New Metamaterial Features Mechanical Properties That Can Be Reprogrammed

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Metamaterial Concept

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Over the past 20 years, researchers have actually been establishing metamaterials, or products that don’t happen naturally and whose mechanical homes arise from their developed structure instead of their chemical structure. They enable scientists to produce products with particular homes and shapes. Metamaterials are still not extensively utilized in daily things, however that might quickly alter. Tian Chen, a post-doc at 2 EPFL laboratories — the Flexible Structures Laboratory, headed by Pedro Reis, and the Geometric Computing Laboratory, headed by Mark Pauly — has actually taken metamaterials one action even more, establishing one whose mechanical homes can be reprogrammed after the product has actually been made. His research study appears in Nature.

A single product with numerous mechanical functions

“I wondered if there was a way to change the internal geometry of a material’s structure after it’s been created,” states Chen. “The idea was to develop a single material that can display a range of physical properties, like stiffness and strength, so that materials don’t have to be replaced each time. For example, when you twist your ankle, you initially have to wear a stiff splint to hold the ankle in place. Then as it heals, you can switch to a more flexible one. Today you have to replace the entire splint, but the hope is that one day, a single material can serve both functions.”

Silicon and magnetic powder

Chen’s metamaterial is made from silicon and magnetic powder and has a complex structure that permits mechanical homes to differ. Each cell within the structure acts like an electrical switch. “You can activate and deactivate individual cells by applying a magnetic field. That modifies the internal state of the metamaterial, and consequently its mechanical properties,” states Chen. He describes that his programmable product is comparable to computer system gadgets like hard disks. These gadgets include littles information that can be composed to and check out from in genuine time. The cells in his programmable metamaterial, called m-bits, work like the bits in a disk drive — they can be turned on, making the product stiffer, or off, making it more versatile. And scientists can set different mixes of on and off to provide the product precisely the mechanical homes they require at any offered time.

To establish his product, Chen made use of approaches from both computer technology and mechanical engineering. “That’s what makes his project so special,” states Pauly. Chen likewise invested a substantial quantity of time checking his product in each of its various states. He discovered that it might undoubtedly be configured to accomplish different degrees of tightness, contortion, and strength.

Many research study horizons

Programmable metamaterials belong to makers, such as robotics, that use made complex, energy-intensive electronic systems. With his research study, Chen intends to discover the best balance in between fixed products and makers. Reis sees a great deal of capacity for additional research study utilizing Chen’s innovation. “We could design a method for creating 3D structures, since what we’ve done so far is only in 2D,” Reis states. “Or we could shrink the scale to make even smaller metamaterials.” Chen’s discovery marks an essential advance, as it is the very first time researchers have actually established a genuinely reprogrammable mechanical metamaterial. It opens numerous interesting opportunities for research study and advanced commercial applications.

Reference: “A reprogrammable mechanical metamaterial with stable memory” by Tian Chen, Mark Pauly and Pedro M. Reis, 20 January 2021, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-03123-5