Nanotechnology- The Backbone of Advance Materials

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Contribution of Nanotechnology in the Development of Advance Materials

Nanotechnology is the technology which deals with the manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale to obtain unique mechanical, thermal, electrical and optical properties. Nanomaterials are referred to as those class of materials having atleast any one of their dimensions in nanoscale usually in the range of 1-1000 nanometres. With the progress of civilization mankind has discovered different types of materials to meet their specific needs. Bulk metals occupied a huge part as the main material of use in almost every field but with progress of science and technology there is always need for advance materials with amazing mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. Nanotechnology has paved the way for the development of different nanomaterials with unique material properties that can be used for the development of high strength materials for advance applications. Nanomaterial is a broad term which represents a wide class of materials at nanometre scale such as nanoparticle, nanowire, nanoplate, nanofibre, nanorod, nanotube, nanocomposite. Here is a brief idea of the different class of nanomaterials. Nanoparticle are three dimensional nanostructre, nanowire and nanoplate are referred as one dimensional nanostructure of respective shapes with nanowire having very high length to width ratio, nanofibre is a two dimensional nanostructure with its hollow form known as nanotube and solid form known as nanorod, nanocomposite is a solid having at least one physically and chemically distinct region in nanometre scale. Different types of nanomaterials show unique material properties with ultra-high mechanical properties owing to their extremely large surface and/or interface areas in comparison to bulk materials. Good combination of strength and toughness along with light weight is one of the prime requirement in the development of any advance materials for applications in vital fields like defense and aerospace. Steel has proved to be one of the most important materials used in almost every fields and different grades of advance steels have been developed by several researchers worldwide to get the best combination of high strength and toughness for using in advance applications. Steel as a material increases the weight much more and so different nanomaterials are emerging as the best solution to the optimum combination of high strength and toughness along with light weight. Researches show that several metallic and non-metallic nanoparticles and nanowires shows excellent mechanical properties and thus can be used as reinforcing agent in bulk matrix to develop advance nanocomposites. Composite material  is a material made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties that, when combined, produce a material with characteristics different from the individual components and thus shows amazing material properties. The individual components remain separate and distinct within the finished structure, differentiating composites from mixtures and solid solutions. Nanocomposite materials show much enhanced mechanical and material properties along with light weight in comparison to bulk composite materials and thus they can be probable candidate for using in advance defense and aerospace applications. Vigorous researches using nanomaterials are going throughout the world continuously striving to achieve further advance materials with excellent combination of strength and toughness combined with light weight and other unique material properties.