Research Projects

Fiber-reinforced polymer composite materials have gained significant attention in the aerospace, marine, and automotive industries. However, preventing premature failure has been a significant challenge for material engineers. The durability and structural integrity of these materials are significantly influenced by in-service environments like high and low temperatures, loading rates, humidity, and other harsh conditions. Nano-fillers have been reported as a reliable choice to improve these properties, and it is important to investigate the effect of nanofiller incorporation on environmental degradation. Nano graphene particles (NGP) are a promising nanofiller for enhancing the mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of polymer matrix composites (PMCs). This proposal aims to investigate the mechanical and thermo-mechanical performance of Nano graphene particle reinforced polymer composites (NGPRPC) at elevated and low temperature environments. In-situ 3-point bend tests will be performed on polymer composites and NGP embedded polymer composites at different in-service environmental temperatures. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) will be conducted to correlate the mechanical and thermo-mechanical response of both material systems. Post-failure analysis of fractured specimens will be conducted using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The extended finite element formulation (XFEM) will be used to obtain the structural responses of NGP embedded polymer composites at various temperatures.