from experimental design to analytic simulation.
The combined employ of the additive manufacturing approach with shape memory polymers (SMPs) is one of the possible strategies towards 4D-printing, in particular when aiming at the realization of highly effective shape shifting objects. SMPs are in fact active systems, capable of being temporarily fixed in a deformed configuration and to revert to the pristine shape upon application of a thermal stimulus. In addition, this response may be finely tuned by a proper combination of the thermo-mechanical history and of the material macromolecular architecture.
Continue reading “Exploiting the temperature-memory effect in 3D printed auxetic structures”