Material benefits.
The article discusses a technique for making customized "microstructured" materials. Two engineers at University College London, Sia Mahdavi and Sean Hanna, have devised an innovative way to customise and control the properties of a material throughout its three-dimensional structure. The new techni...
| Publicado en: | Economist Vol. 374; no. 8417; pp. 10 - 11 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
| Publicado: |
Economist Newspaper Limited
3/12/2005
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=16392418&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 16392418 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00130613 ECO jtl: Economist issn: 00130613 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: 3/12/2005 vid: 374 iid: 8417 pid: 161 pub: Economist Newspaper Limited artinfo: ui: 16392418 ppf: 10 ppct: 1 formats: tig: atl: Material benefits. aug: su: Microstructure Customization Strength of materials Rapid prototyping Strains & stresses (Mechanics) Genetic algorithms Engineers Hanna, Sean Mahdavi, Sia Materials sug: subj: Microstructure Customization Strength of materials Rapid prototyping Strains & stresses (Mechanics) Genetic algorithms Engineers Hanna, Sean Mahdavi, Sia Materials ab: The article discusses a technique for making customized "microstructured" materials. Two engineers at University College London, Sia Mahdavi and Sean Hanna, have devised an innovative way to customise and control the properties of a material throughout its three-dimensional structure. The new technique combines existing technologies in a novel way. It starts by using finite-element-analysis software, of the type commonly used by engineers, to create a virtual prototype of the object. The software models the stresses and strains that the object will need to withstand throughout its structure. Using this information it is then possible to calculate the precise forces acting on millions of smaller subsections of the structure. Each one of these subsections is then treated as a separate object with its own set of forces acting on it--and each subsection calls for a different microstructure to absorb those local forces. Designing so many microstructures manually would be a huge task, so the researchers apply an optimisation program, called a genetic algorithm, instead. Armed with these designs, the only way to build such an intricate and complex object is to use "rapid prototyping" technology, which enables three-dimensional objects to be "printed", one layer at a time, using anything from polymers to metals. The new technique makes it possible to provide strength only where it is needed, making the rest of the structure lighter. The result is a porous, honeycomb-like structure that is capable of withstanding the applied forces, but weighs very little due to its parsimonious use of materials. Such precise control over the material's structure makes possible materials with useful but unusual properties. pubtype: Periodical doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y dt: @attributes: year: 2005 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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