Defence Online

Shape-shifting materials hold innumerable opportunities for defence

Homeland September 7, 2022

Writing for Defence Online, Professor Sajad Haq, Head of Advanced Materials and Senior Fellow, QinetiQ, examines the potential impact of advanced materials for defence capabilities.

In January this year, BMW turned heads and spawned international headlines with the launch of the world’s first colour-changing car, providing the first high-profile example of next-generation programmable materials as a potential consumer product.

There is now a growing suite of exciting new techniques in materials development which will enable the integration of smart capabilities into the objects around us.

Such programmable materials offer an array of potential adaptive properties which can be embedded in a material allowing it to reconfigure in response to heat, pressure, moisture or other external factors.

We tend to think of materials as rigid, with permanent attributes but programmable materials rewrite these rules.

Now, shape-shifting materials blur the boundaries between programmable technology and physical matter.

As Professor Chris Eberl, of the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence for Programmable Materials, says, “We need to get away from thinking of a material as something that is fixed in terms of its properties and never changes throughout its lifetime,” he says.

“In the future, everything around us, from our clothes to our homes and our vehicles, will become adaptive and will be able to change its shape or its stiffness or whatever depending on how we, as users, want to interact with it.”

This next-generation adaptability harnesses innovative fabrication techniques to deliver material systems that can be adapted to changing operational requirements.

One significant factor has been the development of 3D printing into ‘4D’ printing, allowing a material to be created with adaptability.

A convergence of new technologies, including advances in materials science and new capabilities in computer simulation software is creating materials that can perform tasks in the same way as electromechanical devices comprising sensors, controllers and actuators.

While a colour-changing car easily captures the imagination, other inventive applications are already being explored.

For example, a morphing jet engine inlet, developed with Airbus, opens and closes to control airflow to the engine in response to changes in temperature or wind-speed pressure without creating drag and without adding weight or additional electrical mechanisms.

Adaptable materials and defence

While the innovative applications within consumer goods are exciting, the potential for material transformation within defence truly stands out.

For example, material systems can adapt to changing operational requirements; strength, size, impact properties or overall shape are modified as needed.

BMW’s chameleon vehicle has clear applications in defence; the ability for a vehicle to modify colours to fit its environment.

But we can go further, imagine an aerial vehicle (hypersonic or UAV) that could change its aerodynamic profile by tailoring its leading edge to travel faster at specific points.

Perhaps an antenna that uses metamaterials to modify its radiation pattern, change the band/frequencies it transmits, or directs the beam at a specific target.

Much work is already being undertaken in metamaterials, including secure communications, IoT, and various classified applications.

Programmable materials also offer more holistic benefits.

In terms of sustainability, when upgrading a military platform in the future, materials will adapt and become reusable instead of swapping out some (or all) components and materials.

Not only does this decrease waste, it could ultimately deliver a platform that offers programmable capability as part of a multi-decade lifecycle, reducing lifetime costs.

Innovation in reality

In many cases, programmable materials are well beyond the theoretical stages. R&D within programmable materials for defence has been accelerating in recent years – given the obvious sensitivities, these are often kept under wraps.

However, while we are now on the brink of realising the benefits of these advancements, there is no point in denying the challenges that still exist.

Costs will remain a hindrance, but given the array of potential benefits programmable materials offer, defence buyers may be willing to pay the price. There are also technical challenges.

For example, making modifications to material without affecting its core properties is difficult, while making programmable materials robust enough for conflict scenarios is also challenging.

A vehicle that can modify its colour will likely require additional electrical and power infrastructure built into its structure.

A storm hitting such a vehicle could short out its electronic systems.

Efforts will be required to ensure that the wiring doesn’t interfere with itself, that the system is temperature and moisture resistant, and robust to shock.

In summary

There is no denying that programmable materials are the future of defence innovation.

There may be challenges, but the ability to embed reconfigurable properties into materials opens a world of possibilities.

Some of the world’s leading scientific researchers are pushing ahead alongside industrial partners, and while much of the detail is protected by NDAs, the impact of this work will soon be witnessed across industries – not least within defence.

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Professor Sajad Haq QinetiQ Shape-shifting materials

Post written by: Matt Brown