Area I. Soft Functional Composites (incl. liquid metal)
Soft functional composites consist of a compliant matrix with one or more functional filling materials, e.g. nano-, metallic, and ceramic fillers. In particular, we are extremely interested in liquid metal materials. The targeting mechano-physical properties are broad, e.g. mechanical, thermal, and electrical functionalities. These materials are widely used in traditional and emerging electronics, sensing and actuation, soft robotics, smart materials and equipment, etc. Our research focuses on two aims.
- Design and fabrication of new micro-architectures
- Multiscale-multiphysics modeling of mechano-physical properties
Area II. Soft Electroactive Polymers
Electroactive polymers (EAPs) are a class of polymers that can change their shape, size, or mechanical properties in response to an electrical stimulus. They have diverse properties and applications, ranging from artificial muscles and sensors to energy harvesting and soft robotics. They play a crucial role in the development of advanced materials and devices in fields such as electronics, robotics, aerospace, and biotechnology.
Area III. Architected Materials
Architected materials achieve novel or unusual properties from the designed structures rather than the composition. Typical architected materials include lattice materials, metamaterials, hybrid composites, origami, etc. We are interested in discovering new types of architected materials and uncovering their fundamental mechanical behaviors. Previous efforts have been focused on biomimetic composites, novel lattice materials, and symmetry theory of metamaterials. Our current research endeavors include:
|
Facility
Manufacturing
- In-house built 3D printers
- 6-axis 3D printer for conformal printing
- Mini LCD printer with 1 inch resin vat
- Metal printers (EOS M290, Markforged Metal X)
- Polymer printers (Objet 30, Flashforge Hunter, Ultimaker)
- Electrospinning system, near field (10kV) and far field (30 kV)
- Fume hood, vacuum furnace, hot plates, hot press
- Multiple mixers (vertex, mechanical, centrifugal)
- Ultrasonicator (bath, probe)
- Spin coater
- Freeze dryer
- Load frame: Shimadzu (100 kN), MTS (5 kN), Micro tester (5 N - 4.5 kN)
- Environment chamber
- Digital multimeter (Keithley 2110)
- FLIR IR camera
- DMA, TMA, DSC
- micro-CT
- ABAQUS, ANSYS
- nTopology, Rhino, Creo