March 18, 2025

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Speaker: Yulan (Emma) Zhang, Assistant Professor, The University of Texas at Austin

Host: Sean Gulick

Title: Architected Instability-based Metamaterials (AIMs) for Space Engineering Applications

Abstract: Architected Instability-based Metamaterials (AIMs) are a class of mechanical metamaterials that leverages geometric phase transformations between stable staes to achieve exceptional mechanical properties. By precisely designing their geometry and topology, AIMs can undergo large, reversible deformations while dissipating energy without sustaining permanent damage. In addition, by integrating materials with distinct properties at strategic locations, they exhibit shape recovery, enabling reconfiguration in response to external stimuli such as stress and temperature. Inspired by kirigami principles, AIMs can also be compactly folded and autonomously deployed, making them highly adaptable for space applications. Their unique combination of energy dissipation, reconfigurability, and deployability makes them particularly suited for impact attenuation, such as in the landing gear of space rovers, where they provide critical protection for scientific instruments and mission payloads during high-impact landings.This seminar will explore the fundamental principles of AIMs, their design strategies, and their potential for space exploration. We will discuss how AIMs can be engineered for tunable mechanical responses, integrated with kirigami-inspired folding techniques, and enhanced with revolute joint-locking mechanisms for improved deployability. By leveraging these features, AIMs present a transformative approach to developing adaptive, lightweight, and resilient material systems for next-generation space missions.

Biography: Yunlan Zhang is an Assistant Professor in Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Before joining UT, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Oxford, where she developed deployable structures for medical applications. Dr. Zhang earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Civil Engineering from Purdue University, focusing on architected materials engineered to mimic the unique properties of shape memory alloys. She received her B.S. in Civil Engineering from The Ohio State University, graduating with honors and completing a research thesis on repair and strengthening techniques for reinforced concrete beams.Her research includes architected materials and deployable structures, with applications ranging from microscopic medical devices to large-scale eco-restorative structures and extraterrestrial habitats. She enjoys working with students just as much as conducting research