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Experiments · Simulations · Metamaterials · Fun
Our research team develops new materials capable of altering their physical properties and mechanical behavior on demand. We harness the mighty power of machine learning to uncover structure–property relationships and design materials for various exciting applications such as soft robotics.
Latest News
Elastic instabilities in layered composites
My new paper "Elastic instabilities in soft layered composites with alternating interlayer spacing" has been published in Thin-Walled Structures. The main message: you can tune the onset of buckling without adding any stiff material, simply by rearranging the layers. And a word of caution – perfectly periodic composites are the most stable, so one should not blindly trust periodic predictions if periodicity cannot be guaranteed during manufacturing.
Buckling meets microfluidics
Our collaborative paper with the group of Prof. Thomas Pfohl has been published in ACS Applied Polymer Materials. In "Buckling as a Tool for Spatiotemporal Sensing in Micromechanical Fluidic Systems", thin PDMS membranes inside a microfluidic channel buckle in response to the solvent composition, and a propagating solvent front even produces traveling buckling waves. A neat way to turn an elastic instability into a label-free chemical sensor! Great collaboration!
Successful Defence of David!
Dr. David Schwarz successfully defended his PhD thesis "Mechanical Metamaterials with Engineered Responses" and graduated magna cum laude, with the presentation itself rated summa cum laude! David joined the group back in 2022, and over three years he explored how to teach metamaterials to do crazy things! It was a great pleasure to supervise David, and I am very proud of everything he has achieved. Congratulations, David, and all the best for what comes next! PS. Get used to be called Dr. Schwarz :)
