Active Learning-based Material Discovery for 3D Printed Solids with Heterogeneous Electrical and Mechanical Properties

Project Personnel

Jerry Qi

Principal Investigator

Jason Killgore

Co-PI

Faisal Alamgir

Co-PI

Hilmar Koerner

Co-PI

Ramamurthy Ramprasad

Co-PI

Daniel Fischer

Co-PI

Anamika Prasad

Co-PI

Dhriti Nepal

Co-PI

Vikas Varshney

Co-PI

Funding Divisions

Division of Materials Research (DMR), Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI)

This Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) project will establish a multi-disciplinary active learning method to discover new materials chemistries for additive manufacturing (AM; or 3D printing) wherein the electrical and mechanical properties can be locally controlled. This is a multi-disciplinary approach with an integration of advanced synthesis, characterization, simulation, and data science protocols. AM has seen exponential growth in recent years. One emerging area is to use AM for functional devices. However, the current AM techniques face challenges in fabricating these devices due to the lack of multi-material capability. Digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing is a rapidly developing AM technique due to its advantage of high speed and high resolution. The research will develop advanced data-driven approaches which utilize both experimental and computational training data to address the multiple design objectives and guide successive rounds of experiments. These approaches will be used to discover new resin formulations for DLP 3D printing where the local material properties can be controlled from soft to stiff and conductive to non-conductive. The active learning method will greatly expedite the development of new materials for AM. The research will have significant societal and economic impacts serving to maintain and enhance the US leadership position in AM. The research will be disseminated to undergraduate, graduate, and high school students and involve them in research. The research will involve students from underrepresented groups and promoting divergence, equity, and inclusion in the STEM field.

Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF)