4D Printing Technology May Create Self-Folding Objects

First Posted: Sep 22, 2015 08:21 AM EDT

Imagine 4D technology that allows you to create complex, self-folding structures. Scientists have used components made from smart shape-memory materials with slightly different responses to heat to demonstrate that this printing technology is possible.

The new technology could potentially be used to create 3D structures that sequentially fold themselves from components that had been flat or rolled into a tube for shipment. The components could respond to temperature, moisture or light in a way that is precisely timed to create space structures, deployable medical devices, robots, toys and a range of other structures.

In this case, the researchers used smart shape memory polymers (SMPs) with the ability to remember one shape and change to another programmed shape when uniform heat is applied. The ability to create objects that change shape in a controlled sequence over time is enabled by printing multiple materials with different dynamic mechanical properties in prescribed patterns throughout the 3D object. When these components are heated, each SMP responds ate a different rate to change its shape.

"Previous efforts to create sequential shape changing components involved placing multiple heaters at specific regions in a component and then controlling the on-and-off time of individual heaters," said Jerry Qi, one of the researchers, in a news release. "This earlier approach essentially requires controlling the heat applied throughout the component in both space and time and is complicated. We turned this approach around and used a spatially uniform temperature which is easier to apply and then exploited the ability of different materials to internally control their rate of shape change through their molecular design."

The findings could be huge for materials science in the future. The 3D components created could be designed to fold up flat and placed in a tube for transportation before transforming to their original shape when they arrive.

The findings are published in the journal Scientific Reports.

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Tags3D-Printing, 3d, 4D, Materials Science, Materials, Polymer, Smart Shape Memory Polymers