In a breakthrough that blends ancient design with modern materials science, researchers at the University of Houston have developed a new class of ceramic structures that can bend under pressure — without breaking.
Potential applications for this technology range from medical prosthetics to impact-resistant components in aerospace and robotics, where lightweight — but tough — materials are in high demand.
Traditionally known for their brittleness, ceramics often shatter under stress, making them difficult to use in high-impact or adaptive applications. But that may soon change as a team of UH researchers, led by Maksud Rahman, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and Md Shajedul Hoque Thakur, postdoctoral fellow, has shown that origami-inspired shapes with a soft polymer coating can transform fragile ceramic materials into tough, flexible structures. Their work was recently published in Advanced Composites and Hybrid Materials.
“Ceramics are incredibly useful — biocompatible, lightweight and durable in the right conditions—but they fail catastrophically,” said Rahman. “Our goal was to engineer that failure into something more graceful and safer.”
Read more here! Press release courtesy UH Division of University Marketing and Communications.