Materials Science Research Lecture
***Refreshments at 3:45pm in Noyes lobby
Abstract:
In recent years, the development of architected materials has led to exciting advancements in mechanical metamaterials, particularly those exhibiting tunable mechanical properties. We recently introduced polycatenated architected materials (PAMs) that consist of topologically interlinked wireframe structures, like 3D chainmail fabrics. These materials can transition between fluid-like and rigid states, responding to external stimuli such as mechanical load or electrostatic activation. The response of these materials depends on the particles' geometry and on the topology of their interlocks, transitioning between truss-like to granular-like as a function of the type of the external load applied. This talk will explore a few PAMs designs and their emerging responses governed by different contacts and interlocking mechanisms. These materials show potential applications in wearable impact protection, soft robotics, and stimuli-responsive technologies.
More about the Speaker:
Chiara Daraio is the G. Bradford Jones Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Physics at Caltech. She currently also serves as a Research Scientist Director at Meta Reality Lab Research. Her work is focused on developing new materials with advanced mechanical and sensing properties, for application in robotics, wearable medical devices, and vibration absorption. She received her undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Universita' Politecnica delle Marche, Italy (2001) and her M.S. (2003) and Ph.D. degrees (2006) in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, San Diego. She joined Caltech in fall of 2006 and was promoted full professor in 2010. From 2013 to 2016, she served as a Professor of Mechanics and Materials at ETH Zürich. She received a Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE) from President Obama, a US Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award and a National Science Foundation CAREER award. She was elected as a Sloan Research Fellow and selected by Popular Science magazine among the "Brilliant 10."