SD4D

Sustainable Design of 4D Printed Active Systems

The aim of this project is to digitally design and 3D print lightweight, reconfigurable and active structures and robots that use less material, require no assembly, use fewer different materials to ease recyclability, adapt to the environment and task thus prolonging lifespan and exhibit increased durability so as to make them industrially relevant.

Using Additive Manufacturing (AM), we are currently able to design the geometry of parts to achieve customized performance, e.g. lightweight and personal customization. Through new multi-material AM processes we are also able to locally tune the material composition and "program" the material to create parts that have thus far unexploited functionalities, e.g. reconfiguration and actuation. This is the next generation of 3D printing and has been termed “4D printing”, i.e. 3D printed structures that change their shape after printing in response to the environment, as described in this scientific article.

Scope of Research Activities

Material characterization and design of multi-material joints and hinges
Design of sustainable, lightweight, multi-material structures and parts
3D printed and “drop in” actuation systems for distributed, active surfaces and structures
Computational design and optimization methods for 4D printing

Key Technical Problems to Solve

Fatigue failure of active parts, e.g. hinges or joints
Lack of integrated computational design, simulation and optimization methods

Demonstrators

Automotive and Aerospace Panels: 4D printed panels with integrated multi-functionality and re-configurability achieved through both 3D printed actuators and “drop-in” actuators.
Origami, reconfigurable robots: 3D printed robots, focusing on a context-sensitive gripper, that integrate several actuator types and modes of actuation for pick-and-place tasks.

Leading Principal Investigator

Prof. Dr. Kristina Shea
Engineering Design and Computing Laboratory, ETH Zürich

Project Consortium

Prof. Dr. Ralph Spolenak, Laboratory for Nanometallurgy, ETH Zürich
Prof. Dr. Paolo Ermanni, Laboratory for Composite Materials and Adaptive Structures, ETH Zürich
Prof. Dr. Jamie Paik, Reconfigurable Robotics Lab, EPF Lausanne