frontal photopolymerization tagged posts

A new technique for producing self-folding three-dimensional origami structures from photo-curable liquid polymer materials created these tiny samples, held in a hand for size comparison. Credit: Rob Felt, Georgia Tech

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Peking University have found a new use for the ubiquitous PowerPoint slide: Producing self-folding 3D origami structures from photocurable liquid polymers. The technique involves projecting a grayscale pattern of light and dark shapes onto a thin layer of liquid acrylate polymer placed in a plate or between 2 glass slides. A photoinitiator material mixed into the polymer initiates a crosslinking reaction when struck by light from an ordinary LED projector, causing a solid film to form...