Cut or no cut

with Dr. Shu Yang,
Joseph Bordogna Professor of Engineering and Applied Science,
Chair of the Department of Materials Science & Engineering,
University of Pennsylvania

April 27th, 2:30 PM
North End Center Room 2420/2430

 Kirigami, an East Asian papercutting art, allows us to create a mathematically sound method of cutting and fold, or stacking flat materials into curved objects. By introducing holes and cuts in 2D sheets, we demonstrate dramatic shape change and super-conformability via expanding or collapsing of the hole arrays without deforming individual lattice units. When choosing the cuts and geometry correctly, we show folding into the third dimension. The kirigami structures can be rendered pluripotent, that is changing into different 3D structures from the same 2D sheet. In my talk, I will show different designs of kirigami structures for potential applications, including energy efficient building envelope, highly efficient water harvesters, shape conformal 3D structured materials with high mechanical strength.

Shu Yang is a Joseph Bordogna Professor of Engineering and Applied Science, Chair of the Department of Materials Science & Engineering at University of Pennsylvania. Her group is interested in synthesis, fabrication, and assembly of soft matter and composites with dynamically tunable sizes, shapes and geometries for potential applications, including self-cleaning coatings, adhesives, smart windows, sensors, soft robotics and energy efficient buildings. Yang received her B.S. degree from Fudan University, and Ph. D. degree from Cornell University. She worked at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies as a Member of Technical Staff before joining Penn. She received George H. Heilmeier Faculty Award for Excellence in Research from Penn Engineering and was selected as one of the world’s top 100 young innovators under age of 35 by MIT's Technology Review. She is a Fellow of American Chemical Society (ACS), Materials Research Society (MRS), Division of Soft Matter (DSOFT) from American Physical Society (APS), Division of Polymeric Materials: Science and Engineering from American Chemical Society (ACS), and National Academy of Inventors.

 Host: Suyi Li