Mimicking Feather Iridescence On Paper

Title
Iridescent Paper

Role
Materials Design

The Iridescence of Birds

An iridescent feather may look black; but when viewer, feather, and light source align at the right angle, vibrant colors appear. Iridescent Paper is a project that aims to give paper an iridescent quality to mimic a bird’s feather while maintaining the mechanical properties of a paper.

 

Scanning electron micrograph of paper surface.
Scale bar 50 micrometer.

Transmission electron micrograph of paper cross-section showing a block copolymer lamella nanostructure.
Scale bar 500 nanometer.

The paper is treated with a block copolymer solution. The ability of the polymer to self-assemble into nanostructures on the surface of the cellulose fibers of paper causes iridescence (also see Project: A Needle Woman: Galaxy was a Memory, Earth is a Souvenir).

Paper being treated with a polymer solution.

Iridescent Origami Mechanical Metamaterial

Here, I used the Miura-ori origami to create mechanical bulk properties that emerge from tessellated folding patterns. During the fabrication of iridescsent paper, different iridescent surface patterns can be introduced.

For more information or collaboration please contact me HERE.

See my other projects HERE.