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| MECA0516-1 | Mechanical properties of biologics and bioinspired materials
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| Duration : | 15h Th, 15h Pr |
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| Number of credits : |
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| Lecturer : | Davide Ruffoni |
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Language(s) of instruction :
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| English language |
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Organisation and examination :
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| Teaching in the first semester, review in January |
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Course contents :
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| This is an interdisciplinary course for graduate students interested in the study of biological and bio-inspired materials. Biological materials (i.e., materials that originate from living organisms such as bone, wood, spider silk) are often structured in a sophisticated hierarchical way over many length scales and they exhibit outstanding mechanical properties which are much higher than the attributes of the individual constituents. How is that possible? The main purpose of the course is to answer this question by discussing and interpreting selected examples of biological materials, including mineralized (e.g. bone and bird's beak) and non-mineralized (e.g., wood and spider silk) structures. After a general introduction on the strength of materials, the amazing relationship between structure, property and function will be the central theme of the course. Furthermore, the translation of bio-inspired design strategies into the technical world will be discussed, focusing on the manufacturing of bio-inspired materials with improved mechanical efficiency and multiple functionalities. |
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Learning outcomes of the course :
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| The main aim of the course is to educate the students to the many design strategies adopted by nature to build load-bearing materials and to suggest how such strategies should be mimicked to design novel bio-inspired heterogeneous materials with unprecedented properties. The students will become familiar with the basic building blocks and construction principles of biological materials thanks to a combination of lectures and dedicated group projects. By performing the group projects and preparing the oral presentation, the students will also train their soft skills. At the end of the course, the gained knowledge on biological materials will be applied in a competition among the students, where the most promising bio-inspired structure suggested by the students will be fabricated by three-dimensional polymer printing and characterized by experimental mechanical testing. |
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Prerequisites and co-requisites/ Recommended optional programme components :
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| Classical mechanics and chemistry at the first year university level |
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Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
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| The course is organized in:
- 8 lectures covering: strength of materials, biological materials, bio-inspired materials
- 4 group projects: during the exercise sessions, students will work in small groups to solve specific assignments
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Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
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| Face-to-face |
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Recommended or required readings :
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| Detailed slides, articles and book chapters will be made available to the students via eCampus. |
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Assessment methods and criteria :
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- Delivery of the 4 assignments is mandatory to access the oral examination. These assignments will have a weight of 15% on the final grade.
- Oral presentation (25% of the final grade): Students (in small groups of 2-3 persons) will prepare an oral presentation (10 minutes + 4 minutes discussion) of a recent research article describing a biological or bio-inspired material.
- Oral examination (60% of the final grade).
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Work placement(s) :
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Organizational remarks :
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| The course will take place on the fall quarter. The exact schedule will be fixed in consultation with the students. The first lecture is planned for the third week of September 2014. |
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Contacts :
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| Davide Ruffoni
druffoni@ulg.ac.be
+32 43669359 |
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