A novel electroactive shape memory polymer nanocomposite of epoxidized linseed oil plasticized polylactic acid and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was prepared by a combination of solution blending, solvent cast technique, and hydraulic hot press moulding. In this study, polylactic acid (PLA) was first plasticized by epoxidized linseed oil (ELO) in order to overcome the major limitations...

Scaffolds play a pivotal role in the tissue engineering paradigm by providing temporary structural support, guiding cells to grow, assisting the transport of essential nutrients and waste products, and facilitating the formation of functional tissues and organs. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), especially ultra-short SWNTs (US-tubes), have proven useful for reinforcing synthetic polymeri...

The nonlocal nonlinear buckling of a double layer graphene sheet (DLGS) covered by zinc oxide (ZnO) piezoelectric layers is investigated in this study. The surrounding circumstances of the system are considered as a Pasternak foundation including spring constants and a shear layer. Graphene sheets are subjected to longitudinal magnetic field and biaxial forces. On the other hand, the ZnO piezoe...

In this paper, the first and second order approximations of Taylor expansion are used for calculating the change of each natural frequency by modifying an arbitrary parameter of a system with a known amount and based on this approximation, the inverse eigenvalue problem is transformed to a solvable algebraic equation. The finite element formulation, based on the classical laminated plate theory...

Certain ferroelectric materials possess dual electrostrictive and piezoelectric characteristics, depending on their specific Curie temperatures. The nonlinear electro-mechanical effect of electrostrictive materials provides stronger actuation performance as compared with that of piezoelectric materials. Due to the complexity of the generic ferroelectric actuators, micro-electromechanics, struct...

Experimental and numerical investigations were conducted to assess the effectiveness of polymeric coatings to enhance the blast protection of steel structures. During the experiments test plates were allowed to deform under close-in blast loading and the final deformations of coated and uncoated plates were compared. The coatings were found to reduce the deformation of the plates when applied t...

In order to obtain a wide-range magnetoelectric (ME) response on a ME nanocomposite that matches industry requirements, Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe1.92 (Terfenol-D)/CoFe2O4/P(VDF-TrFE) flexible films were produced by the solvent casting technique and their morphologic, piezoelectric, magnetic and magnetoelectric properties were investigated. The obtained composites revealed a high piezoelectric response (≈−18...

We report the first attempt to prepare a flexoelectric nanogenerator consisting of direct-grown piezoelectrics on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (mwCNT). Direct-grown piezoelectrics on mwCNTs are formed by a stirring and heating method using a Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PZT)-mwCNT precursor solution. We studied the unit cell mismatch and strain distribution of epitaxial PZT nanoparticles, and found tha...