MOMENTUM • VIRGINIA TECH MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 29 bring new , stronger ceramic micro-architectures to market still lay in the future . Currently , 3D printers produce structures at the micrometer level , but printing ceramics still requires firing the final product , which possibly introduces many uncontrolled tiny pores and cracks . These defects make the structures extremely fragile . Li hopes that continued advances in the field of 3D printing and further understanding of the formation mechanisms of biological structures like starfish skeletons eventually offers a solution .
“ Nature is able to assemble mineral precursors to form complex architectures at room temperature and ambient pressure ,” Li said . “ That is something that modern human technology cannot currently achieve . Virginia Tech has a strong research interest in mineral structures found in nature , and I am hopeful that this exciting research direction may one day lead to the development of a wide range of bio-inspired , stronger , and more lightweight materials .”
Other authors on the paper include Virginia Tech graduate students Hongshun Chen , Zhifei Deng , Liuni Chen , and postdoc Zian Jia , James C . Weaver from Harvard University , and Emily Peterman from Bowdoin College .
Additional Information
The work was funded by the National Science Foundation , the Air Force Office of Scientific Research , and the Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science at Virginia Tech .
Ling Li : Starfish skeletons and ceramics