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   COLLOQUIUM OF THE LABORATORY FOR COMPUTER DESIGN OF MATERIALS        
                   School of Computational Sciences	
                           (CSI 898-Sec 001) 
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       Nanomechanics as a key enabler for nanotechnology: 
              A mechanical engineer's perspective
                            Abhijit Dasgupta
                      Mechanical Engineering Dept., 
            University of Maryland, College Park, MD 

The lure of nanotechnolgy is based on exploiting unique mechanical,
thermal, electronic, magnetic and optical behavior that can be realized
due to various nanoscale phenomena.  These effects in nanoenginered
structures are partly due to the dominance of quantum and molecular  
forces at the nanoscale, and partly because of the ability to control  
molecular structure, short-range and long-range order, and defect 
structures.   Many of these effects can be explained in terms of the 
mechanical forces acting on (and interactions between) electrons, 
atoms, molecules, molecular clusters, and crystalline groups.  These 
forces dominate over several different characteristic length scales 
and time scales.  The study of such force systems can be termed 
nanomechanics, and is one of the key enablers for the success of 
nanotechnology.  Modeling and simulation capabilities based on 
nanomechanics are essential for design and optimization of
nanoengineered products

This presentation will provide an overview of the techniques that
engineers employ, in order to enrich classical continuum modeling
techniques so that many of the quantum, atomic, and molecular phenomena
can be more accurately represented in continuum nanomechanics.
Enrichments include unified ways to model:
  - surface energetics
  - nonlocal effects, to distinguish between the energy due to  
    short-range (eg electronic and nuclear interactions, quantum 
    effects) and long-range force fields (electrostatic, inductive, 
    and dispersive interactions, etc)
  - multi-morphic kinematics due to conformational motions of large
    molecules and molecular clusters
As simple examples, we will summarize the effect of such enrichments on
the modeling of phonon dispersion, mechanical properties, and
self-assembly forces.

                        Monday, April 14, 2003
                                  4:30 pm
                        Room 206, Science & Tech. I

Refreshments will be served at 4:15 PM.
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Find the schedule at http://csi.gmu.edu/lcdm/seminar/schedule.html