The Yang lab and collaborators transform a two-dimension sheets made from liquid crystal elastomers into complex three-dimensional geometries, such as a human face, with heat. This work outlines an explicit protocol for preprogramming any desired 3D shape into a 2D liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) sheet. Namely, given an arbitrary 3D design, we show how to produce a flat sheet that can buckle into the desired shape when heated and return to flat when cooled—reversibly. We demonstrate this proof-of-principle of shape morphing in LCE sheets, relying on advances in both numerical and experimental methods presented here. Our protocol is not limited in materials or scale; it can be implemented on any “LCE-like” anisotropic material, thus opening the door for countless technological applications in flexible electronics, metamaterials, aerospace, medical devices, drug delivery, and more.
Universal inverse design of surfaces with thin nematic elastomer sheets
