U.S. Army Awards Grants for 4D Printing Research
November 24th, 2013Via: Live Science:
The 3D printing revolution shows no signs of letting up, and now has made its way on to the next dimension.
The U.S. Army Research Office has awarded $855,000 to three universities to make advances in 4D printing, which is the ability to 3D-print objects that can change their shape or appearance over time (the fourth dimension), or in response to some condition. Potential uses for the technology are endless, but ideas that have been floated include camouflage that can change color to match its surroundings and weapons that can assemble themselves.
“Rather than construct a static material or one that simply changes its shape, we’re proposing the development of adaptive, biomimetic composites that re-program their shape, properties or functionality on demand, based upon external stimuli,” said Anna Balazs, a researcher at Harvard, in a statement. The U.S. Army awarded additional 4D-printing grants to scientists at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Illinois.
Research in this project will concentrate on 4D-printing materials at the microscopic scale. Other researchers have shown they can 4D-print larger objects like self-assembling cubes and other shapes.
