2017/02/10 by G. E. Blonder, Blonder, Greg E.
Engineering · Materials Science · #Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions #Advanced Materials and Mechanics #FOS: Physical sciences #Liquid Crystal Research Advancements #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Phase Change Materials Research
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1702.03243
openalex publication_date 2017/02/10 · openalex created_date 2022/10/05 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Bimorph films curl in response to temperature. The degree of curvature\ntypically varies linearly with temperature and in proportion to the difference\nin thermal expansion of the individual layers. In many applications, such as\ncontrolling a thermostat, this gentle linear behavior is acceptable. In other\ncases, such as opening or closing a valve or latching a deployable column into\nplace, an abrupt motion at a fixed temperature is preferred. To achieve this\nnon-linear motion, we describe the fabrication and performance of a new bilayer\nstructure we call 'Phase Change Composite Bimorph (PCBM)'. In a PCBM, one layer\nin the bimorph is a composite containing small inclusions of phase change\nmaterials. When the inclusions melt, their large (generally positive and >1%)\nexpansion coefficient induces a strong, reversible step function jump in\nbimorph curvature. The measured jump amplitude and thermal response is\nconsistent with theory.\n