A new smart material that changes its shape in response to external stimuli
The difference in her body is up to 10 percent and promises a revolution in the robot industry
Shape-shifting materials change shape in response to a change in their surroundings (MIT)
Engineers have discovered a new type of metamorphic material that has memory [meaning that it can change its shape in response to external influences such as heat, electricity and electromagnetic waves, and then return to its original form when the influence of those influences ends]. The discoverers claim that this new material could revolutionize a range of industries, from jet engines to robotics.
A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US created this "smart material" using a special type of ceramic that can withstand extreme temperatures, as well as being resistant to harsh processes of stress and corrosion.
When that material is subjected to a certain type of stimulus, such as through heat, mechanical pressure, or electric or magnetic fields, this material changes its shape by up to 10 percent.
In previous years, metamorphic materials were made that have the ability to remember shapes, but all of these materials came from minerals, and therefore, their uses remain limited in conditions of high temperatures or in ultra-small structures.
One of the specialists in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor Christopher Schuh, explained that “ the shape-remembering materials in the world are all metallic.”
As Professor Schuh explains, “When you change the shape of a substance at the atomic level, a great deal of damage is done to it, as the atoms have to change their distribution and modify their structure. As the atoms move and rearrange themselves, it is rather easy to get stuck in the wrong spatial points. , with defects and damage to the material, which leads to its stress and eventual collapse.
Creating shape-shifting ceramics required researchers to use "all the tools of modern science," including computational thermodynamics, phase-transformation physics, crystal arithmetic, and machine learning.
In contrast, practical applications of this material remain elusive, although the researchers claim that the creation of a micro-piston [made of this material] has wide uses.
In that regard, Prof. Schuh remarked, “It is very difficult to make a hydraulic press very difficult to make on the ultra-small scale. The idea is to have a solid version of that [a hydraulic press] that is made on very small scales . I have always thought that there are applications for So many ideas about matter at the microscopic level Nano robots designed to work in small spaces, "lab-on-a-chip" valves, and a host of small tools that need to be moved [these are all] that would benefit of smart wearable devices [made of metamaterial memory]".
Details of the new smart material were published in the scientific journal Nature last Wednesday.
Source: websites