Pedro Ponte Castañeda

Pedro Ponte Castañeda

Raymond S. Markowitz Faculty Fellow and Professor
Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics (MEAM)

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Honors and Awards:  ASME Warner T. Koiter Medal - 2016, ASME Fellow - 2014, Humboldt Research Award - 2013, Heilmeier Award for Excellence in Faculty Research - 2007, ASME Achievement Award for Young Investigators in Applied Mechanics - 2000

Research Expertise: Mechanics of Materials | Active Materials | Homogenization

Ponte's research is in the area of heterogeneous material systems, including composites, polycrystalline aggregates and particulate flows. In the area of composite materials, he addresses nonlinear constitutive and kinematical effects as observed in low-temperature plasticity and high-temperature creep of metal-matrix composites, as well as in the large-deformation behavior of black-filled and porous elastomers. His group is also concerned with the theoretical development of constitutive models for porous metals, accounting for the evolution of the microstructure, which will be useful in assessing the effect of porosity on localization instabilities with applications to ductile failure and manufacturing processes. He is developing constitutive models for low-symmetry polycrystals, and also working on the numerical implementation of these models in constitutive subroutines. In addition, Ponte's group is developing structure-property relations for thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) and semi-crystalline polymers (SCP). These are multiphase polymeric materials consisting of a phase (e.g., polybutadiene) giving rise to the rubbery nature of the materials, and a crystalline or glassy phase (e.g., polystyrene, or polypropylene) yielding increased stiffness and enhanced large-deformation properties. TPEs and SCPs exhibit structure at two different length scales and there is growing experimental evidence that this dual structure greatly affects the overall response of macroscopic samples. Most recently, Ponte's group has been developing constitutive models for magneto-and electro-elastic materials capable of undergoing large strains and investigating possible applications as active materials, including “artificial muscles,” as well as investigating the non-Newtonian rheology of dispersions of soft elastic particle in viscous fluids.

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