• Mahdi Bodaghi, Department of Engineering, Nottingham Trent University, UK
• Frederic Demoly, ICB UMR 6303 CNRS, Univ. Bourgogne Franche-Comté, UTBM, Belfort, France
• Giulia Scalet, University of Pavia, Italy
• Oliver Weeger, Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
• Ali Zolfagharian, School of Engineering, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia

Functional materials represent a class of advanced materials and composites whose physical properties (e.g., shape, stiffness, color) can be controlled by external stimuli (e.g., temperature, pH, light, electric or magnetic field). They are found in several classes of materials, such as ceramics, metals, polymers, and include, for instance, shape memory alloys, phase transforming materials, or stimuli-responsive polymers and hydrogels. Thanks to their unique properties, functional materials find application in numerous fields, from automotive and electronics to medicine and pharmacology.
In recent years, additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing, has emerged as a frontier in the advancement of scientific research on 3D printing and functional materials. Various backgrounds, ranging from manufacturing technology to material science, and from mathematical modelling to experimental testing, are currently contributing to the expansion of this field of research.
To bring this technology closer to application, computational modeling, simulation, and design optimization are of particular importance. However, this represents a fundamental, but challenging and currently under-developed topic due to the tight connection between process, material functionalities, and the final design. In particular, simulation and design of 3D printed structures made of functional materials often requires mechanical modelling of large deformations, nonlinear and viscous constitutive behavior, transient deformation, multi-physical (such as thermo-, hydro-, or photo-mechanics) and process-dependent multiscale material behavior of inhomogeneous material distributions.
This Minisymposium is intended to cover the latest advances in simulation-based design for the 3D printing of functional materials. We aim to bring together specialists from different disciplines to exchange ideas on functional material modelling, process physics and simulation, computational techniques for modeling, design and optimization, experimental characterization and validation, and applications.
Areas of interest within this Minisymposium will include, but will be not limited to:
• Constitutive modeling of functional materials at different scales
• Computational simulation and discretization methods, including process modeling
• Topology and design optimization for functional structures
• Additive manufacturing and 3D printing technologies for functional materials
• Experimental characterization and validation methods
• Computer-aided design for applications

Key words: Additive manufacturing, functional materials, smart materials, stimuli-responsive materials, active materials, 4D printing, constitutive modeling, topology optimization, design optimization.

REFERENCES

[1] M.J. Geiss, N. Boddeti, O. Weeger, K. Maute, and M.L. Dunn, "Combined Level-Set XFEM-Density Topology Optimization of 4D Printed Structures undergoing Large Deformation", J. Mech. Des., Vol. 141(5), pp. 051405 (2019).

[2] C.M. Hamel, D.J. Roach, K.N. Long, F. Demoly, M.L. Dunn, and H.J. Qi, "Machine-learning based design of active composites for 4D printing", Smart Mater. Struct., Vol. 28, pp. 065005, 2019.

[3] G. Sossou, F. Demoly, H. Belkebir, H.J. Qi, G. Montavon, and S. Gomes, "Design for 4D printing: A voxel-based modeling and simulation of smart materials", Mater. & Des, 175, 107798 (2019).

[4] S. Pandini, N. Inverardi, G. Scalet, D. Battini, F. Bignotti, S. Marconi, and F. Auricchio, "Shape memory response and hierarchical motion capabilities of 4D printed auxetic structures", Mech. Res. Comm., Vol. 103, p. 103463 (2020).

[5] A. Zolfagharian, M.P. Mahmud, S. Gharaie, M. Bodaghi, A.Z. Kouzani, and A. Kaynak, "3D/4D-printed bending-type soft pneumatic actuators: fabrication, modelling, and control", Virt. Phys. Protot., Vol. 15(4), pp.373-402 (2020).

[6] A. Zolfagharian, M. Denk, A.Z. Kouzani, M. Bodaghi, S. Nahavandi, and A. Kaynak, "Effects of Topology Optimization in Multimaterial 3D Bioprinting of Soft Actuators", Int. J. Bioprinting, Vol. 6(2), p. 260 (2020).

[7] M. Bodaghi, A. Serjouei, A. Zolfagharian, M. Fotouhi, H. Rahman, and D. Durand, "Reversible energy absorbing meta-sandwiches by FDM 4D printing", Int. J. Mech. Sci., Vol. 173, p. 105451 (2020).