Recent and ongoing advances in fabrication techniques such as 3D printing, polymer synthesis, lithography and self-assembly are granting us unprecedented control over the physical shape of solid systems. Simultaneously, new overarching theories have been developed that capture essential, universal features of active matter, information-processing, geometric nonlinearities and topologically nontrivial states. Metamaterials are a class of system engineered with repeated structural motifs (holes, creases, rods, etc.) that imbue them with fundamentally different behavior than is possessed by the underlying material(s). In the case of flexible mechanical metamaterials, these properties include the ability to reshape themselves, which in turn modifies the mechanical response and other properties of the systems.
Beyond this point of commonality, there is no central dogma of flexible mechanical metamaterials. Different systems may possess very different behavior best captured by wildly different physical theories. The tutorial will unite lecturers and participants from a wide range of backgrounds to discuss some of the most exciting ongoing developments in this diverse and rapidly evolving field.
Topics
- Active matter: systems with actuation and dissipation of energy
- Smart/learning matter: Systems capable of processing information, learning and adapting
- Theory of complex mechanical response: homogenization/continuum approaches to flexible deformations under complex loading
- Fabrication: Techniques to experimentally realize flexible systems
Who should attend?
Graduate students, post-docs and other scientists interested in learning about flexible mechanical metamaterials and other solid-mechanical systems. The tutorial will include lectures from both theorists and experimentalists with diverse disciplinary backgrounds, as well as opportunities for the participants to interact with the lecturers.
Organizers
- Bolei Deng, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Zeb Rocklin, Georgia Institute of Technology
Presenters
- Corentin Coulais, University of Amsterdam
- Shucong Li, Georgia Institute of Technology
- Andrea Liu, University of Pennsylvania
- Paul Plucinsky, University of Southern California