Francois Barthelat

About

Francois Barthelat is a professor in the Paul M. Rady Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Colorado Boulder. His research focuses on materials, bioinspiration, and micro-architecture, where he combines theoretical mechanics, numerical modeling, optimization, experimental mechanics, 3D printing, and biology to explore new material designs. His work aims to create materials that combine properties traditionally difficult to achieve simultaneously, such as stiff and impact-resistant materials that are also flexible or capable of morphing under different loading conditions. His research involves drawing inspiration from natural materials like bone, seashells, teeth, skin, and fish scales, and utilizing material architecture—integrating hard and soft materials, weak interfaces, and geometries—to control deformation and fracture mechanisms. Current projects include morphing materials inspired by fish fins, engineered granular materials, entangled matter, and innovative architectures for impact mitigation. His societal impact efforts focus on developing lighter, stronger, recyclable, and damage-healing materials that can lead to significant savings in transportation and have applications in robotics and biomedical devices.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Computer Science
• Composite material
• Biology
• Nanotechnology

Selected publications

• Structural and mechanical properties of fish scales for the bio-inspired design of flexible body armors: A review

  Acta Biomaterialia · 2020 · 133 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  DOI

• Centrifugation and index matching yield a strong and transparent bioinspired nacreous composite

  Science · 2021 · 104 citations

  Glasses have numerous applications because of their exceptional transparency and stiffness; however, poor fracture, impact resistance, and mechanical reliability limit the range of their applications. Recent bioinspired glasses have shown superior mechanical performance, but they still suffer from reduced optical quality. Here, we present a nacreous glass composite that offers a combination of strength, toughness, and transparency. Micrometer-sized glass tablets and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PM…

  DOI

• Stiff bioinspired architectured beams bend Saint-Venant’s principle and generate large shape morphing

  International Journal of Solids and Structures · 2023-04-21 · 18 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Nacreous Glass Composites with Superior Performance Engineered through Mechanical Vibration and Silanization

  Advanced Functional Materials · 2024-06-04 · 13 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Bioinspiration offers alternative solutions to overcome the inherent drawbacks of glass, such as low fracture toughness, strength, and impact resistance. Synthetic composites inspired by natural materials, such as nacre, have been recently introduced as an alternative to glasses. However, these have all suffered from trade‐offs between rigidity, optical clarity, fabrication scalability, and complexity. Here, two wave‐based fabrication techniques are presented to create a nacreous struct…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Mechanics and properties of fish fin rays in nonlinear regimes of large deformations

  Acta Biomaterialia · 2023-06-25 · 8 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Mechanics of Crystallization, Deformation and Phase Transformation in Granular Materials with Engineered Grain Geometries

  NSF · $392k · 2021–2025

Frequent coauthors

• J. William Pro

  McGill University

  26 shared

• Mohammad Mirkhalaf

  Queensland University of Technology

  25 shared

• Ahmad Khayer Dastjerdi

  McGill University

  21 shared

• Reza Rabiei

  McGill University

  18 shared

• Florent Hannard

  UCLouvain

  17 shared

• Deju Zhu

  15 shared

• Horacio D. Espinosa

  Northwestern University

  14 shared

• Markus J. Buehler

  11 shared

Labs

• Barthelat LabPI

  Laboratory for Advanced Materials & Bioinspiration

Awards & honors

• Chwang-Seto Faculty Scholar, McGill University (2018)
• Visiting Professor, Institut d’Alembert, Jussieu, France (Ju…
• Department of National Defence /NSERC Discovery Grant Supple…
• Acta Biomaterialia Outstanding Reviewer (2015)
• Discovery Accelerator Supplement (2012-2015)

Similar researchers at University of Colorado Boulder

• Daven Henzeh-75
• Mark A. Bordenh-54
• Michael Hanniganh-47