EUROPEAN CONGRESS AND EXHIBITION ON ADVANCED MATERIALS AND PROCESSES - EUROMAT 2021

Programmable metamaterials represent the distinctive conditional behavior through a combination of logical elements and functions. Therefore, it is considered that nature-inspired material systems with complex system functions become within reach of being developed. Inspired by the adaptivity shown in some cephalopods [1], the programmable elements, and the hydrogel can be combined with complex logical statements, the changing of color is an expected outcome through fluorescence mechano-sensing. For one of the potential applications, various types and colors of QR code carrier according to different loading conditions might be developed. On the other hand, traditional artificial functional systems are not as flexible as plants in adapting to changes in the external environment for ensuring normal survival and growth. As one of the most important functions in plants, the mechanism of self-sealing is to make the wound closure through releasing the saps or mechanically driven without external intervention. However, programmable metamaterials with built-in logical conditions (e.g. if..then..else condition) may allow implementing self-sealing into engineering applications. For programmable metamaterials, the underlying mechanism of self-sealing seems more inclined to utilize a mechanical approach through stress state alteration to reduce the gaps. After being able to cope with mechanical damage through the self-sealing function, the longer life span of these applications composed of the programmable metamaterials would be expected. In order to develop the above-mentioned principles and design such artificial functional systems, it is necessary to propose implementable solutions, e.g. the suitable unit cells of the programmable metamaterials need to be created and optimized for different applications. In this presentation, we will transfer the biological mechanisms into technological solutions for programmable metamaterials and discuss the necessary processes which need to be implemented.

Reference
[1] R. Merindol et al. Nature Communications. 10 (2019) 528.