Multi-Functional and Multi-Scale Aspects in Polymer Composites

Dear Colleagues,

Since the last decade, the multi-functional aspects of polymers are being increasingly focused on, especially the elastomeric class that exhibits promising mechanical, electric, thermal, and self-healing properties. These elastomeric materials are filled with conductive materials such as carbon nanotubes, graphene, and conductive carbon black. The addition of these conductive materials causes the elastomers to be useful for industry both in terms of quality and quantity. The composites based on these elastomers as polymer matrices exhibit applications such as actuation, energy harvesting, strain sensing, self-healing, stimuli‒response behavior, barrier properties, and bio-compatibility. The ability of these engineering elastomers with such multiscale and multifunctional diversity causes them to be a premium class of versatile materials for the present and also for the future.

This Special Issue aims to cover the use of these composites as versatile materials in multiscale and their multi-functional aspects. This Issue will guide industrially oriented research and other developmental aspects related to polymer materials. Moreover, the demand for research and development both in industries and academia requires further efforts to cover the versatility of the subject of this Issue. The key aspects summarizing the scope of this issue include:

• Development of polymer composites based on their multiscale and multifunctional aspects.
• Different classes of polymer matrixes such as elastomers, thermoplastics, thermosets, etc.
• Various properties of composites such as mechanical, electrical, thermal, self-healing, and self-cleaning mechanisms, bio-compatibility, tribology, etc.
• Pristine and modification of filler or polymer matrix covering the concept of promoting interfacial interactions or stress-transfer phenomena.
• Understanding of the theoretical modeling and simulation on multiple scales and the versatility of polymeric composite materials.
• New generation polymer composite materials based on 3D and 4D printing
• Industrial applications of the filled polymer composites such as actuation, energy harvesting, strain sensing, self-healing, stimuli-response behavior, barrier properties, and bio-compatibility.

Dr. Vineet Kumar
Dr. Md Najib Alam
Guest Editors

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