About

RepMat.

Replicating Materials Library.

The name, RepMat, is an explicit inspiration of the RepRap project, Replicating Rapid prototyper. This initiative aims to making accessible and freely available self-replicable Open-source 3D printers.

In the same way, RepMat wants to democratize materials and technological knowledge (and experience) by sharing experimentations, results, and possible real exploitations dealing with circular materials and digital fabrication tools. Inspired by the Makers’ community, RepMat encourages connections at a glocal (global+local) level, acting as a distributed network linking local communities working on these topics, such as research labs, makerspaces, and studios.

RepMat aims to provoke the audience of this library by highlighting the role of dissemination and knowledge transfer in fostering the use of emerging sustainable practices, as well as the development of new ones.

RepMat.

Materials Library System.

As the name suggests, RepMat derives from the concept of “Materials Library”, which means physical collections of material samples to be used during the design process of new products or artifacts.

RepMat is also a system-oriented experiential tool made of two main parts: a Physical Library and a Virtual Library. The first part collects flat samples, cut-offs, and possible applications, whereas the second part comprises intangible contents such as technical data, information, pictures. The two parts are designed to be used together and are linked in their structure. However, they can be used separately, for example to familiarize with the topic.

RepMat is an open source:

• Physical and Virtual experiential tool, merging the two tangible and intangible fruitions to support the whole experience and knowledge transfer.
• Local and Distributed network, linking local communities and users in global virtual networks.
• Accessible and Participated environment, sharing materials knowledge and encouraging practical actions, as well as collaborations between users.

Do you want to know how it works? Check this link!

RepMat.

A growing Project.

The contents of RepMat, as well as its concept, are part of the Ph.D. research of Alessia Romani, supervised by prof. Marinella Levi and prof. Valentina Rognoli.

The doctoral research has been mainly conducted at the Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “Giulio Natta” and Design Department of Politecnico di Milano (Milan, Italy) at +LAB and MaDe/Trans. Part of the work has been held in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Western University (London, Ontario, Canada) at FAST Lab.

The idea of a Materials Library System derives from the work of Alessia held within the Horizon 2020 European Project FiberEUse “Large scale demonstration of new circular economy value-chains based on the reuse of end-of-life fiber reinforced composites”. The Materials library of this project, FiberEUse Library, can be considered as a previous step in defining the concept of the RepMat Library, sharing similar structures and taxonomies in their parts. For this reason, the FiberEUse library is considered as an important milestone in reaching the current version of RepMat.

RepMat should be intended as a growing experiential tool to be redefined and improved through use and in a collaborative way. The physical part can be freely replicated within fablabs, makerspaces, studios, and educational institutions by following the principles of open source and open design, giving the credits to this project. In addition, these results can be also added and shared in this virtual part of RepMat to support this work and help other users, sharing new knowledge.

For more information, visit the section Join Us of this website. The software content are released under the GNU General Public License (GPL) 3.0.

RepMat.

Contributors and acknowledgements.

Special thanks to:

• Contents contributors (samples, tests, applications): Juan Sebastian Barrera Cely, Lorenzo Perusin, Martina Paramatti, Davide Teruzzi.
• Supervisors (research activity): Marinella Levi, Valentina Rognoli, Joshua M. Pearce.
• Supervisors (materials library development): Marinella Levi, Valentina Rognoli.
• Consultants, technical assistance, and support: Mattia Ciurnelli, Aliaksei Petsiuk, Gianluca Pugliese, Ravneet S. Rattan, Giulia Riccardi, Romano Romani.
• Companies and institutions: FAST Lab (Western University), SuperForma Srl, Wasp Srl, Il Bullone, CoffeeFrom Srl, LowPoly SL, Re:3D.

Research Labs/groups: