Fig. 4: Characterization of shape change after sintering.
From: Direct 4D printing of ceramics driven by hydrogel dehydration
a The shape of hydrogel-ceramic laminate (Hhg = 1.0 mm, Hce = 0.94 mm) after dehydration. b The bent ceramic beam after sintering. c The shape retention R of ceramic beams with different initial bending angles θd. The error is the standard deviation of all data. d Illustration of shape change in the dehydration and sintering processes. e FE simulation result of strain contour of ceramic layer after dehydration. f Illustration of shrinkage difference of unstretched and prestretched ceramic elastomers. g The sintering shrinkage of ceramic elastomers with different prestretching elongations. h FE simulation of shape change under uniform shrinkage and non-uniform shrinkage. i–k Strain difference contour in longitudinal direction (i), curvature contour after sintering (j), and shape retention ratio contour (k), with arbitrary hydrogel thickness Hhg and ceramic elastomer thickness Hce in the range of 0.1 mm~1.5 mm. Source data for Fig. 4c, g, i-k are provided as a Source Data file.
