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Extreme Mechanics of Metamaterials: From ideal to realistic conditions

Project description

Efficient materials for use in aerospace to prosthetics

Mechanical metamaterials are artificial structures that can be made very light and strong at the same time. They may also change shape autonomously to achieve the desired functionality. The digital fabrication technique has evolved so much in recent years that these materials have entered the realm of mechanics and the number of their functionalities has increased. The EU-funded Extr3Me project will explore the effect of inhomogeneous boundary conditions. It will also study the sensitivity to geometric imperfections and consider the role of dissipation. The overall aim of the project is to explore the boundaries of solids mechanics and to design robust advanced functionalities to fit a vast range of areas.

Objective

Manipulating physical signals such as light, sound, heat or motion is a vital challenge in multiple areas of science. Due to recent advances in digital fabrication techniques, the last years have seen a revolution in artificial periodic composites with on-demand electromagnetic, acoustic, thermal and mechanical properties. These so-called metamaterials become particularly interesting in mechanics, where geometrical effects and nonlinearities are much stronger than in any other physical field. Over the past 5 years, the community -including myself- has discovered a plethora of “extreme” functionalities, e.g. mechanical metamaterials that are very light, stiff and strong at the same time, that have negative elastic moduli or that exhibit programmable shape-changes. Importantly, such advanced properties are typically designed through a purely geometrical framework. Yet, this impressive progress is so far confined to idealized settings, namely for homogeneous boundary conditions, imperfection-free structures and purely elastic constituents under quasi-static driving. This traditional focus severely limits our understanding of metamaterials and their potential for applications. Here, I propose to uncover the extreme mechanics of metamaterials under realistic conditions. Specifically, by generalizing the geometrical framework to allow for deviations from the ideal limit, and by validating it through a wide array of experimental and numerical techniques, I will establish: 1) the effect of inhomogeneous boundary conditions; 2) the sensitivity to geometric imperfections; 3) the role of dissipation. Just as the fundamental understanding of defects and dislocations revolutionized materials science, by exploring perturbations in metamaterials I will push the frontiers of solids mechanics and open up avenues for the design of robust advanced functionalities tailored to realistic complex scenarios, from prosthetics to aerospace.

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Keywords

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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ERC-STG - Starting Grant

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2019-STG

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Host institution

UNIVERSITEIT VAN AMSTERDAM
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 499 478,00
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 499 478,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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