Research Portfolio
Spatially Tailorable Liquid Crystalline Elastomer Alignment During Digital Light Process 3D Printing
Liquid crystal elastomers (LCEs) are anisotropic polymeric smart materials with promise for soft robotic actuators, dampers, and adhesives. Realizing these applications requires precise three-dimensional alignment of the polymer backbone, yet current manufacturing approaches struggle to produce complex spatial patterns in three dimensions. Here, we introduce a digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing strategy that enables voxel-level control of LCE alignment domains. By integrating a rotatable magnetic array with DLP photomasking, we achieve spatially tunable structures at voxel resolutions. This approach allows freeform 180° alignment within individual voxels, generating highly nonlinear shape transformations in both 2D films and 3D architectures. Finite element modeling and inverse design guided the creation of multidomain alignment patterns which could achieve targeted nonlinear deformation behaviors. As a demonstration, multidomain LCE smart valves were fabricated that exhibited up to 70% improved flow control compared to monodomain analogues. This technique dramatically expands the design space of 3D programmable matter and establishes a pathway toward complex, application-ready LCE systems
Non-Planar Embedded Multi-Material 4D Printing of Functional LCE Composites
Liquid Crystal Elastomers (LCEs) are a class of active polymer materials capable of large and reversible deformation according to their molecular orientation. In this work, we present a novel manufacturing process capable of generating customizable non-planar geometries which can result in complex, out-of-plane actuation behaviors. Through a custom-developed slicer, 3D geometries are translated to a single continuous, non-planar print path for optimal fabrication of conventional acrylate-based LCEs. To support the increased complexity of the LCE structures, we employ the use of embedded 3D printing wherein LCE material is extruded within a hydrophilic carbomer hydrogel support matrix, allowing increased inter-layer bonding and structural homogeneity. Using this process we demonstrate the fabrication of multi-material polymer composites from PDMS and LCE, combining the mechanical properties of various crosslinked polymers, increasing the capabilities of LCEs and allowing for the synthesis of previously infeasible geometries.