Behzad Behnia, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Clarkson University, was recently issued his first patent, and it could help extend the life of the roads we drive on.
The patent, U.S. #11,041,829 B2 details a transformative and radically different testing approach for the measurement of fracture characteristics of adhesive polymeric materials using their cracking patterns. This new testing method attempts to fill the critical knowledge gap in accurate fracture evaluation of adhesive polymers.
The approach was invented by Behnia and has potential applications for use by manufacturers of adhesive materials (such as paint, epoxies, hydrocarbon polymers) to accurately measure the fracture resistance of their products at the design and formulation stage in the factory in order to modify and make durable and fracture-resistant products.
For instance, hydrocarbon polymers such as asphalt binders are widely used in road construction. This new testing method could significantly help asphalt producers to make high-performance fracture-resistant asphalt binders that could withstand cracking in the field, increase the service life, and improve the rideability of the road. The crack-resistant asphalt binders could save millions of dollars of U.S. taxpayers’ money being spent every year for the repair and rehabilitation of thermal and fatigue cracks in roads.
“Implementation of traditional fracture testing methods in the assessment of such materials is quite challenging due to poor repeatability and significant operator training for those tests. In addition, due to the soft nature of these materials, large creep deformations usually happen in the material while performing fracture tests,” Behnia said. “This new testing method will bring a paradigm shift to fracture characterization of adhesive polymeric materials as well as thin-film/substrate systems in areas such as thermal barrier coatings, reflective coating in optical applications, modern high-performance ceramics (e.g. turbine blades in jet engines), micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), ink-jet printings, photonics, and medicine.”
For more about the patent click here:https://uspto.report/patent/grant/11,041,829