On August 13-17, the Boydston group attended ACS San Francisco to present their talks and posters. Congrats to the following group members for presenting their work! Olivia Bae, Influence of NHC structure on the mechanophore …
Congrats to Julia and Vinnie on winning a PPG Travel Grant!
Julia and Vinnie submitted a 3-minute video “elevator pitch” on their research made PPG Scientists want to learn more about their work. They each received a travel grant up to $2500 to present their research …
Congrats to Dr. Tritt on earning her PhD!
Congrats to Dr. Rachel Tritt on defending her PhD dissertation, “Improving Control and Functionality of Photoredox-Mediated Metal-Free Ring-Opening Metathesis Polymerization!” Dr. Tritt will continue her scientific career at Tolmar Pharmaceuticals, Inc in Colorado. We are …
Congrats to Cora for presenting her poster and completing her Summer 2023 REU!
Cora was our summer undergraduate research student for Summer 2023. She joined the MF-ROMP subgroup and completed a lot of amazing work. We hope that you had a good time working with us this summer. …
Dependence of the kinetic energy absorption capacity of bistable mechanical metamaterials on impactor mass and velocity
Using an alternative mechanism to dissipation or scattering, bistable structures and mechanical metamaterials have shown promise for mitigating the detrimental effects of impact by reversibly locking energy into strained material. Herein, we extend prior works on impact absorption via bistable metamaterials to computationally explore the dependence of kinetic energy transmission on the velocity and mass of the impactor, with strain rates exceeding 10 2 s−1. We observe a large dependence on both impactor parameters, ranging from significantly better to worse performance than a comparative linear material. We then correlate the variability in performance to solitary wave formation in the system and give analytical estimates of idealized energy absorption capacity under dynamic loading. In addition, we find a significant dependence on damping accompanied by a qualitative difference in solitary wave propagation within the system. The complex dynamics revealed in this study offer potential future guidance for the application of bistable metamaterials to applications including human and engineered system shock and impact protection devices.
Congratulations Kyle on receiving a poster award at the National Graduate Research Polymer Conference 2023!
Kyle recently attended the National Graduate Research Polymer Conference 2023 held at University of Michigan. He presented a poster titled “Dual-Wavelength Digital Light Processing Toward Multimaterial Printing” and was awarded 3rd place for his poster.
Congrats to Meg on passing her RP!
Congrats Meg for passing her research proposal (RP)! We are excited to see what you will do next!
Congrats to the group for being awarded 2nd place at Engineering Expo for their exhibit, “Playing with Plastics: How Scientists Make Meaningful Materials”
The Boydston group participated in the Engineering Expo hosted at UW-Madison by presenting an exhibit called “Playing with Plastics: How Scientists Make Meaningful Materials.”
The exhibit included interactive demonstrations featuring 3D printing, active experiments, and real-world examples, to help participants understand plastics all the way down to the atomic scale! Also, sneak a peek into the future of plastics through demonstrations with shape-memory, light-responsive, and self-healing materials.
This year, we placed second among research groups out of 50 total exhibits and were awarded $500! We’ll definitely get 1st place next year!
Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Starting Fall 2023
The Boydston group has two opportunities available for undergraduate research assistants starting Fall 2023. Materials Characterization of Thermosets and Thermoplastics. For more information, please read the advertisement. To apply, please fill out this form. Please contact Brittany …
Congrats Daria on receiving the Ackerman Scholarship and a NSF REU at UPenn!
Congrats Daria on receiving the Ackerman Scholarship, which is a Chemistry Undergraduate Award from UW-Madison. She will also be attending the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF REU) at UPenn. Congrats on your amazing achievements and we wish you the best of luck at your REU!