EPSRC Fellowship - Engineering Fellowships for Growth - Morphogenesis Manufacturing: Smart Materials With Programmed Transformations.

Description

The scientific vision of this Fellowship is to reduce the lead time from concept and creation of advanced metamaterials to product development, via a greater understanding of material properties and processing challenges. To achieve this outcome, active advanced multifunctional materials, exhibiting programmed intelligence in complex 3D architectures, will be developed via creative manufacturing. These new modes of assembly, i.e. manufacturing as a growth process, will rely on smarter materials, not machines of increasing complexity. In order to advance the future of advanced metamaterials, two key features are needed to accelerate the underpinning technology: (1) Design of 3D assembly sequences optimised for performance: Development of ‘assembly on demand’ processes to realise fibrous metamaterials (i.e. artificially structured) that are hierarchical, multi-material, multi-functional, and multi-scale offering reduced weight, improved reliability and affordability, (2) Realisation of 4D morphogenesis: Creation of ‘designed architectures’ incorporating 4D metamaterials which fold, stretch, curl or remodel on demand when exposed to environmental stimuli, creating a tailored time dependent smart material reconfiguration (application specific).

Period	1 Jun 2014 → 1 Jun 2019
Held at	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, United Kingdom