Mechanically Robust and UV-Curable Shape-Memory Polymers for Digital Light Processing Based 4D Printing

Biao Zhang; Honggeng Li; Jianxiang Cheng; Haitao Ye; Amir Hosein Sakhaei; Chao Yuan; Ping Rao; Yuan-Fang Zhang; Zhe Chen; Rong Wang; Xiangnan He; Ji Liu; Rui Xiao; Shaoxing Qu; Qi Ge

doi:10.1002/adma.202101298

Mechanically Robust and UV-Curable Shape-Memory Polymers for Digital Light Processing Based 4D Printing

Adv Mater. 2021 Jul;33(27):e2101298. doi: 10.1002/adma.202101298. Epub 2021 May 17.

Authors

Biao Zhang^{1

2

3}, Honggeng Li^{2

3}, Jianxiang Cheng^{2

3}, Haitao Ye^{2

3}, Amir Hosein Sakhaei⁴, Chao Yuan⁵, Ping Rao⁶, Yuan-Fang Zhang⁷, Zhe Chen⁸, Rong Wang^{2

3}, Xiangnan He^{2

3}, Ji Liu², Rui Xiao⁸, Shaoxing Qu⁸, Qi Ge^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics (FSCFE), Xi'an Institute of Flexible Electronics (IFE) and Xi'an Institute of Biomedical Materials and Engineering (IBME), Northwestern Polytechnical University, 127 West Youyi Road, Xi'an, 710072, China.
² Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Biomimetic Robotics and Intelligent Systems, Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
³ Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Human-Augmentation and Rehabilitation Robotics in Universities, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
⁴ School of Engineering and Digital Arts, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NT, UK.
⁵ State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China.
⁶ Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
⁷ Digital Manufacturing and Design Centre, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore, 487372, Singapore.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic System, Key Laboratory of Soft Machines and Smart Devices of Zhejiang Province, Department of Engineering Mechanics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China.

PMID: 33998721
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202101298

Abstract

4D printing is an emerging fabrication technology that enables 3D printed structures to change configuration over "time" in response to an environmental stimulus. Compared with other soft active materials used for 4D printing, shape-memory polymers (SMPs) have higher stiffness, and are compatible with various 3D printing technologies. Among them, ultraviolet (UV)-curable SMPs are compatible with Digital Light Processing (DLP)-based 3D printing to fabricate SMP-based structures with complex geometry and high-resolution. However, UV-curable SMPs have limitations in terms of mechanical performance, which significantly constrains their application ranges. Here, a mechanically robust and UV-curable SMP system is reported, which is highly deformable, fatigue resistant, and compatible with DLP-based 3D printing, to fabricate high-resolution (up to 2 µm), highly complex 3D structures that exhibit large shape change (up to 1240%) upon heating. More importantly, the developed SMP system exhibits excellent fatigue resistance and can be repeatedly loaded more than 10 000 times. The development of the mechanically robust and UV-curable SMPs significantly improves the mechanical performance of the SMP-based 4D printing structures, which allows them to be applied to engineering applications such as aerospace, smart furniture, and soft robots.

Keywords: 4D printing; Digital Light Processing; high stretchability; shape-memory polymers.

Abstract

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