New nature-inspired metal could enable morphing aircraft wings

Researchers at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) have developed a novel nature-inspired metal metamaterial designed to enable shape-shifting aircraft wings. Unlike previous materials that were either too weak or mechanically cumbersome, this new alloy is lightweight, durable, and flexible, capable of smoothly changing shape during flight and autonomously recovering its original form. The material is based on a nickel-titanium shape memory alloy fabricated using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), a precise metal 3D printing technique that allowed the creation of tiny wavy structural features mimicking the seedcoat of the succulent plant Portulaca oleracea. This biomimicry resulted in a metal network honeycomb structure that can stretch up to 38% before fracturing and recover over 96% of its programmed shape when heated. The NUAA team demonstrated the material’s potential by building prototype wing sections that could morph smoothly between angles of −25° to 25° under low temperatures similar