![]() The head of MIT's Self-Assembly Laboratory, Skylar Tibbits, pioneered today's wave of 4D printing research a few years ago with expanding materials and simple deformations. A collaboration involving researchers from MIT's Camera Culture group and those in the Self-Assembly Laboratory with the companies Stratasys and Autodesk took this method further. Other successful approaches use electro-active polymers, pressurized fluids or gasses, chemical stimulus and even a response to light that reshapes the final product after manufacture. One of the most popular technologies is known as shape memory alloy, where a change of temperature triggers a shape change. Programming structural deformations into physical objects is not new researchers have been working with "memory materials" and "smart materials" for a long time. The technology needed to create such products has been given the popular name "4D printing," because it creates 3D objects that transform over time. Consumers can access the program in the cloud anywhere in the world and then instruct those Voxels to form a multifunctional object.To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video.ĤD printing promises a library of smart materials that are conducive to efficient manufacturing with the ability to manufacture complex geometries.Īs additive manufacturing technology moves from research and prototyping to mainstream production, researchers are shifting their attention to producing structures that can transform in a pre-programmed way in response to a stimulus. Digital files with a collection of Voxels can be stored in the cloud. In addition, 4D printing in combination with cloud computing technologies allows decentralized and geographically independent distributed production. All these programmable products can be self-assembled and self-disassembled for pure recyclability. ![]() The printed materials can be produced, shipped in flat-pack and are activated on delivery to full volume and functionality. In 4DP, when processes are streamlined, creating a complicated shape does not need more time, skill, or cost. 4DP can print extremely simple structures and then can be activated by external stimulus to change into complex functional structures and systems. It is clear that manufacturing processes will become simpler by using 4D printing. It is predicted that products become far more resilient and highly tuned to environmental changes including moisture content, temperature, pressure, altitude or sound. This approach has potential implications for areas such as robotics, furniture, and building construction. The printer deposits a rigid polymer material and an active material with an embedded geometric programme and the activation energy to transform from one shape to another, completely independently. ![]() This shows a new possibility for production and manufacturing. The Stratasys material research group developed a new polymer which could be expanded 150 percent when submerged in water. conducted several experiments by using Stratasys’ Connex multimaterial printer. Skylar Tibbits along with Stratasys, Ltd. This technology is based on three key capabilities: the machine, the material and the geometric programme. These objects can be assembled, disassembled, and then reassembled to form macroscale objects of desired shape and multifunctionality. 4D printing creates objects with dynamics and performance capabilities- that is, they are able to change their form or function after fabrication. ![]() 4D PrintingĤD printing is a new process and adds the capability of programming the fundamental materials used in 3D printing. “ Now a new disruptive technology is on the horizon that may take 3D printing to an entirely new level of capability with profound implications for society, the economy, and the global operating environment of Government, business, and the public”. In fact, a 3D modelling program, such as AutoCAD, design static objects in three dimensions through additive processes in which successive layers of material are laid down under computer control. What is 4d printing? Lets start with 3D printing which is formally known as “ additive manufacturing”, is being used in an extraordinarily wide range of applications such as human organs, wings of airplanes, nuclear weapons and etc. ![]()
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