Skip to content Skip to navigation

Program Highlights

Understanding thermal effects on the microstructure of additive manufactured materials

Temperature has been shown to be a critical factor impacting additive manufacturing (AM). During selective laser melting (SLM), the heat transfer and fluid flow affect grain growth and the microstructure of the printed material. Previous efforts have mostly relied on tuning parameters such as laser power and scan rate, but a more detailed understanding of temperature effects in AM is still lacking. In this Seed, we will probe and understand how dynamic and localized heating and cooling affect the microstructure of additive manufactured (AM) materials by operando temperature mapping and machine learning.

Three-Dimensional Photochemical Printing of Thermally Activated Polymer Foams

This work demonstrates the facile, on-demand manufacturing of polymer foams with desirable properties such as mechanical strength, controlled porosity, and varied composition.

Nanolatticed Architecture Mitigates Damage in Shark Egg Cases

Structure-mechanics analysis of shark egg cases has revealed that dynamic reorganization of the nanolatticed architecture provides strength and resilience without compromising permeability.

Disproving Paradigms: The Rules of Morphogenesis (“Rules of Life”)

Since the 1980s, it has been assumed that the architecture of the mammary gland is defined by prealigned fibers of collagen, which were posited to serve as a template for the formation of the mammary epithelial tree. Princeton researchers tested the validity of this paradigm.

NSF Big Idea
Understanding the Rules of Life

Zwitterionic Electrolytes Enable Decoupling of Ionic Transport from Segmental Relaxation

Ionic transport in polymers typically undergoes a standard liquidlike transport mechanism whereby diffusion of ions is permitted only by relaxation of the local fluid elements, this mechanism results in limitations in designing conductive and cation-selective electrolytes. In this work we demonstrate that superionic transport (untethered to polymer dynamics) is possible in semicrystalline poly(zwitterionic liquids).

Microstructural evolution in additively manufactured magnetic materials

Samples of Alnico magnets were printed by selective laser melting, and their microstructure was investigated in 3D at the mm3-scale using the femtosecond-laser enabled TriBeam microscope.

Twisted bilayer WTe2: a Moiré Luttinger Liquid in Two-Dimensions

In an experiment related to the theory of Luttinger Liquids (LLs), a team led by Princeton University physicists and chemists reports the realization of a one-dimensional linear array of LLs in a moiré superlattice – a new quantum state in an engineered structure made from a known material.

NSF Big Idea
Quantum Leap

Tuning magnetic antiskyrmion stability in tetragonal inverse Heusler alloys

A computational approach was implemented to design Mn2XY tetragonal inverse Heusler alloys that host magnetic antiskyrmions whose stability are sensitive to elastic strain.

Electron-Deficient Imidazoles in Solid-State Polymer Electrolytes

Solid-state polymer electrolytes offer a safer alternative to traditional lithium-ion batteries based on organic electrolytes. However, current benchmark polymer electrolytes lack ion transport selectivity (t+ = 0.2) which limits their commercial use. We demonstrate the enhancement of lithium-ion transport (t+ = 0.48) of PMS-based polymers by taking advantage of the steric and electronic properties of imidazole ligands.

Selecting for Phase-Separating Nucleic Acid Coacervates

Complex coacervation is a process in which oppositely charged macro-molecules in solution condense into dense liquids. While primarily driven by charge effects or, with DNA, basepairing, other macromolecular traits are likely to have strong effects. This Seed project leverages modern tools of DNA sequence control and biochemistry to study the fundamental physical principles underlying coacervation,

Pages