UDRI Students Light Up SAMPE Conference
photo by Matt Pierson
Illuminating a light bulb typically isn't a big deal. But the method used by two University of Dayton engineering students to light up a 75-watt bulb proved to be a first at an annual international model-bridge building competition. It also demonstrated the invaluable potential of carbon nanofiber technology in applications where the conduction of electricity and/or heat is an issue.
The venue was the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering's seventh-annual Super Light-Weight Composite Bridge Building Contest May 18, 2004 in Long Beach, California.
Using a standard electrical outlet as a power source, electrical engineering student Jon Engelsman and recent chemical engineering graduate Nick Gagliardi connected a 110-volt alternating-current line to one end of the fiberglass composite model bridge they designed and fabricated at the University of Dayton Research Institute, and connected the light bulb with a similar line to the opposite end of the bridge.
The bulb line and outlet line were not directly connected to one another, nor did the men use any type of conductive metal wire, such as the copper typically used in lamp cords - to connect the two. Yet when the power line was plugged in, the bulb lit -- the bridge deck itself conducted electricity between the two lines. A considerable feat, considering that fiberglass composites, known as electrical insulators, should have stopped the flow of electricity from one line to the next. But Engelsman and Gagliardi incorporated carbon nanofibers into the composite blend they dubbed "Nano-Sphalt."
Carbon nanofibers conduct heat and electricity, and carried the electrical current through the bridge to the lines at each end.
In addition, while conducting electricity to light up the bulb, the road surface became warm to the touch from resistive heating. The young engineers named their bridge "Hot-Span" because this side-benefit could be exploited for wintertime snow or ice removal.
During the demonstration, the bulb remained illuminated while the bridge was tested to mechanical failure in a three-point bending test -- illustrating the mechanical robustness of carbon nanofiber technology for imparting electrical conductivity to materials that are inherently nonconductive.
"The goal of the project was to demonstrate the potential of currently available, affordable nanomaterials and process technologies for fabricating multifunctional composite structures," said Don Klosterman, Polymer Engineering group leader in UDRI's Nonmetallic Materials division and UD-SAMPE Student Chapter Advisor.
Story by Pamela Gregg, June 2004
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