Submit to Materials Review for Materials Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

Functional and Architected Materials

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Simulation and Design".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021) | Viewed by 21213

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Stephan Rudykh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Wisconsin—Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Investigation of functional and architecture materials has rapidly advanced in the last decade. The multi-physics nature of functional materials poses multiple challenges in modelling, simulation and designing architected materials with new functionalities.

Recent advances in material manufacturing, such as 3D printing and additive manufacturing, open an exciting opportunity to realize the pre-designed materials with desirable functionalities.

This Special Issue aims to report recent advances in modelling, simulation, manufacturing and experimental investigation in the field of functional and architected materials.

Prof. Dr. Stephan Rudykh
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

3D printing of architecture materials and composites
Topology optimization of material architecture
Electro- and magneto-active materials
Mechanical and acoustic metamaterials
Responsive gels; Shape-memory and light-sensitive materials
Microstructural and material instabilities
Bio-inspired and biological materials

Published Papers (4 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

16 pages, 3410 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mechanical and Physicochemical Properties of 3D-Printed Agave Fibers/Poly(lactic) Acid Biocomposites

by Valeria Figueroa-Velarde, Tania Diaz-Vidal, Erick Omar Cisneros-López, Jorge Ramón Robledo-Ortiz, Edgar J. López-Naranjo, Pedro Ortega-Gudiño and Luis Carlos Rosales-Rivera

Materials 2021, 14(11), 3111; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14113111 - 05 Jun 2021

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2820

Abstract

In order to provide a second economic life to agave fibers, an important waste material from the production of tequila, filaments based on polylactic acid (PLA) were filled with agave fibers (0, 3, 5, 10 wt%), and further utilized to produce biocomposites by fused deposition modeling (FDM)-based 3D printing at two raster angles (−45°/45° and 0°/90°). Differential scanning calorimetry, water uptake, density variation, morphology, and composting of the biocomposites were studied. The mechanical properties of the biocomposites (tensile, flexural, and Charpy impact properties) were determined following ASTM international norms. The addition of agave fibers to the filaments increased the crystallinity value from 23.7 to 44.1%. However, the fibers generated porous structures with a higher content of open cells and lower apparent densities than neat PLA pieces. The printing angle had a low significant effect on flexural and tensile properties, but directly affected the morphology of the printed biocomposites, positively influenced the impact strength, and slightly improved the absorption values for biocomposites printed at −45°/45°. Overall, increasing the concentrations of agave fibers had a detrimental effect on the mechanical properties of the biocomposites. The disintegration of the biocomposites under simulated composting conditions was slowed 1.6-fold with the addition of agave fibers, compared to neat PLA. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional and Architected Materials)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 5476 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Process Parameters on Tensile Mechanical Properties of 3D Printing Continuous Carbon Fiber-Reinforced PLA Composites

by Hao Dou, Yunyong Cheng, Wenguang Ye, Dinghua Zhang, Junjie Li, Zhoujun Miao and Stephan Rudykh

Materials 2020, 13(17), 3850; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma13173850 - 31 Aug 2020

Cited by 84 | Viewed by 5561

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing continuous carbon fiber-reinforced polylactic acid (PLA) composites offer excellent tensile mechanical properties. The present study aimed to research the effect of process parameters on the tensile mechanical properties of 3D printing composite specimens through a series of mechanical experiments. The main printing parameters, including layer height, extrusion width, printing temperature, and printing speed are changed to manufacture specimens based on the modified fused filament fabrication 3D printer, and the tensile mechanical properties of 3D printing continuous carbon fiber-reinforced PLA composites are presented. By comparing the outcomes of experiments, the results show that relative fiber content has a significant impact on mechanical properties and the ratio of carbon fibers in composites is influenced by layer height and extrusion width. The tensile mechanical properties of continuous carbon fiber-reinforced composites gradually decrease with an increase of layer height and extrusion width. In addition, printing temperature and speed also affect the fiber matrix interface, i.e., tensile mechanical properties increase as the printing temperature rises, while the tensile mechanical properties decrease when the printing speed increases. Furthermore, the strengthening mechanism on the tensile mechanical properties is that external loads subjected to the components can be transferred to the carbon fibers through the fiber-matrix interface. Additionally, SEM images suggest that the main weakness of continuous carbon fiber-reinforced 3D printing composites exists in the fiber-matrix interface, and the main failure is the pull-out of the fiber caused by the interface destruction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional and Architected Materials)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 45561 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Tribological and Dynamical Mechanical Behavior of Prototyped PLA-Based Polymers

by Dumitru Nedelcu, Simona-Nicoleta Mazurchevici, Ramona-Iuliana Popa, Nicoleta-Monica Lohan, Demófilo Maldonado-Cortés and Constantin Carausu

Materials 2020, 13(16), 3615; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma13163615 - 15 Aug 2020

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2443

Abstract

It is essential to combine current state-of-the-art technologies such as additive manufacturing with current ecological needs. Due to the increasing demand for non-toxic biodegradable materials and products, human society has been searching for new materials. Consequently, it is compulsory to identify the qualities of these materials and their behavior when subjected to various external factors, to find their optimal solutions for application in various fields. This paper refers to the biodegradable Polylactic acid (PLA)-based filament (commercially known as Extrudr BDP (Biodegradable Plastic) Flax) compared with the biodegradable composite material PLA-lignin filament whose constituent’s trade name is Arboblend V2 Nature as a lignin base material and reinforcement with Extrudr BDP Pearl, a PLA based polymer, 3D printed by Fused Deposition Modeling technology. Certain mechanical properties (tensile strength, bending strength and DMA—Dynamic Mechanical Analysis) were also determined. The tribology behavior (friction coefficient and wear), the structure and the chemical composition of the biodegradable materials were investigated by SEM—Scanning Electron Microscopy, EDX—Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis, XRD—X-Ray Diffraction Analysis, FTIR—Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer and TGA—Thermogravimetric Analysis. The paper also refers to the influence of technological parameters on the 3D printed filaments made of Extrudr BDP Flax and the optimization those of technological parameters. The thermal behavior during the heating of the sample was analyzed by Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). As a result of the carried-out research, we intend to recommend these biodegradable materials as possible substituents for plastics in as many fields of activity as possible. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional and Architected Materials)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

21 pages, 2601 KiB

Open AccessReview

Silicon Nitride and Hydrogenated Silicon Nitride Thin Films: A Review of Fabrication Methods and Applications

by Nikolett Hegedüs, Katalin Balázsi and Csaba Balázsi

Materials 2021, 14(19), 5658; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/ma14195658 - 28 Sep 2021

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 9362

Abstract

Silicon nitride (SiNx) and hydrogenated silicon nitride (SiNx:H) thin films enjoy widespread scientific interest across multiple application fields. Exceptional combination of optical, mechanical, and thermal properties allows for their utilization in several industries, from solar and semiconductor to coated glass production. The wide bandgap (~5.2 eV) of thin films allows for its optoelectronic application, while the SiNx layers could act as passivation antireflective layers or as a host matrix for silicon nano-inclusions (Si-ni) for solar cell devices. In addition, high water-impermeability of SiNx makes it a potential candidate for barrier layers of organic light emission diodes (OLEDs). This work presents a review of the state-of-the-art process techniques and applications of SiNx and SiNx:H thin films. We focus on the trends and latest achievements of various deposition processes of recent years. Historically, different kinds of chemical vapor deposition (CVD), such as plasma enhanced (PE-CVD) or hot wire (HW-CVD), as well as electron cyclotron resonance (ECR), are the most common deposition methods, while physical vapor deposition (PVD), which is primarily sputtering, is also widely used. Besides these fabrication methods, atomic layer deposition (ALD) is an emerging technology due to the fact that it is able to control the deposition at the atomic level and provide extremely thin SiNx layers. The application of these three deposition methods is compared, while special attention is paid to the effect of the fabrication method on the properties of SiNx thin films, particularly the optical, mechanical, and thermal properties. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional and Architected Materials)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Functional and Architected Materials

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (4 papers)

Research

Review

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI