MAE Colloquium: Shaoting Lin (Michigan St.)

Description

Extreme Soft Materials by Polymer-network Design

Soft materials are materials of choice in diverse modern technologies such as tissue adhesives, bioelectronics, and soft robots. In all these technologies, the mechanical and physical properties of soft materials play an indispensable role, which are governed by phenomena that span across different length scales. At MSU Lin Research Group, we leverage molecular design and theoretical modeling to understand the processing-structure-property relationships of soft materials, thereby pushing the limit of mechanical and physical properties of soft materials. In the first part of the talk, I will discuss the mechanics of designing tough and fatigue-resistant soft materials, particularly focusing on the low-hysteresis toughening mechanism based on molecular entanglement and strain-induced crystallization. In the second part of the talk, I will elaborate on a mechano-diffusion mechanism, harnessing mechanical deformation as a new design space to program particle diffusion with significantly enlarged tuning ratio and highly expanded tuning freedom. I will conclude the talk with a perspective on future efforts in healthcare and sustainability enabled by extreme soft materials.
 

Bio:
Shaoting Lin holds the position of assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Michigan State University. He earned his Ph.D. degree (2019) at MIT and got his M.S. degree (2013) and B.S. degree (2010) at Tsinghua University. The research in Lin Research Group at MSU, at the intersection of solid mechanics, polymer science, and advanced manufacturing, aims to understand the processing-structure-property relationships of soft materials, thereby pushing the limit of mechanical and physical properties of soft materials. Our mission is to leverage extreme soft materials for developing next-generation technologies including in-situ hydrogel bioelectronics, high-precision sperm selection, and physics-empowered tactile robots. Lin has published 29 first/co-first/corresponding authored papers in leading journals such as Sci. Adv., Nat. Commun., Nat. Nanotechnol., PNAS, JMPS. Prof. Lin was the recipient of the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed Students Abroad (2018), the co-founder of the EASF Young Webinar (2020), the executive editorial board member of Giant (2022), the editor of the ASME technical committee of Mechanics of Soft Materials (2023), the secretary of the ASME technical committee of Mechanics of Soft Materials (2024), and the NSF Faculty Early Career Award (2024).