Objective "Nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes or graphene sheets represent the future of material science, due to their potentially exceptional mechanical properties. One great drawback of all artificial materials, however, is the decrease of strength with increasing toughness, and viceversa. This problem is not encountered in many biological nanomaterials (e.g. spider silk, bone, nacre). Other biological materials display exceptional adhesion or damping properties, and can be self-cleaning or self-healing. The “secret” of biomaterials seems to lie in “hierarchy”: several levels can often be identified (2 in nacre, up to 7 in bone and dentine), from nano- to micro-scale.The idea of this project is to combine Nature and Nanotechnology to design hierarchical composites with tailor made characteristics, optimized with respect to both strength and toughness, as well as materials with strong adhesion/easy detachment, smart damping, self-healing/-cleaning properties or controlled energy dissipation. For example, one possible objective is to design the “world’s toughest composite material”. The potential impact and importance of these goals on materials science, the high-tech industry and ultimately the quality of human life could be considerable.In order to tackle such a challenging design process, the PI proposes to adopt ultimate nanomechanics theoretical tools corroborated by continuum or atomistic simulations, multi-scale numerical parametric simulations and Finite Element optimization procedures, starting from characterization experiments on biological- or nano-materials, from the macroscale to the nanoscale. Results from theoretical, numerical and experimental work packages will be applied to a specific case study in an engineering field of particular interest to demonstrate importance and feasibility, e.g. an airplane wing with a considerably enhanced fatigue resistance and reduced ice-layer adhesion, leading to a 10 fold reduction in wasted fuel." Fields of science engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialstwo-dimensional nanostructuresgrapheneengineering and technologymaterials engineeringcompositesengineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsengineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybiomaterials Programme(s) FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013) Topic(s) ERC-SG-PE8 - ERC Starting Grant - Products and process engineering Call for proposal ERC-2011-StG_20101014 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant Host institution UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TRENTO EU contribution € 810 996,00 Address VIA CALEPINA 14 38122 Trento Italy See on map Region Nord-Est Provincia Autonoma di Trento Trento Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Principal investigator Nicola Pugno (Prof.) Administrative Contact Vanessa Ravagni (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data Beneficiaries (3) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TRENTO Italy EU contribution € 810 996,00 Address VIA CALEPINA 14 38122 Trento See on map Region Nord-Est Provincia Autonoma di Trento Trento Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Principal investigator Nicola Pugno (Prof.) Administrative Contact Vanessa Ravagni (Dr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI TORINO Italy EU contribution € 153 461,00 Address VIA GIUSEPPE VERDI 8 10124 Torino See on map Region Nord-Ovest Piemonte Torino Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Stefano Ghilino (Mr.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data POLITECNICO DI TORINO Participation ended Italy EU contribution € 39 943,00 Address CORSO DUCA DEGLI ABRUZZI 24 10129 Torino See on map Region Nord-Ovest Piemonte Torino Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Administrative Contact Nicola Pugno (Prof.) Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Total cost No data