Project description
Developing living composites for high-performance engineering structures
Biological materials possess unique properties that make them attractive for use in engineering, including their ability to continuously adapt to their environment, lower embodied energy, and remarkable mechanical properties granted by their hierarchical structures. However, human-made materials have limited abilities to adapt and reinforce under load or to heal and repair in response to damage. The EU-funded AM-IMATE project will create living composites that bridge the gap between biology and lightweight engineering structures. Overall, this is an opportunity to bring together the fields of biology and engineering to develop innovative new materials that can meet the demands of modern technology. This could lead to major improvements in the performance of critical structures used in fields like aerospace and transportation.
Objective
I envision a world in which the responsive power of biological systems is harnessed through direct integration in materials and structures. Biological materials constantly adapt to their environment, display lower embodied energy, and possess remarkable mechanical properties granted by their hierarchical structures. Adapting these principles to human-made objects promises to disrupt the way we engineer our high-performance critical structures. However, today’s engineering materials remain lifeless, and show only limited abilities to adapt and reinforce under load, or to heal and repair in response to damage. By addressing the lack of knowledge in (i) organism signalling, (ii) additive fabrication and (iii) responsive bio-inspired composites, I will be amongst the first to create living composites that will bridge the gap between biology and stiff, lightweight engineering structures.
To achieve my vision of living structures, I will cross boundaries between three previously disconnected disciplines. I will (i) exploit the intrinsic electrical activity of fungal mycelium networks to couple electrical and mechanical response in mycelium composite materials, (ii) enable complex shaping using new additive manufacturing technologies to create bio-inspired living objects augmented with sensing and vasculature networks, and (iii) develop topology optimised geometries and large-scale living structures that adapt and remodel during use. The project combines these aspects to exploit organism growth and function in a way never done before to realise stiff, tough, and responsive materials, while paving the way for a future of living material structures.
Fields of science
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
ERC - Support for frontier research (ERC)Host institution
2628 CN Delft
Netherlands