Programmable Design and Fabrication of 3D Variable–Stiffness Structure Based on Patterned Graphene‐Heating Network

Abstract

The 3D variable–stiffness structure can realize shape programming, reconstruction, adaptation, and locking, and therefore, it has a wide design creation space. Accurate local stiffness control is of considerable significance to the design and application of 3D variable–stiffness structures although it is challenging. Herein, a 3D variable–stiffness structure realization scheme based on a patterned heating network is introduced. The laser‐engraving and 3D‐printing technologies are combined to obtain a 3D variable–stiffness structure composed of a patterned graphene‐heating network (PGHN) and polylactic acid (PLA). The proposed scheme uses PGHN to accurately control the local stiffness of 3D PLA and realize programmable design and fabrication of 3D variable–stiffness structures. The “torsional structure,” “hexagonal structure,” and “spring” cases are used to elaborate the designability, excellent deformation and reconstruction capacity, and reasonable load bearing capacity of the PGHN/PLA variable–stiffness structure. A pneumatic disc, which is used as a reference for studies on shape control of PGHN/PLA variable–stiffness structures, is designed. Also, a pneumatic robot is designed based on the local stiffness control and shape‐locking function of PGHN/PLA to achieve multimode motion control using a single air source. The PGHN/PLA variable–stiffness structure has potential applications in multimode robots, wearable devices, and deployable structures.

Keywords

• 3D variable–stiffness structure
• local stiffness control
• patterned-heating network
• programmable design