Moscow, May 8.- A group of Russian scientists created a new composite material that is stronger than many aluminum alloys and has high impact resistance compared to conventional composites. Its unique features are useful for use in many transportation and general engineering structures.
Experts from the Advanced Digital Technologies research center at Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) took as a basis fiber-metal laminates, a popular class of composites consisting of successive alternating layers of plastic reinforced with fiberglass or carbon and a metal, for example, aluminum. This combination, they say, gives the material unique properties: its density is lower than that of aluminum, but its impact resistance is higher than that of traditional compounds and its fatigue resistance is greater than that of aluminum alloys.
The particularity of the new material is that, when a crack or impact occurs, a large amount of energy is dissipated between the polymer and the metal, which translates into higher properties of the compound. But all this only works if the bond strength between the layers is high. It is this condition that has become crucial in the work of SPbPU scientists.
“We have improved the adhesion of the surfaces of the different layers of the material using an economical and easy-to-work nanomaterial: fullerene soot,” the head of the Polymeric Composites laboratory, Iliá Kobijno, explains to Sputnik.
As a result, he notes, it was possible to obtain a composite material from the class of fiber-metal laminates, which has strength properties superior to many aluminum alloys and also has high impact resistance compared to conventional composites. This material can be used in many transportation and general engineering structures.
“Fullerene soot nanoparticles are a cheap and accessible nanomaterial that is produced by burning graphite in an inert gas and are also a byproduct of fullerene production, so the development can be easily scaled up for application in industry,” he emphasizes. Kobijno.
He concludes that this type of research is important to improve the properties of existing fiber and metal laminates and to develop new methods of joining composite and metallic parts for the aeronautical and aerospace industry. (Text and photo: Sputnik)
