By Hannah Grover, NM Political Report
Researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have developed an open-source code that could benefit the medical field and help manufacturers create safer, stronger products.
Nathaniel Morgan is a senior scientist at LANL who is part of the team that produced the software, called Fierro.
Fierro was highlighted this month in the winter issue of LANL’s magazine National Security Science. The winter issue focused on manufacturing.
Fierro simulates how microstructures in manufactured parts will perform under different scenarios.
Morgan said Fierro got its start around six years ago.
“Our goal was to try to simulate fine-scale details in materials,” Morgan told NM Political Report. “And this is of relevance when we think about if we’re doing manufacturing. Manufacturing changes those fine-scale details of a material — we call that microstructure — and that microstructure then influences the material’s properties as well as its performance.”
Fierro specifically has applications in a field called additive manufacturing. Additive manufacturing is when objects are built layer-by-layer using a digital model. Morgan gave the example of 3D printing.
He said people have the ability to print a lattice structure like a honeycomb.
This structure can be key to dissipating stress waves upon impact. Morgan pointed to the design of the Smith brand of ski helmets.
“They have a honeycomb-like structure, and the honeycomb structure and their testing has demonstrated improved safety of people who are wearing their helmets,” he said.
Morgan said helmet manufacturers can do a trial-and-error test to determine the best structure for their product … Testing different lattice structures in a virtual testing lab can also help make the determination. Fierro provides that opportunity — and it isn’t just helmets that could become safer because of it.
Morgan said Fierro could help create car bumpers that are better able to absorb energy from a crash.
“Automobiles — if you look at the statistical data — account for a lot of injuries as well deaths of Americans and people around the world,” Morgan said. “So can we improve the structures in an automobile for occupant safety?”
Morgan said he can also envision medical applications for Fierro, including helping design better medical parts.
“We want to help push the world towards more and more creative approaches to manufacturing things that has a demonstrative impact on human health in this case — or in the case of helmets, the safety and health of humans,” Morgan said. “That’s why we’re really excited to share the software.”
Morgan said it was also important that Fierro be available to anyone who wants to use it.
“Our goal is to help the broader humanity in advancing manufacturing engineering,” Morgan said. “And in order to do that, having open-source software is critical.”
He said having the software open source allows it to be available for academics or “anyone else who wants to be able to take advantage of” Fierro.
Fierro is available on GitHub.
Morgan said the team also made advances in computer science while developing Fierro. The team now has an underlying computer library that is available for free.
Morgan said the library could potentially simulate atmospheric geology to engineering sciences, among other applications.
“That’s just a computer science library that can help the broader community,” he said.