Shape Memory Polymer?  

Dragon Skull Demo

Dragon Skull Shape Memory Demonstration   <------ YouTube video

Ouch

That looks like an ouchie if you step on it.  

Posted by: @eggkthganegkthkg

Dragon Skull Shape Memory Demonstration   <------ YouTube video

gotcha

hah yeah, i might just print out a few dozen of these and line the hallway during the night, just to see who's been stealing the cookies....

Cool

Hi, I am an extreme noob to this site and 3D printing. However, I came to this forum to learn and follow discussions. The model posted is cool, but I would love to see an explanation of why the link is worth my time. If I want random Youtube videos, I will go to youtube. 🙂

Thanks,
Richard 

Good Luck

I'm not sure why you bothered clicking a forum titled "Shape Memory Polymer" if you don't know what these terms mean.

Are you indicating that you think there exists other videos of this on YouTube? 

You clicked the thread, so it appears you thought learning about this was worthy of your time. Maybe you just randomly click your screen and got lucky to find this, but either way, this thread is a tad advanced for someone new to 3D printing. Get a bit of practice with first layer precision, learn how to do cold pulls, and when your collection of nozzles is in the double digits let me know and I will explain why this link is worthy of your time 😛

In the meantime, I have used this method just this morning to make "custom grips" on a tool I was asked to design for a chiropractor. I was able to have the grips deform to the general shape of my hand as I held it, and it set and hardened in that shape. Very cool! After cooling, the deformation leaves the part much stronger (as we already can assume) as it never reaches the temperature for annealing (which is why it returns to its natural shape when subsequently heated).

Also guys, I'm not actually using any new filament material. I am doing this very process with ALL KINDS of PLA.

I have so far had the same results of true "shape memory" with Prusament PLA, HatchBox PLA, and MatterHacker PLA. There is a "trick" of a technique I am using which allows my hairdryer/blowdrier to reach the temperature for the plastic deformation to be possible. I have heard about people trying to use hairdryer to anneal or soften PLA but claim it takes forever, and I know why they said that. It wasn't working for me either, until I stumbled upon a phenomenon which seems to allow the thermal energy to become concentrated and focused on the part and the air immediately surrounding it. If you try using a hairdryer normally, you might find that the part just never heats up enough nor uniformly throughout the part to the temperature required; that and your hand will get really hot from holding it.

Anyways, I hope you guys are enjoying this, and let me know if this is already a known thing. I did a quick search on "shape memory" plastics and only found scholarly articles and high-tech sounding research, so I figured that there wasn't much out there on polymers doing this yet. I know shape-memory alloys are a huge thing currently, and I was half worried that "this isn't supposed to happen" and was too scared to look further (when all the relevant results direct you to google "scholarly articles", you feel like you accidentally entered area 51 or something).  

I'm wondering if this is old news, or if looks "suspicious" as if it's not what I'm saying it is, or if people simply haven't had time to check this out yet and begin discussing it. Let me know, because I'm "freaking out with excitement" over all the possibilities this opens up (for me personally at least. I don't have to design all my dragon horns at overhang angles which require supports? SCORE)

I mean, there's so much you can do with this. It's mind boggling. A single pencil shaped piece of PLA can now morph to and from all kinds of tools in seconds, from an S-hook, circle, spiral, U shape, coaster for coffee/tea cup, bottle opener, just to name some random things off the top of my head that you can literally shape and use just from having a normal straight small piece of PLA with you.....just think of what you can do with parts that you actually design for special purposes.

Am I making too big a deal over this? Why is the internet not LITTERED with people doing this already? You can have a miniature figuring who is hunched over with his head down, and you heat him up slightly and he stands up tall with his arms straight up. Like, how isn't that cool? Posable figurines, that return to normal shape, how isnt that fun? Does you kid have like 50 toy soldiers that take up too much room in his box? Roll them up into individual balls and store them in 1/5 or 1/10 the space......... it really works like that. I'm not sure the limitations yet, it's only been 24 hours since accidentally "discovering" this, but I simply dont know how I haven't heard of this before. You don't have to "reposition" it back to original shape- it automatically wants to return to its printed orientation. 

Posted by: @protium

Hi, I am an extreme noob to this site and 3D printing. However, I came to this forum to learn and follow discussions. The model posted is cool, but I would love to see an explanation of why the link is worth my time. If I want random Youtube videos, I will go to youtube. 🙂

Thanks,
Richard 

Making Public

I'm making all my YouTube videos regarding this Public now (they were unlisted previously).

Just a heads up in case you wanted to see what other things I've done and will be doing with this process.

I wonder how layer height affects it? So many questions......

RE: Heat, Re-Shape, Cool. Heat (Shape Restores Original)

Pictures are taken from This Video 

The timestamp of the first picture is wrong, I meant to imply that it's from the beginning of the video.  It's rather from about 0:23 seconds into it, but you get the idea. The other 2 timestamps are accurate to the second. Sorry for being rushed with this presentation....much to do today!