Department Seminar Program - Assist. Prof. Konstantinos Dassios

Abstract

The remarkable combination of properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has sparked extensive research efforts towards development and characterization of CNT-reinforced materials of different types. Polymer-based nanocomposites were the first to appear and attract huge scientific interest, while inorganics such as ceramics and cement are on the rise. The talk presents the progress achieved by the research group in the optimization of critical nanocomposite processing parameters, including improvement of dispersion homogeneity in the continuous phase, improvement of densification levels of ceramic nanocomposites and ability of synthesizing high-quality CNTs with orientation. Also presented are advances in the applied exploitation of the strain sensing potential of percolated networks of the nano-fillers in cement-based materials. Finally, the non-destructive, non-contact, real-time monitoring of the in-service life of ceramic composites with valuable early failure warnings, by active and passive Infrared Thermography (IRT), is showcased.