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Updated: Sep 19, 2025
An Additive Manufacturing Technique for the Facile and Rapid Fabrication of Hydrogel-based Micromachines with Magnetically Responsive Components
Published on: July 18, 2018
Template-free 3D programmable magnetization of soft millirobots induced by interlayer stress
Jie Han1,2, Shuideng Wang3, Zhiqiang Zheng2,3
1Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Non-Equilibrium Synthesis and Modulation of Condensed Matter, Shaanxi Province Key Laboratory of Advanced Functional Materials and Mesoscopic Physics, School of Physics, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, Shaanxi, China.
This study introduces a template-free method for creating 3D magnetic soft machines. The technique uses stress-induced shape morphing for scalable, programmable magnetic devices in medicine and robotics.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Robotics
- Biomedical Engineering
Background:
- Current magnetic programming methods for soft devices rely on templates, limiting scalability and precision.
- Existing techniques are sequential and labor-intensive, hindering mass production and design flexibility.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a novel template-free, integrative strategy for fabricating programmable 3D magnetic soft devices.
- To demonstrate a scalable and cost-effective approach for precise magnetic domain programming.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing interlayer stress-induced 3D shape morphing in xerogel-PDMS bilayer materials triggered by temperature variations.
- Employing laser-based engraving and ablation for precise control over stress and material properties.
- Achieving precise regulation of stress-induced deformation and magnetically responsive regions with 20 μm resolution.
Main Results:
- Successfully created soft machines with precisely tailored magnetic domains via stress and phase transition.
- Demonstrated reconfigurable mechanical behavior in kirigami metamaterials, information encryption, and millirobots.
- Achieved over 1.8 T magnetization strength with enhanced design flexibility and machining precision.
Conclusions:
- The template-free 3D magnetization strategy significantly enhances design flexibility, precision, and mass production capabilities.
- This approach paves the way for advanced multiscale and programmable soft magnetic devices.
- The method reduces time and labor costs associated with fabricating complex magnetic soft materials.
