Our Group: Materials as Machines Lab focuses on research and development related to materials science and engineering, particularly on designing and creating materials that exhibit machine-like or dynamic properties. We explore integrating materials with mechanical, electrical, or other functional components to develop advanced materials systems.
The PI:
Dr. Irina Garces (She/her/hers) specializes in composite-smart materials such as bio, multifunctional nanomaterials, and additive manufacturing of shape memory composites, nanocomposites, and multi-materials parts. Her work included developing, modelling, and manufacturing additive-manufactured shape memory polymers for field applications. She designed a manufacturing method, developed viscoelastic models to predict the behaviour of complex polymers, and produced self-sensing actuators. She has designed and built various polymer processing equipment and mechatronic systems, such as spinning, winding and extrusion equipment. She has also contributed to the development of additive manufacturing of biomedical and robotics’ parts. She has developed processing and manufacturing techniques for diverse materials such as commercial polymers, cellulose-based materials, and carbon fibres. Some of her most recent work includes developing new additive manufacturing systems for processing regenerated cellulose to produce bio-based parts.
Our Current Research:
3D printing of Lyocell
3D printing of smart materials
Tailorable stiffness for biomedical wearables
3D printed sensors
Our Past Research: