Department of Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden;
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Apr 7;117(14):7658-7664. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1921132117. Epub 2020 Mar 25.
Structures that are capable of changing shape can increase efficiency in many applications, but are often heavy and maintenance intensive. To reduce the mass and mechanical complexity solid-state morphing materials are desirable but are typically nonstructural and problematic to control. Here we present an electrically controlled solid-state morphing composite material that is lightweight and has a stiffness higher than aluminum. It is capable of producing large deformations and holding them with no additional power, albeit at low rates. The material is manufactured from commercial carbon fibers and a structural battery electrolyte, and uses lithium-ion insertion to produce shape changes at low voltages. A proof-of-concept material in a cantilever setup is used to show morphing, and analytical modeling shows good correlation with experimental observations. The concept presented shows considerable promise and paves the way for stiff, solid-state morphing materials.
能够改变形状的结构可以提高许多应用的效率，但通常较重且需要大量维护。为了减轻质量和机械复杂性，固态变形材料是理想的，但通常是非结构的，并且难以控制。在这里，我们提出了一种电控制的固态变形复合材料，它重量轻，刚度高于铝。它能够产生大变形并保持它们而无需额外的功率，尽管变形速度较低。该材料由商业碳纤维和结构电池电解质制成，并使用锂离子插入在低电压下产生形状变化。在悬臂装置中使用验证概念材料来展示变形，分析模型与实验观察结果具有很好的相关性。所提出的概念具有很大的潜力，为刚性固态变形材料铺平了道路。
