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1. Robust Bicontinuous Elastomer–Metal Foam Composites with Highly Tunable Stiffness

   https://doi.org/10.1002/adem.202101533  

   Sharifi, Siavash; Mohammadi_Nasab, Amir; Chen, Pei-En; Liao, Yiliang; Jiao, Yang; Shan, Wanliang (January 2022, Advanced Engineering Materials)

   Herein, a new class of robust bicontinuous elastomer–metal foam composites with highly tunable mechanical stiffness is proposed, fabricated, characterized, and demonstrated. The smart composite is a bicontinuous network of two foams, one metallic made of a low melting point alloy (LMPA) and the other elastomeric made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The stiffness of the composite can be tuned by inducing phase changes in its LMPA component. Below the melting point of the LMPA, Young's modulus of the smart composites is ≈1 GPa, whereas above the melting point of the LMPA it is ≈1 MPa. Thus, a sharp stiffness change of ≈1000× can be realized through the proposed bicontinuous foam composite structure, which is higher than all available robust smart composites. Effective medium theory is also used to predict the Young's modulus of the bicontinuous smart composites, which generates reasonable agreement with experimentally measured Young's modulus of the smart composites. Finally, the use of these smart materials as a smart joint in a robotic arm is also demonstrated. 

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2. 3D Printing of continuous fiber composites using two-stage UV curable resin

   https://doi.org/10.1039/D3MH01304A  

   Jiang, Huan; Abdullah, Arif M.; Ding, Yuchen; Chung, Christopher; Dunn, Martin L.; Yu, Kai (September 2023, Materials Horizons)

   3D printing allows for moldless fabrication of continuous fiber composites with high design freedom and low manufacturing cost per part, which makes it particularly well-suited for rapid prototyping and composite product development. Compared to thermal-curable resins, UV-curable resins enable the 3D printing of composites with high fiber content and faster manufacturing speeds. However, the printed composites exhibit low mechanical strength and weak interfacial bonding for high-performance engineering applications. In addition, they are typically not reprocessable or repairable; if they could be, it would dramatically benefit the rapid prototyping of composite products with improved durability, reliability, cost savings, and streamlined workflow. In this study, we demonstrate that the recently emerged two-stage UV-curable resin is an ideal material candidate to tackle these grand challenges in 3D printing of thermoset composites with continuous carbon fiber. The resin consists primarily of acrylate monomers and crosslinkers with exchangeable covalent bonds. During the printing process, composite filaments containing up to 30.9% carbon fiber can be rapidly deposited and solidified through UV irradiation. After printing, the printed composites are subjected to post-heating. Their mechanical stiffness, strength, and inter-filament bonding are significantly enhanced due to the bond exchange reactions within the thermoset matrix. Furthermore, the utilization of the two-stage curable resin enables the repair, reshaping, and recycling of 3D printed thermosetting composites. This study represents the first detailed study to explore the benefits of using two-stage UV curable resins for composite printing. The fundamental understanding could potentially be extended to other types of two-stage curable resins with different molecular mechanisms. 

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3. High Buckling Strength of Auxetic Carbon Fiber Composite Laminates

   https://doi.org/10.12783/asc38/36606  

   Tricarico, Anthony; Lin, Wenhua; Wang, Yeqing (September 2023, Destech Publications, Inc.)

   This research focused on testing the effect of the negative Poisson’s ratio of a carbon fiber composite on its critical buckling load. A secondary goal was to determine the accuracy of simulation compared to the experimental results for carbon fiber composites. In order to accomplish these two goals, both simulation and experimental testing were employed. For the simulation, ABAQUS software was used to determine predicted values for the critical buckling loads of auxetic and nonauxetic composites as well as the respective nonlinear force behavior of these composites. These results were then compared to experimental results of four auxetic and four non-auxetic specimens each experiencing uniaxial compressive tests. The results of simulation and experimentation showed that the critical buckling loads, and force sustained in general, of the auxetic composites were about three times higher than those of non-auxetic composites. While it appears that the negative Poisson’s ratio has a significant impact on the buckling strength of composite materials, further testing is required to determine the effects of other factors on the critical buckling loads. Along with this, the simulation was more accurate for the auxetic composites than for the non-auxetic composites. Therefore, further testing and simulation are required to determine the limits of simulation accuracy for composite structures. 

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4. A 3D printed liquid metal emulsion for low stress activated stretchable electronics

   https://doi.org/10.1177/00219983221149255  

   Sánchez_Cruz, Ramón_E; Zopf, Stephanie_F; Boley, J_William (January 2023, Journal of Composite Materials)

   A strain-induced electrically conductive liquid metal emulsion for the programmable assembly of soft conductive composites is reported. This emulsion exhibits the shear yielding and shear thinning rheology required for direct ink writing. Examples of complex self-supported 3D printed structures with spanning features are presented to demonstrate the 3D printability of this emulsion. Stretchable liquid metal composites are fabricated by integrating this emulsion into a multi-material printing process with a 3D printable elastomer. The as-printed composites exhibit a low electrical conductivity but can be transformed into highly conductive composites by a single axial strain at low stresses ([Formula: see text] 0.3 MPa), an order of magnitude lower than other mechanical sintering approaches. The effects of axial strain and cyclic loading on the electrical conductivities of these composites are characterized. The electrical conductivity increases with activation strain, with a maximum observed relaxed conductivity of 8.61 × 10⁵S⋅m⁻¹, more than 300% higher than other mechanical sintering approaches. The electrical conductivity of these composites reaches a steady state for each strain after one cycle, remaining stable with low variation ([Formula: see text] standard deviation) over 1000 cycles. The strain sensitivities of these composites are quantitatively analyzed. All samples exhibit strain sensitivities that are lower than a bulk conductor throughout all strains. The printed composites showed low hysteresis at high strains, and high hysteresis at low strains, which may be influenced by the emulsion internal structure. The utility of these composites is shown by employing them as wiring into a single fabrication process for a stretchable array of LEDs. 

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5. Quasi-Static Fracture Toughness and Damage Monitoring in Liquid Metal Reinforced Hybrid Composites

   Safford, Z; Shonar, M; Chalivendra, V (January 2024, Journal of Composites Science)

   An experimental study is performed to investigate the quasi-static fracture toughness and damage monitoring capabilities of liquid metal (75.5% Gallium/24.5% Indium) reinforced intraply glass/carbon hybrid composites. Two different layups (G-0, where glass fibers are along the crack propagation direction; C-0, where carbon fibers are along the crack propagation direction) and two different weight percentages of liquid metal (1% and 2%) are considered in the fabrication of the composites. A novel four-probe technique is employed to determine the piezo-resistive damage response under mode-I fracture loading conditions. The effect of layups and liquid metal concentrations on fracture toughness and changes in piezo-resistance response is discussed. The C-composite without liquid metal demonstrated higher fracture toughness compared to that of the G-composite due to carbon fiber breakage. The addition of liquid metal decreases the fracture initiation toughness of both G- and C-composites. Scanning electron microscopy images show that liquid metal takes the form of large liquid metal pockets and small spherical droplets on the fracture surfaces. In both C- and G-composites, the peak resistance change of composites with 2% liquid metal is substantially lower than that of both no-liquid metal and 1% liquid metal composites. 

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