Feb 11 2011
University of Delaware researchers Tsu-Wei Chou and Erik Thostenson continue to advance understanding of hybrid micro- and nano-composites as part of a collaborative research partnership between UD's Center for Composite Materials (UD-CCM) and the Korean Institute of Materials (KIMS) on nanotechnology.
First initiated in 2007, the nine-year research grant totaling $5 million is funded under the Global Research Laboratory (GRL) program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF). The GRL program, established by the Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST), is now in its second three-year phase.
Chou, Pierre S. du Pont Chair of Engineering in UD's Department of Mechanical Engineering, is the foreign principal investigator for the grant. Thostenson, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, serves as UD co-principal investigator.
The UD-KIMS team is one of the teams awarded GRL funding in the nanotechnology area. UD-CCM and KIMS investigators have focused on developing advanced fiber composites capable of sensing the initiation and growth of microscopic damages, such as minute matrix cracking and delamination, using carbon nanotubes.
This method of electric resistance-based damage sensing affords a unique opportunity to also sense the effectiveness of autonomous repair, also known as self-healing, in fiber composites, says Chou. During the second phase of the GRL program, the UD-KIMS team will explore these sensing capabilities with particular focus on three-dimensional textile composites.