Ji Ma

Bio

In addition to being a powerful tool for creating complex geometries, additive manufacturing also has a hidden talent as a materials designer.  Our research explores ways of using additive manufacturing/3-D printing techniques to create materials with novel properties that cannot be achieved through conventional means, and incorporating these materials in designed geometry to produce functionally unique parts.  We focus primarily on the additive manufacturing of metallic alloys and control of solidification, porosity, residual stress, and micro-to-nano-scale microstructure.  Our work also extends to multi-materials printing with spatially tailored properties, multifunctional materials, 3D concrete printing, and related applications.