Research: Polymers and Composites
Research in Polymers and Composites is multidisciplinary involving links across faculties. Our research ranges from fundamental physics and chemistry through to the materials and mechanical engineering disciplines.
Research Summary and Principle Aims
Within the Department of Materials Science and Engineering the research reflects the extremes of polymer research ranging from the fundamental physics of polymer crystal self-assembly through to macro and micromechanics of fibre composites.
Key activities include:
- the hierachical modelling of the mechanical properties of composite materials by combining Group Interaction Modelling of the matrix polymer with statistical predictions of composite strength;
- thermal self-healing of epoxy resins, using a self-sensing approach to damage detection has enabled a SMART composite to be developed (current research is working towards scale-up to self-healing smart structures);
- investigations into interfacial adhesion between fibres and resins, more recently plasma-copolymerisation is being used to molecularly engineer the interfacial and interphase properties and improvements in the stress transfer micromechanics have been achieved;
- the study of structure and phase behaviour of liquid crystalline (l.c.) and supramolecular polymeric, oligomeric and low molecular systems, molecular organisation is investigated by diffraction and spectroscopy;
- the investigation of the structure and morphology of semicrystalline polymers.
Selected Projects
- Materials by Design: prediction of properties from molecular level (Qinetiq: £180,000)
- Self-Healing Composites (Airbus UK Ltd.: £134,228)
- Study of interfaces in fibre metal laminates (Cytec Engineered Materials Ltd.: £24,000)
- Complexity across length scales in soft matter (EPSRC: £400,595)
- Novel complex nanostructures in supramolecular systems (EPSRC: £197,124)
Key publications
- Johnson A. C., Hayes S. A. and Jones F. R. (2005). An improved model including plasticity for the prediction of the stress in fibres with an interface/interphase region. Composites Part-A., 36, 263-271.
- Zhao F. M., Martin R. D. S., Hayes S. A., Patterson E. A., Young R. J. and Jones F. R. (2005). Photoelastic analysis of matrix stresses around a high modulus sapphire fibre by means of phase-stepping automated polariscope. Composites Part-A., 36, 229-244.
- B. Chen, X.B. Zeng, U. Baumeister, S. Diele, G. Ungar and C. Tschierske. (2005). Liquid Crystalline Networks Composed of Pentagonal, Square, and Triangular Cylinders, Science, 307, 96-99.
- X.B. Zeng, G. Ungar, Y.S. Liu, V. Percec, A.E. Dulcey, J.K. Hobbs. (2004). Supramolecular dendritic liquid quasicrystals, Nature, 428, 157-160.
- S.A. Hayes, W. Zhang, M. Branthwaite and F.R. Jones. (2007). Self-healing of damage in fibre-reinforced polymer matrix composites, J R Soc Interface, 4, 381-388.
- F R Jones, W Zhang and S A Hayes. (2007). Thermally induced self-healing of thermosetting resins and matrices in smart composites, in Self-healing materials, an alternative approach to 20 Centuries of Materials Science, Ed S van der Zwaag, Springer, pp69-93.
- F.R. Jones. (2005). Molecular Modelling of Composite Matrix Properties in Multi-scale Modelling of Composite Material Systems, The Art of Predictive Damage Modelling, Eds C Soutis and PWR Beaumont, Woodhead Cambridge, Ch1, pp1-32.
People
- Professor Frank Jones, Professor of Polymers and Composites, is interested in correlations between molecular aspects and macroproperties of polymer matrix composites.
- Professor Goran Ungar, Professor of Polymers and Organic Materials, is interested in the study of structure and phase behaviour of liquid crystalline (l.c.) and supramolecular polymeric, oligomeric and low molecular systems.
- Dr Simon Hayes, Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering, is interested in the development of `SMART´ systems for health monitoring and mitigation in composite materials.
- Dr Xiangbing Zeng, Lecturer of Polymers, is interested in 1-d, 2-d, 3-d ordered nano-structures (1 – 100 nm) in macromolecular and supramolecular systems, with implications for photonic and molecular electronic materials.
Associated Centres
CCL – ceramics and composites laboratory
Centre for Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering
Polymers, Liquid Crystals and Supramolecular Structures Group