ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2025 64 3D PRINTSHOP MACHINE LEARNING CREATED A STRONG, PRINTABLE ALUMINUM ALLOY Using machine learning and simulation, engineers at MIT developed a printable aluminum that is stronger than conventionally created materials and can withstand high temperatures. The new printable metal is made from a mix of aluminum and other elements. While traditional methods would require simulating over one million possible combinations of materials, the team’s new machine learning-based approach needed only to evaluate 40 possible compositions before identifying an ideal mix for a high-strength, printable aluminum alloy. When they printed the alloy and tested the resulting material, the team confirmed that, as predicted, the aluminum alloy was as strong as the strongest aluminum alloys that are manufactured today using traditional casting methods. “If we can use lighter, highstrength material, this would save a considerable amount of energy for the transportation industry,” says Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi, who led the work as a postdoc at MIT and is now an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University. The new work grew out of an MIT class that Taheri-Mousavi took in 2020, which was taught by Greg Olson, FASM, professor of the practice. As part of the class, students learned to use computational simulations to design high-performance alloys. Olson challenged the class to design an aluminum alloy that would be stronger than the strongest printable aluminum alloy designed to date. With this in mind, the class used computer simulations to methodically combine aluminum with various types and concentrations of elements, to simulate and predict the resulting alloy’s strength. However, the exercise failed to produce a stronger result. At the end of the class, Taheri- Mousavi wondered: Could machine learning do better? In the new study, Taheri-Mousavi used machine-learning techniques designed to efficiently comb through data such as the properties of ele- ments. Their machine-learning approach quickly homed in on a recipe for an aluminum alloy with higher volume fraction of small precipitates, and therefore higher strength, than what the previous studies identified. The team found that laser bed powder fusion’s inherently rapid cooling and solidification enabled the small-precipitate, high-strength aluminum alloy that their machine learning method predicted. “Here, 3D printing opens a new door because of the unique characteristics of the process, particularly, the fast cooling rate. Very rapid freezing of the alloy after it’s melted by the laser creates this special set of properties,” adds John Hart, the Class of 1922 Professor and head of the department of mechanical engineering at MIT. mit.edu. TWISTED METAMATERIALS FOR IMPACT PROTECTION A 3D-printed twisting metamaterial has a unique lattice shape that lets it twist into itself and could mitigate the effects of vehicle crashes. Researchers from the University of Glasgow, the Polytechnic University of Marche, the University of L’Aquila, and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics in Italy describe the “adaptive twisting metamaterials” in a paper published in Advanced Materials. Unlike conventional foams or crumple zones, which provide predetermined resistance to impacts, this material’s response to blows can be mechanically controlled, thereby altering its energy absorption. It can be fine-tuned to provide stiffer resistance to heavy collisions or softer cushioning for lighter impacts. The 3D printing process gives the team fine-grained control over the steel material’s architecture, allowing them to weave a complex, highly porous shape known as a gyroid lattice throughout it. When the material is compressed by an external force, it twists in a corkscrew-like motion, absorbing the impact energy. The researchers also believe the materials could support the development of novel forms of energy harvesting, by converting impacts into rotational kinetic energy. dx.doi.org/10.1002/adma. 202513714. Aluminum (in brown) with nanometer scale precipitates (in light blue). The precipitates are arranged in regular, nanoscale patterns (blue and green in inset) that impart strength to the alloy. Courtesy of Felice Frankel. Architectural design of the twisting gyroid structure, named “TwGy.” Courtesy of Advanced Materials.
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