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Bio-inspired pneumatic shape-morphing elastomers

Abstract

Shape-morphing structures are at the core of future applications in aeronautics1, minimally invasive surgery2, tissue engineering3 and smart materials4. However, current engineering technologies, based on inhomogeneous actuation across the thickness of slender structures, are intrinsically limited to one-directional bending5. Here, we describe a strategy where mesostructured elastomer plates undergo fast, controllable and complex shape transformations under applied pressure. Similar to pioneering techniques based on soft hydrogel swelling6,7,8,9,10, these pneumatic shape-morphing elastomers, termed here as ‘baromorphs’, are inspired by the morphogenesis of biological structures11,12,13,14,15. Geometric restrictions are overcome by controlling precisely the local growth rate and direction through a specific network of airways embedded inside the rubber plate. We show how arbitrary three-dimensional shapes can be programmed using an analytic theoretical model, propose a direct geometric solution to the inverse problem, and illustrate the versatility of the technique with a collection of configurations.

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Fig. 1: Principle of pressure-actuated baromorph plate.
Fig. 2: Characterization of baromorph expansion and deformation.
Fig. 3: Equilibrium states and dynamical response.
Fig. 4: Collection of 3D shapes obtained by the buckling of baromorphs under pressure.

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Data availability

The data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information files and from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work received support from the Institut Pierre-Gilles de Gennes (Équipement d’excellence, ‘investissements d’avenir’, ANR-10-EQPX-34) and from ANR SMART. The authors thank C. Blanquart for developing the 3D scanning technique and M. Lebihain from the Institut Jean Le Rond d’Alembert for technical support with 3D printing of the moulds.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

E.S. and B.R. developed the baromorph concept. E.S. designed and conducted the experiments. E.S., E.R., J.B and B.R. analysed the data. E.S., J.B. and B.R. developed the theoretical model. All authors participated in editing of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Benoît Roman.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Video Legends 1–10, Supplementary Notes, Supplementary Figures 1–9

Supplementary Video 1

Dynamical behaviour of a baromorph under inflation and deflation

Supplementary Video 2

Parallel actuation of three baromorphs with the same design, at different scales

Supplementary Video 3

Bowl-shaped baromorph fitting a spherical cap

Supplementary Video 4

Saddle-shaped baromorph

Supplementary Video 5

Large angle cone with a centred hole

Supplementary Video 6

A helicoid baromorph

Supplementary Video 7

Face programmed with the geometric inverse recipe

Supplementary Video 8

A mask baromorph

Supplementary Video 9

Actuation of a double layer baromorph

Supplementary Video 10

Actuation of an isotropic baromorph

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Siéfert, E., Reyssat, E., Bico, J. et al. Bio-inspired pneumatic shape-morphing elastomers. Nature Mater 18, 24–28 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0219-x

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