Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, USA. Azimuth Corporation, Dayton, OH, USA.
Air Force Research Laboratory, Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, OH, USA.
Science. 2015 Feb 27;347(6225):982-4. doi: 10.1126/science.1261019.
Dynamic control of shape can bring multifunctionality to devices. Soft materials capable of programmable shape change require localized control of the magnitude and directionality of a mechanical response. We report the preparation of soft, ordered materials referred to as liquid crystal elastomers. The direction of molecular order, known as the director, is written within local volume elements (voxels) as small as 0.0005 cubic millimeters. Locally, the director controls the inherent mechanical response (55% strain) within the material. In monoliths with spatially patterned director, thermal or chemical stimuli transform flat sheets into three-dimensional objects through controlled bending and stretching. The programmable mechanical response of these materials could yield monolithic multifunctional devices or serve as reconfigurable substrates for flexible devices in aerospace, medicine, or consumer goods.
动态控制形状可以为设备带来多功能性。能够实现可编程形状变化的软材料需要对机械响应的大小和方向进行局部控制。我们报告了软有序材料的制备，称为液晶弹性体。分子有序的方向，称为指向矢，可以在小至 0.0005 立方毫米的局部体积元（体素）中写入。在指向矢可以控制材料内部固有机械响应（55%应变）的局部区域。在具有空间图案化指向矢的整体中，热或化学刺激通过受控弯曲和拉伸将平板转化为三维物体。这些材料的可编程机械响应可以产生整体式多功能设备，或者作为航空航天、医学或消费品中柔性设备的可重构衬底。
