Professor Shaker Meguid (MIE), Director of the Mechanics and Aerospace Design Lab at U of T, and his team are looking to improve the ability to monitor an aircraft’s primary sources of failure.

The team are converting polymeric thermoset adhesive resins into multifunctional materials that perform multiple “structural” and “non-structural” functions simultaneously. The development of such smart adhesives will provide early warning of impending catastrophic failures in next-generation aircrafts.

The group is currently investigating the effect of carbon nanotubes on the electrical conductivity of multifunctional nanocomposites.

Their work is currently published in this month’s Nanotechnology  journal. And for an overview of their research, visit Nanotechweb.