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Other way to change aircraft shape during the flight

On the picture: aircraft of the future - F-37 Talon from “Stealth” movie
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) engineers announced new method which will allow to change shape of materials and compositions, says Eurekalert. This discovery may lead to the development of the planes with variable shape to fit better flight conditions and to have better flight performance.

In MIT developments is beeing used common rechargable batter, as far as it is know that during the recharge and discharge processes battery changes size. Before it was considered that such an ability may have only such batteries, but scientists want to implement it for other, bigger components.
Till that moment “clever” materials, piezoelectric crystals, which are able to change shape immidiatelly, were used in microengines. All of them were extremely small. Besides, there are alloys which can “remember” their shape, but they have very fine requirements to the temperature mode to work properly.

To find the solution scientists made a research of some plants in nature conditions. For example, some plants are following the sun, or collapsing the leafs after the touch. They can take their initial shape afterwards due to the extracellular fluid flows.

MIT scientists found out that similar preferences has materials, used in lithium batteries. Researchers assumed that ion flows in these materials very similar to the extracellular fluid flows in plants. Experiment over the graphite rod rounded with lithium environment was successful. Besides, was founded out that such material can handle big stress.

The scientists team who made this discovery are planning to present working transforming helicopter rotor in this year.