Sometimes the beginning of the year is a little bit … well … boring. Everyone is working out at the gym and eating healthy green foods, and even though the sun still sets at an ungodly hour, all the festive holiday parties are over.  This admirably disciplined January attitude is great for working off all the pfeffernüsse you shoved in your face and chased with rum-laced egg nog at your Aunt Betty’s house in December, but if you’re not careful all of this new-found rigidity and focus could negatively affect your work.  So if you’re looking to spice up your latest facade design and hey – maybe even your life in general this month, then take a gander at this intriguing “multi-layer, polymeric reflective film that reflects 95%+ of visible light” and that can be used to create snazzy chrome-like, multicolored, and metallic effects in plastics (Source: Inventables.com).

Image courtesy UT Materials Lab & 3M

Radiant light film contains no metal whatsoever, so it’s non-corroding, thermally stable, non-conductive, and won’t produce electro-magnetic interference; it’s a well-mannered material that manages to create a striking effect with a minimum of fuss.  Taking a cue from butterfly wings, the colors in the film are created NOT through the use of pigments but rather through a series of microscopic ridges spaced a few hundred nanometers apart. Variations in the spacing of the ridges produce a range of colors (blue to magenta to gold) though the reflection and interference of different wavelengths of light, and as a result the material appears to change hue as you adjust your viewing angle.

Radiant light film is nothing if not versatile: it can be “embossed, die cut, sheet slit, precision cut, surface treated, dyed, coated to be heat sealed, coated with adhesive, printed and extruded into plastics. It can be combined with suitable color substrates to produce various vibrant colors in both reflection and transmission” (Inventables.com).  Hell – you can even turn the stuff into yarn and knit it into a sweater if you’re so inclined, according to manufacturer, 3M.

UN Studio’s La Defense, Almere

Technology: 3M Radiant Colour/Light Film.
Using radiant colour film to create interference colour.

So far the film has found applications in home décor, packaging, automotive trim and accents, computers, mobile phones and advertising media, and inspired by UN Studio, I think we should wrap some buildings with it. And then let’s go have some cookies because we all knew I’d never make it to March let alone 2013 on this ridiculous salad-filled healthy diet and I’m sore from doing pushups.

WU XING

I have filed Radiant Light film under Water and Wood. It’s flexible, reflective, and it interviews well.

Get Radiant Light Film from Inventables.

Last week I found myself in Zürich, Switzerland, which in itself is somewhat unusual for a person who typically lives and works in the great state of Texas.  To add to that, while installed in said location I experienced one of those intensive periods of excitement and discovery that only happen when you toss yourself and an over-stuffed rolling suitcase headlong into a foreign country and participate in a workshop in order to learn how to screen print electroluminescent lamps (and also to learn that, although they are healthier, multigrain croissants are simply not as delicious as the regular kind).

I should preface this by explaining, as I did many times to curious collaborators over the course of a week skipping up and down five flights of art school stairs coated in phosphor ink, exactly how I came to be in Switzerland in the first place.  The travel process was pretty standard, actually: I took a car to the airport, and then flew to another airport, and then another one, and then rode an extremely quiet and efficient train into Zürich, which turned out to be an extremely quiet and efficient city.

But in all seriousness, I’d like to extend sincere thanks to Manuel Kretzer, CAAD – Chair of Computer Aided Architectural Design, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Karmen Franinovic, Interaction Design, DDE, Zurich University of the Arts, Daniel Bisig, Institute for Computer Music and Sound Technology, DMU, Zurich University of the Arts, and Rachel Wingfield and Mathias Gmachl of Loop.pH, along with my amazing fellow workshop collaborators, all of whom I consider excellent, encouraging, and genius-tastic new friends, for the opportunity to participate in the Actuated Matter Workshop because … the experience was completely epic.

So epic, in fact, that I am in the process of producing a series of posts that focus on each of the materials/technologies that we investigated (I will turn the list into a series of links once everything is written because only today am I over my debilitating jet lag/have finished doing all my laundry):

Glass-fiber Reinforced Plastic

Electroluminescent (EL) Lamps

Electro-active Polymer (EAP)

Printed Loudspeakers

Thermochromic Ink

Although I have written about some of these items in the past, I must confess to you all that a hands-on approach where you try to make these materials do something specific has given me a new insight – and I almost feel like each has a distinct personality (and some may even have distinct personality disorders).

Another thing I noticed was that there is a peculiar rush associated with actuating matter – when Manuel casually electrocuted our EL lamps into functionality, I felt like Dr. Frankenstein watching the monster open his eyes for the first time and it flooded me with a curious mixture of fascination and relief (not to mention a bit of suprise that the modules actually worked after the number of failed trial attempts).

EL Modules from ARCHITERIALS on Vimeo.

And, lucky for us, the EL lamps did not turn around and run out the door to kill innocent villagers like Frankenstein’s monster.  Well, at least, not as far as I know….

Image courtesy arilourdes.wordpress.com

The scientists are using nanocellulose fibers from bananas, pineapples and other plants to create plastic that is 3-4 times stronger than petroleum-based plastics, and 30% lighter.  Not only that, nanocellulosic plastic is better at resisting heat, chemicals, and water.  The material reportedly rivals Kevlar in strength, but in contrast with that lovely chest-protecting substance, it’s renewable and biodegradable.  The Brazilian researchers believe that within a few years nanocellulosic plastics will enjoy widespread adoption.

To make nanocellulose, the researchers take cellulose, a familiar substance that provides the structure of the cell walls of green plants, and processes it to the point where “50,000 [fibers] fit within the diameter of a human hair” (Squatiglia).  The best source for the fibers has been pineapples, although bananas, coconut shells, agave and curaua, a plant related to pineapple, have also proved workable.  The researchers take the leaves and stems of the plants and heat them in a device similar to a pressure cooker, yielding a fine powder resembling talc. The fibers can be added to other raw materials to produce reinforced plastic, and could even be combined with petroleum-based plastic if a specific application required it, although the product would not biodegrade.

Image courtesy howei.com

The plastic is expensive to produce, but the cost would come down dramatically if the plastic were adopted by automobile manufacturers and other industrial systems.  Right now, one pound of nanocellulose can produce 100 pounds of plastic (Squatiglia).  While I haven’t been able to find out whether the researchers have tried to make nanocellulose with Tulip leaves, I guess this year the joke is on me!

WU XING:

I have filed nanocellulosic plastic under wood and earth.

Cited:

Squatiglia, Chuck. “Bananas Could Make Cars Leaner, Greener.”  Wired Online.  03/28/11. Accessed 04/20/11. URL.

Stairs are challenging enough for adults at times, but I distinctly remember how hard it was to climb them when I was little.  When you are small in stature, 7″ high risers hit at mid-thigh and most of the time you have to take each stair on all fours.  Many of the epic, all-out “Alli versus the Stairs” battles ended with a small, defiant child celebrating wildly on the second floor, but sometimes things didn’t go my way.  On the days that the straight run, open tread, carpeted monster was my Waterloo, I would find myself tumbling head over heels, going bump bump bump all the way down, only to find myself sprawled out on the ground floor covered with scrapes and rug burns.  But here is one of the things that makes being a living creature so incredible and fantastic: I didn’t have to wait for someone to come patch my skin up after an accident on the stairs.  Because  – wait for it – skin heals itself.

Until recently, most materials we’ve used for building structures have been incapable of significant self-repair.  When the roof of a stadium collapses due to the immense weight of drifting snow, the structure just waits for us to come fix it.  But now some researchers working at Arizona State have developed a “self-diagnosing, self-healing material that can sense the presence of damage and regenerate itself…. Like a biological structure, this “autonomous adaptive structure” could be used to develop usable composites that are self-healing, halting the progression of cracks or damage and regenerating material wherever needed to re-strengthen the structure” (Dillow).  Materials that can find and repair their own scrapes and rug burns will last longer and look better while they last: think of the concept as an anti-aging strategy for buildings.

Image courtesy pingmag.com

The autonomous adaptive structures coming out of Arizona State are made from “shape memory” polymers embedded with a fiber-optic network.   When the material tears or is otherwise damaged, the fiber optic network detects the problem.  An infra-red laser transmits light through the network, delivering heat to the affected area.  The shape memory polymers return to a pre-defined shape when they reach a certain temperature, so the heat from the fiber optic network can be used to close up cracks and tears in the material.  This allows it to regain up to 96% of its original strength.  The shape memory polymers are programmed to toughen up to 11 times, and self-healing action can take place while the material is operational (Dillow).  If the roof of the Metrodome had been able to toughen in response to deformation while self-healing rips and tears, the Vikings might have been able to play there this week.  On a side note, Bret Favre’s body has apparently lost its self-healing capabilities.

Image courtesy popsci.com

More relevant, this week at MIT scientists have at last been able to mathematically model shape-memory polymers in detail, meaning that “applications like implantable medical devices or space materials that can be compacted into tiny packages and then automatically expanded into complex structures once they’re aloft” are now possible (Dillow).  The video below illustrates how shape memory polymers work.  I applaud the display of materials science awesomness coupled with school spirit.

WU XING:

I’ve filed self-healing polymers under Fire and Wood because of the lasers and the flexibility of the shapes.

Cited:

American Institute of Physics. “Self-healing autonomous material comes to life.” ScienceDaily 7 December 2010. 13 December 2010.  URL.

Dillow, Clay. “New Self-Healing Materials Detect when They’re Damaged and Fix Themselves.” Popsci.com 12/09/10.  Accessed 12/13/10.  URL.

Video snapshots of microgrippers with bidirectional digits closing and opening because of surface chemical modification. (Credit: Jatinder Randhawa, Gracias Laboratory, JHU.)

Microscale engineers at Johns Hopkins are working to develop inexpensive, mass-fabricated microtools that can be deployed in places that aren’t easy to reach (like inside a cow’s bladder, for instance).  The thing that makes these v. tiny tools extra awesome is the fact that they are activated by exposure to chemicals rather than by electricity, which means troublesome wires are no longer needed.  Also cool is the fact that, “chemical-based actuation of mechanical structures … is widely observed in biological actuators and enables autonomous functioning with high selectivity and specificity” (Gracias).* Microtools that do their job (gripping, cutting, clamping, pick-and-place etc.) in the presence of specific chemicals could find widespread application in the world of materials science.

Concept showing a biosensing-microtool component composed of rigid functional elements and hinges (a) as fabricated and (b) on exposure to L-glutamine. This causes the hinges to bend, thereby leading to a concerted motion. (Credit: Aasiyeh Zarafshar, Gracias Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University: JHU).

The researchers are currently “developing biosensing hinges that bend only when they are exposed to specific biochemicals. They can be interconnected with other structural or functional modules using conventional lithographic processes to construct tools (such as grippers) that close or open when exposed to biochemicals” (Gracias).  Using surface modifications based on oxidation and reduction of copper films, the researchers managed to achieve reversible actuation of the hinges (meaning that they can open and close over and over again). 

The microgripper hinges are created by stacking multiple layers of thin films (some of which are pre-stressed).  One or more of the films undergoes a mechanical transformation upon exposure to a chemical such as L-glutamine or acetic acid.  The hinge “functions like a chemical sensor and it responds by bending” (Gracias).  The researchers didn’t stop there: they added ferromagnetic elements to the microgrippers so that they could be moved around using magnets, and they also used the tetherless tools to excise cells from a bovine bladder in a test tube.  The microgrippers were as small as 700?m when open and 190?m when closed (Gracias).

Video snapshot of a tetherless, biochemically actuated microgripper used to excise cells from a sample. (Credit: Timothy Leong, Gracias Laboratory, JHU.)

But it’s not all rose petals and delicate tears of joy running in lazy, meandering patterns down the faces of scientists.  It’s shockingly difficult to engineer the integration of “heterogeneous materials such as metals, polymers, and gels to structure these miniaturized tools using mass-producible lithographic processes…  Improvements in sensitivity and selectivity are needed to mimic the capabilities of commercial chemical sensors. Reversible biochemical actuation over multiple cycles is challenging under physiologically relevant conditions and at room temperature” (Gracias).  It’s also tough to open and close the microgrippers on demand; it can take hours for certain mechanical actions to take place. 

Despite the challenges, the microtools are pretty exciting.  I am imagining tiny swarms moving across the surface of a building searching for and reparing microscopic tears or cracks…

WU XING:

I’m filing the microtools under metal because they bend, but I could see putting them in other categories too based on the way they move and the fact that they incorporate polymers etc.  I didn’t do that, though.

Cited:

Gracias, David. “Biosensing Microtools” Spie.org 09/15/10.  Accessed 09/28/10.  URL.

*I loved citing David Gracias in this article, because I felt like I was ending those sentences with a parenthetical “thank you.”

Image courtesy www.geekinspired.com

Feet grow, but shoes don’t.  What this means, of course, is that children go through an enormous quantity of plastic rain boots as their feet get larger.  And when they’re done with them and there aren’t any smaller-footed children around, the rain boots get tossed out to molder in landfills.

Smile Plastics gathers up plastic from rain boots, recycled bottles, CD cases, and other polymer-based garbage before it hits the landfill, and recycles it into thin sheets that can be used as furniture, shop fittings, work surfaces, bath panels, screens, and so on.

Some of the plastic material is waste matter generated during industrial production: “faulty products or offcuts or even cutting swarf, and is normally referred to as industrial waste or scrap” (Source: Smile Plastics).  Also collected are “post-use” items such as pallet wrapping, drums, sacks, and other packaging.  Smile purchases sorted, cleaned plastic that has been granulated into a flake or lump for easy processing.

Smile takes measured amounts of plastic flakes and places them into molds to form six plastic sheets at a time.  The molds go into a hydraulic press, where they’re subjected to temperatures up to 180°C and pressures up to 1000 tons.  The heat and pressure causes the flakes to fuse together and assume the shape of the mold.  According to Smile, their sheets are made from 100% waste plastic without any binding agents or resin.

Image Credit: http://www.smile-plastics.co.uk

Smile conducted an “energy audit” on their operations, to ensure that the recycling process they’re using is worthwhile. They’ve “established that making sheets this way from waste materials uses between 50% and 70% of the energy that would be used to create sheets from virgin material….  Because [they] do not melt the plastic completely, it gives off no noxious or harmful fumes whilst it is being pressed. The only smell is the smell of the perfume used in fabric conditioners as this seems to leach into the plastic bottles in their first life” (Source: Smile Plastics).

The different plastics that go into the press produce wildly varied effects.  All of the following images are courtesy Smile Plastics:

WELLIES are sheets made from the aforementioned recycled children’s rain boots:

BEN sheets are made from suspended shredded Bank of England notes in a clear plastic that was originally reject car headlamp lenses or corrugated conservatory roofs. The density of the notes can be varied.

DAPPLE sheets are made from crushed CDs & plastic water bottles.

CHARCOAL sheets are exceptionally rigid, and they are made from vending machine coffee cups, yogurt pots and refrigerator linings.

JAZZ sheets are based on underground pipe material. The blue color comes from water pipes and the yellow from gas mains.  Jazz is great for use outside.

WU XING:

Plastic is a wood element – it’s flexible and durable.

Cited:

Materia.  “Recycled Plastic Sheets.” Accessed 06/21/10. URL.

“How We Make It.” Smile Plastics.  Accessed 06/21/10. URL.

Materia’s excellent materials newsletter for May just hit my inbox (I’m not in any position to complain about the timing since I’ve been a delinquent blogger since April) and I learned about an intriguing material being produced in Dong Guan, China: PU Gel.  It’s mostly used for sporting goods such as shoes, but it can also be used for bags, power tools and electronics cases, and on clothing.  The manufacturer, Taiwan Kurim Enterprises, was founded in 1987 and has been molding PU gel and printing silicon ever since. The company claims to manufacture its products in an “environmentally friendly” manner, but the claim was unsubstantiated by any evidence or detail about their processes whatsoever.

Images courtesy Taiwan Kurim Enterprises

PU gel varies in hardness, colors, heights and width. The material feels soft to the touch, benefits from high UV resistance, and the hardness of the plastic can be adjusted to fit specific pattern and color requirements.  Completely customizable, PU Gel has a low molding fee.  I can see this material going up on walls or being used with furniture in interesting ways.  I like that the patterns, color, and hardness can all be varied without much increase in cost.

WU XING:

Plastic – wood category.

Cited:

Materia:Material Explorer. “PU Gel.” Accessed 01/06/10.  URL.

… sorry, my brain malfunctioned while I was trying to convert from metric without a calculator.  Leaving caculations out of this, when you think about how many ants there are, and then you think about how much BACTERIA could live on an ant, then if you’re like me, you’ll freak out for a minute.  When you pull yourself together, you’re going to try to come up with a way that humans might be able put bacteria to work for our own selfish ends (for instance attempting to ensure we are not overrun by trillions of ants).

Image credit www.accelterm.com

I’m pretty sure this is the exact thought process that led biotechnology company Genecor to engineer up some bacteria to manufacture Bioisoprene.  Isoprene is a chemical that can be used to make tire rubber and that can also be combined with other materials in various mysterious and sciencey ways to make gasoline and jet fuel.  I’m bringing this to your attention because we use a surprising amount of rubber in the construction industry, and I feel the need to get the word out when something that could eventually compete with petroleum-derived rubber is in the works.

Image courtesy www.marlerblog.com

Genencor gathered up some bacteria – let’s say it was E. coli because we’ve all heard of it and because E. coli make small amounts of isoprene as they metabolize your spoiled food and because E. coli is what Genencor actually used – then they started making changes to metabolic pathways and added a “plant gene coding for isoprene synthase, an enzyme that converts the precursor directly into isoprene” (Bourzac).  So the fancy new E. coli exist to emit 99% pure Isoprene gas, which can be polymerized to make synthetic rubber.

Image credit Genecor

Goodyear (the tire company) has manufactured a few prototype tires out of the Bioisoprene, and you may see them on the market in five years or so.  About a quarter of a tire is made up of rubber, and “the U.S. market for pure isoprene today is two billion pounds per year; 60 percent of that is used in tires, and the rest is used in adhesives and specialty chemicals” (Bourzac).  You know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking we need to train the ants to polymerize the bioisoprene and we’ll have it made in the shade.

*@OMGfacts on twitter.

WU XING:

Bioisoprene is a gas at room temperature so I’ve filed it under fire.  I also think this could be a wood material because it is used to make rubber.

Cited:

Bourzac, Katherine. “Rubber from Microbes.”  Technology Review 03/25/10. Accessed 03/25/10.  URL.

Image credit www.devicedaily.com

Here’s how solar cells work at the most basic level:  photons (units of light) hit the surface of the cells and the light energy is quickly absorbed by the semiconductor material.  The incoming energy knocks electrons loose from the silicon, and when that happens it’s as close to spring break in Fort Lauderdale as it gets at the atomic level.  To keep all the electrons from spending the night sobering up in the local jail and having to make teary calls home their parents, two metal contacts (one at the top and one at the bottom of each cell) create an electric field that forces all the crazy sunburned drunken electrons to line up and form a current that allows us to put them to good use (Source: HowStuffWorks). 

It’s not as easy as you might think to free electrons from their cozy little orbits, and today’s best solar cells are not as efficient as one might hope: they convert only “15 to 20 percent of the energy in sunlight into electricity” (Bourzac).  We’ve been using way too much silicon to generate not enough electricity for much too much money for far too long.  But that could change because a new photovoltaic material has been developed that performs just as well as current solar cells yet uses only one percent of the material to do it!

Image credit M. Kelzenberg

Researchers at Caltech led by professor of applied physics and materials science Harry Atwater have developed a “flexible array of light-absorbing silicon microwires and light-reflecting metal nanoparticles embedded in a polymer” (Bourzac).  The idea is that the new material traps incoming photons of light and keeps them bouncing around dislodging electrons for longer periods of time – generating more electricity from less material.  Highly reflective alumina nanoparticles are mixed with a rubbery polymer, forming a coating which is applied to arrays of anti-reflective silicon microwires “grown” from gas on the surface of a reusable template.  “Once the polymer sets, the entire thing can be peeled off like a sticker. Over 90 percent of the resulting material is composed of the cheap polymer, and the template can be used again and again … The material can absorb 85 percent of the sunlight that hits it, and 95 percent of the photons in this light will generate an electron” (Bourzac).

Image Credit M. Kelzenberg

Using less silicon and decreasing the complexity of the manufacturing process could mean that it will take less capital to build solar cell components and that we will be able to build them more quickly. 

WU XING:

This is a fire material because of the light-trapping.

Cited:

Bourzac, Katherine. “Material Traps Light on the Cheap.” Technology Review 02/26/10.  Accessed 03/01/10.  URL.

A few days ago I encountered Jali Zari.  Surprisingly, Jali Zari is not a bald martial arts expert with a penchant for tamarind cooler.  Jali Zari is the street name of a family of acrylic panels that made the lemon that is acrylic’s propensity to scratch into a zesty lemonade by making cuts within the panels that redirect light and shadow to form attractive patterns.  Standard panels are 8 x 4 ft by 3/4 in. thick clear acrylic with a backing film applied with a transparent adhesive (AEC world XP).  The film comes in a variety of transparent and “radiant” colors.  If you’re making room dividers, lighting, signage, wall coverings, furniture, or whatever else, you’ll be able to can cut, glue, and/or etch these panels, but don’t try to thermoform them because Jali Zari will come for you and I promise you do not want to mess with that guy.

Image courtesy AECworldXP.com

Five different versions are available but, due to the veil of mystery and enigma that surrounds Jali Zari, I can’t find any images of them.  Any help would be appreciated – please comment or contact me if you have an image I can use.

1.  Quadrato resembles a flattened honeycomb (check out my post on honeybee silk to see a honeycomb).  The pattern consists of “symmetrically stacked refractive acrylic squares with slight variations among rows.” (AEC world XP). 

2.  Triangolo is aligned in rows of light-reactive triangles redirect light and shadows in a consistent pattern (AEC world XP).

3.  Mille reflects light from every orientation because it contains many tiny slices and slashes arranged sporadically with varying lengths and depths.

4.  Cascata is also active from every viewing angle, it resembles a waterfall through randomly spaced light deflectors of varying sizes (AEC world XP).

5.  Cambia is a random composition of cuts and slashes “arranged sporadically to encourage light refraction” (AEC world XP).

WU XING:

All my polymers fit in the wood category because they share some characteristics with wood in terms of flexibility.  Jali Zari also fits in the fire category because of the dynamic quality of the light scattered by the cuts in the acrylic. 

Cited:

“Connecting with Innovation.” AECworldXP.com accessed 02/04/10.  URL.