The Development And Rise Of 4D Printing, Incoporating A Fourth Dimension,Time

With the emergence of 3D printing, comes the more innovative printing process called 4D printing. The MIT's Self-Assembly Lab in partnership with Stratasys Education and R & D has developed the 4D printing.

Video: 4D Printing: Cube Self-Folding Strand from Self-Assembly Lab, MIT on Vimeo.In a collaboration... https://t.co/HBQHwQHEzS

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The development of 4D printing is led by Self-Assembly Lab Director, Skylar Tibbits, trained computer scientist, architect and artist. It focuses on the development of self-assembly technologies for large-scale structures in the physical environment. The Tibbits' 4D printing project is supported by Stratasys' Connex multi-material 3D printing technology. This includes the ability of entrenched transformation from one shape to another, straight off the 3D printer.

MIT self-assembly lab is creating materials that build themselves with '4D printing' https://t.co/jsr6HAHqLQ pic.twitter.com/bEPUsRFcyr — PSFK (@PSFK) December 4, 2014

In 4D printing, the objects change over time to execute programmed functions that are based simply on material properties. A single print with multi-material features can convert from any 1D strand into 3D shape. The 2D surface can be changed into 3D shape or transform from one 3D shape into another, according to Self-Assembly Lab. This can be done with Stratasys' Connex technology which is used extensively in this new printing process.

The Connex technology lets the researchers to program various material properties into each of the several particles of the designed geometry. It controls the various water-absorbing properties of the materials to actuate the self-assembly process. The water serves as its activation energy. The technique confirms new possibilities for implanting programmability and making it into non-electronic based materials. One example of this is the robotics-like behavior without the dependence on complex electro-mechanical devices. The 4D printing is not commercially available at the moment.