Dr. Christopher Bowland
Chemical Sciences Division
Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Multifunctional Fiber Reinforced Composites with Electromechanical Functionalities

ABSTRACT: With carbon fiber composites reaching more widespread commercial adoption, the next generation of composites must be developed. This could be achieved by making multifunctional composites that gain additional functions while maintaining structural performance. One approach is to integrate sensing capabilities into the composite itself to enable nondestructive evaluation for structural health monitoring. Carbon fiber composites have the inherent problem of hiding defects and damage below the composite’s surface thus making surface inspections ineffective. Thus, there is a need to embed sensors within the composite to evaluate its structural integrity over its service lifetime. This talk establishes two separate routes to fabricate multifunctional fiber reinforced composites. The first approach utilizes piezoresistive nanoparticles to create an active sensing composite that uses variable electrical resistance to detect applied stress. The second approach utilizes ferroelectric microparticles to create a passive sensing fiber reinforced composite that is able to produce electrical signals in response to mechanical stimuli, which can be used to identify crack initiation events. The goal of this talk is to discuss the progress that has been made in fabricating multifunctional composites and identify needs to integrate computational mechanics. The talk will focus on applied composites research, and the hope is to spark some interest from the computational community to establish future collaborative research efforts.

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Christopher Bowland received his BS in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Tennessee in 2012 and his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Florida in 2016. During his graduate research, he worked on the hydrothermal synthesis of ferroelectric films and nanowires on carbon fiber for multifunctional composite applications. He joined Oak Ridge National Lab in 2016 as a Wigner Fellow in the Carbon and Composites Group and was converted to R&D Associate in 2019 and R&D Staff in 2022. Upon joining ORNL, he has focused on developing a multifunctional composites program with the aim of creating scalable routes to integrate nanomaterials into fiber reinforced composites for embedded sensing applications. He has also been involved with developing sustainable, 3D-printable polymers utilizing lignin and investigating the molecular structure of those polymers in different environments using neutron scattering.