The study shows how deposition sequence and post-processing heat treatment influence interfacial microstructure and directional thermal conductivity. Notably, heat treatment increased the in-plane thermal conductivity of GRCop-42/IN718 joints by 131%, highlighting new opportunities for designing multi-material components for advanced thermal-management applications.

We are glad to have contributed to this collaborative work and congratulate the entire team on the publication.

The post Cold spray additive manufacturing of Inconel 718/Cu and Inconel 718/GRCop-42 multi-materials: effects of deposition sequence on interface and thermal conductivity appeared first on Archès Lab.

In our latest publication, we explored how selective ultrasonic shot peening (USP) can be used to create bi-directional microstructural heterogeneity in thin 316L stainless steel specimens. By introducing specially designed polymeric masks during USP, we selectively protected regions of the specimen surface, producing a patterned architecture composed of hardened (USPed) and untreated (masked) domains.

This approach enables microstructural gradients not only through the thickness, but also across the surface, offering a new way to tailor grain refinement, GND distribution, and strain localization through controlled surface treatment.

The results demonstrate the potential of selective USP as a versatile strategy for designing heterogeneous microstructures and tuning mechanical behavior. Our future work will focus on more advanced masking strategies and extending this concept to other material systems.

We’re excited to continue exploring how spatially controlled surface engineering can open new opportunities for microstructure design and performance optimization.

The post Engineering bi-directional microstructural heterogeneity through mechanical surface treatment appeared first on Archès Lab.

In this research, we developed a data-efficient, clustering-aware design framework that combines deep neural networks with genetic algorithms and finite element simulations to generate architected structures with tailored mechanical properties automatically. Our method enables simultaneous control of stiffness, energy absorption, and relative density, moving beyond traditional design strategies. We demonstrate its capability on lightweight, high-performance metamaterials and apply it to optimize orthopaedic implants with biocompatible elastic modulus and enhanced impact energy dissipation. This approach opens new pathways for designing complex heterogeneous materials with targeted performance.

The post Inverse Multi-Objective Design of Three-Dimensional Plate-Based Heterogeneous Mechanical Metamaterials appeared first on Archès Lab.

In response to escalating hygiene concerns, we propose a novel strategy to reduce bacterial adhesion on consumer-grade plastic surfaces (e.g. consumer electronics). Herein, we develop, for the first time in an industrial environment, a process chain using infrared ultrafast laser texturing to create controlled nanotextures that can influence bacterial colonization on plastic surfaces. 

The post A process chain leveraging femtosecond laser induced nanotextures towards mitigating Staphylococcus aureus adhesion on plastic surfaces appeared first on Archès Lab.

The ability to adjust topological features of lattice structures offers a great potential to finely calibrate their physical and mechanical response to precisely meet specific requirements. This study explores a new topological design that leverages the internal porosity of Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces (TPMS) unit cells to optimize and control their mechanical properties. A smaller-scale TPMS lattice structure was integrated within the internal volume of the sheet-network Schwarz Primitive TPMS cell, culminating in a hybrid hierarchical architecture. Various TPMS topologies with distinct mechanical behavior and varying relative density combinations were examined. Experimental and numerical approaches were developed to reveal the structure’s deformation behaviour and quantify stiffness, anisotropy, quasi-static uniaxial compressive strength, and energy absorption capacity. The topological design of the internal lattice was found to play a key role in defining the mechanical performance of the integrated structures, leading to enhanced energy absorption up to 4 times that of the reference structure. Moreover, all the studied hierarchical topologies exhibited a lower Emax/Emin ratio in comparison to the reference topology, indicating more isotropic performance of the hybrid designs (upto 40% reduction of anisotropy). The findings underscore the significant promise of hybrid hierarchical design methodologies in attaining lattice structures with tailored properties.

The post A novel hierarchical triply periodic minimal surface unit cell  appeared first on Archès Lab.