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Controlled Sequential Shape Changing Components by 3D Printing of Shape Memory Polymer Multimaterials

Post: 2016-03-17 02:05 View:2054

Procedia IUTAM

Volume 12, 2015, Pages 193–203

IUTAM Symposium on Mechanics of Soft Active Materials

Kai Yu^a,Alexander Ritchie^b,Yiqi Mao^a,Martin L. Dunn^c,H. Jerry Qi^a,

^a The George Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA

^b School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA

^c SUTD-MIT International Design Centre, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore

Abstract

In this paper, we demonstrate the feasibility of using 3D printing technique to create functional graded shape memory polymers (SMPs) with both spontaneous and sequential shape recovery abilities. The created SMP components, with properly assigned spatial variation of the thermodynamical property distribution, react rapidly to a thermal stimulus, and return to a specified configuration in a precisely controlled shape changing sequence. The use of the 3D printing technique enables a manufacturing routine with merits of easy implementation, large design freedom, and high printing resolution, which promises to advance immediate engineering applications for low-cost, rapid, and mass production.

Keywords

Functionally gradient;shape memeory polymers;3D printing;4D printing;multimaterial printing.

Full text is available at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210983814000947