These 3D self-modulating wood shapes could be the future of woodworking

These 3D self-modulating wood shapes could be the future of woodworking

Scientists have shown how flat wooden shapes extruded by a 3D printer can be programmed to self-morph into complex 3D shapes.

Scientists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have created wood ink that can be extruded into flat wooden structures, and self-morphs into intricate 3D shapes as they dry and shrink. The researchers presented their research at last week’s meeting of the American Chemical Society in Chicago. This technique could one day be used to make furniture or other wood products that can be shipped flat to a destination and then dried to form the desired final shape.

as we are I mentioned earlier, the development of new shape-shifting materials is a very active area of ​​research because there are many promising applications, such as building artificial muscles – man-made materials, actuators or similar devices that mimic the properties of contraction, expansion and rotation (torque) natural muscle movement. The change of shape comes in response to an external stimulus.

For example, most artificial muscles are designed to respond to electric fields (such as Electropolymers), changes in temperature (such as shape memory alloy And the Fishing limits) and changes in air pressure pneumatics. In 2019, a team of Japanese researchers Dill crystalline organic matter with a polymer to make it more flexible, demonstrating their proof of concept using their materials to make an aluminum foil paper doll that sits.

In 2020, MIT scientists Created successfully flat structures that can turn to more complex structures, including the human face. These structures used the same manufacturing technology as 3D printing but were designed to deform over time in response to changes in humidity and temperature. They may one day be used to make tents that can unfold and inflate on their own when temperature or other ambient conditions change. Other potential uses include deformable telescope lenses, supports and scaffolds for artificial tissues and soft robotics.

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Last year, Luxo Jr., Pixar Brand Luxo Balanced Arm Moving Lamp Help Inspire new approach To build multifunctional shape-shifting materials for robotics, biotechnology and architectural applications. Physicists at Case Western Reserve University and Tufts University have figured out how to do it remote manipulation The flat surface is usually from liquid crystal without any kind of external stimuli (such as pressure or heat), and it changes its physical appearance just by having a bumpy surface nearby. Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University created Simple mechanism for making flat noodles for shipment Takes on 3D shape defined when cooked.

Typical manufacturing techniques treat materials such as wood as passive objects that are effectively shaped. “You press it, you bend it, you cut it, you automate it, in order to get the desired shape,” Eran Sharon said during a press conference at a meeting of the American Self-Defense Association. “If you look at nature, nothing is made that way. The tissues expand gently, and the shape emerges from this distribution of different expansions and contractions. This is self-transformation. We wanted to go back to the origin of this concept, to nature, and do it with wood.”

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