Agile Fabrication of Mesoscale Periodic Composites

这个跨学科研究项目的主要目标是开发可靠制造用于超声波传感器的功能性陶瓷-聚合物复合材料所需的基础知识。一种设计和快速筛选功能材料的新方法被称为组合工程。这种方法包括生产具有组成和设计变化的中尺度周期性结构。它的成功关键取决于利用固体自由形状（或添加剂）材料制造的最新进展，例如机器人控制沉积（RCD），它提供了快速构建复杂3D组件所需的灵活性。RCD工艺在沉积过程中使用浓缩胶体（作为油墨）。目的是建立和测试三维连接的互穿陶瓷-聚合物基体复合材料的压电响应。这些组件可以在先进的医疗成像设备中用作超声波传感器。此外，这种结构可以广泛应用于光子晶格、催化剂支撑基质和生物材料支架。延伸到高中科学教师和他们的学生将继续是一个重点研究。该研究小组目前创建的网站旨在向更广泛的受众介绍材料科学和工程，将通过基于机器人控制沉积处理的演示来增强。研究团队还将包括让本科生进入实验室环境的实践经验。

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.