A paper produced by a聽 professor聽 in 91亚色's Lassonde School of Engineering recently won one聽of three best paper awards in the recent CANCAM 2013 conference聽organized by the Canadian Society for Mechanical Engineering.
The paper 鈥淒eformed Carbon Nanotube Junction and its Effect on Electrical聽Conductivity of Carbon Nanotube Nanocomposites鈥 was presented by聽George Zhu (left), a professor in Lassonde's聽Department of Earth and Space Science and Engineering.
The paper develops a new model to explain the mechanism of tunneling聽resistance at the carbon nanotube crossed junction in a percolating聽network formed by carbon nanotubes (CNTs) that are homogeneously聽dispersed in polymers. By dispersing the CNTs into the electrically聽insulator 鈥 polymer, the electrical conductivity of the聽nanocomposite can be tailored while improving its mechanical properties simultaneously聽to create a multi-functional smart material. The potential application聽of this type of new material includes:
- Self-structural health monitoring of aerospace structures (the聽electrical conductivity is proportional to applied stress).
- Attenuation of lightning strike experienced by aircraft in while in flight.
- Use in the next generation lightweight electronics enclosures capable of聽electromagnetic interference shielding for spacecraft.
- Dissipation of static electricity accumulation in lightweight聽structure of aircraft and/or spacecraft made of polymer composites.
- A new type of conductive polymers for commercial and consumer聽electronics such as cellphones.
CANCAM is organized by the Canadian Society for Mechanical聽Engineering once every two years and attracts engineers, applied聽mathematicians and scientists to a its program. It聽provides an international forum for communicating recent and projected聽advances in all fields of applied mechanics.