During the the fellowship the following work has been completed:
5. Acquired knowledge on the mechanical characteristics of the human tissues from the literature: stiffness, porosity, viscoelasticity, range of deformations they are usually subjected to.
6. Acquired knowledge on single and multicomponent soft materials and their physical and chemical crosslinking capabilities.
7. Carried out the design of various polymeric networks and characterized them through mechanical testing and chemical analysis.
8. Used mathematical approaches to fit hyperelastic and viscoelastic material models to the preliminary collected data. The fitting routines were coded in Matlab and compared with related results available in the literature. Some of the implemented models included Neo-Hookean, Mooney-Rivlin, Polynomial, Gent and Prony Series formulations, in order to capture the materials’ properties.
9. Designed computer models of 3D patterned structures, including origami, kirigami, cellular materials (including rotating square patterns) chiral patterns, arabic motifs and corrugated thin sheets. Learnt how to use Periodic Boundary Conditions, User-defined subroutines developed in Fortran, material formulations fitted and instructed by experimental testing and analysis. Designed full 3D computer models of the respiratory cycle of the human lung. Learned shape optimization strategies to optimize lung airways geometries with the aim of manufacturing a more precise and reliable lung phantom.
10. Developed new manufacturing skills, like laser cutting, polymer coating and 3D printing that were employed to manufacture 3D structures and hybrid structure polymer materials.
Despite the impact of the pandemic on the project and the closure of the labs I have managed to publish 8 journal papers (1 is still under review but the preprint is available on arxiv, 1 is in press, and I am working on a couple more) on the fundamental behavior of hybrid structural-soft materials and how these can be preprogrammed to have several functions. A complete list can be found on the project's website:
https://antonioeliaforte.com/alpha-stem/(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)The results of my fellowship have been disseminated through several channels. I participated at the European Research Night in 2019 in Milan and it was an amazing experience. I had the opportunity to disseminate my work and explain what I do to both scientists and member of the public, including younger students and kids. Unfortunately it was not possible to replicate the experience in 2020 because of COVID and travel restrictions. Therefore Politecnico of Milan in collaboration with a great EU outreaching team organized a virtual (online) MEETmeTONIGHT 2020. I agreed to participate and made a video explaining what Alpha-stem is about. I also contributed by being available online via Teams to member of the public audience that would connect to the virtual rooms and ask questions about the research. It was not the same as having the event in person but it was nevertheless enjoyable!
The results of the project have also been disseminated via conferences and several seminars. the full list is on the project website:
https://antonioeliaforte.com/alpha-stem/(s’ouvre dans une nouvelle fenêtre)