4D Printing: Going beyond 3D printing to add a new dimension for additive manufacturing

A team of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers has demonstrated the 3D printing of shape-shifting structures that can fold or unfold to reshape themselves when exposed to heat or electricity. The micro-architected structures were fabricated from a conductive, environmentally responsive polymer ink developed at the Lab.

In an article published recently by the journal Scientific Reports, Lab scientists and engineers revealed a strategy for creating boxes, spirals and spheres from shape memory polymers (SMPs), bio-based “smart” materials that exhibit shape-changes when resistively heated or when exposed to the appropriate temperature.

In the paper, the researchers describe creating primary shapes from an ink made from soybean oil, additional co-polymers and carbon nanofibers, and “programming” them into a temporary shape at an engineered temperature, determined by chemical composition. Then the shape-morphing effect was induced by ambient heat or by heating the material with an electrical current, which reverts the part’s temporary shape back to its original shape.

Ultimately, Rodriguez said, researchers can use the materials to create extremely complex parts.

“If we printed a part out of multiple versions of these formulations, with different transition temperatures, and run it through a heating ramp, they would expand in a segmented fashion and unpack into something much more complex,” she said.

Through a direct-ink writing 3D printing process, the team produced several types of structures — a bent conductive device that morphed to a straight device when exposed to an electric current or heat, a collapsed stent that expanded after being exposed to heat and boxes that either opened or closed when heated.

“We have these materials with 3D structures but they have extra smart properties; they can retain a memory of the previous structure,” said Lab staff scientist James Lewicki. “It opens up a whole new property set. If you can print with these polymer composites you can build things and electrically activate them to unfold. Instead of a dumb lump, you are left with this sentient, responsive material.”

The research derives from a Laboratory Directed Research & Developmentproject to develop high-performance 3D-printed carbon fiber composites.

Others contributing to the paper were Lab scientists and engineers Cheng Zhu, Eric Duoss, Thomas Wilson and Chris Spadaccini.

Learn more: Going beyond 3D printing to add a new dimension for additive manufacturing

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