In my other project Simple Complex System, I explored how basic shapes form more complex systems. It naturally raised a question,
what changes on a macro scale with the change of its constituent parts?
PART 1
My mum used to cook red bean soup in winter. It is believed to do good to your blood system in Chinese medical theory.
You may have noticed this fun fact,
( Hmmmmm think about coffee beans if you don't have a Chinese mummy like mine )
that beans tend to move and flow freely when loose,
but when packed vacuumed in bags, they are as hard as weapon！
What makes that difference?
Is it because of the restriction of individual bean to each other?
I started with key words: move to create restriction against each constituting particle.
My experiment in project Simple Complex System soon pointed me to the transformation of spinning.
What if we can manipulate the micro structure of the red beans, to make each one move in a certain way?
A chain, but better than normal chain.
I started to 3D model a twisted chain unit.
This was the first chain I made.
Each unit is a beautiful spiral.
It has too much freedom so when it spins,
the units don't really cluster in a controlled pattern.
I tried with different proportions, different intersections, different ways to compose a spiral unit.
Gradually I reduced the freedom of the spirals.
It is obvious they are more in control.
Until they totally fill up each other's gap.
They move along the spiral line, climbing up and embracing each other.
Under the same concept, I made more chains of round intersection.
They have even less support at the extended point.
Further tries include equal intersection all along the chain,
so as to offer more freedom on all direction at the extended point.
Of all of the test pieces, I selected this one to carry on experiment.
I made the spiral reversed by half, so that each adjacent unit spins in opposite directions.
This enables the chain to remain spinning +-0 round,
at the same time extend and shrink, change restriction surface.
Now
ctrl + C
ctrl + V
At the extended point, the block can bend to a certain degree.
When pressed and condensed, it shows way less freedom.
This indicates that the block as a whole response to a given bending stress ( also torsional stress, not shown in the picture ) with different moving degree, in another word, with variable rigidity and flexural strength.
I name it Block-1 : D
PART 2
When the above block is pressed, each chain unit reacts to the pressure by spinning.
This inspired me to transform normal displacement to rotation of each unit.
In a normal collision, the kinetic energy is conducted to each molecule's collision.
What if the molecules not only collide, but also spin? Does it better absorb the impact?
On the right picture were my first test models.
They came from the deducted skeleton of the chain unit of Block-1.
It works like this:
vertical conduction is not enough.
I will need it to transform spinning tendency to all the units around.
Suppose they are in the composition as simple as # net, the spinning should be conducted like this:
In a 3-D model, I made a central unit affect surrounding ones on different level.
Printed like:
4 * 4 * 4 sponge:
8 * 8 * 8 sponge:
Due to the FDM printer restriction of mine, I only managed to print with hard material as PLA.
The final outcome is not as flexible as with soft material.
Still, when pressed at a point, a tendency of the surrounding units spinning can be noticed.
I gotta say, my block-2 performance under stress and impact is not well proved.
( Neither was the Block-1 to be honest, all intuitive perception, with no measurement )
Yet they show the potential of this concept that the interaction between constituting parts affects the mechanical performance of the material on macro scale. It can lay a foundation for future study.
I keep it pending at the moment.