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Chiu Lab
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The lab designs composite materials and studies their surface and interface properties.
AboutAbout the lab
Composite material design and surface and interface science analysis.
The Chiu Lab studies the design of metal-based composite materials and the science of their surfaces and interfaces.
Composite materials combine materials with different properties and are used in everything from rockets and aircraft to tiny sensors.
The lab balances the constituent materials and controls surface and interface properties to design composites with enhanced mechanical properties and functions.
Beyond evaluating the materials it makes, the lab also advances design through computer simulation.
Key terms
- Composite material
- A material made by combining two or more materials with different properties to produce new properties
- Interface
- The boundary where one material meets another; a major factor that governs the performance of the whole material
- Finite element method
- A method that divides an object into small pieces and computes on them to predict, by computer, how forces are applied and how the object deforms
NewsLab news
A master's student's paper was accepted by the journal JOM
A doctoral student's paper was accepted by the journal Composites Part A
An undergraduate student's paper was accepted by the journal Materials Transactions
Associate Professor Chiu received the TMS Early Career Leaders Award
An undergraduate student's paper was accepted by the journal Materials Letters
ResearchResearch themes
To make a composite material, one must consider the microstructure and shape of the materials themselves and the balance between them. The Chiu Lab covers everything from designing and creating composites to evaluating their mechanical properties and functions, aiming for new composites whose performance increases multiplicatively rather than additively.
*Illustrative imageMaterials That Bend at Low Voltage
The lab made electrodes in which silver nanostructures penetrate tens of micrometers deep into Nafion, a polymer. The electrode and polymer become harder to peel apart, and the material bends substantially at a low voltage of about 3 V.
*Illustrative imageDesigning Materials by Computation
Designing composites through experiments alone takes a great deal of time and cost. The lab also runs finite element simulations to examine the distribution of strain and stress inside the material, which experiments cannot reveal.
*Illustrative imageFlexible Transparent Electrodes
By combining metal nanowires and PDMS, the lab makes films that conduct electricity well while also transmitting light well. Because current keeps flowing even when the film is bent or stretched, applications to flexible devices are expected.
*Illustrative imageRubber Whose Properties Change in a Magnetic Field
Composites of fine iron particles and silicone rubber change their mechanical properties when a magnetic field is applied (the magnetorheological, or MR, effect). The lab succeeded in producing this effect with a simple fabrication method that does not require the extra step of aligning the particles.
MembersFaculty
The Chiu Lab consists of faculty members, a secretary, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorWan-Ting ChiuPublications ↗
VoicesStudent voices
Compiled from answers by students who were in the lab. Ratings and reviews reflect individual students' experiences, not the lab's official views.
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Carbon fibre weave” Christine Twigg / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Materials That Bend at Low Voltage: “Miura-ori origami tessellations” Origamicke / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Designing Materials by Computation: “Modelle von Flächen zweiter Ordnung nach A. Brill -Schilling, Cartonmodelle- (4)” Ramona Trusheim / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Flexible Transparent Electrodes: “Silver Nanowires” Maido Merisalu / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Rubber Whose Properties Change in a Magnetic Field: “Ferrofluid close” Opoterser / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (合田研究室): “Fermi surface of Copper measured with 2D ACAR” Hinkeldörnchen / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (吉田研究室): “Silicon carbide mirror subjected to thermal–vacuum testing ESA377848” European Space Agency / CC BY-SA 3.0 igo (cropped)
- Related lab (浅井研究室): “Solid polymeric foam” Eva Santini, Giovanna Canu, Michela E. Pedretti, CNR-ICMATE / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (北本研究室): “Ferrofluid Magnet under glass edit” Gregory F. Maxwell / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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