MSE Seminar: Improving Material Scope, Complexity & Control in Additive Mfg. Through Chem. & Material Innovati

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Johanna Schwartz, Ph.D.
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER
LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY

Dr. Johanna Schwartz received her Bachelor’s in chemistry and biology from Bard College at Simon’s Rock in 2014. Her Bachelor’s thesis research with Prof. David Myers focused on natural product synthesis, antibiotic and antifungal testing. In addition, she completed multiple research internships at both UNLV (Prof. Chulsung Bae, synthesis of hydrogen fuel cell polymers) and Northwestern (Prof. John Ketterson, synthesis of pure single crystals of cuprous oxide). Johanna officially joined Prof. AJ Boydston’s group at the University of Washington, Seattle in December 2014, and became an NSF Graduate Research Fellow in 2015. She followed Prof. Boydston and graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2019. Her work primarily focused on expanding the scope and complexity of additive manufacturing (AM) processes through chemical control, culminating in the invention of a novel multi-material vat photopolymerization method using two wavelengths of light. She started her postdoctoral research at LLNL in the Advanced Materials Synthesis group (renamed Materials for Energy and Climate Security group, led by Dr. Sarah Baker) in August 2019. She works as a chemistry and materials expert within multiple highly interdisciplinary, collaborative project teams. These projects include advancing the chemistries of volumetric AM, developing novel multi-wavelength AM methods using both photoinitiation and photoinhibition chemistries, synthesis of high-temperature reversible thermoset adhesives, as well as creating elastic, breathable protective carbon nanotube composite membranes. She is also a primary investigator at LLNL, creating an automated, high-throughput materials optimization platform centered on increased ionic conductivity polymer electrolytes.

Abstract

This talk will focus on my past and present research initiatives, as well as how they relate to my future research program expanding the capabilities of additive manufacturing (AM) processes by increasing their material scope and chemical complexity. In addition, I will discuss my goal to couple multi-material AM methods with in-situ characterization and closed-loop feedback to speed up and automate materials optimization and discovery toward target applications. I am currently developing a prototype of this automated platform at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) targeting increased ionic conductivity polymer electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries.

Ultimately, vertical integration and control over the molecular, microscale and macroscale interactions can be leveraged to create novel AM processes as well as smart, adaptive multi-responsive objects with controlled responses to target stimuli. One highlighted example from my work is the invention of a novel multi-wavelength vat photopolymerization method called Multimaterial Actinic Spatial Control (MASC) AM. Using orthogonal photopolymerization systems initiated via different wavelengths of light, chemical compositions and mechanical properties can be dictated spatially in printed multi-material objects through simple multicolor irradiation.