4D printing smart materials can change the shape of the shape with temperature

Rutgers University, USA—New Brunswick engineers have created a flexible, lightweight material that can be used in 4D printed materials for aircraft and drone wings, soft robots, and micro-implanted biomedical devices. Better vibration and deformation. The relevant results were published in the latest issue of Materials Vision.

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, converts pre-built digital blueprints into objects by layer-by-layer printing.

There is a big difference in 4D printing based on this technology, which uses special materials and complex designs to print objects that change shape under environmental conditions such as temperature changes.

The new “supermaterials” created by engineers have been carefully designed to have properties that are not found in nature, and they are unusual and even counterintuitive. In the past, the nature and shape of metamaterials were irreversible once they were manufactured, but this time metamaterials that use heat to adjust their properties can remain rigid when hit, or soften like a sponge to absorb shock.

At room temperature between 73 degrees Fahrenheit (about 22.8 ° C) and 194 degrees Fahrenheit (90 ° C), the stiffness can be adjusted more than 100 times, so that the shock absorption is well controlled. The material can be reshaped for a variety of purposes. They temporarily deform, transform into any shape, and then, when heated, return to their original shape as needed.

This magical material can be used to improve the performance of aircraft or drone wings, as well as the collapse of lightweight structures for space launches, and even the reconstruction of larger structures. Soft robots made from this material are as flexible as octopuses, allowing flexibility or stiffness to be adjusted depending on the environment and current task. Inserting it into a tiny device for diagnosis or treatment can make the intervention device soft and flexible temporarily, enter the human body for minimally invasive surgery and reduce pain.