08/01/2024
NASA Award!!
SU-CML is honored and grateful to receive the NASA NSTGRO24 award, which provides us an exciting opportunity to collaborate with our NASA partner on researching composite materials for space habitation. This award acknowledges one of our most talented graduate students, Andrea Hoe (see below her profile), for her persistent research endeavor in lunar regolith composites. Andrea now officially joins the prestigious NASA Space Technology Graduate Fellowship through this award. This enables Andrea to continue pursuing her dream of materials research for space habitation in SU-CML for a PhD degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. We warmly welcome any new talented students who are interested in composite materials to join SU-CML in the future and make an impact in advancing our STEM community.
Warm welcome to Haining Zhang, who just joined our SU-CML as a new PhD student. Haining received his Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2024 and his Bachelor's degree in Aircraft Propulsion Engineering from Xiamen University (China) in 2019. Haining will be fully funded to pursue his PhD degree in the field of design and manufacturing of novel composites.
Andrea presented her poster "A Compositional Study of Regolith Composites With Carbon Nanotube Additives for Extraterrestrial Construction" at the 2024 annual ECS Research Day Event at Syracuse University. Amirreza was provided the opportunity to travel to the 2024 ACS Spring Symposium (Nonlinear Chemical Phenomena in Polymeric Systems) in New Orleans to present his research on "Efficient manufacturing of carbon fiber epoxy composite laminates using UV‐induced frontal polymerization." The research was supported by Dr. Yeqing Wang's NSF grant. Anthony Tricarico worked in the SU-CML as summer REU student in 2022 on the topic of buckling testing and simulation of auxetic CFRP composite laminates. His work led to the publication of a conference paper with himself being the first author. He was also provided the opportunity to travel to the 2023 American Society for Composites (ASC) conference in Greater Boston, MA to present the research. Congratulations to Kanya for winning the Syracuse University Internship Funding Award for this summer's REU program with the Composite Materials Lab (SU-CML)! Alyssa is a rising senior in Bioengineering. She worked as a summer undergraduate student researcher in the SU-CML with Ali Naderi (PhD student) and Dr. Wang. She presented her research work on "comparative anlaysis of compression properties of lattice-based bio-scaffolds" at the WiSE (Women in Science and Engineering) undergraudate summer research symposium in Syracuse University. Andrea Hoe, a undergraduate student researcher in SU-CML funded by the Syracuse University SOURCE program, presented her research work on lunar regolith composites at the SSDM 2023 ASME Aerospace Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference in San Diego, CA. Andrea has recently graduated her B. Arch. degree from our School of Architecture and will start her M.S. degree in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering program this fall semester. Dr. Wang was invited to present a keynote talk on "Tensile Properties of Epoxy Resin Cured using Frontal Polymerization vs. using Traditional Thermal Curing Method" at the 2023 TechConnect World Innovation Conference &Expo, June 19-21, 2023, at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center, National Harbor, Maryland, USA. This summer, SU-CML is excited to promote diversity in the lab with three female and one male undergraduate students working in REU and SOURCE programs. In the photo below, from left to right, they are Alyssa Shelburne (from Biomedical Engineering), Juanitta "AJ" Bekoe, Kanya Shah, and Cameron Woodbury (from Aerospace Engineering). Alyssa and AJ are working on auxetic composites for medical and aerospace applications. Kanya and Cameron are working on the additive manufacturing of thermoset carbon fiber composites using frontal polymerization. Amirreza Tarafdar (PhD student, left in below figure) and Cameron Woodbury (Undergraduate student researcher, right in the below figure) presented their research work with Dr. Wang on frontal polymerization of epoxy resin at the 2023 College of Engineering and Computer Science Research Day Event. Dr. Wang and his PhD student, Wenhua Lin, volunteered as graders for the MATHCOUNTS program of the NSBE Region 1 Conference at the OnCenter of Syracuse on Friday 11/11/2022.
This award supports the fundamental research to understand the the role of fiber reinforcement on the frontal polymerization of thermoset resin towards the additive manufacturing and repair of thermoset fiber composites.
Wenhua Lin presented our recent research work "Effect of Negative Poisson's Ratio on the Tensile Properties of Auxetic CFRP Composites [PDF]" at the 2022 American Society for Composites (ASC) conference (Tucson, AZ). Wenhua Lin is currently a PhD student in the SU-CML working towards his PhD thesis on the mechanics of advanced composite materials and structures. Amirreza Tarafdar is another new PhD student who just joined the Composite Materials Lab. Amirreza received his Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering Applied Mechanic from Tarbiat Modares University (Iran) in 2021 and his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering Applied Mechanic from Isfahan University of Technology (Iran) in 2018. We are very pleased to welcome both Ali and Amirreza!
Ali Naderi just joined the Composite Materials Lab as a new PhD graduate research assistant. Ali received his Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology (Iran) in 2020 and his Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from Arak University of Science and Technology (Iran) in 2017. We are very pleased to welcome you, Ali! Ali will assist in the project with auxetic layered composite structures.
This award supports the fundamental research to understand the mechanics of auxetic layered composite structures. Knowledge gained will enable substantially improved impact energy absorption and indentation resistance in a wide variety of composite structures for aircraft, automotive, and marine applications while simultaneously providing weight, cost, and energy savings. New usages of auxetics facilitated by this research may extend to improved artificial bone implants, prosthetics, and dent-resistant laminated flooring. This research will recruit and educate middle and high school students and foster their excitement about STEM fields and will educate and train college students at the undergraduate and graduate level about this critical new technology. Throughout, the recruitment of women and minorities will be prioritized.
Dr. Wang's recent paper investigates the effects of the microstructure of unidirectional thermoset fiber composites on the frontal polymerization initiated in the through-thickness direction. The effects investigated include: fiber volume fraction, fiber tow size, and fiber tow shape. The results are expected to provide insights into the scale up of frontal polymerization for future additive manufacturing. https://doi.org/10.1002/app.52735. [PDF]
Anthony and Yiyuan will work on some exciting research projects with Dr. Wang at his Composite Materials Lab this summer. They are supported by the summer REU program. Anthony is a returning REU student, who also worked at Dr. Wang's lab last summer. Andrea is a undergraduate student in the School of Architecture. She received a SOURCE research grant from Syracuse University and will work with Dr. Wang from summer 2022 to spring 2023 on a very exciting research topic of the additive manufacturing of space habitats using composite materials. Welcome everyone! Below shows how the lightning strike damage of aerospace carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites is mitigated by adding conductive nanofillers, specifically, carbon nanotube (CNT) particles. The third one is an scanning electron microscopy image showing the uniform dispersion of CNT particles in the composites. Detailed results and discussions are published in our recent paper. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10443-022-10028-1. Spencer Lampkin received the Outstanding TA Award of the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Congratulations to him! Composite Materials Lab opened to the public on the ECS open house day on April 9, 2022. Dr. Wang (wearing face mask in left photo) and his graduate student, Spencer Lampkin (in red coat in right photo), introduced the lab to our visitors, presented our composite specimens and research work, and highlighted the research impact on industry and society. Spencer Lampkin presented his research work on rapid curing of thermoset fiber composites for additive manufacturing and repair at the 2022 College of Engineering and Computer Science Research Day Event. Wenhua Lin presented our recent research work "Bond Strength Degradation of Adhesive-bonded CFRP Composite Lap Joints after Lightning Strike [PDF]" at the 2021 ASC conference (virtual). Wenhua Lin is currently a PhD student in the SU-CML working on the mechanics of advanced composite materials and structures. Anthony joined SU-CML as an REU student researcher in summer 2021. He is working on the development of smart composite structures. The project is a collaborative project between SU-CML and Dr. Wanliang Shan's research group (i.e., Smart, Hybrid, Active, and Nature-inspired Materials, Mechanics, and Machines). Dr. Wang presented a research talk on "Lightning Strike Testing & Damage Mitigation Strategies For Aerospace Carbon Fiber Composite Materials: Current Status & Future Recommendations" at the Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering Department of the University of Arizona. Dr. Wang presented a research talk on "Why do We Care About Lightning Strikes for Aerospace Composite Materials?" at the ME Global Cloud Series Seminar at the School of Mechanical Engineering of Zhejiang University. 
05/13/2024
Welcome Haining Zhang! New PhD student
03/22/2024
Graduate student, Andrea Hoe, presented her poster at the 2024 ECS Research Day Event
03/18/2024
PhD student, Amirreza Tarafdar, presented research at 2024 ACS Spring Symposium in New Orleans, LA
09/18/2023
Summer REU student, Anthony Tricarico, presented research at 2023 ASC conference in Boston, MA
08/30/2023
Summer REU student, Kanya Shah, won Internship Funding Award from Syracuse University's Central Career Services
08/10/2023
Summer REU student, Alyssa Shelburne, presented at WiSE summer research symposium
06/19/2023
Undergraduate student researcher, Andrea Hoe, presented at 2023 ASME SSDM conference
06/19/2023
Dr. Wang presented an invited keynote talk at 2023 TechConnect conference
05/10/2023
SU-CML is actively promoting diversity in the undergraduate student researcher team
03/31/2023
Students presented at the 2023 ECS Research Day Event!
11/11/2022
Volunteer for the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) region 1 conference
11/07/2022
Dr. Wang and Dr. Hosein received NSF Award
09/12/2022
PhD student, Wenhua Lin, presented at the 2022 ASC conference (Tucson, Arizona)!
09/12/2022
Welcome Amirreza Tarafdar! Another new PhD student
08/31/2022
Welcome Ali Naderi! Our new PhD student
08/05/2022
Dr. Wang and Dr. Davidson received NSF Award
06/15/2022
Modeling Frontal Polymerization for In-situ Curing of Thermoset Fiber Composites
06/06/2022
Welcome Andrea Hoe, Anthony Tricarico, and Yiyuan Sun!
04/19/2022
Conductive Aerospace CFRP Composites Containing Carbon Nanotube Particles for Lightning Strike Damage Mitigation
04/15/2022
Spencer Lampkin Received the Outstanding TA Award!
04/09/2022
Lab Open House Day!
03/25/2022
Graduate student presented at the 2022 ECS Research Day Event!
09/21/2021
Graduate student presented at the 2021 American Society for Composites (ASC) conference (Virtual)!
06/03/2021
Welcome Anthony Tricarico!
04/29/2021
Dr. Wang was invited to give a research seminar (online) at the University of Arizona
11/02/2020
Dr. Wang was invited to give a research seminar (online) at Zhejiang University (China)