Accelerating the Design of Adhesives with Nanoscale Control of Thermomechanical Properties

Project Personnel

Daniel Krogstad

Principal Investigator

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Santanu Chaudhuri

Co-PI

University of Illinois Chicago

Claron Ridge

Co-PI

Air Force Research Laboratory

Vikas Tomar

Co-PI

Purdue University

Jesus Mares

Co-PI

Air Force Research Laboratory

Funding Divisions

Division of Materials Research (DMR), Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI)

This Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) grant supports the generation of new knowledge related to the design of advanced adhesives for use in many industries, including automotive, aerospace, electronics, construction, and defense. Adhesives have significant benefits over traditional fasteners because they can bind different materials to one another and can be applied to wide areas which distributes the applied stresses and reduces failure. However, traditional epoxy adhesives can be very brittle. This research project will focus on understanding the structure-property relationships of epoxy adhesives that will enable the design of adhesives that are less brittle, more environmentally friendly, and are lightweight. This work will combine state-of-the-art experimental, simulation, and machine learning techniques to learn about these structured adhesives and accelerate the design and development cycles. As a part of this approach, we will ensure that the data and models will be widely shared so that they can be leveraged by academic, industrial and government researchers. Society will benefit from this project both through the new knowledge of structured adhesives, as well as through the education and training of diverse student populations at three universities on how to effectively combine experimental and modeling approaches to design new materials.

Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF)