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Updated: Jun 25, 2025

Melt Electrospinning Writing of Three-dimensional Poly(ε-caprolactone) Scaffolds with Controllable Morphologies for Tissue Engineering Applications

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Multiscale Heterogeneous Polymer Composites for High Stiffness 4D Printed Electrically Controllable Multifunctional

Javier M Morales Ferrer¹, Ramón E Sánchez Cruz¹, Sophie Caplan¹

¹Mechanical Engineering Department, Boston University, Boston, MA, 02215, USA.

Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)

|May 20, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed stiff, thermally responsive 4D printing materials from polymer composites. These advanced materials enable 4D printed robots to lift heavy loads and exhibit self-sensing capabilities.

Keywords:

4D printing actuators autonomous structures metamaterials morphing structures robotic lattices

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Published on: April 24, 2019

Area of Science:

Materials Science
Robotics
Additive Manufacturing

Context:

4D printing uses stimuli-responsive materials for morphing structures, with time as the fourth dimension.
Current 4D printing materials are typically soft (E: 10^-4 to 10 MPa), limiting scalability and load-bearing capacity.
Stiff, thermally responsive polymer composites are introduced to overcome these limitations.

Purpose:

To develop novel stiff, thermally responsive 4D printing materials.
To enable enhanced actuation stress, load-bearing capabilities, and self-sensing in 4D printed structures.
To demonstrate the potential of these materials in creating advanced robotic systems.

Summary:

Multiscale heterogeneous polymer composites with high elastic modulus (E) and tunable electrical conductivity were developed for 4D printing.
These materials enable simultaneous Joule heating actuation and self-sensing.
A flat geometry was printed and transformed into a 3D self-standing lifting robot, achieving record weight-normalized load lifted and actuation stress.
Planar lattice structures were printed and transformed into complex 3D shapes, including a multigait crawling robotic lattice capable of carrying 144 times its own weight.

Impact:

This work expands the material capabilities for 4D printing, moving beyond soft polymers to stiff composites.
The developed materials enable unprecedented load-bearing and actuation performance in 4D printed robots.
The integration of self-sensing capabilities opens new avenues for smart, responsive 4D printed devices and systems.