Scientists create 3D-printed objects that can change shape after they’re printed
“The idea is that you could print a material and subsequently take that material and, using light, morph the material into something else, or grow the material further,” said Jeremiah Johnson, Associate Professor of Chemistry at MIT. Postdoc Mao Chen and graduate student Yuwei Gu led the research and wrote a paper on the findings.
The technique is called living polymerization and it creates “materials whose growth can be halted and then restarted later on,” according to the release.
The new technique uses “polymers with chemical groups that act like a folded up accordion.” When light hits the new materials they stretch out and change the material.
See the full story here: https://techcrunch.com/2017/01/16/scientists-create-3d-printed-objects-that-can-change-shape-after-theyre-printed/