Foldable Shape-Shifting 3-D Material Can Change Size, Volume And Shape

MessageToEagle.com – Scientists have created a new foldable, shape-shifting 3-D material that can change size, volume and shape. It can fold flat to withstand the weight of an elephant without breaking, and pop right back up to prepare for the next task!
This new material produced by Harvard researchers is versatile, tunable and self actuated.

“We’ve designed a three-dimensional, thin-walled structure that can be used to make foldable and re-programmable objects of arbitrary architecture, whose shape, volume and stiffness can be dramatically altered and continuously tuned and controlled,” said Johannes T. B. Overvelde, graduate student in Bertoldi’s lab and first author of the paper.

The structure is inspired by an origami technique called snapology, and is made from extruded cubes with 24 faces and 36 edges. Like origami, the cube can be folded along its edges to change shape. The team demonstrated, both theoretically and experimentally, that the cube can be deformed into many different shapes by folding certain edges, which act like hinges.

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The material can be embedded with any kind of actuator, including thermal, dielectric or even water.
This structural system has fascinating implications for dynamic architecture including portable shelters, adaptive building facades and retractable roofs. It works from the nanoscale to the meter-scale and could be used to make anything from surgical stents to portable pop-up domes for disaster relief.

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References:
SEAS – Harvard