New software identified five different families of microstructures, each defined by a shared "skeleton" (blue), that optimally traded off three mechanical properties.
For decades, materials scientists have taken inspiration from the natural world. They'll identify a biological material that has some desirable trait - such as the toughness of bones or conch shells - and reverse-engineer it. Then, once they've determined the material's "microstructure," they'll try to approximate it in human-made materials. Researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have developed a new system that puts the design of microstructures on a much more secure empirical footing. With their system, designers numerically specify the properties they want their materials to have, and the system generates a microstructure that matches the specification. The researchers have reported their results in Science Advances . In their paper, they describe using the system to produce microstructures with optimal trade-offs between three different mechanical properties.
TO READ THIS ARTICLE, CREATE YOUR ACCOUNT
And extend your reading, free of charge and with no commitment.
