Materials and structures that interpret signals and react

Materials and structures that interpret signals and react Alberto Corigliano, a Full Professor at the Politecnico di Milano, explores the development of sentient materials and structures through the IMMENSE project. Our civilization has progressed in parallel with the invention and use of new materials. Since the mid-20th century, for example, silicon and polymers have been at the forefront of new production methods, the birth of new technologies, and new ways of living. The name Silicon Valley symbolizes the importance given to the principal material of the electronics industry and its impact on our lives. More recently, materials with new performances have been invented and used, such as composite materials that optimally combine the properties of basic constituents, for example, polymers and glass fibers, to obtain new materials with very high performance. Subsequently, there has been an increasingly widespread use in many applications of so-called smart materials, which can react to stimuli of different origins, as in the case of piezoelectric materials that couple the electrical and mechanical worlds. Moreover, the term metamaterials is frequently used by researchers who aim to obtain materials with properties that go beyond those found in commonly used materials. By combining composite, smart, and metamaterials, it is now possible to obtain products with performances that were unthinkable just a few years ago, in some cases truly exceptional, such as the ability to completely filter and thus block vibrations and/or sounds.