BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Shuying Wu is currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering (AMME), The University of Sydney. Before joining AMME in September 2023, she was a Senior Lecturer at School of Engineering, Macquarie University (Oct 2018-Sep 2023), ARC DECRA Fellow at School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, UNSW (May 2017-Sep 2018), Research Fellow at School of Engineering, RMIT University (Apr 2014-Apr 2017) and Deakin University (Sep 2013-Mar 2014). Dr. Wu’s main research focus is to understand how microstructure of polymer nanocomposites/blends influences their mechanical, electrical, and electromechanical properties, and thereby their applications. By combining mechanics, polymer engineering, and advanced material manufacturing techniques, she has developed different functional soft and/or stiff composites for applications from medical to aerospace industries. A major focus of her current research encompasses conductive polymer nanocomposites, flexible and stretchable sensors and conductors, energy harvesters, and advanced fiber-reinforced composites.

ABSTRACT

Polymer nanocomposites have been increasingly used in the past decade for a variety of applications. The properties of polymer nanocomposites largely depend on their microstructures, i.e., dispersion, filler orientation, and self-assembly in the polymer matrix. Despite of the excellent properties of individual nanomaterials, the properties of their polymer composites are much lower as compared to theoretical prediction. To fully take advantage of the outstanding properties of nanomaterials, it is essential to control the microstructures. In this talk, she will introduce the recent contributions she and her colleagues made to develop new polymer nanocomposites with tailored microstructures which have demonstrated applications as damage-tolerant composite structures and wearable sensors.