![]() ![]() The researchers had to find a polymer mix that could be printed in a catalyst bath and still hold its original programmed shape. Once the two programmed forms are set, the material can then morph back and forth when, for instance, it’s heated or cooled. Curing the alternate form under ultraviolet light locks in those links. One establishes the original printed shape, and the other can be set by physically manipulating the printed-and-dried material. The lab’s challenge was to create a liquid crystal polymer “ink” that incorporates mutually exclusive sets of chemical links between molecules. Rather than trying to do this all in one step, our approach gives more flexibility in controlling the initial and final shapes and also allows us to print complex structures.” Our simple idea was to use multiple reactions in sequence to print the material and then dictate how it would change shape. “We needed a method to control and define this shape change. “These materials, once fabricated, will change shape autonomously,” Verduzco says. Overcoming that limitation to decouple the printing process from shaping is a significant step toward more useful materials, says Rafael Verduzco, an associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of materials science and nanoengineering at Rice University. A graphic shows the process by which researchers used 3D printing to make shapeshifting materials that may be useful to make soft robots or as biomedical implants. That meant no bumps or other complex curvatures could be programmed as the alternate shape. But using the same chemistry for 3D printing limited structures to shapes that sat in the same plane. ![]() ![]() The researchers first reported their ability to make morphing structures in a mold in 2018. The method could bring soft robots and biomedical implants that reconfigure themselves upon demand closer to reality. A new method called “reactive 4D printing” creates objects that can take on alternate forms in response to changes in temperature, electric current, or stress. ![]()
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