Shape Memory Polymers
Under the influence of light or heat, Shape Memory Polymers can reshape to forms that have been pre-programmed into them. By exposing it to certain stimuli again, this programmed shape can also transformed to another shape temporarily and then regained again by exposing it once more to more or less precise light, heat or other influences, depending on the properties of Shape Memory Polymer being used.
These materials are both sensors and reactors, both muscle and nerve: a mechanism and a structure at once. Most of the research done on SMPs and SMAs is done within medical research. The goal is to make small structures that can be used during non-invasive microsurgery. The properties and applications of SMPs at larger scales are still largely unknown and in need of extra research as their resistance to various mechanical stresses are limited.
Noumenon is currently researching promising avenues that will permit design of shape memory devices at the scale of household objects or larger. This research is conducted by developing working prototypes destined to become mass-produced items in the near future. One example is the small cube that changes to its programmed shape when it is exposed to direct sunlight. The box will then metamorphose into a seat. A first Shape Memory Polymer object at a larger scale was shown in 2007 at deSingel, Antwerp and developed in collaboration with Jan Ivens of the University of Leuven. The installation demonstrates the resilience of the shape memory by cyclically distorting the object to a temporary shape and letting the cube reform to its programmed shape by heating it up again.
See the article in Addict #29
Credits SMP Prototype – cube:
Carl De Smet
Jan Ivens
Philipe Vercauteren
Credits video - seat:
Carl De Smet
Dolores Hulan
Pierre de Gelder
Credits original concept SMP seat:
Carl De Smet
Jodie Hruby