DESIGNER POLYMERS:ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING OF SMART MATERIALS AS A COMPLEMENT TO INJECTION MOLDING

摘要

This paper presents the idea of"designer polymers"-these are polymers that can be custom formulated to include sensing,computation,and actuation infused throughout the bulk of the material.Designer polymers are useful in the design and fabrication of smart products and we believe they will revolutionize the co-design of complex products.The co-design of smart products involves the simultaneous design of,for example,hardware and the software that executes during the functioning of the device.In our quest to develop designer materials,we have explored a variety of fabrication methods,including insert-molding and 3-D printing,or additive manufacturing.