Advanced composite materials are increasingly expected to do more with less: to be lighter yet stronger, durable yet recyclable, and capable of delivering multiple functions within a single structural platform. Meeting these demands requires new strategies that move beyond simply combining constituents, towards precise control of the regions where those constituents meet. This talk will explore how the deliberate design of surfaces and interfaces can act as a powerful and versatile lever for creating sustainable, multifunctional composites.
Rather than relying solely on bulk material modification, interfacial engineering enables the selective installation of new chemical, mechanical and physical properties exactly where they are most effective. By tailoring interfacial chemistry, it becomes possible to enhance load transfer, regulate energy dissipation, and introduce additional functionalities such as sensing, actuation, environmental responsiveness or damage tolerance without significant penalties in weight or process complexity. This interface-focused approach allows multiple performance metrics to be optimised simultaneously, opening pathways to truly multifunctional behaviour in composite systems.
Controlling interactions across length scales, from molecular bonding through to mesoscale architecture, also provides opportunities to reduce material usage, extend service lifetimes and facilitate disassembly or recycling. In this way, interface design is not only a route to higher performance, but also a foundation for more sustainable materials technologies.
Through representative case studies, this presentation will highlight how surface and interface chemistry can be systematically tuned to unlock new combinations of properties in advanced composites. The overarching theme is that small, well-designed changes at interfaces can generate outsized impacts at the component and system level. By treating interfaces as programmable regions rather than passive boundaries, multifunctional composites can be engineered to meet emerging demands in energy, infrastructure and advanced manufacturing while supporting longer-term sustainability goals.