Morphing Metal and Elastomer Bicontinuous Foams for Reversible Stiffness, Shape Memory, and Self-Healing Soft Machines

Ilse M Van Meerbeek; Benjamin C Mac Murray; Jae Woo Kim; Sanlin S Robinson; Perry X Zou; Meredith N Silberstein; Robert F Shepherd

doi:10.1002/adma.201505991

Morphing Metal and Elastomer Bicontinuous Foams for Reversible Stiffness, Shape Memory, and Self-Healing Soft Machines

Adv Mater. 2016 Apr 13;28(14):2801-6. doi: 10.1002/adma.201505991. Epub 2016 Feb 12.

Authors

Ilse M Van Meerbeek¹, Benjamin C Mac Murray², Jae Woo Kim¹, Sanlin S Robinson², Perry X Zou¹, Meredith N Silberstein¹, Robert F Shepherd¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.

PMID: 26872152
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201505991

Abstract

A metal-elastomer-foam composite that varies in stiffness, that can change shape and store shape memory, that self-heals, and that welds into monolithic structures from smaller components is presented.

Keywords: active composites; morphing; remodeling; self-healing; variable stiffness.