CorkSTFluidics: Development of advanced energy absorbing composites based on natural cork, shear thickening fluids and microfluidics
Funding detail
Total Budget: 50 000.00 € CEFT funding: 50 000.00 € Program: Investigador FCT Funded by: FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia Coordination: Francisco Galindo Rosales
Short Description
CorkSTFfluidics are composites reinforced by shear thickening fluids and microfluidics networks. They are called to mark the beginning of a new era of composite materials, which consist of the combination of three areas of knowledge: microfluidics, complex fluids and solid mechanics.
Thus, the resulting composites are made of a sheet of micro-agglomerated cork engraved by laser with a network of closed microchannels, which are filled with a shear thickening fluid and covered with another sheet of micro-agglomerated cork. The selection of the geometry and dimensions of the microfluidic network are optimized numerically in combination with the rheological properties of the complex fluid and the mechanical properties of the solid material, in order to maximize the mechanical performance of the composite for each particular application and environmental conditions.
The present technology allows the customization of a composite on demand upon the knowledge of the mechanical response required for a particular application (energy absorption under impact, vibration, etc.), either as core or skin material, or both simultaneously.