Superlative mechanical energy absorbing efficiency discovered through self-driving lab-human partnership.
biomechanical · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38773093.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-48534-4 and PMC identifier 11109101.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Energy absorbing efficiency is a key determinant of a structure's ability to provide mechanical protection and is defined by the amount of energy that can be absorbed prior to stresses increasing to a level that damages the system to be protected. Here, we explore the energy absorbing efficiency of additively manufactured polymer structures by using a self-driving lab (SDL) to perform >25,000 physical experiments on generalized cylindrical shells. We use a human-SDL collaborative approach where experiments are selected from over trillions of candidates in an 11-dimensional parameter space using Bayesian optimization and then automatically performed while the human team monitors progress to periodically modify aspects of the system. The result of this human-SDL campaign is the discovery of a structure with a 75.2% energy absorbing efficiency and a library of experimental data that reveals transferable principles for designing tough structures.