A team of engineers mixed a common form of industrial plastic with carbon nanotubes to make a material that's tougher, stronger, and smarter than comparable conventional materials.

As specified in a Phys.org report, natural materials' cellular forms are the inspiration behind a new lightweight, "3D printed smart architected material" devised by an international team of engineers led by the University of Glasgow engineers,

 

The nanotubes enable the otherwise non-conductive plastic as well, to carry an electric charge throughout its structure.

When the said structure is subjected to mechanical loads, its electrical resistance then changes, Such a phenomenon called piezoresitivity, is giving the materials the capability of sensing their structural health.

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Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube
(Photo : Wikimedia Commons/Anna-Versh )
TEM-Image of multi-walled carbon nanotube


3D Printing Approaches Used

Through the use of 3D printing approaches that offers a high level of control over the printed structures' design, they were able to make a series of intricate designs with mesoscale porous architecture, which is helping in the reduction of each design's general weight and make the most out of the mechanical performance.

In their study published in Advanced Engineering Materials, the cellular designs of the team are akin to porous materials found in the natural world, such as beehives, bone, and sponges, which are lightweight yet robust.

The engineers believe that their cellular materials could discover new applications in medicine, automobile, prosthetics, and aerospace design, where low-density, tough materials which have the ability that's too self-dense, are in demand.

In this paper, the study investigators detailed how they investigated the energy-absorbing, as well as self-sensing characteristics of three different nanoengineered designs they printed through the use of their custom material, made from polypropylene random co-polymer and multi-wall carbon nanotubes.

Lattice Structure

Out of three designs tested, the researchers discovered that one demonstrated the most effective mix of mechanical performance, as well as self-assessing ability, a cube-shaped "plate-lattice," incorporated lightly-paced flat sheets, a similar Engineer News Network report specified.

This lattice structure, when subjected to monotonic compression demonstrates an energy absorption ability to nickel foams of the same relative density. It outperformed several other conventional materials as well, of the same density.

The study was led by Dr. Shanmugam Kumar from the University of Glasgow's James Watt School of Engineering, together with colleagues Professor Vikram Deshpande from the University of Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Professor Brian Wardle.

Describing their work, Dr. Krumar said nature has many things to teach engineers when it comes to the manner of balancing properties and structure to develop high-performance lightweight materials.

Lighter, tougher, self-sensing materials like these comprise a great deal of possibilities for practical applications.

Such materials could help make more efficient, lighter car bodies, for instance, or back braces for humans suffering from health problems such as scoliosis able to sense when their bodies are not getting optimal support. They could even be utilized to develop new forms of architected electrodes for batteries.

Related information about carbon nanotubes is shown on Real Engineering's YouTube video below:

 

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