This award is to support a cooperative research by Dr. Mohamed Seif, Alabama A&M University Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama and Dr. Osama Khashaba, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt. They plan to conduct research to explore and improve the damping properties of composite structures through the introduction of nano reinforcement (particles or fibers) to the composite. They will use inverse Fourier transformation and numerical integration on experimental data to have a model capable of predicting time dependent properties of the developed composites. They will also conduct a parametric investigation using the statistical design of experiments to relate the design variables to the properties of the investigated composite.
Intellectual Merit: This is a novel research topic that has significant importance but has rarely been studied. The project could lead to outstanding contribution to the development of advanced composite structures. It will contribute to enhancing the damping properties of composite structures and that will lead to noise and vibration reduction, understanding viscoelastic behavior of filled and unfilled composites under a wide range of temperatures, and under different loading frequencies. Advanced composite materials are widely used in weight sensitive applications due to their high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios. The weight and fuel savings offered by such materials make them highly attractive not only to the military, but also to the aerospace and automotive industries.
Broader Impact: If successful, the project will impact several industries including the aircraft manufacturers, and fuel-efficient transport vehicles. Training mechanical engineers to understand composite structures and use nanotechnology as a tool will open up many avenues for research. The project provides fundamental data on the damping behavior of fiber-reinforced epoxy composites at cryogenic temperature. These data are very important to fiber-reinforced epoxy composites that are widely used in cryogenic engineering. Broad dissemination of scientific results on this important industrial issue is expected. The project involves faculty, graduate students from US and Egypt. This collaborative effort can work as a role model to create an industry-university alliance for future product development.
This project is being supported under the US-Egypt Joint Fund Program, which provides grants to scientists and engineers in both countries to carry out these cooperative activities.
