After the emergence of 3D printing technology, it went through a genuine "deformation" and derived 4D printing. Two new technologies have been developed side by side, constantly introducing new ones and making them overwhelming. Awake, 4D printing technology has been born more than four years. Let us take a look at the following, in the first few years of the birth, 4D printing has gone through what kind of growth path.

On February 25, 2013, at the TED 2013 conference held in California, USA, the MIT Automation Lab's founder Skela Tibbitz demonstrated 4D printing technology to participants through a complete experiment. For the first time, the concept of 4D printing (4D, the dimension of adding "time" on the basis of 3D) was proposed, marking the birth of 4D printing. This technology was developed by MIT in collaboration with Stratasys Education Research and Development. Specifically, by placing an automatically deformable material in water, it can be automatically folded into its shape according to the design of the product.

In October of the same year, the University of Colorado, USA, followed Massachusetts and cooperated with the Singapore University of Science and Technology to launch a new 4D printing technology. The researchers at the two universities have developed composite materials that can be automatically deformed based on different physical and mechanical principles, thus extending Tiebitz's 4D concept.

As the birthplace of 4D printing, MIT has made new progress soon. In May 2014, designers from MIT have begun to apply the technology that was just born last year to practice. They conceived using 4D printing technology to create a skirt, it can be compressed into a group, a stimulus can be spread into a fitted dress, buyers can use 3D technology to print it out.

In 2015, another American university, Northwestern University, entered the field of 4D printing. The school received a five-year, 8.5 million dollar grant from the US Department of Defense multidisciplinary university research program, focusing on the development of the next generation of printing technology - 4D printers. Once the project is successful, it will be used to construct new devices for chemistry, materials science, and US defense-related research. New chemical and biosensors, catalysts, chip designs, and special materials may be produced.

2016 can be said to be the year that 4D printing takes root in China. In March of this year, Xijing Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University in China and Xi’an Jiaotong University produced a 4D printed tracheal stent for patients with softening of the trachea and successfully completed the implantation. The 4D printing stent will be gradually degraded and absorbed by the body in the next 2 to 3 years, eliminating the patient's pain during the second surgery. In September of the same year, the hospital rejoined Xi'an Jiaotong University and applied a 4D printed decomposable endotracheal stent to treat complicated congenital heart disease and severe bilateral bronchial stenosis for children who were born only for 5 months. This opened the way for life. This is the first time in the world that 4D printing technology has been used to treat infants with complicated congenital heart disease complicated with severe bilateral tracheal stenosis.

This year, new technologies for 4D printing continue to emerge. In March, researchers at Dartmouth College in the United States developed a super smart material using rotaxane compounds and used 3D printing technology to make it a nanoscale 4D printing material - a polymer lattice Cubes can lift objects 15 times their own weight. In April, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Science and Technology, Singapore, and Xi'an Jiaotong University in China produced objects using a multi-material 3D printer to print shape-memory polymer layers. This new method greatly simplifies the process and increases the potential for 4D printing. . In the same month, NASA has developed a 4D printing technology that prints the geometry and functions of metal materials and plans to apply it to space exploration...

It can be seen that since the advent of 4D printing technology, its research and development activities have mainly been carried out in the United States where it was born. At present, universities in our country have already participated in the research and development of 4D printing technology, and there have been successful medical applications in China and are waiting for the attention and research of more scientific research institutions. It is believed that this disruptive technology that omits machine manufacturing will, together with 3D printing, have more positive impact on future manufacturing and other industries.

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