DLP 4D Printing of Programmable Molecularly‐Engineered Liquid Crystal Elastomer Actuators
Rakine Mouhoubi, Vincent Lapinte, Sébastien Blanquer · Wiley · 2026
This research presents a new method for 4D printing of liquid crystal elastomers, enabling programmable actuation with complex geometries.
Plain English summary
Why this matters
Key findings
- Developed a two-stage photo-crosslinking approach for LCEs.
- Achieved large actuation strains up to 45%.
- Demonstrated consistent actuation over 100 thermal cycles.
- Enabled programming of different actuation modes in a single printed object.
- Showed that DLP can fabricate complex LCE architectures effectively.
What's new
The introduction of a scalable DLP method for 4D printing LCEs with programmable actuation capabilities is a significant advancement over traditional methods.
Limitations
The abstract does not discuss potential challenges in scaling the technology for commercial use or the specific types of stimuli beyond thermal response.
Commercial context
The research is still in the laboratory stage and has not yet been demonstrated in a commercial context.
Publication
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Publication date
- January 7, 2026
- Research type
- Paper
- License
- http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Tags
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