Shapeshifting plastics could revolutionize microrobotics and minimally invasive surgery
Friday, July 18, 2014 - 06:30
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org) —Shape memory polymers are "smart" plastic materials that can be transformed into a temporary shape and then return to their original shape, triggered by an external stimulus such as heat or pressure. These polymers can be programmed to create highly complex shapes – coils, knots, even origami-like shapes – but the transformations have conventionally been irreversible.