Combinatorial metamorphosis of soft materials
Abstract
Understanding how to change the shape of a material so that it takes on a new function is a fundamental problem in materials design. Multifunctional materials that could transform into one of many shapes depending on context could make it possible to dramatically simplify manufacturing: to make a device one would transform a uniform seed into the appropriate tool, allowing in-the-field decisions about what device to create. In this work, we seek to develop a means to use a library of chemical signals to transform a structure, a hydrogel, from an initial 3-dimensional shape into one of a combinatorial variety of final 3-dimensional shapes. This metamorphosis should be reversible, allowing for flexible reconfiguration of a single structure into numerous different forms without the need for expensive external equipment to direct where the trigger is applied. We will develop a new, scalable library of chemical directives that lead to the reversible deformation of different regions of architected materials and advance the design of materials to allow control over the stiffness of metamorphic materials and metamorphosis speed. To make it possible to control the shape change of complex 3-dimensional structures, we will develop an automated means of metamorphic material fabrication. We will construct sets of metamorphic 2- and 3-dimensional structures of increasing complexity. We will then demonstrate how these structures are capable of combinatorial metamorphosis and develop design principles for the design of combinatorially metamorphic structures that can reliably, reversibly and repeatedly transform between large numbers of functional configurations. This work will lead to transformative advances in the design of massively multifunctional materials design and could make it possible to build new classes of adaptive or self-healing structures.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 09, 2020
- Source ID
- W911NF2010057
Entities
People
- Rebecca Schulman
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Johns Hopkins University
- United States Army