Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
Dalhousie University
$54,000.00
Advanced Impact Resistant Auxetic Materials via Additive Manufacturing
FY 2024-25
Summary
Auxetic materials, often referred to as "metamaterials" or "negative Poisson's ratio materials", are counter-intuitive in their response to deformation. Upon being stretched they will expand and conversely will contract when compressed. This behavior makes them very attractive for impact applications; upon being compressively loaded at high rates they will tend to supply increased resistance. As such there are several commercial auxetic products currently available, notably athletic footwear produced by the world's largest manufacturer.
However, broader application of auxetic materials is only now garnering significant attention with the advent of additive manufacturing (AM). AM is a manufacturing method in which very complex geometries can be printed out of a wide variety of materials. Recently, AM has been applied to the manufacture of auxetics with the aim of leveraging the advantages of AM, namely the ability to print curved and graded materials. However, the current efforts have been limited to relatively small sizes and/or have not been experimentally tested at scale. A design tool is needed to bridge the technology gap between lab-scale AM auxetics and engineering auxetic commercially-ready products that have large sizes (on the order of tens of centimeters).
The short-term objectives of the proposed work is to develop a validated design tool that can virtually simulate auxetic materials. This design tool is needed to accelerate the development of auxetic products for impact applications. The long-term objective is to harness the advantages of AM to address a well-known inequality in impact protective gear where female-specific athletics footwear and ballistic body armor are well-known needs. These needs are currently very sparsely filled due to the high manufacturing costs for sex-specific products. Through the use of the proposed design tool, this work aims to provide a technological means of accelerating the development of these needed footwear and armor products more realistic.
Program
Discovery Grants Program - Individual
Recipient
Location
Nova Scotia, Canada
Recipient Type
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
As published
Application id
RGPIN-2020-05586
Name nom
Doman, Darrel
Department département
Mechanical Engineering
Organization id
79
Institution établissement
Dalhousie University
Province en
Nova Scotia
Province fr
Nouvelle-Écosse
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2024
Competition year année de concours
2020
Award amount
54000
Program id
RGPIN
Program name en
Discovery Grants Program - Individual
Program name fr
Programme de subventions à la découverte - individuelles
Group en
DISCOVERY RESEARCH
Group fr
RECHERCHE AXÉE SUR LA DÉCOUVERTE
Committee code
1512
Committee name en
Mechanical Engineering
Committee name fr
Génie mécanique
Area of application code
602
Area of application group en
Construction, urban and rural planning
Area of application group fr
Construction, urbanisme et aménagement rural
Area of application en
Materials performance
Area of application fr
Performance des matériaux
Research subject code
2107
Research subject group en
Mechanical engineering
Research subject group fr
Génie mécanique
Research subject en
Modelling, simulation and finite element methods
Research subject fr
Modélisation, simulation et méthodes des éléments finis
Field of research list names en
Not available
Field of research list names fr
Non disponible
Socioeconomic objective list names en
Not available
Socioeconomic objective list names fr
Non disponible
Application title
Advanced Impact Resistant Auxetic Materials via Additive Manufacturing
Keywords
auxetic materials; negative poisson's ratio; personal protection systems; additive manufacturing; constitutive material modeling; finite element methods
Application summary
Auxetic materials, often referred to as "metamaterials" or "negative Poisson's ratio materials", are counter-intuitive in their response to deformation. Upon being stretched they will expand and conversely will contract when compressed. This behavior makes them very attractive for impact applications; upon being compressively loaded at high rates they will tend to supply increased resistance. As such there are several commercial auxetic products currently available, notably athletic footwear produced by the world's largest manufacturer.
However, broader application of auxetic materials is only now garnering significant attention with the advent of additive manufacturing (AM). AM is a manufacturing method in which very complex geometries can be printed out of a wide variety of materials. Recently, AM has been applied to the manufacture of auxetics with the aim of leveraging the advantages of AM, namely the ability to print curved and graded materials. However, the current efforts have been limited to relatively small sizes and/or have not been experimentally tested at scale. A design tool is needed to bridge the technology gap between lab-scale AM auxetics and engineering auxetic commercially-ready products that have large sizes (on the order of tens of centimeters).
The short-term objectives of the proposed work is to develop a validated design tool that can virtually simulate auxetic materials. This design tool is needed to accelerate the development of auxetic products for impact applications. The long-term objective is to harness the advantages of AM to address a well-known inequality in impact protective gear where female-specific athletics footwear and ballistic body armor are well-known needs. These needs are currently very sparsely filled due to the high manufacturing costs for sex-specific products. Through the use of the proposed design tool, this work aims to provide a technological means of accelerating the development of these needed footwear and armor products more realistic.
