Additive manufacturing of metals is considered a key technology for functionalized components, but it has encountered limitations with brittle ceramics for years. A research team led by Hang Yu, associate professor of materials science, has now presented an approach that integrates shape-memory-capable ceramic particles into a metallic matrix and, for the first time, can be produced at the scale of structural components. The work builds on Yu’s research, which began during his postdoctoral period at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
At the core of the process is Additive Friction Stir Deposition, a solid-state 3D printing technique. In this method, metal feedstock is plasticized by rotating tools and deposited layer by layer without melting the material. During this process, the team embeds finely dispersed, shape-memory-active ceramic particles into the metal matrix.
“For the first time, this research creates bulk shape-memory ceramic–metal matrix composites using a scalable, solid-state 3D-printing process,” Yu said.
“With this composite, you’re adding functionality to a metal that already works for a certain application,” said Erb. It is, he added, “a ‘Field of Dreams’ situation, where if we make it, someone will find some interesting applications for it. People have shown this material works in micrometer size. We’re saying, ‘Now you can have however much of it you want.’ We’ve realized a different scale for it.”
The study, whose first author is doctoral student Donnie Erb and which also involved postdoctoral researcher Nikhil Gotawala, was published in the journal Materials Science and Engineering R: Reports.
“This composite is so interesting, and this shape-memory function of ceramics is something I have been working on since I was a postdoc. Now I’m mostly known for additive friction stir deposition. Now I can merge both these interests together and make some new key applications, and that’s very exciting.”
Potential applications identified by the researchers include vibration damping, lightweight construction, and impact protection. The work is part of advanced manufacturing research at Virginia Tech and was supported, among others, by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army Research Laboratory. In the long term, the approach could help enhance the functionality of 3D-printed metal components without relying on complex assemblies or moving parts.
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