Background Smart materials and structures with shape memory properties have recently gained attention due to their unique ability to remember their original shape, dimensional flexibility, structural programmability, and multi-material compatibilities. These materials have broad applications in morphing structures, heat storage, flexible electronics,...

Background Nanoparticles can be selectively deposited and aligned on complex and flexible substrates in order to tune material properties and enrich structural versatility for applications in microelectronics, optoelectronics, sensors, and human-machine interfaces. However, it is difficult for most current nanoprocessing methods to effectively manipulate...

­Additive manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, is a manufacturing technique that builds layer-by-layer materials. 3D printing has advantages over traditional manufacturing with respect to rapid prototyping, complicated design, and material sustainability. Commonly used 3D printing mechanisms include vat-polymerization, material jetting,...

­Carbon fibers can be made from carbonized precursors, e.g., cellulose, lignin, pitch, polyacrylonitrile (PAN), or Kevlar. Compared to pitch, PAN has advantages of controlled molecular weights from chemical synthesis, easy processability, reduced viscosity, and controlled crystallinity and molecular alignment that can benefit the efficiency of...

The quality of IMPT treatment plans may be drastically diminished by uncertainties such as proton range and patient setup errors. If these uncertainties are not figured into treatment planning, the dose distribution that the patient receives may not be the same as the planned dose distribution. New treatment plans, which include optimized software/programming,...