Building Future Faculty feat. Dr. Atieh Moridi

Abstract:

Materials by Design: Bottom-Up Manufacturing across Length Scales

The ability to tailor local material architecture and composition enables us to create objects with properties that are not feasible by traditional manufacturing methods. In this talk, I will use three research projects to illustrate how advanced manufacturing and surface engineering can be used to create and modify local material properties. Additive manufacturing in particular enables the production of complex geometries, such as cellular solids, which I have used to create biocompatible, compliant constructs for bone implant applications. In addition, the directed growth and self-organization of nanostructures is emerging as an attractive route to create hierarchical materials at small length scales. I will show how self-assembly of carbon nanotubes, in combination with conformal coating techniques, can be used to create materials with fracture toughness tunable over a wide range. Finally, these bottom-up manufacturing processes can be extended to the more conventional areas of surface engineering and repair applications. I will demonstrate how to extend the lifespan of materials by locally resetting damaged microstructure. I will conclude by discussing the challenges and new opportunities in materials design and recovery enabled by advanced bottom-up manufacturing.

Biography:

Dr. Atieh Moridi is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She was awarded Ph.D. Cum Laude (the highest institute honors) in Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico di Milano, Italy in 2015. She received her B.Sc. and M.Sc. from Sharif University of Technology, Iran. Her research interests lie in the areas of surface engineering, advanced materials and manufacturing. She explores boundaries of physical metallurgy, solid mechanics and in-situ microscopy to generate an in-depth understanding of the relationship between the processing, the structure and the properties of materials.