• Composites Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.83-87
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• 2018

An object in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is affected by many environmental conditions unlike earth's surface such as, Atomic oxygen (AO), Ultraviolet Radiation (UV), thermal cycling, High Vacuum and Micrometeoroids and Orbital Debris (MMOD) impacts. The effect of all these parameters have to be carefully considered when designing a space structure, as it could be very critical for a space mission. Polybenzimidazole (PBI) is a high performance thermoplastic polymer that could be a suitable material for space missions because of its excellent resistance to these environmental factors. A thin coating of PBI polymer on the carbon epoxy composite laminate (referred as CFRP) was found to improve the energy absorption capability of the laminate in event of a hypervelocity impact. However, the overall efficiency of the shield also depends on other factors like placement and orientation of the laminates, standoff distances and the number of shielding layers. This paper studies the effectiveness of using a PBI coating on the front bumper in a multi-shock shield design for enhanced hypervelocity impact resistance. A thin PBI coating of 43 micron was observed to improve the shielding efficiency of the CFRP laminate by 22.06% when exposed to LEO environment conditions in a simulation chamber. To study the effectiveness of PBI coating in a hypervelocity impact situation, experiments were conducted on the CFRP and the PBI coated CFRP laminates with projectile velocities between 2.2 to 3.2 km/s. It was observed that the mass loss of the CFRP laminates decreased 7% when coated by a thin layer of PBI. However, the study of mass loss and damage area on a witness plate showed CFRP case to have better shielding efficiency than PBI coated CFRP laminate case. Therefore, it is recommended that PBI coating on the front bumper is not so effective in improving the overall hypervelocity impact resistance of the space structure.

• Macromolecular Research
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.345-358
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• 2002

The electrical conductivity during vulcanization process was measured as a function of time for the system of TiC loaded styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) composites. The phenomenon of negative and positive temperature coefficients of conductivity and its conduction mechanism were also studied for the SBR polymeric composites. The current-voltage characteristics of the polymeric composites were non-linear in high voltage and showed a switching effect. The effects of temperature on the thermal conductivity and effective dielectric constant were measured. The measured parameters were found to be dependent on TiC concentration. The electromagnetic wave shielding (EMS) of the SBR-TiC polymeric composite was also examined. The SBR filled with TiC could be expected to be promising novel smart polymeric composites for self-electrical heating, temperature sensor, time delay switching, and electro-magnetic wave shielding effectiveness.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2016

This paper presents a preliminary study on the pressure sensing characteristics of smart nano composites made of MWCNT (multi-walled carbon nanotube) to develop a novel pressure sensor. We fabricated the composite pressure sensor by using a solution casting process. Made of carbon smart nano composites, the sensor works by means of piezoresistivity under pressure. We built a signal processing system similar to a conventional strain gage system. The sensor voltage outputs during the experiment for the pressure sensor and the resistance changes of the MWCNT as well as the epoxy based on the smart nano composite under static pressure were fairly stable and showed quite consistent responses under lab level tests. We confirmed that the response time characteristics of MWCNT nano composites with epoxy were faster than the MWCNT/EPDM sensor under static loads.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.148-154
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• 2010

It is necessary to develop new methods to prevent catastrophic failure of structural material in order to avoid accidents and conserve natural and energy resources. Design of intelligent materials with a self-diagnosing function to prevent fatal fracture of structural materials was achieved by smart composites consisting of carbon fiber tows or carbon powders with a small value of ultimate elongation and glass fiber tows with a large value of ultimate elongation. The changes in electrical resistance of CF-GFRP/GFRP (carbon fiber and glass fiber-reinforced plastics/glass fiber-reinforced plastics) composites increased abruptly with increasing strain, and a tremendous change was seen at the transition point where carbon fiber tows were broken. Therefore, the composites were not to monitor damage from the early stage. On the other hand, the change in electrical resistance of CP-GFRP/GFRP (carbon powder dispersed in glass fiber-reinforced plastics/glass fiber-reinforced plastics) composites increased almost linearly in proportion to strain. CP-GFRP/GFRP composites are superior to CF-GFRP/GFRP composites in terms of their capability to monitor damage by measuring change in electrical resistance from the early stage of damage. However, the former was inferior to the latter as an application because of the difficulties of mass production and high cost. A method based on monitoring damage by measuring changes in the electrical resistance of structural materials is promising for improved reliability of the material.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.346-349
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• 2005

The present study aims to design electrically and structurally effective antenna structures in order that the structural surface itself could become the antenna. The basic design concept is composite sandwich structure in which microstrip antenna is embedded and this is termed composite smart structure (CSS). The most important outstanding problem is that composite materials of structural function cannot be used without reducing antenna efficiency. Unfortunately, such materials have high electrical loss. This is a significant design problem that needs to be solved in practical applications. Therefore, the effect of composites facesheet on antenna performances is studied in the first stage. Changes in the gain of microstrip antenna due to composites facesheet have been determined. 'Open condition' is defined when gain is maximized and is a significant new concept in the design of high-gain antennas considering bandwidth in practical application. The open condition can be made with any thickness of outer facesheet by controlling its position. In the design of CSS, glass/epoxy composites and Nomex honeycomb were used with exploiting open condition. Experiments, confirm that the gain is improved (over 11 dBi) and the bandwidth is also as wide as specified in our requirements (over 10% at 12.2 GHz). With the open condition, wideband antenna can be integrated with mechanical structures without reducing any electrical performances, as confirmed experimentally here.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.18-21
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• 2003

The effect of interface bonding strength on the recovery force of SMA wire reinforced polymer matrix composites was investigated by pullout test. Firstly, the recovery forces and transformation temperatures of various prestrained SMA wires were measured and 5% prestrained SMA wires were prepared for the reinforcements of composites. EPDM incorporated with 20vol% silicon carbide particles(SiCp) of 6, 12, $60{mutextrm{m}}$ size were used as matrix. Pullout test results showed that the interface bonding strength increased when the SiCp size decreased due to the increase of elastic modulus of matrix. Cyclic test of composites was performed through control of DC current at the constant displacement mode. The abrupt decrease of recovery force during cycle test at high current was occurred by thermal degradation of matrix. This was in good agreement with temperature related in the thermal degradation of matrix. The hysteresis of recovery force with respect to the temperature was compared between wire and composite and the hysterisis of composites was smaller than the wire due to less thermal conduction.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.1-8
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• 2022

Fused deposition modeling (FDM), based on stacking a continuous filament of polymer or composite materials, is well matured and is thus widely used in additive manufacturing technology. To advance FDM-based 3D printing technology, the mechanical properties of additively manufactured composite materials must be improved. In this study, we proposed a novel FDM 3D printing process using metal wire-polymer composites, enabling enhanced mechanical properties. In addition, we developed a new type FDM filament of copper wire wrapped in nylon material for stable 3D printing without thermal damage during the printing process. After FDM printing of the copper wire-nylon composite filament, we conducted a tensile test to investigate the mechanical behavior of the printed composite materials. The experimental results confirmed that the tensile strength of the 3D-printed metal wire-polymer composites was higher than that of the conventional single polymer material. Thus, we expect that the FDM printing process developed in this study may be promising for high-load-bearing applications.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.10
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• pp.3258-3264
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• 2012

Aluminum oxide ($Al_2O_3$) nanofibers were treated thermally under an ammonia ($NH_3$) gas stream balanced by nitrogen to form a thin aluminum nitride (AlN) layer on the nanofibers, resulting in the enhancement of thermal conductivity of $Al_2O_3$/epoxy nanocomposites. The micro-structural and morphological properties of the $NH_3$-assisted thermally-treated $Al_2O_3$ nanofibers were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AEM), respectively. The surface characteristics and pore structures were observed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Zeta-potential and $N_2$/77 K isothermal adsorptions. From the results, the formation of AlN on $Al_2O_3$ nanofibers was confirmed by XRD and XPS. The thermal conductivity (TC) of the modified $Al_2O_3$ nanofibers/epoxy composites increased with increasing treated temperatures. On the other hand, the severely treated $Al_2O_3$/epoxy composites showed a decrease in TC, resulting from a decrease in the probability of heat-transfer networks between the filler and matrix in this system due to the aggregation of nanofiber fillers.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2005.04a
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• pp.55-58
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• 2005

The present study aims to design electrically and structurally effective antenna structures in order that the structural surface itself could become the antenna. The basic design concept is composite sandwich structure in which microstrip antenna is embedded and this is termed composite smart structure (CSS). The most important outstanding problem is that composite materials of structural function cannot be used without reducing antenna efficiency. Unfortunately, such materials have high electrical loss. This is a significant design problem that needs to be solved in practical applications. Therefore, the effects of composites facesheet on antenna performances are investigated in the first stage and changes in the gain of microstrip antenna due to composites facesheet have been determined. ‘Open condition’ is defined when gain is maximized and is a significant new concept for the design of high-gain antennas considering bandwidth in practical application. The open condition can be made with the outer facesheet by controlling its position. In the design of CSS, glass/epoxy composites and Nomex honeycomb were used with exploiting open condition. Experiments, confirm that the gain is improved and the bandwidth is also as wide as specified in our requirements. With the open condition, wideband antenna can be integrated with mechanical structures without reducing any electrical performances, as confirmed experimentally here.

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.400-405
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• 2021

In this study, a composite material frame was designed to increase the energy harvesting efficiency of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) ribbon harvesters which are installed inside smart shoes. In order to minimize the amount of deformation in the load direction of the frame, it was designed using carbon continuous fiber composites and its complex shaped structure was manufactured using a 3D printer. In order to calculate the amount of deformation of the insole and midsole of the shoes under the condition of the load generated during walking, the insole and midsole were modeled using the distributed spring elements. Using finite element analysis, the elongation of ribbon-type harvesters mounted on smart shoes was calculated during walking. It is expected that the predicted elongation of the harvester can be utilized to increase the energy harvesting efficiency of smart shoes.