Abstract: Disclosed herein is a concrete composition comprising a reinforcement material comprising a clay material, a sand material, a biochar material, an organic fiber material and a binder material. The binder material comprises a polymer. A disclosed ratio of binder material wt % to reinforcement material wt % ranges between 11:69 to 15:69. A method is also disclosed, wherein the method may include, for example, beginning an extrusion of the disclosed concrete mixture to create an extrudate, initiating a polymerization front of the extrudate, and beginning direct writing of the extrudate.

Abstract: Direct ink write (DIW) 3D printing, an extrusion-based additive manufacturing (AM) approach, is used to prepare aligned, monodomain liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) lattice structures which can be used for multi-strain rate mechanical damping, ranging from quasi-static compression to dynamic shock and vibration. LCE structures can not only dissipate strain energy in quasi-static environments because of their lattice architectures, but also harness the dynamic energy dissipation properties of the aligned, monodomain LCE material. The invention provides a pathway for the simple fabrication of mechanical damping devices that effectively dissipate energy across a broad range of loading rates.