Wednesday, October 26, 2016

3-D-printed structures shrink when heated

Almost all solid materials, from rubber and glass to granite and steel, inevitably expand when heated. Only in very rare instances do certain materials buck this thermodynamic trend and shrink with heat. Engineers are now adding to this curious class of heat-shrinking materials. They have manufactured tiny, star-shaped structures out of interconnected beams, or trusses. The structures, each about the size of a sugar cube, quickly shrink when heated to about 540 degrees Fahrenheit (282 C).

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