Biological materials and systems provide a vast resource for those in applied science and design to find new, innovative solutions to technical problems associated with materials science and design in general. There is a growing list of successful applications; self-healing and -cleaning materials, sustainable product packaging, gecko-inspired adhesives, soft robotics, medical prosthetic devices, energy efficient buildings, smart and adaptive materials/structures, and fracture resistant composites.
This interdisciplinary course will focus on materials design primarily, over length scales from bonding, crystal structures and nanoparticles (10-10 to 10-7 m), to microstructure (10-6 to 10-4 m), mesostructure (10-4 to 10-3 m), and macroscale (mm, cm, m). But also on ‘continuum’ (mechanical engineering) scale design of products and devices, architectural designs for buildings, and system/network optimization. Topics and mechanisms may include solid state mechanical properties, optical properties, thermal heat conduction, mass transport, surface wetting and adhesion, and bio-medical mechanisms. While the interdisciplinary range of this course may be high, we invite students from a wide range of backgrounds, and will provide resources for reviewing basic theory.
The course will focus on; (1) reviewing the scientific understanding of certain important biological materials and mechanisms, (2) developing a process to define the translation of these mechanisms to engineering design (bio-inspired design), and (3) reviewing case studies from the scientific literature and technological history of successful bio-inspired design.
Students will also propose, collaborate on, and present original bioinspired design projects (including some potential for prototype fabrication). In addition to lectures on bio-inspired design, and the challenges of applying biological mechanisms (scaling, robustness, multiple functions), guest speakers will be contributing to the course.