4D Printing Reconfigurable Metamaterials

Imagine smart materials that can morph from being stiff as wood to soft as a sponge—and also change shape. This video shows how 4D-printed lightweight smart materials developed by researchers at Rutgers University‒New Brunswick can accomplish exactly that. Applications include morphing airplane or drone wings, soft robotics, and tiny implantable biomedical devices. To read more about this research, visit the 3D PrintShop page in the May/June 2019 issue of Advanced Materials & Processes magazine.