About

Prof. Ottman A. Tertuliano is the AMA Family Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on mechanics and materials for tissue health. He has a background that includes a Ph.D. in Materials Science from Caltech in 2018, a Postdoctoral position in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford in 2021, and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Columbia University in 2013. His team includes postdoctoral researchers, Ph.D. students, masters students, undergraduates, and visiting scholars, all working on topics related to mechanical engineering, bioengineering, and materials science. The group actively engages in research, outreach, and collaboration, and is based at the University of Pennsylvania, with a focus on advancing understanding in tissue mechanics and related fields.

Research topics

• Composite material
• Materials science
• Optics
• Nanotechnology
• Physics
• Chromatography
• Metallurgy
• Chemical engineering
• Mechanics
• Geology
• Thermodynamics

Selected publications

• Mechanical nanolattices printed using nanocluster-based photoresists

  Science · 2022 · 85 citations

  • Materials science
  • Nanotechnology
  • Composite material

  Natural materials exhibit emergent mechanical properties as a result of their nanoarchitected, nanocomposite structures with optimized hierarchy, anisotropy, and nanoporosity. Fabrication of such complex systems is currently challenging because high-quality three-dimensional (3D) nanoprinting is mostly limited to simple, homogeneous materials. We report a strategy for the rapid nanoprinting of complex structural nanocomposites using metal nanoclusters. These ultrasmall, quantum-confined nanoclusters function as highly sensitive two-photon activators and simultaneously serve as precursors for mechanical reinforcements and nanoscale porogens. Nanocomposites with complex 3D architectures are printed, as well as structures with tunable, hierarchical, and anisotropic nanoporosity. Nanocluster-polymer nanolattices exhibit high specific strength, energy absorption, deformability, and recoverability. This framework provides a generalizable, versatile approach for the use of photoactive nanomaterials in additive manufacturing of complex systems with emergent mechanical properties.

  DOI

• A critical look at the prediction of the temperature field around a laser-induced melt pool on metallic substrates

  Scientific Reports · 2021 · 22 citations

  • Materials science
  • Mechanics
  • Thermodynamics

  The study of microstructure evolution in additive manufacturing of metals would be aided by knowing the thermal history. Since temperature measurements beneath the surface are difficult, estimates are obtained from computational thermo-mechanical models calibrated against traces left in the sample revealed after etching, such as the trace of the melt pool boundary. Here we examine the question of how reliable thermal histories computed from a model that reproduces the melt pool trace are. To this end, we perform experiments in which one of two different laser beams moves with constant velocity and power over a substrate of 17-4PH SS or Ti-6Al-4V, with low enough power to avoid generating a keyhole. We find that thermal histories appear to be reliably computed provided that (a) the power density distribution of the laser beam over the substrate is well characterized, and (b) convective heat transport effects are accounted for. Poor control of the laser beam leads to potentially multiple three-dimensional melt pool shapes compatible with the melt pool trace, and therefore to multiple potential thermal histories. Ignoring convective effects leads to results that are inconsistent with experiments, even for the mild melt pools here.

  DOI

• Nanoparticle-enhanced absorptivity of copper during laser powder bed fusion

  Additive manufacturing · 2021 · 36 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Materials science
  • Composite material
  • Chemical engineering
  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• X. Wendy Gu

  12 shared

• David Doan

  Stanford University

  11 shared

• Philip J. Depond

  Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  9 shared

• Johanna Nelson Weker

  Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource

  8 shared

• Andrew C. Lee

  Stanford University

  7 shared

• Peter Hosemann

  7 shared

• Luc Capaldi

  University of Pennsylvania

  7 shared

• Abhinav Parakh

  7 shared

Labs

• Tertuliano LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering

  University of Pennsylvania

  2015

• M.S., Mechanical Engineering

  University of Pennsylvania

  2011

• B.S., Mechanical Engineering

  University of the Philippines

  2007

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• M. Celeste Simonh-185