MEDIA CONTACT​: Chandler Tuck, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

​chandlerwtuck@gmail.com
(865) 643-3380

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

University of Tennessee Teams Up With Materials Breakthrough

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.,​ (Feb. 1, 2018) The University of Tennessee is teaming up with Harvard
University and the University of Pennsylvania on a major materials breakthrough. The team of
researchers from the three universities found a shortcut to 3D print short-fiber-reinforced
materials with precisely controlled fiber arrangements.

This finding adds new rotations of the nozzle on the 3D printer allowing it to have different
variations of the printing process. This new process prints material in a helical arrangement that
provides strong damage resistance to other printed materials.

“The rotational print head is unique because it utilizes the viscosity of the ink itself to reorient
fibers in a desirable way,” said Brett Compton, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering
at UT Knoxville and co-author of the study.

The research team is comprised of researchers from Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, ETH
Zurich (a top research university in Switzerland) and the University of Tennessee; the team is
led by Professor Jennifer Lewis from Harvard.

Found in wood, bones and antlers helical fibers occur naturally in the environments and part of
the research team's job was to identify the strongest and weakest points in each fiber, but after
reaching that goal the team’s priority became finding a way to control the strongest and weakest
points of each fiber.

The team tested this on the mantis shrimp, known as stomatopods, which have a pair of
clubbed fingers that allow them to get out of the of the bubbles they release that are powerful
enough to crack different shell fish like crab and clams. However, the shrimp must be able to
repeatedly endure the damage of releasing gases from its pores. So, the team has been trying
to find ways to strengthen the “fingers” of the shrimp that will allow them to endure this action
longer than before.

“Using that idea allows us to control how and where strain is distributed in printed components,”
Compton added.

The concept of the 3D printer can be applied to all studies using materials research and the
team will be using small printers as well as the BAAM 3D printers developed at ORNL, which
are considered large-scale printers.

Brett Compton began this research while he was a research fellow at Harvard’s Wyss Institute
and continued on as he transferred to the University of Tennessee, multiple other team
members were current fellows at the Wyss Institute at Harvard.

***

The University of Tennessee is an institute of higher education in Knoxville, Tennessee that is

dedicated to the advancement of knowledge of its current students and maintaining nourishing
its relationships with alumnus.

###