Multifunctional Materials - Biomimetics: Biologically Inspired Technologies - page 309

12

Multifunctional Materials

Sia Nemat-Nasser, Syrus Nemat-Nasser, Thomas Plaisted,
Anthony Starr, and Alireza Vakil Amirkhizi

CONTENTS
12.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 309
12.1.1 Multifunctional Concepts .................................................................................................... 310
12.2 Multifunctional Composites ............................................................................................................... 311
12.2.1 Electromagnetic Functionality ............................................................................................ 312
12.2.1.1 Thin-Wire Plasmonic Composites ...................................................................... 312
12.2.1.2 Coiled Wire Plasmon Media Composites ........................................................... 314
12.2.1.3 Braided Composite Manufacturing ..................................................................... 318
12.2.1.4 Controlling the Effective Magnetic Permeability............................................... 321
12.2.1.5 Negative Refractive Index Composites .............................................................. 323
12.2.2 Heating Functionality .......................................................................................................... 324
12.2.2.1 Simulation and Testing ....................................................................................... 324
12.2.3 Healing Functionality .......................................................................................................... 328
12.2.3.1 Polymer Healing.................................................................................................. 329
12.2.3.2 Thermo-Reversibly Cross-Linked Polymer ........................................................ 329
12.2.3.3 Healing Experiments ........................................................................................... 330
12.2.3.4 Healing Summary................................................................................................ 332
12.2.4 Sensing Functionality .......................................................................................................... 332
12.2.4.1 Integrating Sensing into Composites .................................................................. 333
12.2.4.2 Sensor Communications and Power ................................................................... 333
12.2.4.3 Mechanical Integration........................................................................................ 333
12.2.4.4 Data Management ............................................................................................... 335
12.2.4.5 Preliminary Results ............................................................................................. 335
12.2.4.6 Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring........................................................... 336
12.3 Summary............................................................................................................................................. 337
Acknowledgments .......................................................................................................................................... 338
Notes ............................................................................................................................................................... 338
References....................................................................................................................................................... 338

12.1 INTRODUCTION

Multifunctional structural materials possess attributes beyond the basic strength and stiffness that
typically drive the science and engineering of the material for structural systems. Structural
materials can be designed to have integrated electrical, magnetic, optical, locomotive, power
generative, and possibly other functionalities that work in synergy to provide advantages that

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