Prof. Francesco dell'Isola (Università degli Studi dell’Aquila, Italy)

A new problem of old: synthesis of metamaterials. Theory, numerics and experiments

Abstract:

Novel technological challenges from the engineering  innovative materials  are being presented to mathematical physics that formulates consequently the problem of  metamaterials synthesis.
The need to design novel materials on demand requires the capacity of synthesising micro-architectures that, at macro level, behave as engineering applications demand. The mathematical modelling effort must face complex theoretical problems, long numerical simulations and difficult production and experimental challenges.
In this presentation some results in this novel and fascinating subject are shown. Starting from some methodological considerations, some nine synthesis problems are formulated and their solution is shown by using a combination of numerical methods and theoretical general results. Experimental evidence is shown that proves that the theoretical effort is producing interesting and useful knowledge whose applicability seems very close, also due to the establishment of modern 3D printing technology.