Nanocomposites Research - Focus Areas

Nanocomposites Focus Areas

Focus Areas

We have four main focus areas: Polymer chemistry and nanocomposites engineering for energy applications; Ceramic nanocomposites; Multiscale Materials Modelling; and Biopolymer and Biocomposites. Click on the focus areas below to find out more information about each.

Functional Polymer Nanocomposites

Prof Chaoying Wan’s research is focused on the structure and functionalities of polymer-based nanocomposites. The research bridges new dynamic chemistry with reactive polymer processing, aiming to design and develop high performance, multifunctional and sustainable polymer technology and understand the relationship of ‘chemical structure – morphology – processing – properties’ of polymers and nanocomposites. The team specialises in

(1) High performance and energy-saving rubbers for tire industry;

(2) Sustainable bioplastic packaging;

(3) PAFS-free plastics and rubber products;

(4) Advanced rheology characterisation.

Academic Staff

0000-0002-1079-5885

News

Won Synthos Rubber Circularity Award, 2023-2026
Our work was commented by Nature' Can the world leave forever chemicals behind',01 August 2023
PhD studentship open to apply - Warwick Industrial Fellowship, 2023-2027
News | Partnership with WMG | James Walker 2023
James Walker and WMG, the University of Warwick announce research partnershipLink opens in a new window, 2023
ADS Advance - James Walker collaborates with WMG to develop advanced sealing compounds, 2023
Organising Committee for IUPAC Macro 2024 World Polymer Congress,1st-4th of July 2024Link opens in a new window
WMG launches new sustainable elastomer research facility - WMG :: News (warwick.ac.uk)Link opens in a new window
Many congratulations to Chris Ellingfordas the WMG winner of the Best Doctoral Thesis Award 2022 across the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine at Warwick.
Sustainability and Plastics event, Warwick Cross Faculty Plastics Group, 13 July 2022
PhD in Design and develop multifunctional bioplastic packaging at University of Warwick on FindAPhD.com
Innovation in polymer science for a sustainable future
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/mediacentre/news/newsitem/
Webinar - Elastomers for Sustainable Energy Related Applications (1)Link opens in a new window, 28 April 2021
Smart dielectric elastomers for self-healing soft robotsLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window, 27 April 2021
Supporting a low carbon economy by sustainable rubber manufacturing
Women in EnergyLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window
Congratulations to Chris Ellingford, has been successfully selected as one of 300 invited participants in the Global Young Scientists Summit (GYSS) in Singapore, January 2020, and one of five nominations from the University of Warwick to attend the Summit.
Talk on 'self-healing dielectric elastomer actuators' at PPS2019 conference at University of Bradford, UK, 17-19 July 2019.
Host a senior delegation from China Energyhttps://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/wmg/mediacentre/news/newsitem?id=8a17841a6bb243f2016bbc8033b9361f&tag=Nanocomposites
Invited talk on 'Electromechanical properties of intrinsically tuned dielectric elastomers' at Silicone Elastomers and Thermoplastic Elastomers World Summits, Milan, Italy, from 27 – 28 November 2018.

Chris Ellingford and Yutao Zhou presented posters on Energy storage Materials at Jaguar Land Rover and WMG Catapult Energy Storage Technology Conference, September 20, 2018.
Invitation Plenary Lecture, 'Long Life, High Sustainability through New (Nano) Materials'. SLIM 2015, Special Edition of the Shelf Life International Meeting, 21-23 October 2015, Vimercate (Milan), Italy.
Best Poster Award at Major International Conference- Ilke Uysal Unalan a visiting PhD student, who spent the last year working on under the supervision of Dr Chaoying Wan in the International Institute for Nanocomposites Manufacturing (IINM) in WMG has won the Best Poster Award at the 8th ECNP International Conference on Nanostructured Polymers and Nanocomposites held in Dresden, Germany recently. The work, a collaboration with Dr Stefano Farris of the University of Milan, Italy describes the research ongoing into the use of graphene in biopolymer nanocomposites for packaging and coating applications.
Co-chaired 1st UK-China Symposium on Polymer NanocompositesLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window,

1-3 December, 2014, IINM, WMG, University of Warwick
Co-chaired 2nd China-UK Symposium on Polymer Nanocomposites, 27-30 Oct, 2015, Shanghai, China

Multiscale Materials Modelling

Mission

The Multiscale Materials Modelling Group in IINM / WMG is led by Dr. Figiel, and it is focused on the development of multiscale modelling tools to optimise the multi-physics performance of advanced engineering materials and components with micro- and nano-size inclusions, using the theories of thermodynamics, continuum mechanics, micromechanics, nonlinear homogenisation, linked with numerical implementation using the finite element method and machine learning approaches.

The Group works closely with the Warwick Centre for Predictive Modelling (WCPM), and the Centre for Scientific Computing (CSC) at the University of Warwick on a range of research projects focussing on the development of robust methods for quantification of uncertainties in multiscale materials models, data-driven multiscale approaches and development/application of efficient high-performance computing for those models.

Research themes

I. Multiscale modelling of chemo-mechanical problems

This theme is focussed on the development of a multiscale chemo-mechanical modelling framework in the finite-strain setting, to predict the multi-physics response of advanced heterogeneous materials for energy storage (e.g. Li-ion batteries, solid-state batteries) - below, are examples of completed research:

II. Multiscale modelling of electro-mechanical problems

This work aims at developing coupled multiscale models using relevant scale-transitions to predict multi-physics response (e.g. piezoelectric, dielectric) of complex polymer-based composite systems.

III. Multiscale Prediction of Processing of Polymer Composites

Processing near the glass transition offers means for enhancing morphology and end-use properties of nanocomposites. This work aims at developing advanced modelling approaches and tools, which capture nonlinear viscoelastic behaviour of nanoparticle-based materials during processing, and enable optimisation of processing parameters.

Warwick Manufacturing Group