Tech Briefs Magazine - December 2022 - 28
Materials & Coatings
that stretch and compress in a coordinated
way, regardless of the lamp configuration.
In general, neutrally stable systems, a
combination of rigid and elastic elements
balances the energy of the cells, making
each neutrally stable, meaning that they
can transition between an infinite number
of positions or orientations and be
stable in any of them.
" By having a neutrally stable unit cell
we can separate the geometry of the material
from its mechanical response at both
the individual and collective level, " said
Gaurav Chaudhary, a Postdoctoral Fellow
at SEAS and co-first author of the paper.
" The geometry of the unit cell can be varied
by changing both its overall size as well
as the length of the single movable strut,
while its elastic response can be changed
by varying either the stiffness of the
springs within the structure or the length
of the struts and links. "
The researchers dubbed the assembly
as totimorphic materials because of their
ability to morph into any stable shape.
The researchers
connected
individual
unit cells with naturally stable joints,
building 2D and 3D structures from individual
totimorphic cells.
The researchers used both mathematical
modeling and real-world demonstrations
to show the material's shape-shifting
ability. The team demonstrated that one
single sheet of totimorphic cells can curve
up, twist into a helix, morph into the shape
of two distinct faces, and even bear weight.
Soft, Mechanical Metamaterials
These " living machines " hold potential for applications from medical treatments to improving
the environment.
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
R
esearchers produced a soft, mechanical
metamaterial that can " think "
about how forces are applied to it and
respond via programmed reactions. The
metamaterials feature flexible, conductive
polymer networks that can compute
all digital logic computations. The process
creates decision-making functionality
in engineered materials in a way that
could support future soft, autonomous
engineered systems that are invested
with the basic elements of lifeforms yet
are programmed to perform helpful services.
These include helping maintain
sustainable and robust infrastructure,
monitoring of airborne and waterborne
contaminants and pathogens, and assisting
with patient wound healing.
Human thought processes are based on
logic that is similar to Boolean logic from
mathematics. This approach uses binary
inputs to process binary control outputs -
using only " on " and " off " sequences to represent
all thought and cognition. The new
soft materials " think " using the reconfiguration
of the conductive polymer networks.
Mechanical force, applied to the materials,
connects and reconnects the network. Using
a low-voltage input into the materials,
the team created a way for the soft material
to decide how to react according to the
output voltage signal from the reconfigured
conductive polymer network.
The type of logic used goes beyond
pure mechanical logic, which is a way of
28
" We show that we can assemble these
elements into structures that can take
on any shape with heterogeneous mechanical
responses, " said S. Ganga Prasath,
a Postdoctoral Fellow at SEAS and
co-first author of the paper. " Since these
materials are grounded in geometry,
they could be scaled down to be used
as sensors in robotics or biotechnology
or could be scaled up to be used at the
architectural scale.
" All together, these totimorphs pave the
way for a new class of materials whose deformation
response can be controlled at
multiple scales, " said Mahadevan.
For more information, contact Leah
Burrows at lburrows@seas.harvard.edu;
617-496-1351.
New soft, mechanical metamaterials can " think " about how forces are applied to it and respond via
preprogrammed reactions. (Image: Elizabeth Flores-Gomez Murray/Penn State)
using combinations of bistable switches
- switches with two stable states - to
represent the 0s and 1s of a binary number
sequence. The team found that
when they used pure mechanical logic,
they ended up getting stuck because certain
logical operations cannot be constructed.
The
key to realizing all the logic gates
was in the combination of the electrical
polymer network with the soft, deformable
material. The researchers created
the logic operations by simultaneously
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reconfiguring the soft material and the
electrically conductive network. This
also ensures that the binary output is in
the form of electricity, which is needed
to drive an actuation mechanism that
makes the material respond to the applied
mechanical force. The combination
of electrical and mechanical signals
allows the machine to move to get
out of the way or to push back in a certain
direction.
For more information, contact Jamie
Oberdick at jco11@psu.edu; 814-867-6225.
Tech Briefs, December 2022
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Tech Briefs Magazine - December 2022
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Tech Briefs Magazine - December 2022
Tech Briefs Magazine - December 2022 - Intro
Tech Briefs Magazine - December 2022 - Sponsor
Tech Briefs Magazine - December 2022 - Cov1
Tech Briefs Magazine - December 2022 - Cov2
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Tech Briefs Magazine - December 2022 - Cov3
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