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THE SCHOOL OF MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Under the provisions of the regulations for the degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
on Wednesday, October 2, 2019
1:30 PM
in MARC 401
will be held the
DISSERTATION PROPOSAL DEFENSE
for
Edward DiLoreto
“Development and Design of Lightweight Glass Fiber Reinforced Composites”
Committee Members:
Prof. Kyriaki Kalaitzidou, Advisor, ME
Robert J. Moon, PhD, RBI
Prof. Karl Jacob, MSE/ME
Prof. Donggang Yao, MSE
Prof. Douglas Fox, CHEM, American University
Abstract:
The focus of this research is to understand the effect of filler characteristics in glass fiber-polyester composites on properties with the goal of identifying material characteristics and processing conditions that realize lightweight, high strength composites. The composites are made by compression molding of sheet molding compounds (SMC). The impetus for this study is a recent trend towards light weighting in the automotive sector, primarily driven by new fuel efficiency standards. SMC have been a prominent material in the industry as more vehicle mass is shifted from traditional materials (such as metal alloys) to lighter polymer composites. For SMC materials, aside from the fibers and polymer, fillers play the largest role in the mechanical properties of the composite. In this study two high performance fillers will be examined to potentially further light weight SMC composites: cellulose nano materials (CNM), and hollow glass spheres (HGS).
A systematic approach will be used to examine the effect of high performance filler (i.e. CNM, HGS) loading, surface chemistry, CNM type, and mixing on the resulting composite properties. Initial studies will be carried out on the lab scale. Once the ideal material conditions and processing path are identified, it will be scaled up to a pilot SMC line. Preliminary work has shown the potential and challenges of using surface modified CNM without dispersing solvents. Changing the surface chemistry of the CNM had a marked improvement in certain properties, such as high temperature storage modulus, but little effect on tensile strength, as compared to a standard sulfate ester CNM. Additionally, surface modification of HGS (e.g., silanization) maintains properties more effectively even at very high HGS loading. Further work will explore alternative CNM surface chemistries and CNM type and will examine the effect of HGS with CNM in the resulting composite. The final stage of this study will be to model, manufacture, and characterize functionally graded composites comprised of high performance fillers (i.e. CNM, HGS) developed in the primary stages
Keywords: Syntactic Foams, Glass Fiber Reinforced Composites, Polyester, Cellulose
