COMPUTATIONAL STUDIES TOWARDS METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE REINFORCEMENT USING BORON NITRIDE NANOTUBES
Christoph Rohmann, PhD., Research Fellow, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, University of Queensland
December 11, 2014, 2:00 pm, NIA, Room 137
Abstract:
Boron nitride nanotubes have been proposed as a suitable reinforcement for metal matrix composites. In order to be effective, the interaction between the metal and the nanotube needs to be strong while retaining the nanotube structure. Computational quantum chemistry was used to study interactions of aluminum, titanium and copper metal single atoms and clusters with boron nitride nanotubes. In addition, the strength and nature of the binding to both pristine and defective boron nitride nanotubes was compared. It was found that even though strong binding occurred, particularly with titanium, the structure of the nanotubes was not greatly disrupted. This behavior is advantageous for their use as reinforcement materials. The binding strength showed a qualitatively different dependence on defects created by removing a boron or a nitrogen atom from the nanotube lattice structure as the nanotube radius decreases.
Biography:
Christoph is an early career researcher with an interest in the computational study of metal matrix composite reinforcements. He obtained his PhD at the University of Auckland, New Zealand where his research project focused on the experimental and theoretical study of adsorption of small molecules onto metal oxide surfaces. Currently Christoph is a Research Fellow at the Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology at the University of Queensland working under the supervision of Prof. Debra Bernhardt. His research is focused on the computational investigation towards the metal matrix composite reinforcement employing boron nitride nanotubes.