Yiliang Liao
Iowa State University, IA·Engineering
3D printing (additive manufacturing) builds parts layer by layer. Printed parts often end up weaker than conventionally made ones, because layers do not fully bond and the material's internal structure is hard to control.
- Fields
Engineering
Materials Science
Biomedical Engineering
- Topics
additive manufacturing
3D printing
embedded printing
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2029
What they work on
- Determine how the evolving, uneven thermal environment of a hot liquid support bath controls polymer diffusion and interlayer fusion in embedded printing, using deep-neural-network molecular dynamics, phase-field modeling, and experiments.
- Study how printing conditions affect biothermoplastic crystallization using a multiscale computational framework, then compare the mechanical and biological performance of printed parts with injection-molded counterparts.
- Investigate how nanoparticles that self-assemble at the solidification front alter grain nucleation and growth in laser-printed titanium, using 3D phase-field simulations with CALPHAD databases and grain characterization.
- Predict and test the strength–ductility balance of multimodal titanium grain structures, using crystal plasticity simulations and powder-bed fusion and directed energy deposition experiments with nanoparticle-containing powders.
More about the research
These collaborative projects study the physics of printing, how heat, molecular diffusion, and solidification shape a part's microstructure. The goal is to print stronger plastics for medicine and stronger metals for structural uses.
Why it matters
Better printed biothermoplastics could give patient-specific implants, prosthetics, and surgical tools that are as strong and long-lasting as molded ones. Nanoparticle-controlled printing of titanium could yield stronger, tougher metal parts for aerospace, automotive, military, and biomedical uses. The insights may also apply to welding, casting, and electron-beam manufacturing.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Yue Zhou
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University-Daytona Beach, FL·Engineering
Measure how directed energy deposition settings affect both short-range clustering and overall 3D uniformity of micro-scale ceramic particles in printed metal matrix composites, using controlled experiments and advanced characterization.
Sougata Roy
Iowa State University, IA·Materials Science·Early-career
Reveal how solidification cracks start and grow in aluminum printed by laser directed energy deposition (L-DED), and how large cracks relate to pores in deposited parts.
Albert To
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Engineering
Build a framework that couples finite element heat simulation with data-driven surrogate models through a local thermal environment representation, allowing two-way information exchange to predict melt pool evolution quickly in laser powder bed fusion.
The school
Iowa State University: 23 labs on PI Pages, $462M a year on research, 327 research doctorates a year.
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