James' World 2

Forget about printing in 3D; it turns out that scientists are looking forward to printing in 4D. They’ve successfully added a fourth dimension to their printing technology, opening up exciting possibilities for the creation and use of adaptive, composite materials in manufacturing, packing and biomedical applications.

In order to actually accomplish this feat, the researchers incorporated “shape memory” polymer fibers into the composite materials used in traditional 3D printed. These fibers result in the production of an object fixed in one shape that can later be changed to take on a new shape. At first, the scientists combined a strand of plastic with a layer made out of “smart” material that could self-assemble in water.

“We advanced this concept by creating composite materials that can morph into several different, complicated shapes based on a different physical mechanism,” said Martin Dunn, one of the researchers, in a news release. “The secret of using shape memory polymer fibers to generate desired shape changes of the composite material is how the architecture of the fibers is designed, including their location, orientation and other factors.”