Shape morphing structures with Shrinky Dink and 3D printed Kirigami

We present an equipment-frugal method of creating 3D free-forms from Shrinky Dink sheets, a well-known children's toy, and 3D printed ABS plastic. This involves gluing a piece of 3D printed layer with Kirigami patterns to a Shrinky Dink cutout, forming a flat composite. When this composite is heated, the Shrinky Dink shrinks, but ABS plastic does not. This creates a residual stress between the composite layers, causing it to deform into a three-dimensional shape. Our primary focus is to investigate how the interplay of Kirigami design and the geometric parameters influence the ultimate 3D shape. We present a variety of manufactured shapes inspired by everyday objects, such as a bowl and a spoon. Additionally, we employ established machine learning tools to generate various 3D shapes during the process. By using easily accessible tools like a household oven and a 3D printer for production, our research provides a means to democratize the creation of deployable structures through the accessibility and cost-effectiveness of the manufacturing methods.