Harvard researchers have designed a strong foldable material that can change size, volume and shape. A house could be folded flat or a wall become a window with the material, which, folded flat, can withstand the weight of an elephant without breaking and then pop back up for the next task.
This new class of foldable material is also scalable, with applications ranging from surgical stents to portable pop-up domes for disaster relief, according to the researchers.
The research was inspired by an origami technique called ‘snapology’, and is made from cubes with 24 faces and 36 edges. Like origami, the cube can be folded along its edges to change shape.
A centimetre-scale prototype showed that the cube can change into many different shapes by folding certain edges, which act like hinges.
The research team connected 64 of these individual cells to create a 4x4x4 cube that can grow, shrink, change its shape globally, change the orientation of its microstructure, and fold completely flat.
As the structure changes shape, it also changes stiffness, so that the user could make a material that’s very pliable or very stiff using the same design. These changes in material properties add a fourth dimension to the material.
Chuck Hoberman of the Harvard Graduate School of Design was part of the research team. He said: "This structural system has fascinating implications for dynamic architecture including portable shelters, adaptive building facades and retractable roofs."
"Whereas current approaches to these applications rely on standard mechanics, this technology offers unique advantages such as how it integrates surface and structure, its inherent simplicity of manufacture, and its ability to fold flat."
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