Michigan State University has, for more than 25 years, been an international leader in composites research and education. The MSU Composite Materials Faculty Research Group includes faculty from a broad range of disciplines with significant research focused on composites, and has established extensive facilities with characterization and processing equipment for the conduct of innovative composites research.
Composite Research Faculty
Mahmood Haq
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Research Interests
- Multi-material joining
- Computational design of materials and structures
- Non-destructive tools for monitoring and repair of structural components
- Novel nanocomposites to introduce multi-functionality in conventional engineering materials
- Tailorable, multi-functional, eco-friendly, and hybrid materials for aerospace, marine, defense, automotive, and structural applications
Oleksii Karpenko
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Research Interests
- Guided wave systems for online health monitoring of structural composites with the help of piezoelectric (PZT) and fiber Bragg-grating (FBG) sensors
- Signal processing and imaging methods for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) of metal and composite structures
- Experimentally validated FE simulations of elastic wave propagation in composites
- Wireless Sensor Networks for Online Monitoring of Vehicle Systems and GMR
Lawrence Drzal
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests
- Graphene
- Graphite
- Carbon
- Cellulose and cellulose nanowhiskers
- Nanoparticles and Nanotechnology
- Nanocomposites
- Polymers and polymer composite processing
- Adhesion
- Surface chemistry
- Surface characterization
- Microfibers
- Batteries
- Solar cells
- Supercapacitors
- Conductive films
John Dorgan
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests
- Polymeric materials
- Vehicle lightweighting
- Sustainable technologies
Greg Swain
Chemical Engineering and Material Science
Research Interests
- Diamond Microelectrode Fabrication
- Electrochemical Reaction Kinetics and Mechanisms
- Neuroanalytical Chemistry
- Additively Manufactured Metal Alloys and Coating Systems for Corrosion Control
- Physical and analytical electrochemistry
- Carbon material science
- Point-of-care medical diagnostics
- Diamond films and powders
- Nitrogenincorporated tetrahedral amorphous carbon films
- Inkjet-printed carbons
Eva Almenar
Packaging
Research Interests
- Modified and controlled atmosphere packaging
- Bio-based and petroleum-based packaging materials
- Active food-safe packaging materials (antimicrobial, scavenge, and temperature-sensitivity materials)
Laurant Matuana
Packaging
Research Interests
- Bio-based plastics and materials
- Natural fiber plastic composites
- Polymer processing of bio-foams for packaging and other applications (Micro-cellular foaming with super-critical fluids)
- Nanotechnology (Nano-composites-based on bio-plastics and cellulose nano-crystals and cellulose nano-fibers)
- Hybrid materials for rigid and flexible packaging and other applications (Fundamental aspects related to natural fiber-reinforced plastic composites, i.e., fracture mechanics, durability, rheology, surface modification, adhesion, etc.)
- Functionalization and compatibilization of bio-plastics with eco-friendly plant-based additives to enhance flexibility and barrier performance of films
K Jayaraman
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests
- Melt processing
- Rheology and microstructure of polymer blends
- Particulate polymer composites and polymer nanocomposites
- Extensional flow measurements and orientation of polymer composites in processing below and above the melting point
Xinran Xiao
Mechanical Engineering
Research Interests
- Structural integrity thrust
- Mechanics of materials, polymers, and composites
- Constitutive modeling
- Crashworthiness
- Viscoelasticity
- Damage mechanics (creep, fatigue, and fracture)
Ramani Narayan
Chemical Engineering and Materials Science
Research Interests
- Polymeric materials from renewable resources
- Biodegradable polymer systems
- Engineering and design of natural-synthetic polymer graft and block copolymers
- Polymer blends
- Studies in reactive extrusion processing
- Biobased and recyclable composites
Want to Learn More?
Are you interested in learning more about Composite research being done at MSU?
Contact Jon Debling @deblingj@msu.edu