Design Tool for Simulation of Nanocomposite Material Properties

The development of nanocomposites is one of the rapidly evolving areas of composite materials research due to the unique properties exhibited by nanoscale reinforcements. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), for example, have superior mechanical properties with a Young’s Modulus on the order of 1 TPa. However, there exists a considerable gap between the individual properties of CNTs and their stress transfer efficiency in composites. Computational modeling techniques for the determination of mechanical properties of nanocomposites have proven to be very effective through parametric studies to facilitate the design and development of nanocomposites. An integrated design and anslysis tool for composite materials with nanofiller are presented in this paper. This tool combines statistical image analysis with 3D modeling to automate the creation of a Representative Volume Element (RVE) model capable of simulating the material properties of nanocomposites in order to better understand how nanoscale reinforcements enhance materials.Pucha, Raghu - Faculty Mentor; Sankar, Lakshmi - Committee Member/Second Reade