2019 MRS Spring Meeting & Exhibit

Symposium CP07-From Mechanical Metamaterials to Programmable Materials

This symposium addresses emerging topics connected to 3D-architectured materials, such as metamaterials or 4D materials. Such materials are artificially structured composite materials engineered to respond and to manipulate physical phenomena and whose properties derive from their constituent materials’ inherent properties as well as from their geometrical arrangement. They have the potential to fundamentally change materials science for being able to achieve performance and benefits beyond those feasible with conventional materials. In contrast to classical materials, properties are determined by their mesoscopic topology instead of the electronic structure of the base material.

Many publications already show how local structuring or mechanical mechanisms (e.g. buckling beams, torsional hinges) or phase changes can enable e.g. bistability, auxicity or ultrahigh damping properties. Depending on the external loading conditions, the metamaterial can e.g. transform between topological states to reduce system enthalpy. Fundamentally, these materials allow decoupling of properties from disparate physical property space, e.g. mechanical from chemical properties: metamaterials made either from ceramic or metal or even smart materials can have the same elastic modulus as well as Poisson’s ratio while simultaneously being ultralight. Additionally, novel/unusual mechanisms as well as their interaction of different mechanisms, hierarchical concepts and the usage of gradients in metamaterials shall be reviewed. At last, the symposium aims to determine how the interaction of mechanisms can be used to enable adaptability to different loading conditions, so that the material reacts in a predetermined way e.g. to an external force. Understanding such predetermined behavior might lead to the possibility to program materials and introduce system functions. Such programmable materials might then be used to replace simple technological systems based on sensor, processor, actuator, and structural or mechanical parts in the future. The symposium will bring in some of the most renowned researchers from interdisciplinary backgrounds to review the different aspects connected to such inspiring materials.


Topics will include:

  • Topology designs for specific surface, interface and bulk properties (e.g. wetting, stress transfer, Young’s modulus, Poisson’s ratio, damping properties)
  • Structural mechanical mechanisms (e.g. bistability, anisotropic mechanical properties)
  • Scaling of mechanical properties (size effects, scaling effects of mechanical properties from different manufacturing methods)
  • Topology optimization (reduction of degrees of freedom, optimization for specific properties or functions)
  • Integration of functional and smart materials as active materials (e.g. interaction of mechanical metamaterials with electrical, magnetic, or acoustic fields)
  • Complex mechanical behaviors by design through interaction between mechanisms and their impact on materials functions
  • Semantics/onthology for metamaterials and programmable materials
  • Advances of manufacturing and processing techniques of architected metamaterials

Invited Speakers:

  • Matthew Berwind (Fraunhofer-Institut fuer Werkstoffmechanik IWM)
  • Shu Yang (University of Pennsylvania, USA)
  • Peter Gumbsch (Fraunhofer IWM, Germany)
  • Patrick Baudisch (Hasso-Plattner Institute, Germany)
  • Jens Bauer (University of California, Irvine, USA)
  • Matthew Begley (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA)
  • Eva Blasco (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany)
  • Nicholas Xuanlai Fang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
  • Yun Jing (North Carolina State University, USA)
  • Didem Ozevin (University of Illinois, USA)
  • Isabel Staude (University of Jena, Germany)

Symposium Organizers

Chris Eberl
Fraunhofer IWM and University of Freiburg
Germany

Alexander Boeker
Universität Potsdam and Fraunhofer IAP
Chair of Polymer Research and Technology
Germany

Silvia Titotto
Universidade Federal do ABC
Engineering and Management of Innovation
Brazil

Xiaoyu Rayne Zheng
Virginia Tech
College of Engineering
USA

Publishing Alliance

MRS publishes with Springer Nature