A. Hunt
23 records found
1
An airbrush 3D printer
Additive manufacturing of relaxor ferroelectric actuators
The additive manufacturing of electroactive polymer (EAP) devices poses significant challenges due to their distinct structure and dissimilar properties of their constituent materials. It requires deposition of multiple functional materials with different properties, achieving μm
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Dielectric elastomers (DEs) have received significant attention for their good performance among different smart material transducers. This study demonstrates the feasibility of fabricating dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) using exclusively inkjet printing technique. The man
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Micro-physiological systems (MPS) hold the potential for advancing drug research by emulating realistic in vitro human (patho)physiology models. These systems replicate organ microenvironments, delivering stimuli similar to those experienced by organs in vivo. Active biomechanica
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Additive manufacturing of sensors and actuators together with structural materials and electronics will make it possible to fabricate innovative system designs that are overly laborious to realise with conventional methods. While printing of the structural materials and electroni
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High strains of the relaxor ferroelectric polymers allows to build efficient actuators. While the mechanical impedance of such actuators can be optimized via their morphology, their practical realization requires flexible and versatile fabrication processes. This work devises an
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IPMC-Based Purcell’s Three-Link Swimmer
Simulations and Experiments at Low-Reynolds Conditions
The Purcell’s swimmer, consisting of three links with two one-degree-of-freedom joints as defined by Edward M. Purcell, has been studied by several authors since its introduction in 1977. Researchers have delved into its mathematical foundations, analysing and optimising its moti
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Multimodal intravascular ultrasound and photoacoustic (IVUS/PA) imaging is a promising diagnostic tool for cardiovascular diseases like atherosclerosis. IVUS/PA catheters typically require two independent transducers due to different frequency requirements, potentially increasing
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Ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) are a class of materials with a rising appeal in biological micro-electromechanical systems (bio-MEMS) due to their unique properties (low voltage output, bio-compatibility, affinity with ionic medium). While tailoring and improving actuatio
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The recent development of a hybrid tunable magnet actuator proposes to eliminate Joule heating when maintaining a force or position offset. By controlling the remnant magnetic flux in an AlNiCo magnet within the actuator, the actuation force can be linearly varied and maintained.
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To facilitate smart material transducer research and application, it is important to develop fabrication processes that are widely accessible and compatible with additive manufacturing (AM) techniques. This work addresses inkjet printing and material selection in the fabrication
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Metamaterials are artificially structured materials and exhibit properties that are uncommon or non-existent in nature. Mechanical metamaterials show exotic mechanical properties, such as negative stiffness, vanishing shear modulus, or negative Poisson's ratio. These properties s
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Sensing flow rates in structured microenvironments like lab-on-chip (LOC) and organ-on-chip (OoC) is crucial to assess important parameters such as transport of media and molecules of interest. So far, these micro-electromechanical systems for biology (bio-MEMS) mostly rely on fl
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Organ-on-chip (OoC) devices are in rising demand for high-throughput and low-cost development and toxico-logical screening of chemicals and pharmaceuticals, as they accurately mimic in vitro physiological conditions as in the human body. In particular, OoCs are urgently needed fo
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Limitations of conventional actuators and sensors in small-scaled and complex devices have diverted the researches' attentions towards smart material transducers such as ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs). In addition to actuation capabilities, IPMCs generate voltage when sub
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Microfluidic devices and micro-pumps are increasingly necessitated in many fields ranging from untethered soft robots, to pharmaceutical and biomedical technology. While realization of such devices is limited by miniaturization constraints of conventional actuators, these restric
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•Actuation has been succesfully performed for 2h30 with no side effects nor
delimination of the human tissue
•0.1 % strain has been achieved during the actutaion mode, close to the
strain experienced in vivo by vSMCs
•0.72 V/mm sensitivity has been shown on the ...
delimination of the human tissue
•0.1 % strain has been achieved during the actutaion mode, close to the
strain experienced in vivo by vSMCs
•0.72 V/mm sensitivity has been shown on the ...
Ionic polymer–metal composites (IPMC) are smart material transducers that bend in response to low-voltage stimuli and generate voltage in response to bending. IPMCs are mechanically compliant, simple in construction, and easy to cut into desired shape. This allows the designing o
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Piezoelectric inkjet printing has proven its potential for use as an additive manufacturing technique for depositing thin films, and can be especially useful in the rapid prototyping of devices such as printed circuit boards (PCB), energy harvesters, capacitative sensors, or radi
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Active sensing methods of ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC)
Comparative study in frequency domain
Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) are soft transducers that bend in response to low-voltage input, and generate voltage in response to deformations. Their potential applications include compliant locomotion systems, small-scale robotics, energy harvesting and biomedical inst
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IPMC Kirigami
A distributed actuation concept
Today’s mechatronics relies on conventional transducers, i.e. lumped sensors and actuators with rigid construction. Future consumer products, medical devices and manufacturing processes require sensing and actuation systems with high count and density of individual transducer uni
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