Research
REMAT addresses its scientific goals through two highly collaborative, interdisciplinary and integrated Research Tasks that bring together synthesis, modeling, high throughput experimentation, characterization, and machine learning to develop transformative manufacturing platforms that harness energy-efficient frontal polymerization.
Research Tasks
Materials Discovery for Regenerative Lifecycles
Researchers in this task aim to discover resin formulations cured via frontal polymerization reaction to produce thermosets with programmed end-of-life and capacity for multiple generations of re-use.
Circular Additive and Morphogenic Manufacturing
Researchers in this task use regenerative materials to explore the frontiers of structural control made possible by integrating a thermochemical reaction-diffusion process with additive manufacturing. Researchers also explore the possibility of attaining patterned morphologies, or morphogenic manufacturing.
Roadmap for Current and Future Research
The REMAT team has made significant progress towards achieving the overarching Y1 milestones. This progress and the projected roadmap for the next two years are summarized within the the roadmap outlined here.
Impact
REMAT addresses the U.S. Department of Energy’s Basic Energy Science Sciences Grand Challenges, specifically PRD1 (Achieve Precise Scalable Synthesis and Processing of Atomic-Scale Building Blocks for Components and Systems) and PRO3 (Design of Next-Generation Polymers for Chemical Circularity).
Our legacy will be generalizable knowledge for achieving precise structure and property control during efficient-energy manufacturing of regenerative thermoset polymers and composites.