design brief - Steven Keating's

morphable
material
What if a material’s stiffness and geometry can be digitally controlled? Jammable materials offer the ability to
rapidly tune a system’s stiffness, opening a new world of design possibilities.
Granular materials can be put into a jammed state through the
application of pressure to achieve a pseudo-solid material with
controllable rigidity and geometry. This phenomenon occurs in
granular materials when the individual particles are packed
together, causing the friction and Van der Waals forces between
grains to increase. The prototypes in this study have utilized
vacuum pumps to create jammed states through the weight of
the atmosphere on the jammed particles. Depending on the level
of vacuum, the rigidity of the pseudo-solid system can be
manipulated. While jamming principles have been long known,
large-scale applications of jammed structures have not been
significantly explored. As well, potential specific applications are
highlighted and demoed. Such applications range from a
morphable chair, to a flexible vice, to artistic free-form sculpting.
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