3D–4D printing of architectured ceramics to combine strength, toughness and complex shapes

This project aims to develop ceramics that are simultaneously strong and tough, and to shape them into complex shapes without compromising their mechanical properties - major challenges in science and engineering.

Natural hard materials such as bone and tooth enamel show interesting combinations of these properties because of their internal architectures.

Inspired by these materials, we will develop a fast, scalable and versatile light-based 3D – 4D printing technique to produce novel ceramics with rationally-designed, highly-controlled dense architectures.

The architecture of these ceramics will be designed by combining discrete element models and an artificial intelligence algorithm.

Outcomes will be ceramics that show unprecedented combination of strength and toughness, a novel design tool, and new knowledge on processing-architecture-performance relationships.

The resulting materials and the design tool can be used for biomaterials, defense, transport, high-temperature and aerospace applications.