Shape shifting chair - Shape Memory Polymer - Prototype

www.noumenon.eu

The SMP chair is a prototype demonstrating the possibilities for design offered by Shape Memory Polymers. As yet SMPs have only been used in small-scale medical devices. noumenon has been researching pathways for the design and production of larger SMP artefacts. The prototype you now see, is a combination of Shape Memory Polymers that react to heat and a variety of supporting tissues. Currently available SMP materials can not sustain the forces existing at the scale of everyday use objects. This prototype is a succesful step in the development of larger SMP structures. The now unfolding roll of SMP was programmed during the moulding process to memorize the precise shape to which it is unfolding and it reaches this form when heated at a temperature of 75 degrees C°.

Credits:

Carl De Smet - noumenon
Jan Ivens - KULeuven - dept (ZOEK OP PIERRE)

camera: Oliver Imfeld
text: noumenon

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• SMP
• Shape Memory Polymers
• design
• material research
• smart materials