Unlocking the potential of metamaterials.

Materials underpin almost every aspect of our lives, fm protecting us to feeding us; from enabling communication to the supply of energy; from constructing transport infrastructure to housing and keeping us warm. UK leadership in, and resilient access to, current and future materials directly dictate our national prosperity, our security, and our quality of life. Advanced materials have been identified as a frontier industry within the UK's Modern Idustrial Srategy. They are a broad class of materials that are engineered to have novel or enhanced properties or functionalities that surpass those of conventional materials. Examples include advanced metals and plastics, fibre-matrix composites (e.g., carbon fibre composites), and additively manufactured (e.g., 3D and 4D printed) materials and metamaterials. A metamaterial is an assembly of carefully arranged and patterned elements ('meta-atoms'), that offers a response or function beyond that of its constituent materials. They offer more design freedom than conventional materials; as an enabling technology platform they offer generation-after-next functionality and performance, including, for example, minimising size and weight, and maximising energy efficiency. The field of metamaterials, and the associated theoretical, modelling and development platforms that underline it, expand what conventional materials can do for us. In addition to chemical composition, the fine structure of a conventional material can be designed at the outset to engineer bespoke and disruptively advantageous characteristics and functionality. This concept of function-through-structure is the basis for modern advanced materials. Metamaterial concepts add an additional design tool, with the meta-atom elements further expanding the range and combinations of advantageous properties possible. Metamaterial approaches have gained significant traction in recent years, and are poised to transform the design, manufacture, and functionality of everyday products, such as sports equipment and consumer electronics. In collaboration, the IMechE and the UKMMN have produced a report (available alongside this summary) to elevate the profile of metamaterials and identify opportunities to maximise the social and economic benefits of this pioneering field of research. It covers different types of metamaterials,4 how best to design and manufacture them, and the thematic application areas of: Health; Sustainability; Space and aviation.