Session: 06-03-02: Advances in Aerospace Structures and Materials-2

Paper Number: 172932

A Novel Two Way 4d-Printed Morphing Wings With Metastructures 

Morphing wing technology has the potential to revolutionize the field of aviation by significantly improving fuel efficiency, enhancing operational flexibility, and enabling unprecedented versatility across a broad range of military and civilian applications. Traditional fixed-wing designs often face limitations in adapting to varying flight conditions, but morphing wings offer the ability to change shape in real time to optimize their aerodynamic performance. Recent advances in material science, smart structures, and additive manufacturing have enabled the development of morphing wings equipped with active deformation systems, paving the way for lightweight, flexible, and aerodynamically optimized structures. Among these advances, 4D printing, which incorporates time-dependent shape change into 3D-printed structures, has emerged as a highly innovative approach for designing and fabricating complex, multifunctional components with tailored mechanical and thermal properties. This technology is particularly well-suited for morphing structures, where programmable responses to thermal, electrical, or magnetic stimuli are critical.

This study presents a novel “two-way” morphing wing fabricated using 4D printing technology. The wing skins adopt a composite architecture comprising two distinct layers, fabricated from Shape Memory Polymer (SMP) and carbon fiber-reinforced PLA, respectively. Due to the mismatch in thermal expansion coefficients between the two materials, the wing exhibits downward deformation upon heating, followed by shape recovery as a result of the shape memory effect of SMP material. Based on this design, the composite wing structure can achieve reversible shape change without the need for external actuation systems, thereby simplifying the design and reducing system weight. Meanwhile, the wing frame is designed with 2D metastructures in different configurations, and then fabricated using PLA materials. These metastructures with various Poisson’s ratios are engineered to provide the necessary stiffness, structural resistance as well as flexibility to support repeated and reversible shape transformations.

Thermodynamic experiments and numerical simulations are performed to validate the structural design. The results show that the designed composite morphing wing can achieve the two-way deformation within the range of 13–15 degrees while maintaining structural integrity, without an external actuation system. Additionally, quasi-static mechanical tests and numerical simulations are performed to assess the load-bearing capacity and identify deformation modes of various metastructure designs with different geometry parameters. Lastly, the effect of uncertainty resulting from the 4D printing parameters (e.g. speed, orientation, temperature etc) is quantified. The findings of this work underscore the transformative potential of integrating 4D printing and advanced composite engineering into the next generation of aerospace systems, offering a path toward more intelligent, responsive, and efficient flight technologies.

Presenting Author: Feng Zhu Johns Hopkins University

Presenting Author Biography: Feng Zhu is an Associate Research Professsor at Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute (HEMI) of Johns Hopkins University. He performs research and teaching in the areas of impact mechanics, trauma biomechanics and injury prevention, safety of transportation systems, and AI in mechanical design. Prof. Zhu is an author of 1 book and over 130 peer-reviewed technical papers. He serves as an editorial board member or guest editor for several international journals, and is a Fellow of ASME and SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers). His research has been funded by government agencies as well as defense and automotive industry.

Authors:

Yingbo Zhu Johns Hopkins University
Zhangxian Yuan Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Feng Zhu Johns Hopkins University