I). Photographs of a flat object (blue) during transfiguration and locomotion through a narrow constriction (black lines) (scale bars are 1 mm). n indicates the number of solid-liquid phase change pumping cycles to achieve the particular shape and position. II) Diagram of the experimental device. Objects made of phase change material are placed on a Peltier-cooled XY stage (dark orange). A laser point (red) locally melts (dark blue) the solid object (light blue), while a camera (pink) records the shape of the object. The insets show cross-sectional diagrams of a docked and floating object. III) Later stages of a phase change pumping cycle. Credit: Advanced functional materials (2023). DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202307105
Materials and objects could take on different shapes themselves using a method developed at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Groundbreaking tests have shown how microscale melting and cooling of a wide range of materials, such as plastics and metals, can be manipulated to rearrange their mass and form new shapes.
Carried out in 2D with paraffin as a test material, the study introduces a new avenue for the development of materials that can be programmed to change shape in 3D autonomously, explains Professor Wouter van der Wijngaart, researcher at the Division of micro and nanosystems from the KTH Royal Institute. of technology in Stockholm.
With new technology, researchers envision limitless possibilities, from cars and planes that constantly adjust their shape to optimize drag, to meeting rooms where required seats are generated on demand.
“This could enable unlimited on-the-fly creation of tools and other objects, without introducing additional materials,” says van der Wijngaart.
The method relies on a laser to melt and move the material, bit by bit, so that it moves from one side of the object to the other.
“Everything is simply shifted by a few tens of micrometers each cycle,” says van der Wijngaart. “It can reshape objects to fit through narrow spaces and reconstitute them into any target shape.”
Repeating this phase shift ultimately reshapes the material into any desired shape, with greater freedom of form and greater spatial resolution than other current techniques, he says. Integrating the heating mechanism inside real objects will allow them to transform autonomously.
He says this breakthrough in materials science and engineering “could lead to advances that were once thought impossible.”
Published in Advanced functional materialsresearchers released a video showing three drops of paraffin transforming to form the university’s acronym, KTH.
The larger project is called Robotic Matter. Co-authors of the study are Kerem Kaya, Alexander Kravberg, Claudia Scarpellini, Emre Iseri, Danica Kragic and van der Wijngaart.
More information:
Kerem Kaya et al, Programmable matter with free and high resolution transfiguration and locomotion, Advanced functional materials (2023). DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202307105
Provided by KTH Royal Institute of Technology
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