Fiber-Reinforced Plastic (FRP) Composites Containing Nanofillers

Call for Papers

Fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) composites with high specific strength and high specific modulus have been widely used in various industries with significant increase in usage year by year. However, both the engineering applications and academic studies have shown that there are still some defects in FRP composites, especially those with low cost (namely, made with relatively poor matrix material, fiber reinforcement, and preparation process). These defects, including poor performance and durability in severe environments, are inhibiting the applications of FRP composites in some cost-conscious but tremendous industries, for example, construction industry and automobile industry.

To address the above issue, particle reinforcements can be added to the matrix material to improve the properties of FRP composites without significant increase in cost and difficulty of handling. With the development of nanotechnology, nanoscopic fillers, such as nanoclay, carbon nanotube and nanofiber, grapheme, and inorganic oxide nanoparticles, have been employed with varied successes to markedly improve the performance of polymer at a fraction of filler concentration. There is hence a good potential to enhance the performance of FRP composites by adding nanoscopic fillers to the matrix material, without a markedly increase in cost and a difficulty of handling due to its low concentration. Since the beginning of the 21st century, more and more researchers have started to conduct studies on FRP composites containing nanofillers, and some promising results have been reported. However, there is still a long way to go before the complete understanding and successful application of FRP composites containing nanofillers, due to the complexity in the composition, preparation, and application of FRP composites.

We invite researchers and also engineers to contribute original as well as review articles that will promote the development of FRP composites containing nanofillers, in terms of preparation and characterization techniques, properties, and mechanisms as well as applications. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Advances in the preparation/processing of FRP composites containing nanofillers
• Advances in the raw materials for FRP composites containing nanofillers
• Advances in the characterization of FRP composites containing nanofillers
• Property study of FRP composites containing nanofillers, including durability, mechanical property, fire resistance, fatigue, and thermoproperty
• Simulation and modeling on FRP composites containing nanofillers
• Design and property study of composite structures made with FRP composites containing nanofillers
• Advances in the application of FRP composites containing nanofillers

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnm/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/jnm/frp/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Hong-Gang Zhu, Nano and Advanced Materials Institute Limited, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Guest Editors

• Anwarul Haque, Department of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, USA
• Tong Wan, College of Material Science and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, China