Transformers made of polymeric microfibers: more than meets the eye

In recent years, there has been a continuous endeavor to develop synthetic shape-morphing materials of different architectures and scales and to decipher the underlying principles that govern their behavior and functionality. Minimizing the size of such structures to enable motion with microscale resolution is in particular of interest for numerous technological applications, ranging from micro-muscles to optical devices. Yet it is also highly challenging, due to the need for high accuracy and control of the structure in the microscale, and to the complexity in predicting and following the mechanical behavior in such scales.

In this talk, I will present a novel approach for the construction of highly accurate hierarchical shape-morphing 2D networks from thermoresponsive polymeric microfibers. Using a combination of experiments and computational models, I will demonstrate that the morphing of these macroscale network transformers exhibits a significant hierarchical influence, and strongly depends on the physical attributes of the single microfiber, and specifically on its diameter. Lastly, I will show how such networks can be used for the formation of micro-muscles and discuss how they may provide insights into the morphing mechanisms of complex biological filament networks including actin-myosin in muscles and microtubules networks in mitotic spindles.