Digital Multiphase Composites via Additive Manufacturing

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Additive Manufacturing
• Composite Materials

Background:

• Traditional engineering materials have coupled mechanical properties, limiting design flexibility.
• Achieving independent control over multiple material properties is a significant engineering challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate continuous, independent control over multiple mechanical properties in additively manufactured composite materials.
• To enable inverse material design by establishing analytical mappings between microscale constituent concentrations and macroscale properties.

Main Methods:

• Additive manufacturing of composites using rigid plastic, soft elastomer, and liquid constituents.
• Experimental characterization of mechanical properties, including modulus and toughness.
• Development of analytical mappings for inverse material design.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated independent control over multiple mechanical properties in 3D-printed composites.
• Achieved a wide range of material properties, spanning four orders of magnitude in modulus and two orders of magnitude in toughness.
• Successfully showcased inverse material design by printing artifacts with prescribed property distributions.

Conclusions:

• The developed method enables the creation of composites with precisely controlled mechanical properties.
• These tunable composites show promise as mechanically plausible biological tissue mimics.
• Additive manufacturing offers a powerful platform for designing materials with tailored multi-dimensional properties.