3D-printed structures change shape and colour

The innovation from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire promises to add more functionality to 3D printing and could pave the way to a new generation of printed material.

The advance in form-changing intelligent printing - or 4D printing – is claimed to provide a low-cost alternative to printing precision parts.

"This technique gives life to 3D-printed objects," said Chenfeng Ke, an assistant professor of chemistry at Dartmouth. "While many 3D-printed structures are just shapes that don't reflect the molecular properties of the material, these inks bring functional molecules to the 3D printing world. We can now print smart objects for a variety of uses."

Many 3D printing protocols rely on photo-curing resins and result in hard plastic objects with rigid, but random molecular architectures. According to Dartmouth, the new process allows designers to retain specific molecular alignments and functions in a material and converts those structures for use in 3D printing.