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Mechanical metamaterials owe their extraordinary properties and functionalities to their micro-/nanoscale design of which shape, including both geometry and topology, is perhaps the most important aspect. 4D printing enables programmed,…
The ability to rapidly manufacture building blocks with specific binding interactions is a key aspect of programmable assembly. Recent developments in DNA nanotechnology and colloidal particle synthesis have significantly advanced our…
Magnets are key materials for the electrification of mobility and also for the generation and transformation of electric energy. Research and development in recent decades lead to high performance magnets, which require a finely tuned…
We develop a reduced-order model for thin plates made of hard magnetorheological elastomers (hard-MREs), which are materials composed of hard-magnetic particles embedded in a polymeric matrix. First, we propose a new magnetic potential, as…
Natural filaments, such as proteins, plant tendrils, octopus tentacles, and elephant trunks, can transform into arbitrary three-dimensional shapes that carry out vital functions. Their shape-morphing behavior arises from intricate…
Macroscale robotic systems have demonstrated great capabilities of high speed, precise, and agile functions. However, the ability of soft robots to perform complex tasks, especially in centimeter and millimeter scale, remains limited due to…
Shape-morphing structures have the capability to transform from one state to another, making them highly valuable in engineering applications. In this study, it is propose a two-stage shape-morphing framework inspired by kirigami structures…
Three-dimensional (3D) nanomagnetism is a rapidly developing field within magnetic materials research, where exploiting the third dimension unlocks opportunities for innovative applications in areas such as sensing, data storage, and…
Soft actuators allow to transform external stimuli to mechanical deformations. Because of their deformational response to external magnetic fields, magnetic gels and elastomers represent ideal candidates for such tasks. Mostly, linear…
External magnetic fields are known to attract and orient magnetically responsive colloidal particles. In the case of 2D microplatelets, rotating magnetic fields are typically used to orient them parallel to each other in a brick-and-mortar…
In this paper we present the theoretical considerations and the design evolution of a proof-of-concept reconfigurable metasurface, primarily used as a tunable microwave absorber, but also as a wavefront manipulation and polarization…
Polymer matrix composites exhibit remarkable lightweight and high strength properties that make them attractive for aerospace applications. Constituents' materials such as advanced polymers and fibers or fillers with their hierarchical…
Small magnetic particles placed in a relatively soft polymer (with elastic modulus E ~ 10-100 kPa) are magnetically soft elastomers. The external magnetic field acts on each particle which leads to microscopic deformation of the material…
A method to create a highly homogeneous magnetic field by applying topology optimized, additively manufactured shimming elements is investigated. The topology optimization algorithm can calculate a suitable permanent and nonlinear soft…
Fully soft bistable mechanisms have shown extensive applications ranging from soft robotics, wearable devices, and medical tools, to energy harvesting. However, the lack of design and fabrication methods that are easy and potentially…
Direct design of complex functional materials would revolutionize technologies ranging from printable organs to novel clean energy devices. However, even incremental steps towards designing functional materials have proven challenging. If…
Polymer syntactic foams are transforming materials that will shape the future of next-generation aerospace and marine structures. When manufactured using traditional processes, like compression molding, syntactic foams consist of a solid…
Inspired by the cellular design of plant tissue, we present a new approach to make versatile, tough, highly water-swelling composites. We embed highly swelling hydrogel particles inside tough, water-permeable, elastomeric matrices. The…
Additive manufacturing of polymer bonded magnets is a recently developed technique, for single-unit production, and for structures that have been impossible to manufacture previously. Also new possibilities to create a specific stray field…
There is a growing mechanics literature concerning the macroscopic properties of mechanism-based mechanical metamaterials. This amounts mathematically to a homogenization problem involving nonlinear elasticity. A key goal is to identify the…