Event Details

For macro porous materials to become ubiquitous, their unique multifunctional properties (such as fluid flow control, sound absorption and heat transfer – combined with mechanical strength and energy absorption) need to be exploited.

Tensions exist between the need for open structures for functional performance and “mass” for optimum load bearing capacity. Balancing this and optimising the structure (for example porosity, pore size and pore connectivity) is extremely challenging.

This presentation will describe the tools needed to create a virtual environment in which to design and test porous structures and identify the challenges to their attainment. It will cover; the building of virtual porous structures from adaptable mathematical representations of packed spheres; optimisation of the printing process to ensure a good correlation between virtual structure and prototype; the application of FEA-based simulations and physical testing of 3D printed facsimiles to authenticate the modelling process.

The talk will finish with an overview of an opportunity for a fully funded PhD studentship in this topic area.

For further information, please contact Prof Andrew Kennedy (a.kennedy3@lancaster.ac.uk)