Nanocomposite materials applications

Micro and Nano Components, due to their special physico-chemical properties, can be used to develop smart materials for final application on intelligent structures with integrated functionalities that are able to communicate and interact with their environment (upon IoT and in line with Industry 4.0); namely: carbon fibers (CFs) for reinforcement and conductivity variance, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs) for sensing, micro-containers for self-healing, nanoparticles for electromagnetic fields detection and shielding, colouring agents for marking cracks and piezoelectric materials. The use of smart materials is targeted by various end-user industries (i.e. aerospace, automotive and consumer electronics) and a first industrial demo case is a new generation of ventilation fans for cooker hoods. In order to debate on the potentialities of Nanocomposite Materials applications and Carbon Fibers the European Commission, in the framework of Horizon 2020, has promoted the creation the Carbon Fibres & Advanced High Performance Composites Cluster (CFPC).