Agile Fabrication of Mesoscale Periodic Composites

这个跨学科研究项目的广泛目标是开发可靠制造超声波传感器应用的功能陶瓷聚合物复合材料所需的基础知识。设计和快速筛选功能材料的新方法被称为组合工程。 这种方法涉及到生产中尺度周期性结构的组成和设计的变化。 它的成功关键在于利用材料的固体自由成形（或增材）制造的最新进展，例如机器人控制沉积（RCD），提供快速构建复杂3D组件所需的灵活性。 RCD工艺在沉积工艺期间利用浓缩的胶体凝胶（作为油墨）。 其目的是建立和测试的复合材料的压电响应，含有互穿陶瓷聚合物矩阵连接在三维空间。 这些组件可以在先进的医学成像设备中作为超声波传感器应用。 此外，这样的架构可能会发现广泛的应用，作为光子晶格，催化剂载体的基板，和生物材料的支架。 对高中科学教师及其学生的宣传将继续成为研究的重点。 该研究小组创建的当前网站旨在向更广泛的受众介绍材料科学和工程，该网站将通过基于机器人控制沉积处理的演示来增强。 研究团队还将为进入实验室环境的本科生提供实践经验。

The broad objective of this interdisciplinary research project is to develop the fundamental knowledge required to reliably manufacture functional ceramic-polymer composites for ultrasonic sensor applications. A new approach for designing and rapidly screening functional materials referred to as combinatorial engineering has been developed. This approach involves producing mesoscale periodic structures with both composition and design variations. Its success hinges critically on exploiting recent advances in solid freeform (or additive) fabrication of materials, such as robotically controlled deposition (RCD) that offer the agility required to rapidly build complex 3D components. The RCD process utilizes concentrated colloidal gels (as inks) during the deposition process. The aim is to build and test the piezoelectric response of composites containing interpenetrating ceramic-polymer matrices connected in three dimensions. These components may find application as ultrasonic sensors in advanced medical imaging devices. Moreover, such architectures may find broad application as photonic lattices, substrates for catalyst supports, and scaffolds for biomaterials. Outreach to high school science teachers and their students will continue to be a focus of the research. The current web site created by this research team to introduce materials science and engineering to a broader audience will be augmented with a demonstration based on robotically controlled deposition processing. The research team will also include hands-on experiences for undergraduate students brought into the lab environment.