Energy
Energy harvesting, storage and conversion applications.
A Review of Machine Learning Applications in Mechanical Metamaterial Design
The review summarizes how machine learning models and end-to-end workflows can accelerate mechanical metamaterial design and property prediction using simulation-based validation.
Heat breaks the rules at the nanoscale and scientists used it to their advantage
Nanoscale gold metamaterials can boost heat transfer across tiny gaps by up to 4×, enabling more efficient thermal management and precision heat engineering.
Multimaterial 4D printing of adaptive and reconfigurable auxetic metastructures
Multimaterial 4D printing with PLA/PCL enables auxetic metastructures whose geometry–material coupling yields tunable mechanics, energy absorption, and thermally induced reconfigurability.
Tough self-healing elastomers by molecular enforced integration of covalent and reversible networks
By molecularly enforcing mixing of reversible hydrogen-bond networks with permanent covalent crosslinks, the authors fabricate a tough dry elastomer that self-heals at room temperature.
Modeling of Self-Healing Polymer Composites Reinforced with Nanoporous Glass Fibers
Continuum rate-equation modeling and numerical simulations suggest that parameter choices can partially overcome fatigue and delay mechanical property degradation in self-healing polymer composites with nanoporous glass fibers.
HVAF Spraying of NiTi Coatings: Microstructure, Phase Transformation and Shape Memory Behavior
HVAF spraying enables thick (100–300 µm) NiTi shape-memory alloy coatings on mild steel that can undergo martensitic transformation and exhibit thermal actuation and shape memory effects after annealing.
Mechanical analysis of composite leaf springs made by 4D printing method
4DPC composite leaf springs curl from a flat layup into a curved beam, and residual stresses at the 90° layer surface reduce tensile loading enough to improve fatigue resistance.
Recent progress in 4D printing: materials, methods and applications
This review synthesizes how 4D printing couples additive methods with stimulus-responsive materials—especially shape-memory polymers—to achieve programmed, time-dependent shape and property changes, while noting reliability and scalability
Anomalous thermal and elastic properties of an epitaxial NiTi film exhibiting R-phase
Transient grating spectroscopy tracks how an epitaxial NiTi film’s shear moduli and thermal diffusivity change across an austenite–R-phase–martensite cycle, suggesting R-phase-driven thermal switching.
4D printing for crack trapping and adaptive damage-tolerant structures
A review synthesizes how 4D printing can enable crack trapping and damage-tolerant behavior through smart, metamaterial-based self-sensing and time-dependent shape change.
Thermo-mechanically coupled phase-field fracture model considering elastocaloric effect of shape memory alloy
A coupled phase-field fracture model for Mn-Cu shape memory alloys incorporates elastocaloric thermal strain from martensitic transformation to simulate crack growth and thermally assisted toughening.
Shape-morphing greenhouse: design of a thermally responsive transparent 4D-printed structure
A proof-of-concept transparent 4D-printed PLA greenhouse structure was tested for thermally driven shape-morphing ventilation using bio-inspired mechanisms, showing concept potential but material and structural limits.
4D printed hydromorph biocomposites with shape change and force generation properties: progress towards structural actuation
4D-printed flax/PLA hydromorph biocomposites can be tuned to deliver water-driven shape change with blocked force and energy density comparable to wood, supporting structural actuation design.
Transformation front kinetics in deformable ferromagnets
A continuum magneto-mechanical framework is developed to derive thermodynamic driving forces and efficiently model transformation-front kinetics in deformable ferromagnets and magnetic shape-memory alloys.
Variational phase-field modeling of fracture and fatigue in shape memory alloys: a one-dimensional study
A new 1D variational phase-field model links SMA phase transformation and damage to reproduce distinctive fracture localization and fatigue trends in Ni-Ti multi-wire samples.
Thermoelastic wave-based logic for mechanically cognitive materials
Wave-scattering mechanical logic gates are built from metamaterial cells with shape-memory-alloy mechanical memory that reconfigures via thermal activation, demonstrated with measured wavefields.
Comparison of derivative-free and gradient-based minimization for multi-objective compositional design of shape memory alloys
Using physics-informed ML surrogates and optimization, gradient-based TRUST-CONSTR paired with a neural network more consistently finds SMA compositions that balance martensitic start temperature and cost than derivative-free COBYLA.
Generative Inversion for Property-Targeted Materials Design: Application to Shape Memory Alloys
A GAN-inversion framework coupled with property prediction enables property-targeted inverse design of high-performance NiTi-based shape memory alloys, validated by experimental synthesis.
FUTURE OF 4D PRINTING IN SOFT ROBOTICS AND INTELLIGENT AUTOMATION
A 2015–2025 review synthesizes how 4D printing with stimulus-responsive materials enables programmable, adaptive soft robotics and intelligent automation, while highlighting remaining barriers to translation.
On Nonlinear Dynamics Of A Nonideal Magnetic System With Shape Memory Alloy To Energy Harvesting Using Uncertainty Exponent And Entropy Of Basin Of Attractions Approaches
A nonlinear, non-ideal magnetic energy-harvesting model incorporating a shape memory spring is analyzed via basin-of-attraction fractality and uncertainty/entropy measures to map chaotic/periodic regimes and power-output extremes.
Snap-Through Thermomechanical Metamaterials for High-Performance Thermal Rectification
A snap-through thermomechanical metamaterial thermal diode using SMA springs and bistable copper strips achieves strong, passive thermal rectification with validated experiments and scalable modular stacking.
Applications and Research of 4D Printing in Material Design
4D printing integrates smart materials into additive manufacturing so cured parts can undergo programmable, stimulus-driven shape and functionality changes over time.
Revisiting the cofactor conditions: Elimination of transition layers in compound domains
A new algebraic compatibility framework predicts conditions for eliminating transition layers and yields novel zero-elastic-energy microstructures that can improve shape-memory alloy reversibility and durability.
Stabilization of Martensite and Austenite Phases and Realization of Two-way Martensitic Transition in Co-Ni-Ga Ferromagnetic Shape Memory Alloy Nanoparticles
Co-Ni-Ga ferromagnetic shape memory alloy nanoparticles exhibit a reversible martensite–austenite transition with tunable magnetic properties, suggesting use in nanoactuators across temperatures.