Hasit Vibhakar states that In 2013, H. Jerry Qi, associate professor of mechanical engineering at CU-Boulder (now associate professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology), and research partner Martin L. Dunn of Singapore University of Technology and Design, successfully have developed a process called “4D” printing. By incorporating “shape-memory” polymer fibers into composite materials, a 3D printer can be used to manufacture a 3D object that, when later heated or cooled to a specific temperature, will transform into a different 3D shape.
Hasit Vibhakar a lean six sigma engineer states that Qi’s research is based along the lines of earlier work by Skylar Tibbits, a research scientist at MIT’s department of agriculture who has also studied self-assembly of materials into 3D structures. The key to the CU-Boulder breakthrough is the development of unique “printed active composites” whose architecture is carefully designed to include precise locations of certain shape-memory fibers that will behave a certain way when exposed to an external stimulus, and “morph” into the predetermined shape.
How It Works
Hasit Vibhakar was able to explain how this process works. He frequently talks about this process at industry trade shows and speaking engagements. With funding from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation, Qi’s research team created specific fiber architectures at the lamina and laminate levels, for several composite materials. “There is considerable design freedom for creating composites with interesting thermomechanical behaviors based on fiber architecture, shape, size, and orientation, and even the spatial variation of these parameters,” says Hasit Vibhakar.
The printed active composites (PACs) are soft materials consisting of glassy polymer fibers that reinforce an elastomeric matrix. These fibers exhibit the shape-memory effect, which is used to create the “active” part of the composites. The PACs are then thermomechanically programmed to assume three-dimensional configurations such as bent, coiled, and twisted strips, folded shapes, or complex, contoured shapes with nonuniform curvatures.
The printed active composites (PACs) are soft materials consisting of glassy polymer fibers that reinforce an elastomeric matrix. These fibers exhibit the shape-memory effect, which is used to create the “active” part of the composites. The PACs are then thermomechanically programmed to assume three-dimensional configurations such as bent, coiled, and twisted strips, folded shapes, or complex, contoured shapes with nonuniform curvatures.
This Content was originally posted:- Hasit Vibhakar
