| NSF Org: |
TI Translational Impacts |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 8, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 8, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1648690 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Steven Konsek
TI Translational Impacts TIP Directorate for Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships |
| Start Date: | August 15, 2016 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2017 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $50,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $50,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
2801 W BANCROFT ST TOLEDO OH US 43606-3328 (419)530-2844 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
2801 W Bancroft St Toledo OH US 43606-3390 |
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Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | I-Corps |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.084 |
ABSTRACT
The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project lies in the contribution of a framework for the development of auxetic composites that are suitable for a broad range of applications (an auxetic material, when stretched along its length, becomes thicker in width-wise directions and it becomes thinner when compressed lengthwise). This project has the potential to be pivotal in the way that auxetic materials are studied, designed and fabricated. The commercial potential spans several different industries where improved impact resistance, indentation resistance, energy and sound absorption properties, and synclastic curvature are sought. The greatest commercial impacts will be in applications requiring a combination of these properties, including personal protective equipment, and structural and noise and vibration applications in the automotive and aerospace sectors.
This I-Corps project is centered on the development of negative Poisson's ratio (i.e. auxetic) composites for a wide range of commercial applications. The technology is motivated by the many attractive mechanical properties of auxetic materials. In theory, a negative Poisson's ratio material has improved hardness, impact resistance, fracture toughness, sound absorbing properties, and shear modulus over one with a positive Poissons ratio. In addition, auxetic materials exhibit synclastic curvature when bent, which means that they can be bent into a doubly curved shape, thus eliminating some of the machining necessary to fabricate curved or dome-shaped parts. Since most currently available auxetic materials and structures are porous and have low stiffness, practical structural applications remain largely elusive. This project represents a direct route to structures that exploit the benefits of auxetic materials for commercial applications. The uniqueness of the approach lies in the use of origami patterns which exhibit auxetic behavior when folded to inform the design and development of a new class of negative Poisson's ratio structures. Those structures can be realized through folding and/or additive manufacturing, with the material and length scale selection based on the specific application.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
In this I-Corps project our team Auxetics Unlimited sought to explore the potential commercial applications of a structure concept that combines the benefits of a negative Poisson’s ratio with origami and additive manufacturing to provide improved hardness, impact resistance and indentation resistance as well as better performance in sound and vibration isolation. In theory, an auxetic material has improved hardness, impact resistance, fracture toughness, sound absorbing properties, and shear modulus. In addition, materials with negative Poisson’s ratios exhibit synclastic curvature when bent, which means that they can be bent into a doubly curved, domed shape. Most currently available auxetic materials are porous and have low Young’s moduli. This renders them unsuitable for most structural applications. In order for the full advantages of auxetic materials to be exploited, composites that are sufficiently strong and stiff yet exhibit a negative Poisson’s are needed. Our technology lies at the intersection of three key areas: auxetic materials, origami, and additive manufacturing. In this project we explored the feasibility of using origami-inspired auxetic structures for two different applications: sporting equipment (i.e. football and hockey helmets), and for NVH applications in the automotive and aerospace industries through customer discovery. More research and development is required to determine how a product realized using our concept would perform in comparison to other products currently on the market.
Last Modified: 10/31/2017
Modified by: Lesley Berhan
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