A class of biological materials found within numerous natural systems, most notably trees, cellulose nanocrystals have captured researchers\u2019 attention for their extreme strength, toughness, lightweight, and elasticity.<\/p>\n
The materials are so strong and tough, in fact, that many people think they could replace Kevlar in ballistic vests and combat helmets for military. Unlike their source material (wood), cellulose nanocrystals are transparent, making them exciting candidates for protective eyewear, windows, or displays.<\/p>\n
Although there\u2019s a lot of excitement around the idea of nanocellulose-based materials, the reality often falls flat, Northwestern Engineering\u2019s Sinan Keten said;<\/p>\n
It\u2019s difficult to make these theoretical properties materialise in experiments. Researchers will make composite materials with nanocellulose and find that they fall short of theory.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Keten, an assistant professor of mechanical, civil, and environmental engineering at Northwestern University\u2019s McCormick School of Engineering, and his team are bringing the world one step closer to a materials-by-design approach toward developing nanocomposites with cellulose. They have developed a novel, multi-scale computational framework that explains why these experiments do not produce the ideal material and proposes solutions for fixing these shortcomings, specifically by modifying the surface chemistry of cellulose nanocrystals to achieve greater hydrogen bonding with polymers.<\/p>\n
Found within the cellular walls of wood, cellulose nanocrystals are an ideal candidate for polymer nanocomposites \u2014 materials where a synthetic polymer matrix is embedded with nanoscale filler particles. Nanocomposites are commonly made synthetic fillers, such as silica, clay, or carbon black, and are used in a myriad of applications ranging from tires to biomaterials.<\/p>\n
Cellulose nanocrystals are an attractive alternative because they are naturally available, renewable, nontoxic, relatively inexpensive and can be easily extracted from wood pulp byproducts from the paper industry. Problems arise, however, when researchers try to combine the nanocellulose filler particles with the polymer matrix. The field has lacked an understanding of how the amount of filler affects the composite\u2019s overall properties as well as the nature of the nanoscale interactions between the matrix and the filler.<\/p>\n
Keten\u2019s solution improves this understanding by focusing on the length scales of the materials rather than the nature of the materials themselves. By understanding what factors influence properties on the atomic scale, his computational approach can predict the nanocomposite\u2019s properties as it scales up in size \u2014 with a minimal need for experimentation.<\/p>\n
Rather than just producing a material and then testing it to see what its properties are, the researchers instead strategically tune design parameters in order to develop materials with a targeted property in mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A class of biological materials found within numerous natural systems, most notably trees, cellulose nanocrystals have captured researchers\u2019 attention for their extreme strength, toughness, lightweight, and elasticity. The materials are so strong and tough, in fact, that many people think they could replace Kevlar in ballistic vests and combat helmets for military. Unlike their source material (wood), cellulose nanocrystals are transparent, making them exciting candidates for protective eyewear, windows, or displays. Although there\u2019s a lot of excitement around the idea […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[512,891],"tags":[127,537,110],"class_list":["post-13672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-composites-news","category-research","tag-kevlar","tag-nano-composites","tag-usa"],"yoast_head":"\n
New Cellulose Nanocomposites Could Replace Kevlar<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A class of biological materials found within numerous natural systems have captured researchers\u2019 attention for their extreme strength and toughness.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Cellulose Nanocomposites Could Replace Kevlar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A class of biological materials found within numerous natural systems have captured researchers\u2019 attention for their extreme strength and toughness.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Composites Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/compositestoday\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-13T06:27:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-13T06:31:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/nanocellulose-materials.jpg?fit=858%2C453&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"858\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"453\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Shury\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@compositestoday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@compositestoday\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Shury\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"John Shury\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2255d6443dbc2184a1d531f1b359b589\"},\"headline\":\"New Cellulose Nanocomposites Could Replace Kevlar\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-13T06:27:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-13T06:31:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/\"},\"wordCount\":425,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/nanocellulose-materials.jpg?fit=858%2C453&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Kevlar\",\"nano composites\",\"USA\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\",\"Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/\",\"name\":\"New Cellulose Nanocomposites Could Replace Kevlar\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/nanocellulose-materials.jpg?fit=858%2C453&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-13T06:27:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-13T06:31:26+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2255d6443dbc2184a1d531f1b359b589\"},\"description\":\"A class of biological materials found within numerous natural systems have captured researchers\u2019 attention for their extreme strength and toughness.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/nanocellulose-materials.jpg?fit=858%2C453&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/nanocellulose-materials.jpg?fit=858%2C453&ssl=1\",\"width\":858,\"height\":453},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/\",\"name\":\"Composites Today\",\"description\":\"Latest news and information from the composites industry\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2255d6443dbc2184a1d531f1b359b589\",\"name\":\"John Shury\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c08fedc5099d3dee55496cafdd820609f7d3a7d0cc782004d01e08173baf1ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c08fedc5099d3dee55496cafdd820609f7d3a7d0cc782004d01e08173baf1ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Shury\"},\"description\":\"John has served in the composites industry for over 15 years in administration, sales and management roles and is the founder of Composites Media\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/compositestoday\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Cellulose Nanocomposites Could Replace Kevlar","description":"A class of biological materials found within numerous natural systems have captured researchers\u2019 attention for their extreme strength and toughness.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Cellulose Nanocomposites Could Replace Kevlar","og_description":"A class of biological materials found within numerous natural systems have captured researchers\u2019 attention for their extreme strength and toughness.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/","og_site_name":"Composites Today","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/compositestoday","article_published_time":"2015-10-13T06:27:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-10-13T06:31:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":858,"height":453,"url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/nanocellulose-materials.jpg?fit=858%2C453&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Shury","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@compositestoday","twitter_site":"@compositestoday","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Shury","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/"},"author":{"name":"John Shury","@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2255d6443dbc2184a1d531f1b359b589"},"headline":"New Cellulose Nanocomposites Could Replace Kevlar","datePublished":"2015-10-13T06:27:48+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-13T06:31:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/"},"wordCount":425,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/nanocellulose-materials.jpg?fit=858%2C453&ssl=1","keywords":["Kevlar","nano composites","USA"],"articleSection":["News","Research"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/","url":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/","name":"New Cellulose Nanocomposites Could Replace Kevlar","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/nanocellulose-materials.jpg?fit=858%2C453&ssl=1","datePublished":"2015-10-13T06:27:48+00:00","dateModified":"2015-10-13T06:31:26+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2255d6443dbc2184a1d531f1b359b589"},"description":"A class of biological materials found within numerous natural systems have captured researchers\u2019 attention for their extreme strength and toughness.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/2015\/10\/new-cellulose-nanocomposites-could-replace-kevlar\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/nanocellulose-materials.jpg?fit=858%2C453&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/nanocellulose-materials.jpg?fit=858%2C453&ssl=1","width":858,"height":453},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/","name":"Composites Today","description":"Latest news and information from the composites industry","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/2255d6443dbc2184a1d531f1b359b589","name":"John Shury","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c08fedc5099d3dee55496cafdd820609f7d3a7d0cc782004d01e08173baf1ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c08fedc5099d3dee55496cafdd820609f7d3a7d0cc782004d01e08173baf1ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"John Shury"},"description":"John has served in the composites industry for over 15 years in administration, sales and management roles and is the founder of Composites Media","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.compositestoday.com","https:\/\/x.com\/compositestoday"],"url":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/nanocellulose-materials.jpg?fit=858%2C453&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1v6ak-3yw","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.compositestoday.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}