https://techxplore.com/news/2023-12-art ... lmets.html
by ETH Zurich
Bike helmets that absorb the energy of an impact, running shoes that give you an extra boost with every step, or implants that behave just like natural bone. Metamaterials make such applications possible. Their inner structure is the result of a careful design process, following which 3D printers produce structures with optimized properties.
Researchers led by Dennis Kochmann, Professor of Mechanics and Materials in the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering at ETH Zurich, have developed novel AI tools that bypass the time-consuming and intuition-based design process of metamaterials. Instead, they predict metamaterials with extraordinary properties in a rapid and automated fashion.
A novelty, their framework applies to large (so-called non-linear) loads, e.g., when a helmet absorbs major forces during an impact.
Kochmann's team has been among the pioneers in designing small-scale cellular structures (similar to beam networks in timber-frame houses) to create metamaterials with specific or extreme properties. "For example, we design metamaterials that behave like fluids: hard to compress but easy to deform. Or metamaterials that shrink in all directions when compressed in a particular one," explains Kochmann.