{"id":2768,"date":"2016-03-02T17:42:44","date_gmt":"2016-03-02T17:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anapineyro.com\/portfolio\/?p=2768"},"modified":"2026-09-06T20:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T18:48:10","slug":"meeting-a-stranger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anapineyro.com\/portfolio\/meeting-a-stranger\/","title":{"rendered":"Meeting a Stranger"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Exploring base materials for electroactive polymers:
When things go wrong<\/h3>\n\n\n\n


2015<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Royal College of Art
ArcInTexETN, Marie Sk\u0142odowska-Curie Actions<\/p>\n\n\n\n


EXPERIMENTAL LAYERED STRUCTURES
elastomeric acrylic film
carbon powder
fabrics, ribbons, plastic films & fur<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Exhibited at Garden of Delights<\/em>, Royal College of Art, London, January 2016.
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I set out to build Electro Active Polymer<\/a> modules with an elastic and adhesive acrylic film (3M VHB tape 4910) and carbon powder. When one of the modules broke, I started playing with the material, handling it, touching it… I was fascinated by its extreme elasticity, its soft and smooth surface and the lustre given by the carbon powder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As I was touching the material, questions concerning alternative ways of using it started piling in my head: How could I take advantage of this stretchiness? Which materials could I combine the VHB tape with? How could I use this tape to build more complex structures? I decided to explore its elastic and adhesive properties and the opportunities these provided for the formation of deployable three-dimensional structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


I collected a range of materials such as felt, leather, fur, fabric, lace, foam, and plastic nets and films. I formed layered structures by placing pieces of these materials in different arrangements between two sheets of stretched tape. I then coated both sides of the layered structures with the carbon powder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once these structures were ready, I removed the fixings that were holding them stretched. This revealed a range of three-dimensional deployable patterns in the samples. These are some of the resulting structures:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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