openMaterials

Jie Qi, from MIT’s High-Low Tech group, posted a couple really nice tutorials on how to combine paper, electronics and smart materials to create beautiful objects. The LED dragon kite: http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=1414 SMA origami crane: http://hlt.media.mit.edu/?p=1448

Shape memory polymer strips (image by Inventables) Heat Reactive Materials Heat reactive materials change state, shape and/or color when exposed to temperatures above ambient. Naturally, many materials change state, eg. melt, at high temperatures. What’s special about some of them that their state, shape and/or color can be altered at relatively low temperatures (provided through hot water, [...]

Empa’s EAP propelled airship with Dielectric Elastomer (DE) actuators as muscles.

UV reactive materials, which initially have an off-white appearance, change to bright colors when exposed to UV rays (sunlight or a UV lamp) and revert to their original pale color when away from UV light. The basis for these materials are photochromic pigments which can be mixed with an acrylic base and then applied as [...]

If you haven’t yet, check out this great blog post on recycling of 3D printing materials by i.materialise’s Joris Peels: Last week in a comment, Paul asked me, “When will more eco and sustainable materials be available for use in these printers? Something like hemp plastic or other biodegradable materials? What are the technical limitations and [...]

MAKING STUFF: Stronger, Smaller Cleaner, Smarter is a four-part PBS television series focusing on materials science: While reports on “smart materials” or “bionic humans” are familiar enough from TV news and magazine shows, Making Stuff will be the first documentary to provide the basic science behind these and many other technology breakthroughs. Each of the four [...]