The 4th dimension of print

2D print? – Boring…. 3D print? – You are getting fed up with it… Can we say that our future belongs to 4D printing? Is it only a dream of a quite big group of researchers? How long will we wait for the forth dimension?

But let’s come down to earth… 4D print has nothing in common with a mysterious forth dimension. Researchers are still looking for it. What is exactly 4D print? It is a variant of 3D print, but our print can for example change its shape under an outer impulse. It can be water, temperature, movement or an electric charge.

Imagine yourself, that you have got a 3D printed shipping box, and when you remove goods from it, you can flatten the box to ship it back out to its departure point so it they can be re-used for other shipments. This example may seem to be prosaic, but is show a need of 4D print in business.

Another example can be using this technology in automotive. It could be possible to manufacture a bodywork of a vehicle, which could change its shape, to become more streamlined – it ensures a better airflow, better aerodynamic conditions and reduces combustion. Does it sound like science-fiction? Yes, it does, because it is kind of it.

I mentioned about an impulse, to evoke some changes. To make this trigger work, you need to produce material, which react when they come into contact with it. it could be called making the 4D objects “programmable” and execute their “genetic code” whenever you want to have it triggered.

Meanwhile, some serious and advanced research centres are working on development of this technology. Self-Assembly Lab, supported by MIT, is working on creating a computer system that allows geometry inputs to measure how 3D printed objects will be able to change post-print.

At Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering  a team of scientists is studying a way that a special ink, known as hydrogel ink, can change shape and form when stimulated with water. It allows to create structures similar to structures contained in flowers, which change shape when exposed to water and other environmental conditions.

At the University of Wollongong in Australia, a team of researchers has created the first 4D-printed water valve that shuts when exposed to hot water and re-opens when hot temperatures subside by using a hydrogel ink that responds rapidly to heat.

4D print is a “toddler”  in the global industry, but there are a few groups of scientists. who believe in it, that in cthe future its practical use will be real and this technology will be developing really fast. There are a variety of examples that truly show how far this technology has come, from simplistic folding objects to programmable shapeshifting materials and hydrogel composites. Who knows, maybe in the future our website will be called “4D Printing Center”?