Activities
MetaMAT-Lab is an initiative by researchers of different departments (Mechanical, Energy, Electronical Engineering, Mathematics and Design) devoted to the multi-physics characterization of metamaterials and their application in different areas, such as Energy/Aerospace/Mechanical components. A metamaterial is a material engineered to have a property that is not found in nature. They are made from assemblies of multiple elements fashioned from composite materials, such as metals or plastics. The materials are usually arranged in repeating patterns, at scales that are smaller than the wavelengths of the phenomena they influence.
Equipment
- microscope X150 equipped with DIC image analysis software
- microtensile Testing DEBEN with a capacity of 5kN
- Aramis system for dynaic measurements of 3D coordinates, 3D displacements and 3D surface strain based on triangulation
- electrodynamic testing machine by INSTRON with a capacity of 10kN operating in the range 0-100 H
- system for measuring thermal conductivity onto small samples with a range 0.0005 m2K/W fino a 0.05 m2K/W in a range from 0°C to 190 °C
- micromilling machine with a precision of 0.5 microns for machining precisely resonators and wave guides for micro-antennas
- software suite for structural optimization based onto the FreeFEM code
Services provided
The services of the Laboratory consist in measurement of the properties of porous media and solids constituted by micro-lattices by:
- manufacturing of small samples by additive manufacturing or micro-casting
- measurements of mechanical properties
- measurements of resistance to fatigue and fracture
- measurements of the micro-geometry by the combination of optical and CT-scans measurements and reconstruction of 3D models
- measurements of thermal properties
- measurements of electromagnetic properties at different frequencies
- multiphysics simulations on the reconstructed 3D models