Painting Inferno: Novel Heat and Stiffness Control Methods with Carbon Nanomaterial Conductive Heating Paint

We introduce Painting Inferno, a novel method for controlling heat and stiffness using highly electrically conductive carbon nanomaterial heating paint. Heat has found widespread applications in thermochromic displays, shape-changing interfaces, haptic devices, and materials with adjustable stiffness. Although Joule heaters based on heating circuits using electrically conductive materials have been widely used, the complex design and fabrication processes limit the freedom to create custom heaters in scale, shape, and material. As an alternative Joule heating method, we explore the potential of carbon nanomaterial heating paints, which enable the rapid generation of uniform heat at low voltages. We present simple fabrication methods for creating handmade heaters using off-the-shelf materials and cutting machines and demonstrate the feasibility of crafting heaters with complex shapes and grid-array configurations. Leveraging the heating paint’s compatibility with various materials, we showcase the versatile applications for interactive thermal displays, stiffness modulation devices, and pneumatic interfaces for stiffness-shape transformations.