CAREER: Performance through Instability -- An Integrated Theoretical and Experimental Study of the Mechanics of Multiscale Material Systems

该学院早期职业发展（CAREER）计划奖的研究目标是了解多尺度材料系统中的微尺度不稳定性如何影响其宏观力学响应，以及如何利用它们来产生可调低频声学带隙和整体（粘）弹性性能的数量级增加，这将明确证明金属聚合物结构材料。综合的理论，计算和实验策略有望产生迫切需要的结果，以促进超材料的机会：i）实验证实的多尺度系统的有效性质和稳定性的物理理解，ii）先进结构材料的计算模型，以及iii）概念验证实验，其导致一类新型的轻质功能性高刚度-高阻尼材料的应用范围从地震保护和科学振动隔离声波波导和过滤器。由于其优异的物理性能，预计将从拟议的研究中出现的新材料将改善航空航天，汽车和土木工程，国防，运输，能源和电信行业的各种商业产品，并产生新技术。多学科方法和技术转让的潜力将促进加州理工学院以外的科学合作和与工业界的合作。教育部分将在当地产生重大影响？通过长期的课堂合作计划和促进实践研究经验，可持续地改善K-12 STEM教育？全球？通过国际合作和研究机会，并通过提供新的研究综合教育资源，以学生和教育工作者世界各地。研究和教学将为未来的科学家和工程师在工程材料系统的新兴跨学科领域的关键挑战做好准备，并为各级学生提供参与的机会。

The research objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award is to understand how microscale instabilities in multiscale material systems affect their macroscopic mechanical response, and how they can be exploited to result in tunable low-frequency acoustic band gaps and order-of-magnitude increases in the overall (visco)elastic properties, which will be demonstrated explicitly for metal-polymer structural materials. The integrated theoretical, computational and experimental strategy promises to result in what is urgently needed to advance opportunities in metamaterials: i) experimentally-confirmed physical understanding of effective properties and stability of multiscale systems, ii) computational models for advanced structural materials, and iii) proof-of-concept experiments leading to a novel class of light-weight functional high stiffness-high damping materials for applications ranging from seismic protection and scientific vibration isolation to acoustic wave guides and filters. Owing to their superb physical properties, the new materials expected to emerge from the proposed research stand to improve a variety of commercial products in aerospace, automotive, and civil engineering, in the defense, transportation, energy and telecommunication industries, and to result in new technologies. The multidisciplinary approach and the potential for technology transfer will promote scientific collaborations beyond Caltech and with industry. The educational component will make a significant impact both locally ? through sustainably improving K-12 STEM education by a long-term classroom partnership program and by promoting hands-on research experience ? and globally ? through international collaborations and research opportunities, and by providing new research-integrated educational resources to students and educators world-wide. Research and teaching will prepare future scientists and engineers for the key challenges in the emerging interdisciplinary field of engineered material systems and provide opportunities for students of all levels to become involved.