ore 14-16 giorno 9/12/19
The issues correlated to the production processes of reinforced composites are accentuated when nano-reinforcements are taken into consideration (regardless of the nature of the matrix and of the reinforcement). The large surface area in relation to the volume, typical of nano-sized materials, represents an advantage in terms of the contribution of the reinforcement to the matrix but it is also remarkably disadvantageous as regards the reinforcement-matrix surface interaction. The search for a solution that can modify the surface of nano-reinforcements and increase reinforcement-matrix compatibility is an open challenge on which the global scientific community is focusing its efforts. In detail, the possibility of surface modifications for 0D, 1D and 2D reinforcements (such as nano-oxide particles, nano-tubes of C or GNP, respectively) appears to be the winning key for obtaining a composite with improved performance for the same production technique. In particular, the following aspects will be discussed in the proposed lesson:
- Matrix/reinforcement interface chemistry
- State of the art of several approaches in surface modification for ceramic, metallic and polymeric nano-reinforcement
- Case study I: Functionalization of ZrO2 nano-particles for polymer matrix composites
- Case study II: GNP’s surface modification for compatibility in light-weight metal matrix composites