The research activities of Prof. LLorca’s Bio/Chemo/Mechanics of Materials research group at IMDEA Materials Institute are focused in the development of new materials for engineering applications in transport, energy and health. The processing-structure-properties relationships of materials are established by means of different computational tools (ab initio, cluster expansion, molecular mechanics, dislocation dynamics, phase field, computational thermodynamics, computational mechanics, etc.) and multiscale modeling strategies (transition state theory, homogenization, etc.) as well as in situ and in operando characterization techniques. Particular emphasis is paid to the interaction among biological, chemical and mechanical processes. This information is used to design new materials that are manufactured by means of advanced processing techniques (including additive manufacturing of metallic alloys, polymers and composites, magnetron sputtering, etc.).

The current interests of the research group – within the framework of Integrated Computational Materials Engineering – are aimed at the design of advanced materials for engineering applications, so new materials can be designed, tested and optimized in silico before they are actually manufactured in the laboratory. They include the microstructural design of polycrystalline metallic alloys and composite materials for structural applications in transport, health care (implants and scaffolds) as well as energy (catalysis).