Researchers from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool known as “Deep-DRAM” to discover and fabricate novel metamaterials with unparalleled ease and accessibility.
The groundbreaking method promises to revolutionize metamaterial development by streamlining the discovery and creation of durable, custom-designed materials with “unprecedented functionalities” and “unusual properties.”
“Traditionally, designers use the materials available to them to design a new device or a machine. The problem with that is that the range of available material properties is limited. Some properties that we would like to have just don’t exist in nature,” study co-author and professor of biomechanical engineering, Dr. Amir Zadpoor, explained in a press release by Delft University.
“Our approach is: tell us what you want to have as properties and we engineer an appropriate material with those properties. What you will then get is not really a material but something in-between a structure and a material, a metamaterial.”
Metamaterials are materials engineered to have properties not found in naturally occurring substances. These engineered composites can defy conventional material properties by deriving their unique characteristics from a structure’s geometry rather than molecular composition.
Metamaterials are currently employed in various industries, serving practical purposes such as improving antenna performance in telecommunications and controlling sound waves for noise reduction or focusing in acoustic engineering. Recent advancements include creating the world’s first genuine “one-way glass,” showcasing metamaterials, versatility, and potential for innovative applications.
In 2006, two research papers published in Science demonstrated that metamaterials could be used to manipulate the propagation and transmission of specified light frequencies and electromagnetic radiation to render an object invisible.
Recent publications from Sandia National Laboratories, the U.S. Naval Institute, and Northrop Grumman have discussed the military potential of metamaterials, suggesting the possibility of creating real-life versions of the fictional “Klingon Cloaking Device” or “Harry Potter Invisibility Cloak.” However, despite ongoing research efforts, practical metamaterial cloaking technology has yet to be publicly demonstrated thus far.
This most significant challenge in developing novel metamaterials stems from solving the so-called “inverse problem” or calculating the specific geometry needed to produce desired properties.
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