Topic1：Strong, Powerful Artificial Muscles Yarns and Fibers Who’s Multifunctionality Provides Intelligence and the Ability to Harvest Energy

Speaker：Prof. Ray H. Baughman（member of the National Academy of Engineering、The University of Texas at Dallas）

Topic2：Advanced Fibre Composites – Issues and Challenges

Speaker：Prof. Lin Ye（Fellow of the Australian Academy of Engineering and Technology、The University of Sydney）

Time：1:45-4:15, (Wed.) June 13, 2018

Venue：Room 468, Lee Hsun Building

Strong, Powerful Artificial Muscles Yarns and Fibers Who’s Multifunctionality Provides Intelligence and the Ability to Harvest Energy

Ray H. Baughman
Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, USA

Successive generations of artificial muscle yarns and fibers have provided the understanding needed to progressively increase muscle performance. While our original electrochemical muscles based on carbon nanotube (CNT) sheets provided only about 0.1% tensile strokes, our present coiled yarn electrochemical CNT muscles provide tensile stokes as high as 12%, and 65 times the work capacity per cycle and 100 times the load-lifting capability as the same size natural muscle. Our polymer muscles made from fishing line or sewing thread, which are thermally, electrothermally, or chemically powered, can rotate at 100,000 rpm, contract 49%, generate 5 times the gravimetric power of a car engine, lift 100 times heavier loads than the same length and weight human muscle, or actuate at 7.5 cycles/s for millions of cycles. The strokes of these polymer muscles has been increased to a remarkable 9000% for applications as diverse as thermal energy harvesting and comfort-adjusting clothing. We have very recently shown that our CNT muscles can be operated in reverse to generate a gravimetric electrical power output that is higher than for any reported mechanical energy harvester for few Hz to 600 Hz frequencies. These “twistron” harvesters were used in the ocean to harvest wave energy, combined with thermally-driven artificial muscles to convert temperature fluctuations to electrical energy, sewn into textiles for use as self-powered respiration sensors, and used to power a LED and to charge a storage capacitor.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY FOR RAY H. BAUGHMAN

Ray Baughman became the Robert A. Welch Professor of Chemistry and Director of the NanoTech Institute at the University of Texas in Dallas in August 2001, after 31 years in industry. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas, the Academia Europaea, and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts; a foreign member of the European Academy of Sciences; a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Physical Society; an Academician of The Russian Academy of Natural Sciences; an honorary professor of 7 universities in China; and is on editorial or advisory boards of Science and other journals. Ray has 89 issued US patents and 415 refereed publications, with over 36,150 citations and a Web of Science H-index of 84. He has received the Chemical Pioneer Award of the American Institute of Chemists (1995), the Cooperative Research Award in Polymer Science and Engineering (1996), the New Materials Innovation Prize of the Avantex International Forum for Innovative Textiles (2005), Nano 50 Awards from Nanotech Briefs Magazine for Carbon Nanotube Sheets and Yarns (2006) and for Fuel Powered Artificial Muscles (2007), the NanoVic Prize from Australia (2006), the Scientific American Magazine 50 recognition for outstanding technological leadership (2006), the CSIRO Metal for Research Achievement (2006), the Chancellor’s Entrepreneurship and Invention Award (2007), the 21 for the 21st Century award (2007), the Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award of Carnegie Mellon University (2007), the Kapitza Metal of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (2007), the Graffin Lectureship of the American Carbon Society (2010), the Tech Titans Award in Education (2011), Time Magazine recognition in 50 Best Inventions of the Year (2011), the SGL Carbon Award of the American Carbon Society (2013), the Tech Titans Technology Inventors Award (2015), the 2015 Inventor Award for Energy Harvesting Materials and Systems, and the R&D 100 Gold Award for Market Disruptor Product (2015). He was named the Honorable Yang Shi-Xiang Professor of Nankai University and the Honorable Tang Aoqing Professor of Jilin University in 2010 and was listed 30th in the Top 100 Material Scientists of the Decade (2000-2010). The Baughman laboratory was established in his honor in China in 2014 at the Jiangnan Graphene Research Institute in Changzhou.

Advanced Fibre Composites – Issues and Challenges

Professor Lin Ye
Centre for Advanced Materials Technology
School of Aerospace, Mechanical & Mechatronic Engineering
The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

Fibre-reinforced polymer composites are widely used in today’s aerospace, green energy, marine, and transportation industries, because of their high specific strength and specific stiffness in comparison with those of conventional materials. Over years, significant advances have been made to substantially enhance performance of composites by enhancing the properties of fibres and matrices and by optimising interfaces between them. In recent years, nano-scale reinforcements have been used to further enhance properties of composites, and the multi-functionality (e.g. self-sensing and self-healing) has attracted attention of many researchers in the areas. This talk highlights the development of advanced composites in the past half-century addressing the processing-structure-property relationship of composites. It also articulates some recent development of composite materials and structures with multi-functionality for self-sensing and self-healing addressing some key issues and challenges that face researchers.

Biography: Lin Ye currently is a full professor at the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering and the Director of the Centre for Advanced Materials Technology of The University of Sydney. He received his BEng degree from Harbin Engineering University in 1982, and MEng in 1984 and PhD in 1987 from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He then joined the Xi’an Jiaotong University as a Lecturer in early 1988. He joined The University of Sydney in July 1992 after working as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at the Institute for Composite Materials (IVW GmbH) 1990-1992. His major research interests are in the areas of composites science and technology, smart materials and structures, nano-materials and nano-composites, structural integrity and durability. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Engineering and Technology (ATSE) in 2005.

http://sydney.edu.au/camt/about/people/key_personnel/lin_ye.shtml