in recent years the technique of freeze casting has undergone tremendous development. New techniques and novel nanoscale building blocks have given rise to porous materials with extraordinary properties. As an example, by spinning freeze cast fibre with aligned pores fabrics with unprecedented levels of thermal insulation could be produced. This
Freeze casting presents exciting new avenues towards high performance materials with aligned pore structures.
Bone scaffolds, highly elastic composites and nacre mimetic materials can all be produced by means of freeze casting methods.
This comprehensive review presents recent development in terms of materials and processing
In the work shown here:
Multiscale modeling of effective elastic properties of fluid-filled porous materials
The elastic deformation and its dependence on fluid displacement is studied at two distinct scales, to address the multi-scale nature of porous structures in nature.
Fracture mechanics of porous materials
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2015.10.004
The effects of pore geometry on fracture mechanics is studied by considering notches of various types with a uniform crack growth. This work, published in Engineering Fracture mechanics, sheds light on the role of stress concentrators in the toughness of porous materials.
We are working on a modelling problem in fracture mechanics in porous materials, and have advertised a post-doc position for someone with a computational mechanics background. We tend to work with our own FEM codes.
The job link (closing 17th of July)
http://jobs.uq.edu.au/caw/en/job/504555/postdoctoral-research-fellow
After several years of research in the area of additive manufacturing, biofabrication, and additively manufactured biomaterials and implants, I finally put up the first version of the website of my lab. I will gradually improve the website, but there is already links to all publications coming out of my lab in the general area of AM.
For those of you interested in the geometry of light frameworks and models for extremely porous materials, here are a couple of links. The first one contains two 3D objects. You need Java to view them.
http://people.bath.ac.uk/rg247/swansea/javaview/gyroid_146_007.html
