Polymer (IMAGE)
Caption
Controlling growth in a polymer system at the micro-scale with a technique akin to half-tone printing, the polymer swells like a sponge when exposed to water. Printing "resist dots" in the polymer substrate creates points that will not swell. When the dot size changes, buckling occurs from the mismatch in growth from one area to another. With a proper half-tone pattern of resist dots, almost any 3-D shape can be achieved.
Credit
Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation
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