Origami and 4D printing of elastomer-derived ceramic structures

Design and 4D Printing of Cross-Folded Origami Structures: A Preliminary Investigation

In 4D printing research, different types of complex structure folding and unfolding have been investigated. However, research on cross-folding of origami structures (defined as a folding structure with at least two overlapping folds) has not been reported. This research focuses on the investigation of cross-folding structures using multi-material components along different axes and different ho...

4D Printing for Freeform Surfaces: Design Optimization of Origami and Kirigami Structures

A self-folding structure fabricated by additive manufacturing can be automatically folded into a demanding 3D shape by actuation mechanisms such as heating. However, 3D surfaces can only be fabricated by self-folding structures when they are flattenable. Most generally designed parts are not flattenable. To address the problem, we develop a shape optimization method to modify a non-flattenable ...

Biomimetic 4D printing.

Shape-morphing systems can be found in many areas, including smart textiles, autonomous robotics, biomedical devices, drug delivery and tissue engineering. The natural analogues of such systems are exemplified by nastic plant motions, where a variety of organs such as tendrils, bracts, leaves and flowers respond to environmental stimuli (such as humidity, light or touch) by varying internal tur...

Ceramic-Based 4D Components: Additive Manufacturing (AM) of Ceramic-Based Functionally Graded Materials (FGM) by Thermoplastic 3D Printing (T3DP)

In our study, we investigated the additive manufacturing (AM) of ceramic-based functionally graded materials (FGM) by the direct AM technology thermoplastic 3D printing (T3DP). Zirconia components with varying microstructures were additively manufactured by using thermoplastic suspensions with different contents of pore-forming agents (PFA), which were co-sintered defect-free. Different materia...

Printing low-voltage dielectric elastomer actuators