Professor Nancy Sottos, the Donald B. Willet Professor of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will deliver the fourth BP-ICAM webinar of the year on polymers with biologically-inspired autonomous functions.

Abstract

The lifecycle of plastics, like other engineering materials, encompasses the extraction of essential raw materials, synthesis and processing of the necessary polymer building blocks, manufacturing into a product for a desired use or function, eventual degradation or damage during service, and ultimately disposal or recycling.

Polymeric and polymer based composite materials are designed and manufactured to be as robust as possible for a given application, but exposure to unpredictable chemical, thermal, and mechanical loading environments leads to stochastic, defect-driven degradation. In many applications, damage is difficult to detect through routine inspection, repair is nearly impossible, and failure is inevitable.

Polymeric materials programmed with biologically inspired autonomous functions to protect from and limit damage, or even reverse damage and regenerate in response to environmental stress, offer one possible route to expand the material lifecycle and create products with increased reliability and reduced waste.

This webinar will describe recent developments in self-protection to guard against environmental factors such as mechanical stress, chemical corrosion, or extreme temperatures; self-reporting capabilities to ensure that loss in performance caused by a specific event is registered and communicated; and self-healing to recover structural performance once the system has been damaged.

In cases where damage has resulted in the physical displacement of mass, such as chipping, puncture, impact, restoration of performance may require complete regeneration. The practical application of these systems still faces challenges but polymeric materials with autonomous functions are on the horizon and promise enhanced, safer and more efficient performance.

About Professor Nancy Sottos

Professor Nancy Sottos is the Donald B. Willet Professor of Engineering in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She is also a co-chair of the Molecular and Electronic Nanostructures Research Theme at the Beckman Institute.

Professor Sottos started her career at Illinois in 1991 after earning a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of Delaware. Her research group studies the mechanics of complex, heterogeneous materials such as self-healing polymers and advanced composites, specializing in characterization of deformation and failure in these material systems.

She is a Fellow of the Society of Engineering Science and the Society for Experimental Mechanics and serves on the editorial boards for Experimental Mechanics and Composites Science and Technology.

More Information

Please contact Michelle Rudek for more information:

michelle.rudek@manchester.ac.uk

BP-ICAM Webinar: Polymers with Biologically-Inspired Autonomous Functions