He has joined the 33rd class of the Institut universitaire de Franceto continue developing his research on 4D printing, the next revolution in materials manufacturing. Each year, 200 laureates—100 Juniors (under 40 years of age) and 100 Seniors (over 40 years of age)—are selected by a high-level international jury, to join the Institut Universitaire de France (IUF,https://www.iufrance.fr/), founded in 1991 with the mission of promoting high-level research in universities and strengthening interdisciplinarity. UTBM is deeply honored to count among the faculty members named to the 33rd class of the IUF Frédéric DEMOLY, a full professor, as a junior member and recipient of the Innovation Chair. This prestigious distinction recognizes the pioneering nature and high quality of his research on 4D printing. Frédéric DEMOLY has been a university professor of mechanics at UTBM since 2021, having previously served as an associate professor there. After earning his engineering degree from UTBM in 2007 and his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from UTBM in 2010, he joined the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) for postdoctoral research. His research on 4D printing began in 2014. Frédéric DEMOLY will join the IUF for a five-year term.
The benchmark age of forty distinguishes junior members from senior members of the IUF. This distinction generally corresponds to the two major stages of an academic career. Juniors are at the dawn of what is expected to be an exceptional career. Seniors, on the other hand, have established a track record of high achievement that has already stood the test of time.
4D printing (short for “fourth dimension”) is a cutting-edge technology capable of bringing objects to life. This capability—which enables these objects to change their shape or properties over time through the energetic stimulation of active materials and additive manufacturing—opens the door to major technological breakthroughs. Thus, 4D printing results from the use of an additive manufacturing process (3D printing) with one or more materials, at least one of which is stimulable—acting as a veritable “muscle” that allows the object to deform. The ability to combine complex geometries with evolving behaviors allows 4D printing to push the boundaries of object design and revolutionize the world of manufacturing as we know it today. 4D printing will enable the development of new technologies based, for example, on “self-assembly”—if the printed elements can assemble themselves autonomously at a specific time and place without human intervention—on “self-adaptability,” where printed structures can combine detection and a corresponding response within the same material, or “self-repair,” where printed objects have the ability to detect and repair defects (such as those caused by wear or manufacturing flaws) on their own, thereby reducing the need for invasive procedures. The prospects for this technology are immense. The first applications, within the next decade or so, will be in aerospace, healthcare (surgery, etc.), textiles, and other fields. For example, in medicine, 4D printing will enable the development of flexible (i.e., non-rigid) robotics to create increasingly smaller robots (millirobots, microrobots, nanorobots) capable of moving within the human body to deliver medication or perform minimally invasive procedures. Similarly, it will be possible to print organs and bioprostheses. In the energy sector, the efficiency of solar cells will be improved by integrating microstructures printed on flexible substrates. Consumer applications, such as self-adaptive biomimetic textiles or self-folding smart shoes, are being considered. 4D printing will also foster the development of flexible and embedded electronics, as well as smart sensors tailored for the connected city. The first doctoral dissertation defended in France on new design paradigms for 4D structures took place in February 2019 at UTBM, which has several researchers and doctoral students who have been working in this field for several years now.
