A team of Harvard researchers develops programmable metafluid, with features that open up new possibilities in diverse fields of study such as robotics and optics.
The favorable scientific properties of the experiment
This metafluid, which is the first of its kind,exhibits adjustable elasticity, viscosity, and optical properties, as well as the ability to switch between Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid behaviors under different conditions.
This creation uses a suspension of tiny elastomer spheres, ranging from 50 to 500 microns, which deform under pressure dramatically altering the properties of the fluid. These characteristics make metafluid ideal for a wide range of applications, from hydraulic actuators and programmable robots to smart dampers and optical devices, which can alternate between being transparent or opaque.
This research is a breakthrough in the field of metamaterials, which have historically have historically been composed mainly of solid . Researcher Katia Bertoldi, professor of Applied Mechanics at SEAS and lead author of the study, highlighted the uniqueness of metafluids to flow and adapt to any contour, unlike solid metamaterials.
The analysis and study of the programmable metafluid
The team used a scalable fabrication technique developed in David A. Weitz’s laboratory, which allows hundreds of thousands of these highly deformable spherical capsules to be produced. Under pressure, the capsules adopt a hemispherical shape, altering the viscosity and opacity of the fluid. These properties can be finely tuned by changes in the amount, thickness and size of the capsules.
In practical tests,the researchers loaded the metafluid into a hydraulic robotic gripper, which demonstrated its ability to automatically adjust its grip to handle objects of different fragilities and weights without additional programming or external sensors. In addition, the use of the metafluid in a reprogrammable fluidic logic gate was demonstrated and changes in optical properties were observed under different pressures.
The metafluid experiment and demonstration.
Source: Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
When the capsules are in their original spherical state, the metafluid behaves as a “Newtonian fluid”, where the viscosity is affected by temperature changes. However, upon collapse, it becomes a “non-Newtonian fluid” whose viscosity responds to the shear force, making it the first fluid capable of transiting between these two states. The next breakthrough for the researchers will be to explore further properties, such as acoustic and thermodynamic properties, of the metafluid.
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Source: Harvard
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