Shape-shifting structures take the form of a face, antenna
Posted on October 5, 2019
Over the past decade, theorists and experimentalists have found inspiration in nature as they have sought to unravel the physics, build mathematical frameworks, and develop materials and 3D and 4D-printing techniques for structures that can change shape in response to external stimuli.
However, complex multi-scale curvature has remained out of reach.
Now, researchers have created the most complex shape-shifting structures to date — lattices composed of multiple materials that grow or shrink in response to changes in temperature.
Images courtesy of Lori Sanders/ Harvard SEAS
To demonstrate their technique, team printed flat lattices that shape morph into a frequency-shifting antenna or the face of pioneering mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss in response to a change in temperature.
