Scientists Made Shape-Shifting Liquid Metal, The Start Of T-1000 Terminator?

Most of us have never seen Terminator-like robots from the future coming back in time, but scientists are now closer to building one, with their latest liquid metal, which can shift from one shape to another user heat.

What researchers did was to wrap a blend of tin, indium, and bismuth, which comes under the name Field's alloy, in a shell, or lattice, made from elastomers. In this way, the liquid metal will possess some more useful properties.

What we have now is a combination of elastomer shell and liquid metal, which deforms under heat, and then goes back to its former shape once heated up again. You may imagine this the very first step of having a full-fledged robot rising up from a lava pit.

According to Pu Zhang, a mechanical engineer from Birmingham University, it takes the team half a year to perfect this process as the needed lattice is extremely hard to make.

And they cannot just leave out the shell, as it is the key of the whole invention. Without it, the liquid metal will not hold and flow away. The lattice acts as a skeleton to keep the metal in the channels.

What is special about Field’s alloy is that it has a melting point of 66 degrees Celsius, quite low in comparison with other materials. When the shell is added, the liquid metal can go back to its original shape.

The hybrid process to manufacture the shell involves 3D printing, conformal coating, and vacuum casting.

The practical application of this invention is vast, ranging from space travel to robotics.

Zhang said when spacecraft crashed onto Mars or Moon surface, its structure might be deformed when it absorbed the impact, which renders it useless after one use. However, with Field’s alloy, we can recycle the structure over and over again as it will resume its original shape when heated.

The team of researchers has made several prototypes to demonstrate the ability of the liquid metal and shell, including sphere, honeycomb, and web design. However, the best of them all is a hand, which melt and then spring back under heat.

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