Symposium SF12—Bioinspired Structural Composites—Advances in Experiments, Simulations and AI-Based Design

Next-generation structural composites for the aerospace, biomedical, and automobile industry necessitate materials with light weight, high strength, and high toughness with smart functionality to sense, adapt, self-repair, morph, and restore. Nature has provided unprecedented examples of unique combinations of these properties which are produced at ambient condition. A combination of hierarchy and precision on materials choice not only makes them structurally robust but exhibit multifunctionality. The symposium solicits recent developments in the bioinspired design of composites with particular focus on molecular engineering of interfacial regions in (bio)organic-inorganic, ceramic, and multi-component polymer systems, and design of hierarchical architectures and their characterization using experiment, simulation, and approaches based on artificial intelligence (AI). Tailoring the interfaces and hierarchical design could be obtained from grafting to/from, layer-by-layer assembly, physical adhesion, vapor deposition, and self-assembly. Advances are specifically invited in electron microscopy (STEM, EELS, and electron tomography), scanning probe microscopy (AFM, AFM-IR, peak force, K-AFM, SThm-AFM, C-AFM), fluorescence microscopy, spectroscopy, and nano X-ray tomography to visualize and assess morphology-property relationships at multiple length scales. In parallel, new developments in data analysis, autonomous optimization, and multiscale simulation (quantum-mechanical, atomistic, coarse-grained) are solicited for a better understanding of molecular and interfacial interactions, chemical reaction kinetics, growth of different phases (nodules, amorphous, crystalline, interdigitated), and property predictions. Properties may include, for example, glass transition temperatures, modulus, strength, toughness, conductivity (electrical/thermal), EMI shielding, plasmonic, photonics, self-healing, and sensing. Joint experimental-computational contributions that advance the area of light-weight/high-strength nanocomposites, intelligent bioinspired materials, biomedical materials, and multifunctional composites are encouraged. Advances in in-situ experiments based on scanning probe microscopy and electron microscopy to understand nanoscale confinement, intrinsic toughening mechanisms, locally probe damage at the nanoscale, and state-of-the-art characterization to visualize the morphology and assess the mechanical properties at multiple length scales are solicited.

• Hierarchical architectures from self-assembly and directed assembly of polymers, biopolymers, and colloids (including MXenes, graphene, TMD, CNT, CNC, Cellulose, Chitin, and Silk based composites)
• Nanoscale confinement of polymers near interfaces and interfacial chemistry to generate high strength and toughness
• State-of-the-art characterization to visualize the morphology, functional properties (electrical, optical, thermal, photonic, magnetic) and assess mechanical properties at multiple length scales
• Atomistic, coarse-grain, and multiscale models of composite-related interfaces and hierarchical architectures
• Advances in experiment, simulation, and artificial intelligence related to processing and property prediction

• Pulickel M. Ajayan (Rice University, USA)
• L. Catherine Brinson (Duke University, USA)
• Peter Coveney (University College London, United Kingdom)
• Reinhold Dauskardt (Stanford University, USA)
• Arthi Jayaraman (University of Delaware, USA)
• David Kaplan (Tufts University, USA)
• Sinan Keten (Northwestern University, USA)
• David Kisailus (University of California, Irvine, USA)
• Nicholas Kotov (University of Michigan–Ann Arbor, USA)
• Phillip Messersmith (University of California, Berkeley, USA)
• Rajesh Naik (Air Force Research Laboratory, USA)
• Ruth Pachter (Air Force Research Laboratory, USA)
• Ajit Roy (Air Force Research Laboratory, USA)
• George Schatz (Northwestern University, USA)
• Sabu Thomas (Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala, India)
• Vladimir Tsukruk (Georgia Institute of Technology, USA)
• Richard Vaia (Air Force Research Laboratory, USA)
• Silvia Vignolini (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
• Boris Yakobson (Rice University, USA)