Multifunctional Liquid Metal Lattice Materials with Recoverable and Reconfigurable Behaviors

TL;DR

This paper introduces liquid metal lattice materials with reconfigurable, shape-memory, and energy absorption capabilities, fabricated through hybrid manufacturing, expanding multifunctional applications in engineering fields.

Contribution

It presents a novel class of liquid metal lattice materials with integrated functionalities enabled by a hybrid fabrication process.

Findings

Demonstrated shape memory and reconfigurable behaviors.

Showed tunable rigidity and energy absorption properties.

Validated functionalities through experimental testing.

Abstract

Multifunctional lattice materials are of great interest to modern engineering including aerospace, robotics, wave control, and sensing. In this work, we proposed and developed a new class of functional lattice materials called liquid metal lattice materials, which are composed of liquid metals and elastomer coatings organized in a co-axial way. This hybrid design enables the liquid metal lattice materials with a thermal-activated shape memory effect and hence a variety of intriguing functionalities including recoverable energy absorption, tunable shape and rigidity, deployable and reconfigurable behaviors. The fabrication of liquid metal lattice materials is realised by a hybrid manufacturing approach combining 3D printing, vacuum casting, and coating. The mechanical properties and functionalities of these liquid metal lattice materials are studied via experimental testing. We expect that this new class of lattice materials will greatly expand the current realm of lattice materials and lead to novel multifunctional applications.