Micro-Composite Fabrication via Field-Aided Laminar Composite (FALCom) Processing.

摘要

A novel composite fabrication process is used to create multi- functional micro-composites, which can be tailored for specific end-use applications. The Field-Aided Laminar Composite (FALCom) process uses specifically focused electric fields to align nano- to micro-sized particles into chain-like structures, which are referred to as pseudo-fibers. These pseudo-fibers are then immediately frozen into place by the laser curing of the photopolymer matrix. The pseudo-fibers are arranged by design, and are used to create three-dimensional composite structures. In this research, multiple filler particles were selected for processing evaluation. Multi-walled carbon nano-tubes, aluminum micro-particles, and alumina micro-particles were aligned and oriented in an acrylic photopolymer matrix. Examples of processing and a review of experimental processing are shown, and conclusions and future work are discussed.