Keynote speaker

Professor Young studied Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge, gained his PhD in 1973, became Professor of Polymer Science and Technology in Manchester in 1986 and the founding Head of the School of Materials in the newly-formed University of Manchester in 2004. This is now the largest university materials department in the UK and the focus of major UK materials research initiatives such as the Graphene and Henry Royce Institutes. He is a Fellow of Royal Society (2013), Royal Academy of Engineering (2006) and Academy of Europe (2015). His main research interest is the relationships between structure and properties in polymers and composites. He has introduced of a number of techniques that have given a completely new insight into the micromechanics of deformation in fibres and composites. In particular, he has pioneered the use of Raman spectroscopy for the analysis of deformation processes that take place in fibres at the molecular level. More recently, he has extended this approach to the mechanics of deformation of graphene and other 2D materials in nanocomposites. His research contributions have been recognised through numerous invitations to give Plenary and Keynote lectures at International Conferences and through the awards of the Griffith Medal (2002), Leslie Holliday Prize (2011), Swinburne Medal and Prize (2012) and Platinum Medal (2019) from the UK Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.

Multifunctional Nanocomposites: Achievements and prospects

Abstract

There has been growing interest over recent years in polymer-based nanocomposites because of the possibility of obtaining new materials with a range of beneficial properties, such as increased stiffness and strength, improved electrical and thermal conductivity and better barrier properties. Such materials are usually based upon polymers containing different types of nanofillers that are normally classified as being 0-dimensional (e.g. nanoparticles), 1-dimensional (e.g. nanotubes) or 2-dimensional (e.g. nanoplatelets). Nowadays, attention is becoming increasingly directed towards preparing multifunctional nanocomposites that are both relatively easy to process and have a range of different desirable properties. Our understanding of how factors, such as a filler structure, filler size, filler geometry and distribution control the properties of polymer-based nanocomposites will be reviewed. Compromises often have to be made to obtain a nanocomposite a specific set of properties, since the same factors may affect certain properties in different ways. It will be shown how our improved understanding of how the different structural factors affect the behaviour of these nanocomposites enables us to now engineer nanocomposites with a specific set of tailored properties. Potential applications of these polymer-based multifunctional nanocomposites will be discussed.