Abstract: Recently, we introduced the concept of plate mechanical metamaterials - cellular plates with carefully controlled periodic geometry and unique mechanical properties - as well as its initial realization in the form of freestanding corrugated plates made out of ultrathin film. We used atomic later deposition (ALD) and microfabrication techniques to make robust plates out of a single continuous ALD layer with cm-scale lateral dimensions and thicknesses between 25 and 100 nm, creating the thinnest freestanding plates that can be picked up by hand. We also fabricated and characterized nanocardboard - plate metamaterials made from multiple layers of nanoscale thickness, whose geometry and properties are reminiscent of honeycomb sandwich plates or corrugated paper cardboard. Ultralow weight, mechanical robustness, thermal insulation, as well as chemical and thermal stability alumina make plate metamaterials attractive for numerous applications, including structural elements in flying microrobots in energy converters, photophoretic levitation, as well as ultrathin sensors and resonators. I will briefly discuss our experimental progress on all these applications, including demonstrations of extremely robust thermal insulators that can sustain a termperature difference of ~ 1000 K across micron - scale gap, hollow AFM cantilevers that offer greatly enhanced sensitivity and data acquisition rates, and macroscopic plates that levitate when illuminated by light.
Bio: Igor Bargatin received his undergraduate degree in theoretical physics from the Lomonosov Moscow State University, and PhD. degree in physics and electrical engineering from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. After postdoctoral appointments at LETI/Minnatec (Gernoble, France) and Stanford University, he became Class of 1965 Team Assistant Professor in Deparment of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM), University of Pennsylvania. Prof. Bargatin's research interests are focused on micro-and nonmechanical structures for new applications in energy conversion, ultra-lightweight materials, and new mechanisms of leviation. He is a recent recipient of the NSF CAREER award and the Penn Engineering teaching award.
