Metamaterials and Tuneable Design for Force Regulation and Vibration Isolation

The 4D Materials and Printing Lab in the Department of Engineering at Nottingham Trent University is seeking to recruit a PhD student for the EPSRC funded research project: Integrated Material-Modelling-Manufacturing paradigm for Mechanical Meta-regulators (I5M). The I5M research programme is led by Nottingham Trent University in partnership with Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, National Composites Centre, Manufacturing Technology Centre, NHS Nottingham University Hospitals, Far-UK Ltd, General Lattice, RHEON LABS, and the UK Metamaterial Network.

The focus of this project is Constant-Force MetaMaterials (CFMM). These can deliver a quasi-constant output force over a range of input displacements (i.e., they can apply a constant pressure on a surface or object). This means they can act as passive force regulation and vibration isolation devices without any need for sensors and complex electromechanical control systems and have potential to be used in many applications such as robotic automation, overload protection, and precision manipulation. Despite recent advances in materials and manufacturing, CFMM development suffers drawbacks such as limited material selection and working range, unrealistic assumptions, need for assembly, material waste, and ignored fatigue performance. These drawbacks mean that a huge portion of the CFMM design space remains untouched.

I5M project aims to address the mentioned challenges by exploiting inherent energy dissipation features of hyper-thermo-visco-elastic materials and develop an integrated material-modelling-manufacturing paradigm to create a new class of metamaterials so-called meta-regulators with minimal computational cost, material usage and expert interference. This technology will represent a fundamentally new field of sustainable metamaterials paradigm and create passive meta-regulators with built-in functionalities such as with programmable quasi-zero stiffness, quasi-constant force regulation, and tuneable vibration isolation. I5M will validate meta-regulators functionality via demonstrators for healthcare, automotive, aerospace and sport sectors in partnership with industry.

Subject Area:

1. Design
2. Simulation
3. Metamaterials
4. Additive Manufacturing
5. Mechanical Engineering

Skills and Experience:

Candidates are expected to have a background in Mechanical or Materials or Manufacturing or Software Engineering. Knowledge in Mechanical Design, Computer-Aided Design, Finite Element Modelling, Simulation, Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing), or Mechanical Testing will be advantageous.