Hong-Kyu Jang

Super-stretchable graphene oxide macroscopic fibers with outstanding knotability fabricated by dry film scrolling.

Graphene oxide (GO) has recently become an attractive building block for fabricating graphene-based functional materials. GO films and fibers have been prepared mainly by vacuum filtration and wet spinning. These materials exhibit relatively high Youngs moduli but low toughness and a high tendency to tear or break. Here, we report an alternative method, using bar coating and drying of water/GO dispersions, for preparing large-area GO thin films (e.g., 800-1200 cm(2) or larger) with an outstanding mechanical behavior and excellent tear resistance. These dried films were subsequently scrolled to prepare GO fibers with extremely large elongation to fracture (up to 76%), high toughness (up to 17 J/m(3)), and attractive macroscopic properties, such as uniform circular cross section, smooth surface, and great knotability. This method is simple, and after thermal reduction of the GO material, it can render highly electrically conducting graphene-based fibers with values up to 416 S/cm at room temperature. In this context, GO fibers annealed at 2000 °C were also successfully used as electron field emitters operating at low turn on voltages of ca. 0.48 V/μm and high current densities (5.3 A/cm(2)). Robust GO fibers and large-area films with fascinating architectures and outstanding mechanical and electrical properties were prepared with bar coating followed by dry film scrolling.

Use of Nanoindentation, Finite Element Simulations, and a Combined Experimental/Numerical Approach to Characterize Elastic Moduli of Individual Porous Silica Particles

This article describes the use of a combination of experimental nanoindentation and finite element numerical simulations to indirectly determine the elastic modulus of individual porous, micron-sized silica (SiO2) particles. Two independent nanoindentation experiments on individual silica particles were employed, one with a Berkovich pyramidal nanoindenter tip, the other with a flat punch nanoindenter tip. In both cases, 3D finite element simulations were used to generate nanoindenter load–displacement curves for comparison with the corresponding experimental data, using the elastic modulus of the particle as a curve-fitting parameter. The resulting indirectly determined modulus values from the two independent experiments were found to be in good agreement, and were considerably lower than the published values for bulk or particulate solid silica. The results are also consistent with previously reported modulus values for nanoindentation of porous thin film SiO2. Based on a review of the literature, the authors believe that this is the first article to report on the use of nanoindentation and numerical simulations in a combined experimental/numerical approach to determine the elastic modulus of individual porous silica particles.

High velocity impact characteristics of MWNT added CFRP at LEO space environment

In this paper, multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWNT) added carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) composites are suggested as solutions to improve the impact energy absorbing capability of CFRP for spacecraft application because it was proven that the resistance against LEO environment and the quasi-static material properties of CFRP can be improved by adding MWNT in previous papers. To verify the effect of MWNT on the impact energy absorbing capability of composite materials, normal CFRP and MWNT-reinforced CFRP were prepared and tested by using a two-stage light gas gun that can accelerate an aluminum ball of a diameter of 5.56 mm to 1 km/s. And the applicability of MWNT against hypervelocity impact of space debris was studied. In addition, accelerated ground simulation experiments were performed for each material model to simulate the aging of composite materials to verify the effect of LEO environmental aging on impact absorbing capability of composites. For the aging experiment, the impact specimens were simultaneously exposed to high vacuum, atomic oxygen, ultra violet light, and thermal cycling. After being exposed to simulated LEO environment, high velocity impact tests were performed for each material. As a result, MWNT did not have a significant improvement on the impact energy absorbing capability of CFRP under high velocity impact, even though the quasi static material properties are improved by adding MWNT. This is caused by the early generation of fiber breakages on the impact surface before enough generation of progressive failure which is one of the impact energy absorbing mechanism. Similarly, MWNT has less effect on the impact energy absorbing capability of CFRP under LEO environment.

ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE ABSORBING TECHNIQUE USING PERIODIC PATTERNS FOR LOW RCS PATCH ARRAY ANTENNA

This paper presents an electromagnetic wave absorbing technique to reduce a radar cross-section (RCS) of a patch array antenna without compromising their antenna performance. The technique is based on periodic patterns, which is made of resistive materials. The 2×2 patch array antenna with a resonance frequency of 3.0 GHz was designed and fabricated. To reduce the RCS of the patch array antenna, the periodic patterns using a square patch element were proposed and applied to the surface between the four antenna patches. The printed lossy periodic patterns have radar absorbing performance at 12.0 GHz frequency. The measured results show that the lossy periodic patterns have no significant effect on the antenna radiation performance. On the other hand, the RCS is reduced by more than 98% compared to the conventional antenna at the target frequency.

Monostatic RCS Reduction by Gap-Fill with Epoxy/MWCNT in Groove Pattern

In this study, we investigated the effect of groove pattern and gap-fill with lossy materials at 15 GHz frequency of Ku-band. We used Epoxy/MWCNT composite materials as gap-fill materials. Although epoxy does not have an absorbance capability, epoxy added conductive fillers, which are multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), can function as radar absorbing material. Specimens were fabricated with different MWCNT mass fractions (0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 wt%) and their permittivity in the Ku-band was measured using the waveguide technique. We investigated the effect of gap-fill on monostatic RCS by calculating RCS with and without gap-fill. For arbitrarily chosen thickness and experimentally obtained relative permittivity, we chose the relative permittivity of MWCNT at 2 wt% (e r =8.8?j2.4), which was the lowest reflection coefficient for given thickness of 3.3 ㎜ at V-pol. and 80° incident angle. We also checked the monostatic RCS and the field intensity inside the groove channel. In the case of H-pol, gap-fill was not affected by the monostatic RCS and magnitude was similar with or without gap-fill. However, in the case of V-pol, gap-fill effectively reduced the monostatic RCS. The field intensity inside the groove channel reveals that different RCS behaviors depend on the wave polarizations.