Bioinspired hybrid materials from spray-formed ceramic templates, Dwivedi, Flynn, Resnick, Sampath, Gouldstone, Advanced Materials, 2015
Novelty/impact/significance:
Different from most research that explore exquisite fabrications, an industrial thermal spray-based technique is developed for making nacreous brick-and-mortar alumina composites, which allows for controlled architecture across length scales, diverse constituent materials, and easy scaling-up.
Stiffening of graphene oxide films by soft porous sheets, Mao, et. Al., Espinosa, Han, Nguyen, Huang, Nature Communications, 2019
Novelty/impact/significance:
Counter-intuitively, adding some porous graphene oxide (GO) sheets can significantly enhance the modulus of the bulk multilayer GO films compared with those constructed by pristine ones (twice the tensile modulus), although the individual porous GO sheets are drastically weaker than the pristine ones.
Damage-tolerant architected materials inspired by crystal microstructure, Pham, Liu, Todd, Lertthanasarn, Nature, 2019
Novelty/impact/significance:
Unlike most architected materials with periodic identical units and thus immediate collapse upon yielding, novel crystal-inspired structures by utilizing the toughening/strengthening mechanisms of crystalline metals (e.g., grain boundaries, precipitates and phases) are developed to possess superior robustness and damage-tolerance.
A natural impact-resistant bicontinuous composite nanoparticle coating, Huang, et al., Kisailus, Nature Materials, 2020
Novelty/impact/significance:
The rarely known impact surface of the widely reported shrimp dactyl club is a thin, nanoparticle-based coating, possesses both high stiffness and damping properties under high strain rates for exceptional impact resistance, and provides new insights in designing advanced engineered armor materials.
Scientific question:
Simultaneous improvements of strength and toughness in topologically interlocked ceramics, Mirkhalaf, Zhou, Barthelat, PNAS, 2018
Novelty/impact/significance:
Develop a topologically interlocked material (TIM) design that is tougher (25-50X) and stronger (1.2X) than the monolithic plates with the same material (increasing impact resistance without sacrificing strength/toughness).
Hierarchically enhanced impact resistance of bioinspired composites, Gu, Takaffoli, Buehler, Advanced Materials, 2017
Novelty/impact/significance:
A methodology combining simulation, additive manufacturing of biomimetic structures, and mechanical testing is developed, and the function of structural hierarchy is explicated. The findings provide insightful guidance for designing future protective materials and devices.
Structural orientation and anisotropy in biological materials: Functional designs and mechanics, Liu, Zhang, Ritchie, Advanced Functional Materials, 2020
Novelty/impact/significance:
Based on the fast expanding knowledge of biological materials, this review presents a new perspective looking into the design of nature: structural orientation (predetermined) and reorientation (in-situ change with loading) for diverse favorable mechanical functions.
Anomalous scaling law of strength and toughness of cellulose nanopaper, Zhu, et al., Li, PNAS, 2015
Novelty/impact/significance:
A cellulose-based nanopaper that shows a scaling law of a simultaneous, substantial increase of strength and toughness as the cellulose fiber sizes decrease from 27 µm to 11 nm is developed. The mechanism includes the reduced intrinsic defect size and, more importantly, the repeated (re)forming of hydrogen bonding, a design/optimization strategy applicable to wide materials systems.
Superior biomimetic nacreous bulk nanocomposites by a multiscale soft-rigid dual-network interfacial design strategy, Chen, Gao, et al., Yu, Matter, 2019
Novelty/impact/significance:
A multiscale soft-rigid dual-network interfacial design strategy produces nacre-like bulk composites with superior mechanical properties, improved stabilities in high humidity and temperature, and the process is a facile, efficient, and scalable fabrication.
Scientific question:
