In the subject of materials for design, one phenomenon is currently disrupting the field: Shape-Changing Material Systems (SCMSs). SCMSs are becoming of increasing interest, as they are said to have promising potential in a variety of product applications, and yet they pose some open questions within the design community. To this day, it is still unclear to a large audience of designers, what constitutes these material systems, what characterizes them in terms of sensorial and technical properties, what their enabling technologies and fabrication processes are, and what knowledge or skills they require from the designer who wants to work with them. Responding to this, the objective of the presented study was to answer these questions and develop the framework for an explorative tool on SCMSs that aims to serve as a source of inspiration and information to fellow students and designers in the near future. The thesis project has gone through four main phases: (1) a literature review on SCMSs and smart materials, (2) an analysis of three well-established material databases for industrial design, (3) the execution of 25 case studies that were selected from over 40 examples of SCMSs, and (4) the definition of the database framework. The final outcome is a theoretical framework for an integrated, digital materials database centered around SCMSs, that is connecting the latest knowledge and inspiration from the world of SCMSs with well-grounded information on a wide range of materials and processes. For the development of the framework, a set of properties and parameters for the characterization of SCMSs was newly designed, and a new evaluation method was established, to determine their individual advantages and limitations. Further, the results of this study underline that an in-depth knowledge on materials, as well as the familiarization with new fabrication processes (e.g. 3D printing) and computational design techniques, are key to the work with SCMSs.
Il processo di selezione dei materiali nell'ambito della progettazione industriale sta cambiando in seguito allo sviluppo di una nuova classe di materiali funzionali a cambiamento di forma: Shape-Changing Material Systems (SCMSs). L’interesse per tali elementi è crescente: sono sempre più i designer e maker che propongono l’utilizzo dei SCMSs per svariate applicazioni, sollevando, però, anche nuovi interrogativi all'interno della comunità del design. Ad oggi, infatti, non vi è una conoscenza approfondita di tali materiali in tutta la comunità del progetto. Quali siano le loro caratteristiche sensoriali, qualità tecniche, quali nuove tecnologie e metodi di fabbricazione supportino tali materiali e quali siano le competenze necessarie ad un progettista per lavorare con determinati materiali. L'elaborato di tesi vuole rispondere a queste domande attraverso la progettazione di uno strumento esplorativo con l’obiettivo di fornire a studenti e designer professionisti una guida strutturata alla conoscenza tali materiali: un database digitale di classificazione di Shape-Changing Material Systems. Di sviluppo del database ha attraversato più fasi progettuali: (1) ricerca in letteratura sul tema degli SCMSs, (2) analisi di tre database di materiali ben consolidati nell'ambito della progettazione industriale, (3) lo studio e selezione di 40 esempi di SCMSs, (4) la definizione della struttura del database e (5) il suo popolamento con 25 casi studio selezionati. Il risultato, pensato per essere digitalizzato, è un sistema integrato, capace di comunicare le ultime scoperte e sperimentazioni dal mondo dei SCMSs attraverso una vasta gamma di informazioni tecniche, sensoriali e potenziali scenari applicativi. Per sviluppare l’architettura del database è stato selezionato appositamente un set di proprietà e parametri utili alla caratterizzazione dei SCMSs. È stato inoltre scelto un nuovo metodo qualitativo per determinare i vantaggi e le limitazioni nell’utilizzo di SCMSs. La tesi infine sottolinea l’importanza di alcuni elementi fondamentali all’utilizzo dei SCMSs nel progetto: un’approfondita conoscenza sulle specifiche dei materiali, familiarità con le nuove tecniche di produzione manifatturiera/industriale (es. stampa 3D) e la conoscenza base delle tecniche di design computazionale.
Shape-changing material systems (SCMSs). Development of a materials database framework to support the integration of dynamic shape change in physical products
HÖLTER, MARIUS
2017/2018
Abstract
In the subject of materials for design, one phenomenon is currently disrupting the field: Shape-Changing Material Systems (SCMSs). SCMSs are becoming of increasing interest, as they are said to have promising potential in a variety of product applications, and yet they pose some open questions within the design community. To this day, it is still unclear to a large audience of designers, what constitutes these material systems, what characterizes them in terms of sensorial and technical properties, what their enabling technologies and fabrication processes are, and what knowledge or skills they require from the designer who wants to work with them. Responding to this, the objective of the presented study was to answer these questions and develop the framework for an explorative tool on SCMSs that aims to serve as a source of inspiration and information to fellow students and designers in the near future. The thesis project has gone through four main phases: (1) a literature review on SCMSs and smart materials, (2) an analysis of three well-established material databases for industrial design, (3) the execution of 25 case studies that were selected from over 40 examples of SCMSs, and (4) the definition of the database framework. The final outcome is a theoretical framework for an integrated, digital materials database centered around SCMSs, that is connecting the latest knowledge and inspiration from the world of SCMSs with well-grounded information on a wide range of materials and processes. For the development of the framework, a set of properties and parameters for the characterization of SCMSs was newly designed, and a new evaluation method was established, to determine their individual advantages and limitations. Further, the results of this study underline that an in-depth knowledge on materials, as well as the familiarization with new fabrication processes (e.g. 3D printing) and computational design techniques, are key to the work with SCMSs.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/143125