Intelligent Liquid Developed By Experts At Harvard

It seems that the sci-fi realm is not that far anymore. Check out the latest discoveries about the new intelligent liquid that has been developed by experts.

Intelligent liquid discovery

Harvard SEAS scientists created a customizable metafluid that can change viscosity, optical properties, and springiness, and switch between Newtonian and non-Newtonian behavior.

A new type of fluid has been developed which uses a suspension of small elastomer spheres between 50 to 500 microns.

These spheres buckle under pressure, significantly altering the properties of the fluid.

This innovative metafluid has potential applications in a variety of fields, from hydraulic actuators and programmable robots to intelligent shock absorbers that can effectively dissipate energy based on the intensity of an impact.

It can also be used in optical devices that can transition from clear to opaque.

The research is published in Nature.

“We are just scratching the surface of what is possible with this new class of fluid,” said Adel Djellouli, a Research Associate in Materials Science and Mechanical Engineering at SEAS and first author of the paper.

“With this one platform, you could do so many different things in so many different fields.”

Metamaterials are materials that have been artificially engineered in a way that their properties are determined by their structure instead of their composition.

These materials have been widely utilized in various applications for many years.

Although most of the materials, such as the metalenses, have been pioneered in the lab of Federico Capasso, Robert L. Wallace, Professor of Applied Physics, and Vinton Hayes, Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at SEAS, are solid.

“Unlike solid metamaterials, metafluids have the unique ability to flow and adapt to the shape of their container,” said Katia Bertoldi, William and Ami Kuan Danoff Professor of Applied Mechanics at SEAS and senior author of the paper.

“Our goal was to create a metafluid that not only possesses these remarkable attributes but also provides a platform for programmable viscosity, compressibility, and optical properties.”

Check out more mind-blowing details in the original article.