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Mesh unfolder demo series#
To overcome this problem, we introduce a computational design strategy called “computational wrapping with nonpolyhedral developable nets” to make a 2D nonstretchable material platform to fabricate wearable and conformal devices.įigure 1C shows a series of snapshots that illustrate the 2D unfolding of a sphere generated automatically by our polyhedral edge unfolding algorithm, which is used to wrap a steel ball. However, when covering complex 3D surfaces, these structures inevitably result in openings that lead to the design and functional limitations in conformal devices, such as suboptimal coverage of printable batteries and undesirable holes in lighting and displays ( Fig. Both studies overcame the limitations of existing flexible materials by geometrically designing cut patterns. ( 12) suggested computer algorithms for designing complex 3D models using 2D auxetic structures. They showed that the fractal cut-designed materials are shape programmable and can effectively cover a sphere. ( 11) proposed a fractal cut design approach for planar materials that enabled the production of mechanical metamaterials with a hierarchical auxetic structure. Recent examples of patterned cuts are lattice cut patterns and fractal cut patterns. One common way to wrap 3D surfaces with nonstretchable materials is by introducing patterned cuts in the materials. If the material is a substrate or another active layer of a flexible device, then severe material deformation and overlapping can cause the material to fracture or break, as shown in fig. This approach allows us to make conformal devices without sacrificing performance.įigure 1A shows that wrapping a sphere with a rectangular piece of paper inevitably results in the formation of wrinkles, crumples, and overlaps regardless of the material type, including stretchable sheets. This study introduces a universal method to use conventional nonstretchable materials to reliably wrap arbitrary 3D curved surfaces, including the human body and curved vehicle interiors, as potential applications. In other words, it is still challenging to cover an entire 3D surface with conventional materials used in the advanced devices ( 9, 10).
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Nevertheless, those pioneered works have used the conventional materials in a limited area of the devices with very thin “patterned structures” such as horseshoe patterns ( 6– 8). While the majority of works involving conformal devices have used soft and stretchable materials, there are a few works that have pioneered conformal devices made of conventional nonstretchable or brittle materials such as silicon and metal. However, the application of such materials for practical conformal electronics remains strictly limited by the inability to provide certain key criteria available in conventional electronic products, such as high conductivity and reliability. The development of new flexible and stretchable materials has recently generated substantial interest in fabricating conformal devices that can conform to the target three-dimensional (3D) surface ( 1– 5). We further demonstrate that our computational wrapping approach enables a design platform that can transform conventional nonstretchable 2D-based devices, such as electroluminescent lighting and flexible batteries, into conformal 3D curved devices. This computer-aided design transforms two-dimensional (2D)–based materials, such as Si wafers and steel sheets, into various targeted conformal structures that can fully wrap desired 3D structures without fracture or severe plastic deformation. Our computational wrapping approach provides a robust and reliable method for fabricating conformal devices for arbitrary curved surfaces with a computationally designed nonpolyhedral developable net. Here, we extend the geometrical design method of computational origami to wrapping. This study starts from the counterintuitive question of how we can render conventional stiff, nonstretchable, and even brittle materials sufficiently conformable to fully wrap curved surfaces, such as spheres, without failure.