Programmable matter for 4D prototyping

Programmable Matter aims at developing new smart system consisting of a hardware component and a programmable approach allowing the adaptation of its physical properties to programmable inputs or autonomous sensing. Such a system requires a multidisciplinary approach bringing together material science, mechatronics and software programming. In this paper, a programmable and reusable shape memory based system is introduced that can be used for 4D prototyping. More precisely, this study proposes a device for the prototyping of product, allowing a modification of the geometry of the prototype by means of a deformable composite membrane with shape memory, reusable and programmable. The device consists of a flexible composite with a flexible polymer matrix and the reinforcement is a Shape memory alloys fiber and rubber effect, having a given electrical resistance. These shape memory fibers are woven in such a way as to ensure deformations in the direction normal to the plane of the membrane by injecting the current into each fiber. This is ensured by a cross weave allowing the control of the direction of the overall deformation through the deformation specific to each fiber. In this research, the results of the modeling and the simulation of the behavior of a composite membrane with shape memory are presented.