In Silico Design of Reflectin-Inspired Mechanimorphic Materials
Abstract
ABSTRACT Advanced multifunctional materials hold the potential to revolutionize traditional size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) considerations for U. S. Army warfighter technologies. Indeed, the development of materials platforms with multiple desirable aspects (e.g., appearance-changing capabilities, thermal and environmental stabilities, dynamic mechanical reconfigurabilities, or straightforward manufacturabilities) has emerged as an area of critical need and tremendous opportunity for the Department of Defense. Within this context, one research track has focused primarily on the synthesis and evaluation of high-performance artificial polymers such as Kevlar derivatives, while another research track has focused on the production and study of highperformance natural biopolymers such as silk variants. However, despite the many reported exciting advances, the predictable engineering of materials systems that merge the most desirable features of both artificial polymers and natural biopolymers has remained extremely challenging because of the inherent complexity of achieving substantive breakthroughs amidst a daunting design parameter space. Herein, we propose an iterative computationally-guided strategy for the development and engineering of designer hybrid biomacromolecular polyquinoline-reflectin materials, which are expected to recapitulate the desirable mechanical properties of polyquinolines and the unique hierarchical adaptive reconfigurability of reflectins. We anticipate that the envisioned tandem in silico and ex silico methodology will reduce the time and effort associated with the mapping and discovery of hybrid biotic/abiotic materials with desirable functionalities by orders of magnitude, while establishing the scientific foundation and conceptual framework required for developing a wide range of soldier protection-relevant bioinspired systems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 24, 2023
- Source ID
- W911NF2310052
Entities
People
- Yaroslava G. Yingling
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- North Carolina State University
- United States Army