Dr. Constantin Ciocanel
Multifunctional Materials and Adaptive Systems Laboratory
NAU Mechanical Engineering lab
The Multifunctional Materials and Adaptive Systems Laboratory is a research facility that focuses on the development and characterization of multifunctional materials and adaptive electro-mechanical/magneto-mechanical systems. Material development efforts are carried out in collaboration with the Advanced Composite Materials Laboratory.
Additional information
MMASL hosts state of the art Instron axial-torsional material characterization equipment, with a wide range of load testing capabilities, both statically and dynamically. Several accessories are available to measure strain, with or without contact, over a broad dimensional range, including Advanced Video Extensometer, Axial Torsional Extensometer, Axial Extensometers, and Vishay StrainSmart® 7000 Strain Gage Data Acquisition System. An electromagnet GMW 3470 capable of generating up to 1.2T is available for materials’ magneto-mechanical characterization, and a PARSTAT 4000 Potentiostat/Galvanostat is available for electrochemical-mechanical characterization of multifunctional composites with power storage capability. In addition, crack growth monitoring tools DCM-2 DCPD and ACM-1A ACPD are available and are being used for crack growth monitoring in magnetic shape memory alloys.
Research Accordion Open
Project currently in progress in the lab focus on the magneto-mechanical characterization of magnetic shape memory alloys (MSMAs), on the evaluation of power harvesting capabilities of MSMAs, on the in-situ characterization of a MSMA based self-powered traffic sensor, on the in-situ electrochemical and mechanical characterization of power storage composites, on mechanical characterization of solid polymer electrolytes used to develop power storage composites, and on evaluation of the magneto-mechanical performance of magneto-rheological fluids based systems.
Facility Accordion Closed
Location: Building 98C, room 101
Lab capabilities include:
- Mechanical characterization of metallic and non-metallic materials under quasi static, dynamic, and fatigue conditions
- Uniaxial and bi-axial (simultaneous axial and torsional) testing at frequencies of up to 100 Hz, depending on the required displacement amplitudes
- Uniaxial and bi-axial (simultaneous axial and torsional) testing at axial loads between 0 and 100,000 N and torsional loads between 0 and 750 N∙m
- Magneto-mechanical characterization of magnetic shape memory alloys
- Electro-mechanical characterization of power storage composite materials
- Mechanical characterizations of adaptive systems developed using smart and multifunctional materials
Instructionally, the equipment in the lab is used to illustrate the behavior of certain smart materials and systems introduced in the ME475/575–Adaptive Materials and Systems course.