Free-form thermal cloaks in three dimensions
4 hours ago
- #thermal-cloaking
- #3D-metamaterials
- #transformation-thermotics
- A new 3D de-homogenization method enables the physical realization of omnidirectional 3D thermal cloaks with arbitrarily complex shapes.
- The design uses a 3D lattice microstructure that can deliver the required graded, highly anisotropic thermal conductivities and is fabricable via additive manufacturing.
- Experimental and numerical results demonstrate successful multi-directional thermal cloaking, such as hiding an apple inside a pear.
- Integration with spherical harmonics allows creating 3D cloaks with unprecedented geometric complexity, like a human face shape.
- The work provides a general, efficient route to realizing 3D thermal meta-devices and marks the physical realization of transformation theory in arbitrary 3D shapes.