{"id":56177,"date":"2018-02-26T01:05:14","date_gmt":"2018-02-26T07:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/?post_type=uwmnewsvideo&p=56177"},"modified":"2026-04-30T14:27:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T19:27:21","slug":"foldable-plastic","status":"publish","type":"uwmnewsvideo","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/video\/foldable-plastic\/","title":{"rendered":"When origami meets chemistry"},"content":{"rendered":"

UWM chemists have found a way to get plastic to fold and refold itself, bending its shape for a specific purpose. Associate Professor Jian Chen\u2019s research team took a page from origami and developed a technique in which a common plastic material is treated with chemicals in a certain pattern. This allows the material to fold itself into complex 3-D shapes and, later, revert to its original form.<\/p>\n

Chen and graduate student Adebola Oyefusi use the technique on sheets of Nafion foil \u2013 a commercial polymer. In this video, you can watch the plastic fold itself into an iconic origami swan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UWM chemists have found a way to get plastic to fold and refold itself, bending its shape for a specific purpose. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":399,"featured_media":56310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","class_list":["post-56177","uwmnewsvideo","type-uwmnewsvideo","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nWhen origami meets chemistry - UWM REPORT<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/video\/foldable-plastic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When origami meets chemistry\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"UWM chemists have found a way to get plastic to fold and refold itself, bending its shape for a specific purpose.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/video\/foldable-plastic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UWM REPORT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-30T19:27:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2018\/02\/foldable-plastic_youtube-image_750x500_20171214_TCF_IMC_T5D5639.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@UWMNews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/video\\\/foldable-plastic\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/uwm.edu\\\/news\\\/video\\\/foldable-plastic\\\/\",\"name\":\"When origami meets chemistry - 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