Folding silicone: building on the microscale
April 25, 2007 By Miranda Marquit
Image credit: Charlotte Py
“With classical tools, it is hard to manipulate something so tiny as on the microscale or the nanoscale,” Charlotte Py tells PhysOrg.com. “But here we show how you can use a small drop of water as a micro-wrench to bend planar templates into three-dimensional structures.”
Py is a scientist currently at the University of Paris 7, but the work on capillary folding of elastic sheets was carried out as a collaboration between Physique et Mécanique des Milieux Hétérogènes (PMMH), ESPCI and the Laboratoire d’Hydrodynamique at École Polytechnique. The results are published on Physical Review Letters in a piece titled “Capillary Origami: Spontaneous Wrapping of a Droplet with an Elastic Sheet.”

Image credit: Charles Baroud
Py and her coauthors, Paul Reverdy and Charles Baroud at École Polytechnique, and Lionel Doppler, José Bico, and Benoît Roman at PMMH-ESPCI, performed experiments showing how capillary forces can be used to create shapes on the microscale. Capillary forces describe the ability of a substance (in this case water) to draw another substance to it. “This is the first time capillary forces have been used to bend planar templates into something that’s three dimensional. Until now, capillary forces have mainly been used to assemble objects in 2D, for instance at the surface of water.”The experiment makes use of silicone rubber, which is flexible. “We make thin sheets of silicone,” Py explains, “and we cut them into different shapes, such as flowers, triangles or squares, depending on what we want to build. Then we add a drop of water. Water droplets tend to minimize contact with air, so the drop immediately starts to wrap itself in the sheet.” As the droplet begins to evaporate at room temperature, the wrapping becomes tighter and tighter, until the structure is formed. “Because this happens spontaneously, there is no need to manipulate the process after putting the water on the sheet.”
Py points out the additional results of this work: “One funny thing is that action of capillary forces on small structures was well known. But it has been seen as a problem because it can cause damage. Microstructures such as microcantilevers used in air bag sensors sometimes collapse due to moisture. Now we are showing how to build something using capillary forces. What was once seen only as an inconvenience appears now to have a benefit.”
“Additionally,” Py continues, “this is interesting from a fundamental point of view. The way you fold a two dimensional sheet into three-dimensional objects raises questions of differential geometry. For instance, wrapping a sphere with a sheet is impossible without crumpling, tearing or stretching the sheet.” (Py points out that this is the essence of Gauss’ classical theorema egregium.)
Ultimately, Py and her colleagues hope that this process can be used in microscale mass production. “This can be used to produce very, very small objects,” she says. “We performed the experiment at a one or two millimeter size, but it is based on techniques that are easy to downscale to even smaller sizes.” Applications of this wrapping technology have the potential to enhance the ability to build microstructures, as well as be included in some systems, such as components in electromechanical devices.
Copyright 2007 PhysOrg.com.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or part without the express written permission of PhysOrg.com.
-
Researchers deconstruct the physics of writing with a fountain pen
Dec 30, 2011 |
3.9 / 5 (17) |
20
-
Researchers seek ways to beef up military armor
Nov 21, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Nanowire research at Stevens makes cover of Applied Physics Letters
Feb 23, 2011 |
5 / 5 (2) |
0
-
When worms stick together and swim on thin water, what happens and why does it matter?
Feb 08, 2011 |
3 / 5 (4) |
1
-
'Liquid pistons' could drive new advances in camera lenses and drug delivery (w/ Video)
Jan 10, 2011 |
5 / 5 (8) |
1
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (30) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Dark Energy question
1 hour ago
-
Wind Turbine Power
3 hours ago
-
Steam Table issues
5 hours ago
-
electrostatic induction in a conductor should be immpossible
8 hours ago
-
Help! Physics Momentum/Impulse problem!
11 hours ago
-
Gauss' law cubes, how to prove
13 hours ago
- More from Physics Forums - General Physics
More news stories
SLAC, Stanford team focuses on high-energy electrons to treat cancer
Accelerator physicists at SLAC and cancer specialists from Stanford are working on a new technology that could dramatically reduce the time needed for cancer radiation treatments. The team ran an initial experiment ...
2 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Measurements from high-energy collisions lead to better understanding of why meson particles disappear
For several years, physicists at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), USA, have studied an unusual state of matter called the quarkgluon plasma, which they ...
3 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Quantum physicist explains $100K offer for proof scaled-up quantum computing is impossible
(PhysOrg.com) -- MIT researcher Scott Aaronson has certainly riled the physics community with his offer this past Friday, of $100,000 to anyone who can prove that scaled-up quantum computing is impossible. ...
Explained: Sigma
It's a question that arises with virtually every major new finding in science or medicine: What makes a result reliable enough to be taken seriously? The answer has to do with statistical significance -- but ...
Feb 09, 2012 |
5 / 5 (13) |
26
Physicists 'record' magnetic breakthrough
An international team of scientists has demonstrated a revolutionary new way of magnetic recording which will allow information to be processed hundreds of times faster than by current hard drive technology.
Feb 07, 2012 |
4.5 / 5 (39) |
14
|
New understanding of DNA repair could eventually lead to cancer therapy
A research group in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta is hoping its latest discovery could one day be used to develop new therapies that target certain types of cancers.
Zuckerberg's focus drives Facebook's ascent
When Mark Zuckerberg showed up to rent Judy Fusco's Los Altos, Calif., house in the fall of 2004, soon after he'd arrived in Silicon Valley, the landlord was immediately struck by his confidence.
Antidepressants and pregnancy: Women must consider the impact of drugs on baby, and of depression on baby, themselves
Upon learning they are pregnant, most women dutifully nix the alcohol, sushi and caffeine. But what about antidepressants?
Both maternal and paternal age linked to autism
Older maternal and paternal age are jointly associated with having a child with autism, according to a recently published study led by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
Night, weekend delivery OK for babies with birth defects
Weekday delivery is no better than night or weekend delivery for infants with birth defects, according to a new study presented today at The Pregnancy Meeting, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual conference. ...
Sonic Cradle lands spot in TED exhibition
A Simon Fraser University graduate student project that melds music, meditation and modern technology has landed a rare spot as an exhibit at TEDActive 2012 in Palm Springs, California this month.