{"id":35179,"date":"2026-03-18T13:58:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T13:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/?p=35179"},"modified":"2026-03-18T17:58:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T17:58:08","slug":"scientists-use-sound-waves-to-remotely-switch-material-stiffness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/scientists-use-sound-waves-to-remotely-switch-material-stiffness\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Use Sound Waves to Remotely Switch Material Stiffness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-group\"><div class=\"wp-block-group__inner-container is-layout-constrained wp-block-group-is-layout-constrained\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-blockquote uagb-block-e7eb3fc3 uagb-blockquote__skin-border uagb-blockquote__stack-img-none\"><blockquote class=\"uagb-blockquote\"><div class=\"uagb-blockquote__content\">A team led by UC San Diego has shown that sound waves can act like a remote control for a material\u2019s stiffness by moving tiny internal features called kinks. The work hints at future protective gear, soft robots and implants that can adapt on demand.<\/div><footer><div class=\"uagb-blockquote__author-wrap uagb-blockquote__author-at-left\"><\/div><\/footer><\/blockquote><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-group is-content-justification-space-between is-nowrap is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-0dfbf163 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\"><div style=\"font-size:16px;\" class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-post-author\"><div class=\"wp-block-post-author__content\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-author__name\">The University Network<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share uagb-social-share__outer-wrap uagb-social-share__layout-horizontal uagb-block-ee584a31\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share-child uagb-ss-repeater uagb-ss__wrapper uagb-block-ec619ce7\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"facebook\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\"><path d=\"M504 256C504 119 393 8 256 8S8 119 8 256c0 123.8 90.69 226.4 209.3 245V327.7h-63V256h63v-54.64c0-62.15 37-96.48 93.67-96.48 27.14 0 55.52 4.84 55.52 4.84v61h-31.28c-30.8 0-40.41 19.12-40.41 38.73V256h68.78l-11 71.69h-57.78V501C413.3 482.4 504 379.8 504 256z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share-child uagb-ss-repeater uagb-ss__wrapper uagb-block-32d99934\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"twitter\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\"><path d=\"M389.2 48h70.6L305.6 224.2 487 464H345L233.7 318.6 106.5 464H35.8L200.7 275.5 26.8 48H172.4L272.9 180.9 389.2 48zM364.4 421.8h39.1L151.1 88h-42L364.4 421.8z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-uagb-social-share-child uagb-ss-repeater uagb-ss__wrapper uagb-block-1d136f14\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__link\" data-href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/shareArticle?url=\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"linkedin\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-wrap\"><span class=\"uagb-ss__source-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 448 512\"><path d=\"M416 32H31.9C14.3 32 0 46.5 0 64.3v383.4C0 465.5 14.3 480 31.9 480H416c17.6 0 32-14.5 32-32.3V64.3c0-17.8-14.4-32.3-32-32.3zM135.4 416H69V202.2h66.5V416zm-33.2-243c-21.3 0-38.5-17.3-38.5-38.5S80.9 96 102.2 96c21.2 0 38.5 17.3 38.5 38.5 0 21.3-17.2 38.5-38.5 38.5zm282.1 243h-66.4V312c0-24.8-.5-56.7-34.5-56.7-34.6 0-39.9 27-39.9 54.9V416h-66.4V202.2h63.7v29.2h.9c8.9-16.8 30.6-34.5 62.9-34.5 67.2 0 79.7 44.3 79.7 101.9V416z\"><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Imagine body armor that softens as you move but stiffens in a split second on impact, or medical implants that adjust to your body in real time. A new study suggests that one day, sound waves could be the remote control that makes such shape-shifting materials possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A team of researchers co-led by the University of California San Diego, the University of Michigan and the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) at Laboratory of Acoustics of Le Mans University has demonstrated a way to use sound to change how a material behaves. By carefully tuning acoustic waves, they were able to move tiny internal features called mechanical kinks, which in turn switch regions of a material from soft to stiff and back again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The work, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-026-68688-7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">published<\/a> in <em>Nature Communications<\/em>, shows that sound can do this in a controlled, predictable way \u2014 a key step toward real-world applications such as adaptive protective gear, robotic \u201cmuscles\u201d and smart implants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the heart of the research is the kink, a kind of internal boundary inside a material. On either side of a kink, the material is made of the same basic building blocks, but those blocks are oriented differently in three dimensions. That subtle difference can dramatically change how the material bends, stretches or resists force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mechanical kinks show up in many places in nature and technology, from the spots where metals permanently bend to the points where DNA strands separate. Materials scientists have long known that if you can move a kink, you can reshape how a material behaves \u2014 deciding which parts are soft, which are stiff and where it will deform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The problem is that in most materials, kinks are stuck. They face energy barriers that pin them in place. Past attempts to move them with sound waves often led to chaotic, hard-to-predict motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the new study, the team took a different approach. They designed and modeled a special kind of one-dimensional material in which moving the kink costs essentially no energy. Instead of relying on the material\u2019s chemical composition, they engineered its structure so that the kink could slide freely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this model material, the kink acts like a moving \u201csoft zone.\u201d Wherever the kink sits, that region is soft, while the rest of the material becomes progressively stiffer. Slide the kink to one end, and that end softens while stiffness ramps up toward the opposite side. Move it to the middle, and the center becomes soft with stiff regions toward both ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Co-corresponding author Nicholas Boechler, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, described the concept in vivid terms.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe idea here is that we\u2019ve essentially made an acoustic tractor beam that moves a kink and changes the way a material feels \u2014 while creating gradients of stiffness \u2014 on demand,\u201d Boechler said in a news release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because there are no energy barriers in this design, the researchers could use sound waves not just to nudge the kink, but to do so step by step in a highly controlled fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe showed that if you send acoustic waves in from one side, they actually pull the kink toward where the sound came from,\u201d Boechler added. \u201cYou can send a small pulse, and the kink moves a little. Send another pulse, and it moves a little more. It\u2019s basically remote control for the material\u2019s internal state.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To move beyond theory, the team built a life-sized experimental model: a chain of stacked, rotating disks connected by springs. Each disk stood in for an atom, and the springs mimicked the bonds between them. One disk was arranged differently from the rest, representing the kink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When the researchers sent short pulses of acoustic waves into the chain, the kink shifted a few disks at a time toward the sound source. Each additional burst of vibration pushed it farther along. When they applied longer vibrations, the kink traveled continuously across the entire length of the chain, flipping which side of the chain was soft and which was stiff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team also found that only certain sound frequencies could move the kink; others passed through without effect. Computer simulations showed that when a sound wave hits the kink, part of the wave reflects and part passes through, but the interaction still transfers enough momentum to keep the kink moving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:19px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Material model adapts stiffness using sound waves\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SAIvkSN_N1c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:9px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRight now, this is a toy model,\u201d added Boechler. \u201cIf something like this could be made into a real material, you could imagine structures that adapt on the fly \u2014 materials you can reprogram using sound.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That vision includes materials with tunable stiffness, shape-changing structures and new ways to transmit signals robustly through a material by steering kinks instead of relying on traditional electronics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next steps for the researchers include exploring three-dimensional versions of their system and asking whether similar kink control could happen at much smaller scales, potentially down to the level of actual atoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is fundamental research,\u201d Boechler added. \u201cBut fundamental discoveries are often what end up advancing technology in the long run. Our work shows what becomes possible when you design materials with genuinely new properties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If those possibilities pan out, future engineers might not just design what a material is made of, but also how it can be reprogrammed \u2014 with sound as the dial that turns stiffness up or down on demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:11px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/today.ucsd.edu\/story\/sound-waves-could-be-used-to-remotely-reprogram-material-stiffness-study-shows\" title=\"\">University of California San Diego<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A team led by UC San Diego has shown that sound waves can act like a remote control for a material\u2019s stiffness by moving tiny internal features called kinks. The work hints at future protective gear, soft robots and implants that can adapt on demand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-no-separators","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[594,206],"class_list":["post-35179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech","tag-le-mans-university","tag-uc-san-diego"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"The University Network","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/author\/funky_junkie\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"A team led by UC San Diego has shown that sound waves can act like a remote control for a material\u2019s stiffness by moving tiny internal features called kinks. The work hints at future protective gear, soft robots and implants that can adapt on demand.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35179"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35179\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35241,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35179\/revisions\/35241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tun.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}