Self-shaping Curved Folding:: A 4D-printing method for fabrication of self-folding curved crease structures

Curved folding, a method to create curved 3D structures from a flat sheet, can be used to produce material and manufacturing efficient, static or dynamic structures. However, the complex assembly and folding sequence of curved crease patterns is the bottleneck in their fabrication process. This paper presents Self-shaping Curved Folding: a material programming approach to create curved crease origami structures that self-assemble from flat into 3D folded state upon exposure to external stimuli. We propose a digital fabrication process via the 3D-printing of shape-changing materials, accompanied by a computational design workflow in which the geometry of a crease pattern is correlated with the printing toolpaths and the layup of stimuli-responsive and passive materials to achieve a target shape-change. We demonstrate our method by producing multiple prototypes and documenting their shape-change upon actuation. Lastly, we explore the functional and performance benefits of self-shaping curved folding under three application scenarios relevant to the field of industrial design and architecture.