Metamaterials are materials that are artificially manufactured to have properties and functionalities that are unavailable or at least unusual in natural or traditionally manufactured materials. Metamaterials with a negative coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) exhibit a unique thermal expansion behaviour. Unlike conventional materials, which typically have positive CTE values and expand when heated, these metamaterials have a CTE of negative or close to zero. This means that they shrink or stay the same size when the temperature is increased.
In the context of this thesis, we would investigate different geometries of the basic metamaterial's cell and combinations of materials that can be used to maximise the negative thermal expansion of the metamaterial. The metamaterial would be printed in a single process using multi-material 3D printing and its thermal expansion would be experimentally evaluated. The results of the measurements would be compared with numerical simulations. The task can be further enhanced by switching to metamaterials with negative TRK in 3D.

Contact: Janko Slavič

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