MRS Communications Lecture

Monday, May 9
10:30 am – 11:45 am
Hawaiʻi Convention Center, Level 4, Kalakaua Ballroom B

Andreas Lendlein
University of Potsdam

Shape Morphing Materials

The Venus flytrap is a fascinating plant with a finely tuned mechanical bi-stable system, which can switch between mono- and bi-stability. In their paper Bio-inspired and computer-supported design of modulated shape changes in polymer materials published in MRS Communications, Lendlein and his coauthors combine geometrical design of compliant mechanics and the function of shape-memory polymers to enable switching between bi- and mono-stable states. Digital design and modelling using the Chained Beam Constraint Model forecasted two geometries, which were experimentally realized as structured films of cross-linked poly[ethylene-co-(vinyl acetate)] supported by digital manufacturing. Mechanical evaluation confirmed predicted features. They demonstrated that a shape-memory effect could switch between bi- and mono-stability for the same construct, effectively imitating the Venus flytrap.

About Andreas Lendlein

Andreas Lendlein is professor of materials in life sciences at the University of Potsdam. After receiving his doctoral degree from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), he worked at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completed his habilitation at the RWTH Aachen University. His research interests are design and fabrication of multifunctional materials with emphasis given to shape-memory polymers, actuators, biopolymer-based material systems and structured degradable biomaterials, digital design and manufacturing. Biomaterial-based regenerative therapies, controlled drug delivery systems, health technologies and robotics recently are his interests in translational research. Lendlein has published more than 740 peer-reviewed papers, is an inventor on about 330 issued patents and published patent applications, and received more than 20 awards for his scientific work and his achievements as an entrepreneur. He is a fellow of MRS, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering and Controlled Release Society, founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Multifunctional Materials and serves on the Executive Advisory Board of Wiley-VCH's Macromolecular Journals.