Shapeshifting aircraft

An article in the new issue of Air & Space looks at how future aircraft could "morph," altering wingspan, wing area, and other characteristics as needed while still in the air. From the article:

One promising approach is aimed initially at helicopters, not airplanes, and takes after one of nature’s creations: plants. Flowers angle their stems by shifting fluid from one cell to another. Lithium batteries also change shape as ions flow in and out of them when they are charged and discharged. You may not notice the batteries changing shape, but “your cell phone designer and your iPod designer know about it and design around it,” says Yet-Ming Chiang, a professor of materials science and engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Chiang and colleague Steven Hall took advantage of the shape-changing nature of batteries by building the same materials into a model of a Blackhawk helicopter blade. They found a small dose of energy could reshape the blade, altering the angle of its trailing edge to give it more lift. That’s great for hovering, but the blade doesn’t need as much lift in flight mode. A morphing blade could simply return to its original shape when it’s time for the helo to fly away.

Link