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Simulations reveal the secret to strengthening carbon fiber
d lighter than aluminum, carbon fiber is a staple in aerospace and high-performance vehicles — and now, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found a way to make it even stronger. ORNL researchers simulated 5 million atoms to study a novel process for making carbon-fiber composites stronger and more cost efficient by incorporating a reinforced layer of polyacrylonitrile nanofibers, or PAN nanofibers.
of EnergyStronger than steel and lighter than aluminum, carbon fiber is a staple in aerospace and high-performance vehicles — and now, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have found a way to make it even stronger. “Carbon fiber is extremely dense, and modeling it with molecular dynamics requires tracking the behavior of millions, if not billions, of atoms,” said ORNL computational scientist Swarnava Ghosh, who led the Frontier simulations along with Sohail. In addition to Sohail and Ghosh, the ORNL research team includes Sumit Gupta, Marti Checa, Michael Toomey, Logan Kearney, Rajni Chahal, Sargun Singh Rohewal, Nihal Kanbargi, Liam Collins, David McConnell, Ilia N. Ivanov, Amit K. Naskar and Christopher Bowland.
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