Modelling Environmental Ageing & Degradation of Composite Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Composite materials possess superior mechanical properties, which are often compromised by a degree of environmental aging and degradation. Composite materials, and fibre-reinforced composites in particular, are often used in structures in humid, marine and offshore environments, where aging and degradation processes take place. In the state of the art, mainly expensive and long testing programmes are needed to evaluate the environmental durability of a composite structure, leading to enormous expenses. This aspect slows down the development of novel projects in the composite industry. Current trend aims to replace, at least partly, aforementioned testing programmes with numerical, analytical and multiscale modelling tools.

This Issue is aimed to be multidisciplinary, involving theoretical and computational aspects of predicting composite material properties and deterioration due to aging and degradation. The fundamental understanding of intermolecular interactions, and methodologies such as Quantitative Structure–Property Relationships (QSPR), Molecular Dynamics (MD), Finite Element Analysis (FEA) or novel machine learning tools, such as Bayesian networks, are of interest, but the Issue is not limited to these aspects. The scope of the Special Issue spans across the whole modelling field, including mathematics-, physics- and chemistry-based solutions (analytical, numerical and phenomenological tools).

We invite researchers to contribute to the Special Issue titled “Modelling Environmental Aging and Degradation of Composite Materials”, which is intended to serve as a unique multidisciplinary forum on theoretical and computational science and engineering in regard to the aging and degradation phenomena of composite materials, as well as experimental validation of such modelling methodologies.

 The potential topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Environmental aging;
• Durability;
• Degradation;
• Modelling;
• Mathematical modelling;
• Kinetics;
• Physical chemistry;
• Computer modelling;
• Multiscale models;
• Accelerated aging;
• Accelerated testing methodology;
• Lifetime prediction;
• Cross-coupled effects;
• Polymer composites;
• Fibre-reinforced composites;
• Composite materials;
• Quantitative structure–property relationships;
• Finite element analysis;
• Molecular dynamics;
• Machine learning;
• Bayesian networks;
• Computational property prediction and modelling.

Dr. Andrey E. Krauklis
Dr. Kamalakshya Mahatab
Dr. Olesja Starkova
Dr. Abedin I. Gagani
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Composites Science is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• environmental aging
• durability
• degradation
• modelling
• mathematical modelling
• kinetics
• physical chemistry
• computer modelling
• multiscale models
• accelerated aging
• accelerated testing methodology
• lifetime prediction
• cross-coupled effects
• polymer composites
• fibre-reinforced composites
• composite materials
• quantitative structure–property relationships
• finite element analysis
• molecular dynamics
• machine learning
• bayesian networks
• computational property prediction and modelling