science

The real-life FLUBBER: Researchers reveal radical morphing material


The real-life FLUBBER: Researchers reveal radical morphing material

  • Researchers have developed soft material that changes shape at different temps
  • They’re hoping to create variants that respond to light, activate at body temp 
  • The team says this could be used to make tactile buttons or reactive braille  

Cheyenne Macdonald For Dailymail.com

It might sound a lot like the premise of the 1997 movie, Flubber – but, researchers say a rubbery new shape-shifting substance could pave the way for sophisticated biomedical materials.

A team of scientists in Texas has developed a material that can take on pre-programmed shapes at room temperature and lose its form when heat is applied, and vice versa.

The researchers are now working to expand its capabilities, with hopes to develop variants that react to light and activate at body temperature.

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A team of scientists in Texas has developed a material that can take on pre-programmed shapes at room temperature and lose its form when heat is applied, and vice versa. Pictured is a face they made using the technique

A team of scientists in Texas has developed a material that can take on pre-programmed shapes at room temperature and lose its form when heat is applied, and vice versa. Pictured is a face they made using the technique

A team of scientists in Texas has developed a material that can take on pre-programmed shapes at room temperature and lose its form when heat is applied, and vice versa. Pictured is a face they made using the technique

So far, the Rice University team has made an array of shapes with their morphing material, including a face, the university’s logo, a Lego block, and a rose.

Within the material, nanoscale liquid crystals are embedded in an elastomer. The researchers program the crystals to take on a given shape, which appears when the material is cool.

When heat is applied, however, the crystals relax, and the shape collapses into a flat sheet.

For the samples in the study published this week, the team used a transition temperature of about 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the material lose its shape.

‘These are made with two-step chemistry that has been done for a long time,’ said materials scientist Rafael Verduzco.

It might sound a lot like the premise of the 1997 Robin Williams movie, Flubber (pictured) – but, researchers say a rubbery new shape-shifting substance could pave the way for sophisticated biomedical materials.

It might sound a lot like the premise of the 1997 Robin Williams movie, Flubber (pictured) – but, researchers say a rubbery new shape-shifting substance could pave the way for sophisticated biomedical materials.

The researchers program the crystals to take on a given shape, which appears when the material is cool. It's reminiscent of the movie Flubber

The researchers program the crystals to take on a given shape, which appears when the material is cool. It's reminiscent of the movie Flubber

It might sound a lot like the premise of the 1997 movie, Flubber – but, researchers say a rubbery new shape-shifting substance could pave the way for sophisticated biomedical materials

‘People have focused on patterning liquid crystals, but they hadn’t thought about how these two networks interact with each other.

‘We thought if we could optimize the balance between the networks – make them not too stiff and not too soft – we could get these sophisticated shape changes.’

To program the shape, the material is first put into a mold and cured under ultraviolet light for five minutes.

The technique allows them to program more than one shape, too; in the study, the team created samples that were able to switch between two shapes.

So far, the Rice University team has made an array of shapes with their morphing material, including a face, the university’s logo, a Lego block, and a rose

So far, the Rice University team has made an array of shapes with their morphing material, including a face, the university’s logo, a Lego block, and a rose

So far, the Rice University team has made an array of shapes with their morphing material, including a face, the university’s logo, a Lego block, and a rose

HOW DOES THE SHAPE-SHIFTING MATERIAL WORK?

Within the material, nanoscale liquid crystals are embedded in an elastomer. 

The researchers program the crystals to take on a given shape, which appears when the material is cool.

To program the shape, the material is first put into a mold and cured under ultraviolet light for five minutes.  

When heat is applied, the crystals relax, and the shape collapses into a flat sheet.

For the samples in the study published this week, the team used a transition temperature of about 80 degrees Celsius (176 degrees Fahrenheit) to make the material lose its shape. 

Moving forward, the team is hoping to achieve activation at body temperature or light, to make for tactile buttons, for example, or even reactive braille text.

‘Instead of simple uniaxial shape changes, where you have something that lengthens and contracts, we’re able to have something that goes from a 2D shape to a 3DC shape, or from one 3D shape to another 3D shape,’ graduate student Morgan Barnes.

Moving forward, the team is hoping to achieve activation at body temperature or light, to make for tactile buttons, for example, or even reactive braille text.

‘Activation at body temperature opens us up to a lot more applications,’ said Barnes.

‘We want to make it photo-responsive,’ Barnes said.

‘Instead of heating the entire sample, you can activate only the part of the liquid crystal elastomer you want to control. That would be a much easier way to control a soft robot.’





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