uniMorph: Fabricating Thin Film Composites for Shape-Changing Interfaces
summary
A thin-film actuator combines copper + UHMW‑PE composite so differential thermal expansion makes flat sheets bend or curl under heat; actuation comes from environmental heating or embedded resistive traces printed by toner-transfer etching (or printed directly), then etched and laminated. Prototypes run at about 2 A current, reach ~40–50 °C (working up to 95 °C), produce millinewton-scale forces, and can include printed sensors and a microcontroller. Works reliably for small-scale, low-force devices but wastes energy, overheats, cools slowly, and requires constant current to hold positions.
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chapters (7)
- 0:00Introduction to uniMorph
- 1:54Environmental actuation basics
- 5:26Computational actuation methods
- 9:35Fabrication process overview
- 12:06Embedding sensing and control
- 14:54Limitations and future work
- 16:18Conclusion and Q&A
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