Our Mechanics and Materials group includes an interdisciplinary spectrum of research concerned with the study of deformation, fracture, fatigue, and failure of solids at different time and length scales (from atoms to planets) through advanced analytical, computational, and experimental techniques.

Our research portfolio addresses multiple material systems, such as metals, polymers, ceramics, soft materials, biomaterials, active materials, composites, and geological and planetary materials.

Current research directions include but are not limited to: fatigue crack initiation, hydrogen embrittlement, hypervelocity impact, shocks and wave propagation, nanomaterials, constitutive modeling, damage evolution, failure prediction, nonlinear mechanics of solids, thermal barrier coatings, high-strain-rate behavior and dynamic failure processes, deformation and failure mechanisms across multiple scales, growth and remodeling of fibrous soft tissues, planetary impact, asteroid disruption, injury biomechanics, and in situ testing of materials.

Specialties

  • Materials and Structures Under Extreme Conditions
  • Additive Manufacturing and Architected Materials
  • Fatigue and Fracture Mechanics
  • Bioinspired Materials and Mechanical Systems
  • Nanomaterials

Affiliated Faculty

  • Stephen Belkoff
  • Todd Hufnagel
  • Somnath Ghosh
  • Lori Graham-Brady
  • Mark Robbins
  • Pazhayannur Swaminathan
  • John Thomas
  • Timothy Weihs

We take apart the very first instants of destruction and use them to make the world a safer place.

Kaliat (K.T.) Ramesh Director, Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute