Behind the Paper

Morphing hand

By tweaking the mesh geometry of or morphing structure, we can fine-tune its mechanical and thermal properties, allowing the morphing structure to return to its original shape after deformation and control how and when that happens.

Published in Materials

Go to the profile of Jan-Henning Dirks
Jan-Henning Dirks and Raman
2 contributors
Like
Go to the profile of India Ambler
Go to the profile of Yijia Li

Share this post

Choose a social network to share with, or copy the URL to share elsewhere

Share with...

...or copy the link

This is a representation of how your post may appear on social media. The actual post will vary between social networks

Explore the Research

Nature
Nature Nature

A starfish-inspired 4D self-healing morphing structure - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - A starfish-inspired 4D self-healing morphing structure

The internal thermoplastic mesh softens when heated above its glass transition temperature, allowing the structure to change shape. Once cooled, the mesh hardenes again and thus locks the structure into place without needing any external energy to maintain the new posture. The elastomer jacket plays a crucial role, protecting the mesh and controlling deformation while maintaining the structure's overall dimensions during the shape change.

Go to the profile of Jan-Henning Dirks

Contributors

Author

Go to the profile of Jan-Henning Dirks

Jan-Henning Dirks

Professor, Hochschule Bremen - City University of Applied Sciences

Contributing author

Go to the profile of Raman

Raman (He/Him)

Researcher, -

Multiple Contributors
Jan-Henning Dirks and Raman

Contributors

Author

Go to the profile of Jan-Henning Dirks

Jan-Henning Dirks

Professor, Hochschule Bremen - City University of Applied Sciences

Contributing author

Go to the profile of Raman

Raman (He/Him)

Researcher, -

Please sign in or register for FREE

If you are a registered user on Research Communities by Springer Nature, please sign in

Sign In Register

Follow the Topic

Bioinspired Materials
Physical Sciences > Materials Science > Soft Materials > Bioinspired Materials

Related Collections

With Collections, you can get published faster and increase your visibility.

Reproductive Health

This Collection welcomes submissions related to a broad range of topics within reproductive health care and medicine related to reproductive well-being.

Publishing Model: Hybrid

Deadline: Mar 30, 2026

Explore this Collection

Women’s Health

In this cross-journal Collection we invite submissions of pre-clinical and clinical studies focusing on Women's Health.

Publishing Model: Open Access

Deadline: Feb 14, 2026

Explore this Collection

Recommended Content

Cookies

We use cookies to ensure the functionality of our website, to personalize content and advertising, to provide social media features, and to analyze our traffic. If you allow us to do so, we also inform our social media, advertising and analysis partners about your use of our website. You can decide for yourself which categories you want to deny or allow. Please note that based on your settings not all functionalities of the site are available.

Further information can be found in our privacy policy.

Cookie Control

Customise your preferences for any tracking technology

The following allows you to customize your consent preferences for any tracking technology used to help us achieve the features and activities described below. To learn more about how these trackers help us and how they work, refer to the cookie policy. You may review and change your preferences at any time.

See the full cookie policy See the full privacy policy
More information

These trackers are used for activities that are strictly necessary to operate or deliver the service you requested from us and, therefore, do not require you to consent.

More information

These trackers help us to deliver personalized marketing content and to operate, serve and track ads.

More information

These trackers help us to deliver personalized marketing content to you based on your behaviour and to operate, serve and track social advertising.

More information

These trackers help us to measure traffic and analyze your behaviour with the goal of improving our service.

More information

These trackers help us to provide a personalized user experience by improving the quality of your preference management options, and by enabling the interaction with external networks and platforms.