Mechanics and Materials

Mechanics and Materials faculty investigate, both computationally and experimentally, the response of materials to a wide range of external or internal stimuli.

Research Topics

1. Advanced Materials (Martinez-Duarte, Martinez Saez, Pataky, Abdeljawad, Thompson, G. Li, Myers, H. Zhao): Advancements in many engineering technologies rely on our ability to design and understand material behavior during service. The focus of this research is to develop methods, models and tools for understanding the relationship between the composition, architecture, microstructure, and material properties.
2. Fracture and Fatigue (Joseph, Pataky, H. Zhao, Martinez Saez, Abdeljawad): The focus of this multi-scale research is to characterize, predict, and understand the underlying mechanisms driving failure and fracture from loading conditions such as fatigue, creep, and high strain rate loading.
3. Computational Mechanics and Materials (Abdeljawad, Joseph, G. Li, Myers, Meng, Thompson, H. Zhao, Martinez Saez): Computational research is focused on developing physical models to describe coupled materials processes, properties, and performance. Materials systems considered include metals and alloys, composites, metamaterials engineered to have properties not found in naturally occurring materials, two-dimensional materials, etc. 
4. Bio- and/or nature-inspired materials (Martinez-Duarte, Meng, X. Zhao): The focus of this research topic is to understand how superior properties of natural materials and biological systems are encoded in the intricate and sophisticated hierarchical structures and apply the understanding towards design of high-performance synthetic materials and development of novel processing technologies.