Both ACS Fall 2022 and EPNOE conferences were a success. Doron presented some of the work done in the lab with the collaboration of Prof. Oded Shoseyov’s lab from plant science and Prof. Eran Sharon's lab from the physics department. Press coverage went viral after the ACS Fall 2022 presentation:

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In the plant kingdom, shape-changing occurs when a plant becomes dry and shriveled due to water evaporation that reduces its volume within cellular cell wall constraints. These constraints may take a functional role in a movement for spreading seeds or digging in the sand for germination. Similarly, when a tree is cut down, the loss of water causes a volumetric contraction that is constrained to the plant cell cylinder symmetry, leading to uneven shrinkage or the development of cracks. These cylindrical constraints that cause uneven shrinkage for different axis produce a phenomenon known as wood warping.

The following work asks whether it is possible to redesign plant cell wall orientation constraints from a bottom-up approach, using 100% wood-based materials. Similar to nature, we use hard, brittle cellulose-based ink that is printed in a 2D predesign pathway that results in a 3D warped object by water evaporation. By predesigning the fiber layout in the printed wood, we enable the control of shrinkage distortion beyond natural wood. Thus, resulting in objects that, through time dry into programmed warped geometry.

Kam, D.; Levin, I.; Kutner, Y.; Lanciano, O.; Sharon, E.; Shoseyov, O.; Magdassi, S. Wood Warping Composite by 3D Printing. Polymers 2022, 14 (4), 733.