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Welcome to The Wave Engineering’s Byte-Sized Newsletter, a quick-read style article that talks about breakthroughs from across the industry. While the long form article will still be hosted on The Wave, the following section should give you a concise summary on what caught my attention this week.

In just minutes you’ll gain insights that might otherwise get lost in the noise of your busy professional life. Nothing more than carefully curated stories that expand your engineering horizons and spark new ideas.

My goals of these articles is to spotlights current events that represent true paradigm shifts in how we approach challenges. These “Byte-Sized” topics will decode complex innovations into their essential elements and push the boundaries of engineering.

Join the conversation at The Wave, where ideas spark, questions find answers, and the engineering community comes together to create the future. Engineering isn’t just about technology—it’s about people. Subscribe and ride the wave of innovation with us.

Ceramics have long presented engineers with a paradox—prized for their exceptional properties yet limited by catastrophic brittleness. When stressed, their rigid atomic bonds cause sudden, complete fractures rather than gradual deformation.

University of Houston researchers have fundamentally reimagined this limitation by applying origami principles to ceramic design. Instead of modifying chemical composition, they focused on structural geometry, creating 3D-printed ceramics based on the Miura-ori folding pattern—originally developed for space applications.

The breakthrough combines two key innovations: first, translating this origami pattern into 3D-printed ceramic structures that distribute stress across multiple fold lines; second, coating these structures with a thin layer of biocompatible silicone elastomer (PDMS). This mimics natural composites like nacre (mother-of-pearl), where brittle elements alternate with flexible materials to prevent catastrophic failure.

Testing shows these origami ceramics absorb significantly more energy before failure and maintain performance through multiple compression cycles. Most importantly, they replace sudden fractures with predictable, gradual deformation—turning brittleness from a limitation into a controllable parameter.

Applications span multiple industries: medical prosthetics that combine strength with natural movement; aerospace components that resist thermal shock through controlled deformation; and soft robotics incorporating both rigidity and flexibility at key points. Future developments may include algorithm-optimized designs, multi-material systems, and self-healing capabilities.

This innovation exemplifies engineering at its best—questioning fundamental assumptions and finding elegant solutions at the intersection of disciplines. By reimagining brittleness as a design parameter rather than an inherent limitation, these researchers have opened new possibilities for ceramic applications previously thought impossible.

Engineering is about solving, innovating, and connecting ideas to make a difference. Progress is a collective effort and your curiosity is what drives it forward. Thank you for exploring the dynamic world of engineering with all of us at Pipeline Design & Engineering and The Wave.

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“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.” - Steve Jobs

In collaboration and creativity,
Brad Hirayama
Blueprinting tomorrow, today