Technology does not stop to evolve, but surprises us every day with more innovations and technological breakthroughs that contribute in one way or another to making our lives better and smarter. Because technology is an inexhaustible and dry river, the ceiling of our expectations is rising day after day, as it will prepare us with many developments and technological revolutions in an accelerated manner. Shortly.
One of the examples of these technological revolutions that have spread like wildfire during the last few years is the 3D printing technology, which is still in the process of development and growth. It is still subject to development and innovation, and although it was a huge boom in the world of manufacturing, its development did not seem to meet all the needs. And the lack of some of the tasks assigned to it motivated researchers to develop another revolutionary technology, namely, the 4D printing technology, which is similar in content to the three-dimensional printing, but far outperform the functions.

What is 4-D printing?

It can be said that the four-dimensional printing is a development of the three-dimensional printing is not a new technology, it benefited from the tremendous development reached by the three-dimensional printing and added another dimension in the three-dimensional printing can produce forms and objects fixed structure In the four-dimensional printing can produce things and forms of change from Its structure over time, such as the hydrogel compound used in valve making, is a type of structure that clings to water, changing its shape when immersed in water.

This is because four-dimensional printing is essentially based on the principle of pressure, or tensegrity, which is a system that enables a light or strong structure of change when exposed to external energy, allowing the printed form to be altered based on the balance of its parts. Depend on the principle of pressure be always light weight but it is very strong and cohesive.

Four-dimensional printing is based on two main principles: catalysts and transformation. Triggers are the most important factor in the four-dimensional printing process. Catalysts include light, water, heat, electricity, and printing. There are other catalysts. Without these catalysts, the transformation process, To two-dimensional.

The four-dimensional printing uses many and can not be limited to all uses here, but we will mention the most important:

The manufacture of household products can adapt to temperature or humidity to improve the performance of these products and thus improve the comfort, for example products for children, clothing and others.
The field of health care where researchers are working on the development of vital components can be planted in the human body.
Assist in surgical procedures without the intervention of a physician such as the heart tubes designed by this technique.
Build eco-friendly houses that change their temperature according to climate conditions as well as provide good lighting and proper temperature.
To assist in the exploration of outer space, which would facilitate the mobilization of portable materials into space.
Robots are capable of changing their shape to perform certain tasks.

The future of four-dimensional printing

Despite the great development of this technique, the researchers are targeting many and many in the near future such as the production of more sophisticated and complex structures can be used within the human body and although some of these structures have been produced but it spoils after some time so the need seems urgent to produce structures The other feature is durability and improved performance for a long time, and the expansion of the use of four-dimensional printing to include many areas in our future lives.

Technology is still in its infancy, and its idea may at first seem imaginative, but science and technology have left no room for it. Evolution is astounding, innovations are not stopped, and the human mind is ceaselessly creative.