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Curriculum

Marialuigia RAIMONDO Curriculum

Marialuigia Raimondo received a degree in Chemistry and a PhD in Chemical Engineering.

Marialuigia Raimondo is Associate Professor of Chemistry at the Department of Industrial Engineering of Salerno University.

She has obtained the National Scientific Habilitation (ASN) as Associate Professor (SDS: scientific disciplinary sector-“Foundations of Chemistry for Technologies” CHIM/07, CS: competitive sector-03/B2) in the ASN 2016 session - first quarter.

She has obtained the National Scientific Habilitation (ASN) as Full Professor (SDS: scientific disciplinary sector-“Foundations of Chemistry for Technologies” CHIM/07, CS: competitive sector-03/B2) in the ASN 2016 session - fifth quarter.

Her research topics are focused on the correlations between physico-chemical properties, structure, morphology and durability of macromolecular systems characterized by different architectures. In recent years, her research has been mainly directed toward the design and development of smart and/or nanostructured materials. The core of her research has been focused on self-generating materials for autonomic damage control in thermosetting resins and multifunctional composites based on carbon nanostructured forms and nanoscale modifiers for improved material safety. In this contest, autonomically-healing composites with self-restoration function capable at very low temperatures and conductive and flame retardant nanofilled composites have been developed.

In particular, her research activity concerns the design, development and characterization of new generations of multifunctional smart materials for structural applications in aeronautic field. Usually, in aeronautics, the traditional approach to the development of structural materials is to address the load-carrying and other functional requirements separately, resulting in suboptimal load-bearing materials with the penalty of added weight. The research performed by Marialuigia Raimondo was aimed to develop self-healing, load-bearing materials and structures with all functionalities integrated in a single material able to meet many important industrial requirements of materials for primary structures in aeronautics. The main concept underpinning her current research activities was the use of the nanotechnology strategy for the production of new, structural, high-performance multifunctional systems. Many of the chosen strategies have been found successful to achieve the planned goals. Marialuigia Raimondo has developed promising multifunctional resins able to simultaneously increase flame resistance, electrical conductivity and to impart regenerative ability. Many chemical formulations and related industrial processes are object of several international patents, including the following: Multifunctional self-healing resins for applications in aeronautics, WO2021175799 (2021); Grubbs-Hoveyda type catalyst for metathesis reactions in highly reactive environments, EP3141303 (2017); Multifunctional epoxy resin with enhanced flame resistance, EP2883896 (2015); Epoxy resin with low humidity content, EP2873682 (2015); Process for preparing self-healing composite materials of high efficiency for structural applications, US8481615 (2013); Process for preparing a self-healing composite material, US8273806 (2012), etc.

More specifically, the main research activities of Marialuigia Raimondo are the following:

  • Study of the correlations between chemical-physical properties and structural and morphological organization of polymeric materials;
  • Study of the photo-oxidative degradation of thermoplastic polymers and polypropylene matrix nanocomposites;
  • Development of advanced composite materials for the design of self-healing structures intended for structural applications;
  • Development of thermosetting materials with epoxy matrix reinforced with nanocharges for aircraft lightning strike protection;
  • Design and preparation of new multifunctional materials;
  • Design and synthesis of new hardeners for epoxy resins with flame retardant properties;
  • Design and synthesis of microcapsules/nanocapsules and new nanomodified materials;
  • Preparation of membranes by electrospinning technique;
  • Functionalization of nanofillers to improve specific properties;
  • Dispersion of nanofillers in polymeric matrices.

Marialuigia Raimondo is particularly expert in morphological analysis performed by Tunneling Atomic Force Microscopy (TUNA-AFM). The results she obtained highlighted the great potential of the TUNA-AFM technique in correlating the local topography with the electrical properties of conductive epoxy nanocomposites loaded with different carbon nanostructured forms, specifically designed to meet the pressing industrial needs in the field of structural materials. The particular skills acquired by Marialuigia Raimondo in the advanced TUNA-AFM technique have produced important scientific articles published in indexed journals with a high impact factor. Marialuigia Raimondo also acts as a reviewer for several journals in Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, Polymer Science and Material Science and Engineering. All of her research activities are documented by more than 100 scientific papers on international journals, chapters of books, as well as by 18 industrial patents all indexed by SCOPUS (for the majority of the patents filed, she has obtained the concession in Europe and in the USA) and more than 100 conference proceedings. Almost all publications focused on the engineering and materials science sector with potential industrial applications, are indexed on SCOPUS - WEB OF SCIENCE (H-INDEX: 30). Besides, more than 50% of publications belong to the Q1 quartile where the relevant contribution of Marialuigia Raimondo as first author and corresponding author emerges in a recurrent manner.

On November 15, 2018, Marialuigia Raimondo was the winner of the Leonardo SpA Aircraft Division 2018 Innovation Award for the “Award for the best Patent” (Process for preparing self-healing composite materials of high efficiency for structural applications (2013) - United States Patent and Trademark Office Granted Patent; Patent number US8481615).

She plays the role of “External Expert Examiner” for foreign PhD Thesis and is supervisor of undergraduate students.

She has participated in numerous and prestigious national and international conferences, some of which are also by invitation.

She was a member of the Organizing Committee of the “11th EASN Virtual International Conference on “Innovation in Aviation & Space to the Satisfaction of the European Citizens” 1-3 september 2021. (link: https://easnconference.eu/2021/committees/organising_committee).

She is currently a member of the Organizing Committee of the “13th EASN International Conference on "Innovation in Aviation & Space for opening New Horizons" 5-8 september 2023 – Salerno.

The “EASN conference” is a highly prestigious event in the aeronautical field, which attracts scientific personalities with deep expertise in the sector which give favorable inputs to the numerous industrial, academic and research realities of national and international relevance.

She was a member of the Organizing Committee of the National Conference “1° Convegno Nazionale della Divisione di Chimica per le Tecnologie della Società Chimica Italiana - AICIng 2022” 4-7 settembre 2022, Aula Magna, centro Congressi Federico II, Via Partenope, 36 – 80121 Napoli. (link: http://www.dicmapi.unina.it/cpt2022/organizzazione/).

She played the role of "Guest Editor" of the Special Issue "Polymeric Self-Healing Materials" for Polymers, peer-reviewed journal (ISSN 2073-4360), belonging to the Q1 quartile and with an impact factor of 4.967. This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications". (link:https://www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers/special_issues/polym_self_healing).

Currently, she plays the role of “Guest Editor” of the Special Issue "Polymeric Self-Healing Materials II" for Polymers, peer-reviewed journal (ISSN 2073-4360), belonging to the Q1 quartile and with an impact factor of 4.967. This special issue belongs to the section "Smart and Functional Polymers". (link:https://www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers/special_issues/1A3L7W73LR)

Currently, she plays the role of “Guest Editor” of the Special Issue for Hybrid Graphene Materials – Graphene-based Hybrid Materials and Composites for Hybrid Advances, peer-reviewed journal (ISSN: 2773-207X) which was recently launched by Elsevier. This special issue is dedicated to the synthesis, characterization, and possible applications of the Graphene-based Hybrid Materials and Composites.

Marialuigia Raimondo is an international reference in the aeronautical sector especially with regard to self-responsive functionality, such as eg. self-healing and self-protecting as she has gained extensive work experience in projects financed with public and industrial funds within which she has been personally involved in many industrial research activities and EU-funded projects, in which she carried out the role of WPs Task Manager.

  • European Project (UNISA - COORDINATION) - (Programme "Transport (including Aeronautics) – Call identifier: FP7-AAT-2012-RTD-1 - Acronym IASS - Title: Improving the Aircraft Safety by self-healing Structure and Protecting Nanofillers (Grant Agreement N° 313978). The project focused on advanced concepts and technologies to enable 'smart' maintenance, including lightning protection and self-repair capabilities. Link: http://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/103705_en.html; IASS website: http://www.iass-project.eu (from 01/09/2012 to 31/08/2015).
  • European Project-Partner UNISA - European Project (Programme " Nanotechnologies, Advanced Materials, Biotechnology and Advanced Manufacturing and Processing) - Call identifier: H2020-NMBP-2017-two-stage – Acronym MASTRO - Title: Intelligent bulk MAterials for Smart TRanspOrt industries (Grant Agreement no 760940). MASTRO Project aims to develop intelligent bulk materials for the transport sector based on the novel concepts like self-sensing, self-deicing, self-curing, self-healing and self-protection methodologies to increase consumer safety, component, life-span and performance while reducing maintenance and manufacturing costs (from 01/12/2017 to 31/08/2021).
  • Industrial projects financed by Finmeccanica.