Additive manufacturing of metamaterial templates for IR tunable materials

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We propose to develop a multi-material polymer manufacturing system for pre-forms of mesostructured polymer/polymer, Polymer/gas, and polymer metal composites that can be drawn down into fibres with micro and nanoscale features to produce infrared emissivity tunable metamaterials. These fibers are in high demand for military camouflage and would act as the outer surface of tarps or military uniforms to permit changeable thermal emissivity, absorption or scattering properties to enhance survivability of soldiers and vehicles on battlefields where adversaries have access to hyperspectral imaging capabilities (heat vision). The specific outcomes in this project are to develop the full manufacturing capabilities needed to produce the pre-forms using a customized additive manufacturing extruder system, and the thermal drawing capabilities to convert multi-material macroscale preforms into the metamaterial fibres with desired IR properties.