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Mahdi Bodaghi

Senior Lecturer

School of Science & Technology

Staff Group(s)
Engineering

Role

Dr Mahdi Bodaghi (BSc, MSc, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in Mechanical Engineering in the School of Science and Technology at Nottingham Trent University. He is the module leader for the Solid Mechanics and Dynamics, and Medical Applications of Smart Materials modules. Mahdi is actively pursuing research on Smart Materials, Composite Structures, 3D, 4D Printing (Additive Manufacturing) Technologies and Biomedical Engineering.

Career overview

Mahdi received his PhD Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology in May 2015. For his doctoral research, he developed constitutive models for functional Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs) and Piezoelectrics and assessed their sensory and actuation performance in controlling shape and vibration of smart wing-like Composite Structures by non-linear Finite Element Analysis. During his PhD training, he also served as a Teaching Assistant and a Lecturer for the modules of Mechanics of Materials (I, II, III), Engineering Plasticity and its Applications, and Manufacturing Processes and Technologies.

From July 2015 to July 2018, he was working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Smart Materials and Structures Laboratory at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He worked with Prof. Wei-Hsin Liao to develop advanced multi-functional shape-memory structures fabricated by 3D and 4D Printing Technologies for Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Applications. In September 2017, they received the world-wide Best Paper Award  in Mechanics and Material Systems presented by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Since October 2018, Mahdi has been with the Department of Engineering at Nottingham Trent University.

Taught Modules at NTU:

Solid Mechanics and Dynamics (2018/2019/2020)

Medical Applications of Smart Materials (2019/2020)

Innovation and Engineering Solutions (2018/2019) (partially involved)

Industrial Design & Product Case Studies (2018/2019) (partially involved)

Research areas

Research Expertise:

  • Computational Mechanics
  • Mechanics of Composite Materials
  • Bio-mechanics
  • Smart Materials and Structures
  • Bio-inspired Design
  • Additive Manufacturing
  • 3D and 4D Printing Technologies

Mission:

Developing and exploiting emerging capabilities of Smart Materials and Structures, 3D and 4D Printing Technologies to create and support innovative advanced device technologies for Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Applications.

Research Topics:

  • Computational and experimental mechanics of advanced materials
  • Materials testing and characterisation
  • Design principles for intelligent environments
  • General purpose sensors/actuators based on multi-functional active materials
  • Piezoelectric sensors for structural health monitoring and energy harvesting
  • Piezoelectric sensors-actuators for structural vibration control
  • Piezoelectric micro-sensors/actuators
  • Innovative mechanical energy absorbers
  • Martensitic-austenitic phase transformation
  • Adaptive structures with shape memory alloys and polymers (SMPs) for aerospace applications
  • Innovative mechanical/bio-medical devices with SMA/SMP actuators
  • SMA damping devices for mechanical and civil applications
  • Innovative hybrid composite structures with SMA/SMP fibres
  • Advanced Nano-carbon-fibre composites
  • Bio-inspired design of materials and composites
  • Sustainable materials for smart structures and products
  • Fatigue life of advanced composite structures
  • Functionally graded materials and additive manufacturing
  • Material extrusion for additive manufacturing
  • Sustainable 3D and 4D printing technologies
  • Lattice medical implants and auxetics customised by 3D printing
  • Bio-materials and scaffolds by 3D printing
  • Self-folding/shrinking/expanding biomedical structures by 4D printing
  • Self-tightening surgical sutures, self-conforming splints and self-deploying stents by 4D printing
  • Electronic memory devices like tactile displays and surface adaptive structures by 4D printing
  • Recoverable rolling-up chiral meta-materials by 3D printing
  • Load-resistance supportive auxetics by 3D printing
  • Soft meta-material tissues by 3D printing
  • 4D printing self-morphing structures
  • Advanced biological particle detectors
  • Topology optimization of 4D printed soft actuators
  • Nano-to-macro multi-scale analysis
  • Finite element method and simulation
  • Mesh-free computational methods
  • Constitutive material modelling

Open PhD Research Topics:

  • Self-funded PhD Position in Smart Materials, Bio-Functional/Inspired Materials, Meta-Materials, 3D and 4D Printing Technologies, and Biomedical Device Design

Opening:

Enquires are very welcome from those who are keen to pursue PhD and MPhil degrees in the areas identified above. Please contact Mahdi directly to discuss future opportunities. Further information may be obtained on the NTU Research Degrees website.

External activity

Professional Society:

Journal Service:

  • Editorial Board Member of International Journal of Engineering (established in 1988)
  • Editorial Board Member of Journal of Composites Science (established in 2017)
  • Guest Editor of the Special Issue of Mathematics Journal (ISSN 2227-7390, IF: 1.105): Analytical and Computational Mechanics of Advanced Materials and Functional Structures (it is open for submission; deadline: June 30, 2020)
  • Guest Editor of the Special Issue of Polymers Journal (ISSN 2073-4360, IF: 3.164): The Next Generation of Smart Materials and 3D/4D Printing Technologies (it is open for submission; deadline: May 31, 2020)
  • Guest Editor of the Special Issue of Applied Sciences Journal (ISSN 2076-3417, IF: 2.217): Acoustic Metamaterials and Acoustic Foams: Recent Advances (it is open for submission; deadline: Sep 20, 2020)
  • Guest Editor of the Special Issue of Applied Sciences Journal (ISSN 2076-3417, IF: 2.217): 3D-printed Soft Robots and 4D printing: Modeling, Fabrication, and Control (it is open for submission; deadline: Dec 15, 2020)
  • ​The top 1% of reviewers in the cross-field ranked by Web of Science
  • Reviewer for 53 International Journals verified by Publons

Member of organising/international committee of the following conferences:

Public Engagement:

  • ISEST Ambassador
  • Social media coordinator of the Department of Engineering

Sponsors and collaborators

Collaborators:

  • Amirkabir University of Technology
  • The Chinese University of Hong Kong
  • Deakin University
  • Delft University of Technology
  • University of Glasgow
  • University of the West of England, Bristol
  • Tarbiat Modares University
  • University of Tehran

Publications

Mahdi’s research has led to the publication of 63 scientific papers in leading journals in the mechanics, manufacturing and materials science, and the presentation of his work at major international conferences. A list of publications can be found at Google Scholar, IRep, and ORCID.

See all of Mahdi Bodaghi's publications...

Press expertise

  • Smart medical devices
  • Intelligent environments
  • Green design
  • Sustainability
  • Manufacturing the future
  • 4D printing technology