGM is having excellent vibration suppression performance as compared to other two materials under consideration. This confirms that thin structure (non-uniform circular profile) made of FGM can be used efficiently for the intended applications in future.

Magnetorheological Elastomer based torsional vibration isolator for application in a prototype drilling shaft

Smart materials properties are altered using external stimuli such as temperature, pressure and magnetic field. Magnetorheological Elastomer (MRE) is a type of smart composite material consisting of a polymer matrix embedded with ferromagnetic particles. In the presence of an external magnetic field, its mechanical properties, such as stiffness, change due to the interaction between the magnetic particles, which have applications in vibration isolation. Unwanted vibration in machines can cause severe damage and machine breakdown. In this work, a semi-active vibration isolator using MRE is proposed for a potential application in a drilling system to isolate the torsional vibration. The MRE was fabricated with a 35% mass fraction (MF) consisted of silicon rubber and iron particles. It was fitted with aluminium couplers and attached to the shaft (drill string) to study its efficiency in vibration isolation under a magnetic field. Two tests were conducted on the drilling prototype setup used in this work; the first test was a hammer impact test. The torsional transfer function TTF analysis showed that the system’s natural frequency has shifted from 13.9 Hz to 17.5 Hz by the influence of increasing magnetic field around the MRE. The results showed that the continuous rotational vibration amplitude of the prototype is attenuated by more than 40%.

Determination of representative volume element size for a magnetorheological elastomer

Smart composite materials have been an active field of research in the last few decades. Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) are examples of such smart composites and they show a coupling between magnetism and elasticity. MREs are heterogeneous materials and they consist of magnetic particles and a silicone-based elastomer. To describe and predict the behaviour of the macroscopic continuum accurately, microstructural information needs to be taken into account in the analysis of heterogeneous materials. Therefore, a combined approach called multi-scale analysis is used to consider various scales of observation simultaneously. The concept of Representative Volume Element (RVE) is typically employed by multi-scale approaches to describe the micro scale, and thus the size of RVE becomes a model parameter in such techniques. This has motivated the determination of the RVE size and the derivation of magnetoelastic constitutive relations in terms of the RVE sizes in our paper. The finite element method and a statistical analysis based on the coefficient of variation have been used to determine the RVE size of MREs. The results show that it is possible to determine a lower bound of the RVE size for an MRE. Furthermore, a parametric study has been conducted to examine the sensitivity of the RVE size on the different material properties of the constituents. It was found that the RVE size is primarily set by the contrast of the different material properties, i.e. the stiffness, permeability and magnetoelastic coupling coefficients.

On 3D printing of electro-active PVDF-Graphene and Mn-doped ZnO nanoparticle-based composite as a self-healing repair solution for heritage structures

Construction is the part of human activity which is directly linked to urbanization for moving ahead on the path of growth and prosperity. Construction activities in past centuries are now part of our precious heritage. The repair and maintenance of heritage structures are of great importance for present-day researchers. One of the most common damage these century-long constructions faces are in form of surface cracks. In the present study, investigations were performed for a 3D printing-based customized solution for crack repair and maintenance of heritage structures. In this study, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer was reinforced with graphene (Gr) and Mn-doped ZnO nano-particles to prepare a smart composite material for crack repair and restoration. The composite was successfully 3D printed on fused deposition modeling (FDM) based 3D printer after investigating its rheological, thermal, and mechanical properties. The in-house developed composite was tested for smart characteristics to use as a programmable solution for filling cracks. The piezoelectric property and dielectric constant of 3D printed disk-shaped composite (PVDF-Gr-Mn-ZnO) were obtained after DC poling (to be used as stimulus) of the functional prototype. The results of the study suggest that the electro-active nature, volumetric change, and charge storing capacity of the additively manufactured composite may be used practically to acquire the shape of cavity/crack present in the constructed wall and repair the damages that occurred in a heritage site. The photoluminescence (PLS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis was used to ascertain the properties of the prepared composite. Also, the results obtained from the morphological analysis are reported to support the outcomes of the research.

ISens: A Fiber‐Based, Highly Permeable and Imperceptible Sensor Design (Adv. Mater. 37/2021)

Paper-Based Sensors iSens are flexible, foldable, and translucent paper-based sensors. The porous substrates consist of a fiber structure that is highly permeable to liquids. Interdigital electrodes made of ultrathin copper are individually designed by one step laser ablation. This iSens platform, presented by Martin Kaltenbrunner and co-workers in article number 2102736, will contribute to a new generation of imperceptible sensors seamlessly integrated into smart composite materials.

Fluorescent mesoporous silica nanomaterials for targeted tumor chemotherapy

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles are considered as ideal carriers for the development of drug delivery systems (DDS) because of their specific features such as low biological toxicity, easy surface modification, high loading efficiency, sustainable release of anti-cancer drugs and easy fabrication. In this work, novel mesoporous silica nanoparticles with fluorescent and tumor targeting functions (YMSN-FA) were successfully synthesized by grafting perylene imide derivatives (Y580) and folic acid (FA) onto the surface of the silica nanoparticles. Subsequently, the nanoparticles were loaded with paclitaxel (PTX) to fabricate smart composite materials (PTX-YMSN) with targeted chemotherapy and tumor imaging functionalities. Imaging and therapeutic results of PTX-YMSN towards Hela cells demonstrate potential applicability of PTX-YMSN. This study combines the unique advantages of drug delivery nanosystem and organic fluorophore to provide a new and effective strategy for the treatment of tumor.

An experimental study of the dynamic properties of smart composite magnetorheological materials

A magnetorheological is a new generation of smart materials in active mechanical vibration and shock control applications. This article is based on a comparative experimental study of the dynamic properties of magnetorheological elastomers (MRE) and magnetorheological fluids (MRF), whose damping and stiffness are controlled simultaneously by applying magnetic field intensity. The dynamic visco-analyser and rheometer were used to test the behaviour of MRE and MRF. The response of both materials depends on the amplitude due to shear strain. The experimental results clearly show the difference between the dynamic properties of MRE and MRF. More specifically, MFRs have high damping with low stiffness; on the other hand, the MRE has average damping with outstanding rigidity. These results help designers achieve more efficient and reliable structures in various engineering fields, such as buildings and mechanical applications.

Magnetorheological elastomer-based variable stiffness flexible coupling for vibration isolation

Rotating mechanical equipment such as pumps and motors can suffer from unattenuated torsional vibration. The causes of such vibration range from imbalance within the rotating system to misalignment, or even operating at frequencies close to the system’s natural frequency. Smart composite materials are materials for which exposure to external stimuli changes their properties. Magnetorheological elastomers (MRE) are smart composite materials whose mechanical properties, such as stiffness, are changed when exposed to a magnetic field. In this article, we report on the fitting of a variable stiffness coupling (VSC) within a shaft to isolate torsional vibration, which can adapt and change its attenuation frequency range. We experimentally tested the VSC concept for isolating torsional vibration. MRE samples with 40% volume fraction were fabricated and manufactured using a 3D mold design and fixed within a coupling in a shaft to investigate the effects of magnetic fields on the torsional rigidity. Impact hammer tests were conducted in combination with an accelerometer to analyze the transmissibility factor. Our results show that the level of vibration decreased when the magnetic field increased. The first natural frequency of the system happened at 26 Hz and moved to 28 Hz when the applied magnetic field increased from 0 to 12.38 mT. The torsional stiffness of the MRE samples increased from from 37.4 to 61.6 N.m/rad when the magnetic field increased from 0 to 12.38 mT. Variation in the torsional damping coefficient fluctuated as the damping effect of MRE was ignored.