Development of protective and functional composites based on ceramics, FRPs and CNTs

Prof. Sergei B. Sapozhnikov from South Ural State University (SUSU), in Russia, presented last Wednesday (20-11-2015) the work developed on high performance composite materials, which has been applied in the Russian aeronautics industry (Supersonic Tu-144, 1975; Tu-2014, 1990; Supersonic Tu-160, 1983). Nowadays, they are mostly involved in the development of protective and functional composites for the Russian army, in particular light materials to be applied in a floating automobile with bullet protection.

The research topic more close to the SMARCOAT project is the detection of environmental conditions, such as pressure, temperature and humidity using multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). Using composites with epoxy and silicone is possible to the detect pressure and temperature variation due to the changes of electrical resistivity of MWCNT, and using with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is possible to detect humidity due to the filling of the nanoporous of the materials, which adsorb water while also changing their electrical resistivity. These MWCNT composite are used to detect pressure, temperature and humidity changes on paints applied in surfaces.

Prof. Sergei B. Sapozhnikov opened the door for future collaborations in sensing materials and is actively seeking collaborations to apply for a joint EU-RF grant 2016 (H2020) applications.