![\"CardioVortex_4X\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.discovery.wisc.edu\/projects\/files\/2014\/03\/CardioVortex_4X.jpg\")
<\/a>This has become my inspiration point for the installation.\u00a0 It is my hope to use muscle wires to create the pulsing effect on my printed textile, potentially tied to some sort of motion sensor or other input.<\/p>\nIn order to gain a familiarity with the basics of muscle wires, I completed the Origami Flapping Crane<\/a> tutorial provided by MIT’s High-Low Tech Lab.\u00a0 This was a great little project that very successfully illustrated the basic use of Flexinol wire.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wQKggIUqx0s<\/a><\/p>\n With that success under my belt, I started experimenting with ways to utilize the muscle wire’s contracting properties to create the pulsing circles on a textile (most likely felt in this case).\u00a0 One of the core issues with Flexinol is that while it contracts when heated, it does not return to it’s original length when cooled.\u00a0 An opposite force of some kind must be applied.\u00a0 In the flapping crane example, the stiffness of the paper is enough to pull the wire back into shape.\u00a0 A little research led to the suggestion of using music or piano wire as a kind of spring, both to actuate the fabric and to return the wire to it’s original length.<\/p>\n My first spring concept:<\/p>\n My next step is to modify my plan based on these outcomes.\u00a0 I am going to purchase much thinner music wire to use as my spring.\u00a0 I am also going to break the muscle wire down into smaller length attached to each segment of the spring, as opposed to one continuous piece.\u00a0 I think this will help me to maximize the movement potential of the Flexinol.\u00a0 Also, this will potentially give me more control options over the final movement effect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m fortunate to be able to tie my current research into an upcoming site-specific exhibition piece, which will be shown at the offices of Life technologies, a local stem cell research lab.\u00a0 When we toured their facility, we were shown … Continue reading <\/a>The red lines show where the muscle wire would be attached.\u00a0 This arrangement would allow the muscle wire to contract the music wire while maintaining a circular shape.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the music wire I chose was far too strong for this application and the muscle wire was unable to move it.\u00a0 On a whim, I tried a more low-tech option and just sewed the wire onto a piece of felt in a similar arrangement to see what happened.<\/p>\n<\/a>The results were also less than successful.\u00a0 Apparently one of the other limitations of Flexinol is that the overall change in length is very small, along the lines of 5-7%.\u00a0 So while this arrangement moved the fabric, it didn’t move it very far.<\/p>\n