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Applied Sciences
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Composite and Smart Materials: Theory, Methods and Applications
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Composite and Smart Materials: Theory, Methods and Applications

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 7274

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Alkiviadis Paipetis

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Guest Editor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Interests: composite materials (research, design and manufacturing); nondestructive evaluation and testing; hybrid-hierarchical-smart materials; multifunctional materials-lightweight; self sensing and actuation; energy harvesting; optical instrumentation; optical and spectroscopic characterisation of materials; mechanical testing and standardization; on line process monitoring; chemometrics and numerical algorithms for process identification; nanotechnology for structural/smart composites; fatigue and damage tolerance of composite/hybrid/ hierarchical materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Nektaria-Marianthi Barkoula

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece
Interests: structure-property relationships in materials; durability of polymers/polymer composites and cement-based composites; tribological behavior of polymers; metals and composites; biodegradable/biobased polymers; recyclability; eco-composites, nanocomposites/multi-functional materials/hierarchical composites
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the last few decades, a great amount of effort has been dedicated to the development of advanced composites with enhanced performance. Particularly, in the last decade, composite materials are found in all areas, from high tech down to everyday life applications. Apart from the traditional scope of composites, the new design mentality is to tailor material in accordance with application needs. It is this mentality that gave birth to the next generation of composites, that of smart composite materials. In the literature, there is no unique definition of smart or intelligent materials. The main characteristic of these materials is that they respond to an external or internal “stimulus”, in a passive, active, or even adaptive way, demonstrating similarities with biological systems. For example, a material must first sense the field effect and, if it possesses some degree of “intelligence”, evaluate it, and even respond to adapt to retain its performance requirements. In general, smart materials provide diverse nonstructural capabilities, such as inherent structural health monitoring, sensing and actuation, power harvesting and power storage, inhibition of microbial growth, drug delivery, and so on, in addition to structural capabilities such as wear resistance, morphing or self-healing. Theoretical studies aim to provide insight into the possible interactions between inherent material properties and architecture with the response to different “stimuli”. Although new ideas in combination with advance materials do exist, there are certain limitations when it comes to the available methodologies to support the transformation of the theory to practice. Thus, new methodologies need to be developed and existing ones need to be altered/optimized to allow maximization of the applicability of smart composites. Based on the above, research papers either experimental or theoretical/ numerical are invited in relation to composites and smart materials, in any field where the materials by design perform in diverse ways to respond to their service conditions.

Prof. Dr. Alkiviadis Paipetis
Prof. Dr. Nektaria-Marianthi Barkoula
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • smart
  • multifunctional
  • adaptive
  • self-sensing
  • self-healing
  • morphing
  • damage
  • additive manufacturing
  • modeling
  • simulation

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

28 pages, 11887 KiB  
Article
3R Composites: Knockdown Effect Assessment and Repair Efficiency via Mechanical and NDE Testing
by Maria Kosarli, Georgios Foteinidis, Kyriaki Tsirka, Nerea Markaide, Alaitz Ruiz de Luzuriaga, Diego Calderón Zapatería, Stefan Weidmann and Alkiviadis S. Paipetis
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(14), 7269; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12147269 - 19 Jul 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1588
Abstract
In this study, the mechanical properties of purposefully synthesized vitrimer repairable epoxy composites were investigated and compared to conventional, commercial systems. The purpose was to assess the knockdown effect, or the relative property deterioration, from the use of the vitrimer in several testing [...] Read more.
In this study, the mechanical properties of purposefully synthesized vitrimer repairable epoxy composites were investigated and compared to conventional, commercial systems. The purpose was to assess the knockdown effect, or the relative property deterioration, from the use of the vitrimer in several testing configurations. Mechanical tests were performed using ILSS, low-velocity impact, and compression after impact configurations. At modeled structure level, the lap strap geometry that can simulate the stiffening of a composite panel was tested. Several non-destructive evaluation techniques were utilized simultaneously with the mechanical testing in order to evaluate (i) the production quality, (ii) the damage during or after mechanical testing, and (iii) the repair efficiency. Results indicated that the new repairable composites had the same mechanical properties as the conventional aerospace-grade RTM6 composites. The electrical resistance change method proved to be a valuable technique for monitoring deformations before the initiation of the debonding and the progress of the damage with consistency and high sensitivity in real time. In terms of repair efficiency, the values ranged from 70% to 100%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Composite and Smart Materials: Theory, Methods and Applications)
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14 pages, 2418 KiB  
Article
Crack Growth and Delamination Analysis in GFRP Composite Materials
by Eleftherios Tsivolas, Leonidas N. Gergidis and Alkiviadis S. Paipetis
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(4), 1945; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12041945 - 13 Feb 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2791
Abstract
The modeling of the structural behavior of composite materials is an interesting but complex task since the response of the material to loading structural may be difficult to predict, and the failure may be manifested in different forms. In cross-ply fiber-reinforced composites, the [...] Read more.
The modeling of the structural behavior of composite materials is an interesting but complex task since the response of the material to loading structural may be difficult to predict, and the failure may be manifested in different forms. In cross-ply fiber-reinforced composites, the major failure mechanisms include: (i) the failure of the matrix material (transverse cracking), (ii) delamination and (iii) the breakage of the fibers. The process of the transverse cracking is a well studied damage mechanism and can be used in numerical simulations, in order to study the effects of various parameters on the crack density. In this paper, the finite element modeling of a cross-ply composite under uniaxial loading in tension is performed using ABAQUS software, considering all the potential damage mechanisms. The model takes into account shear-lag effect for the determination of the stress transfer and furthermore it adopts a homogenization procedure for the calculation of elastic and viscoelastic material properties. Stochasticity is introduced by assigning various interfacial strengths that follow a Gaussian distribution, so as to predict the cracking sequence up to saturation in the transverse to the 0∘ layers. The results are directly compared with available experimental measurements showing reasonable agreement. Finally, a cross-ply RVE model was created and loaded in uniaxial tension and crack propagation is modelled with the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM). The stress concentration calculations around the crack tips are in agreement with the mesoscale model. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Composite and Smart Materials: Theory, Methods and Applications)
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32 pages, 4982 KiB  
Article
Photothermal and Reorientational Contributions to the Photomechanical Response of DR1 Azo Dye-Doped PMMA Fibers
by Zoya Ghorbanishiadeh, Bojun Zhou, Morteza Sheibani Karkhaneh, Rebecca Oehler and Mark G. Kuzyk
Appl. Sci. 2022, 12(1), 315; https://doi.org/10.3390/app12010315 - 29 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1585
Abstract
This work is a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study aimed at understanding the photothermal and molecular shape-change contributions to the photomechanical effect of polymers doped with azo dyes. Our prototypical system is the azobenzene dye Disperse Red 1 (DR1) doped into poly (methyl [...] Read more.
This work is a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study aimed at understanding the photothermal and molecular shape-change contributions to the photomechanical effect of polymers doped with azo dyes. Our prototypical system is the azobenzene dye Disperse Red 1 (DR1) doped into poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) polymer formed into optical fibers. We start by determining the thermo-mechanical properties of the materials with a temperature-dependent stress measurement. The material parameters, so determined, are used in a photothermal heating model—with no adjustable parameters—to predict its contribution. The photothermal heating model predicts the observations, ruling out mechanisms originating in light-induced shape changes of the dopant molecules. The photomechanical tensor response along the two principle axes in the uniaxial approximation is measured and compared with another independent theory of photothermal heating and angular hole burning/reorientation. Again, the results are consistent only with a purely thermal response, showing that effects due to light-induced shape changes of the azo dyes are negligible. The measurements are repeated as a function of polymer chain length and the photomechanical efficiencies determined. We find the results to be mostly chain-length independent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Composite and Smart Materials: Theory, Methods and Applications)
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