Three-dimensional printing of multifunctional nanocomposites: Manufacturing techniques and applications

The integration of nanotechnology into three-dimensional printing (3DP) offers huge potential and opportunities for the manufacturing of 3D engineered materials exhibiting optimized properties and multifunctionality. The literature relating to different 3DP techniques used to fabricate 3D structures at the macro- and microscale made of nanocomposite materials is reviewed here. The current state-of-the-art fabrication methods, their main characteristics (e.g., resolutions, advantages, limitations), the process parameters, and materials requirements are discussed. A comprehensive review is carried out on the use of metal- and carbon-based nanomaterials incorporated into polymers or hydrogels for the manufacturing of 3D structures, mostly at the microscale, using different 3D-printing techniques. Several methods, including but not limited to micro-stereolithography, extrusion-based direct-write technologies, inkjet-printing techniques, and popular powder-bed technology, are discussed. Various examples of 3D nanocomposite macro- and microstructures manufactured using different 3D-printing technologies for a wide range of domains such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), lab-on-a-chip, microfluidics, engineered materials and composites, microelectronics, tissue engineering, and biosystems are reviewed. Parallel advances on materials and techniques are still required in order to employ the full potential of 3D printing of multifunctional nanocomposites

The Art of Tactile Sensing: A State of Art Survey

This paper describes about tactile sensors, its transduction methods, state-of-art and various application areas of these sensors. Here we are taking in consideration the sense of touch. This provides the robots with tactile perception. In most of the robotic application the sense of touch is very helpful. The ability of robots to touch and feel the object, grasping an object by controlled pressure, mainly to categorize the surface textures. Tactile sensors can measure the force been applied on an area of touch. The data which is interpreted from the sensor is accumulated by the array of coordinated group of touch sensors. The sense of touch in human is distributed in four kinds by tactile receptors: Meissner corpuscles, the Merkel cells, the Rufina endings, and the Pacinian corpuscles. There has many innovations done to mimic the behaviour of human touch. The contact forces are measured by the sensor and this data is used to determine the manipulation of the robot

Thermoplastic polyurethane flexible capacitive proximity sensor reinforced by CNTs for applications in the creative industries

Wearable sensing platforms have been rapidly advanced over recent years, thanks to numerous achievements in a variety of sensor fabrication techniques. However, the development of a flexible proximity sensor that can perform in a large range of object mobility remains a challenge. Here, a polymer-based sensor that utilizes a nanostructure composite as the sensing element has been presented for forthcoming usage in healthcare and automotive applications. Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU)/Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) composites are capable of detecting presence of an external object in a wide range of distance. The proximity sensor exhibits an unprecedented detection distance of 120 mm with a resolution of 0.3%/mm. The architecture and manufacturing procedures of TPU/CNTs sensor are straightforward and performance of the proximity sensor shows robustness to reproducibility as well as excellent electrical and mechanical flexibility under different bending radii and over hundreds of bending cycles with variation of 4.7% and 4.2%, respectively. Tunneling and fringing effects are addressed as the sensing mechanism to explain significant capacitance changes. Percolation threshold analysis of different TPU/CNT contents indicated that nanocomposites having 2 wt% carbon nanotubes are exhibiting excellent sensing capabilities to achieve maximum detection accuracy and least noise among others. Fringing capacitance effect of the structure has been systematically analyzed by ANSYS Maxwell (Ansoft) simulation, as the experiments precisely supports the sensitivity trend in simulation. Our results introduce a new mainstream platform to realize an ultrasensitive perception of objects, presenting a promising prototype for application in wearable proximity sensors for motion analysis and artificial electronic skin

Flexible tactile digital feedback for clinical applications

Trauma and damage to the delicate structures of the inner ear frequently occurs during insertion of electrode array into the cochlea. This is strongly related to the excessive manual insertion force of the surgeon without any tool/tissue interaction feedback. The research is examined tool-tissue interaction of large prototype scale (12.5:1) digit embedded with distributive tactile sensor based upon cochlear electrode and large prototype scale (4.5:1) cochlea phantom for simulating the human cochlear which could lead to small scale digit requirements. This flexible digit classified the tactile information from the digit-phantom interaction such as contact status, tip penetration, obstacles, relative shape and location, contact orientation and multiple contacts. The digit, distributive tactile sensors embedded with silicon-substrate is inserted into the cochlea phantom to measure any digit/phantom interaction and position of the digit in order to minimize tissue and trauma damage during the electrode cochlear insertion. The digit is pre-curved in cochlea shape so that the digit better conforms to the shape of the scala tympani to lightly hug the modiolar wall of a scala. The digit have provided information on the characteristics of touch, digit-phantom interaction during the digit insertion. The tests demonstrated that even devices of such a relative simple design with low cost have potential to improve cochlear implants surgery and other lumen mapping applications by providing tactile feedback information by controlling the insertion through sensing and control of the tip of the implant during the insertion. In that approach, the surgeon could minimize the tissue damage and potential damage to the delicate structures within the cochlear caused by current manual electrode insertion of the cochlear implantation. This approach also can be applied diagnosis and path navigation procedures. The digit is a large scale stage and could be miniaturized in future to include more realistic surgical procedures

Development of Pre-Magnetized Magnetorheological Elastomer for Bidirectionally Variable Stiffness Applications

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) utilize magnetic forces between ferromagnetic particles to cause variable stiffness properties and damping with external magnetic fields. In the MREs, the particles are embedded in a cured elastomer matrix, and an external magnetic field makes the stiffness change due to induced magnetic forces among particles. A disadvantage of the conventional MREs is that they cannot be softened (reduced stiffness) under an external magnetic field. Considering that there are many engineering applications where fast changes of stiffness in both directions (stiffening and softening) are required, embedding magnetically biased particles in the MRE can provide potential solutions. In this research, a pre-magnetized MRE is proposed using permanently magnetized ferromagnetic particles instead of the external permanent magnet for the magnetic bias. The pre-magnetized MRE was fabricated with silica-coated neodymium alloy particles and silicone elastomer. In this work, various parameters in the design and fabrication of the pre-magnetized MRE are studied to improve the MR effect. The design parameters include silicon resin selection (Ecoflex 00-30 and 00-50), thickness, sizes of the neodymium alloy particles, and the weight ratio of the particles. MR effects by the direction of the pre-magnetizations were also studied. Simulations were performed to predict MR effect by the material variables. The simulations used forces among the magnetized particles and the hyperelasticity of the elastomer. In the experiment, shear moduli were measured for different shear strains under different magnetization directions, and their associated MR effects were compared. It has been found that the resin type, size, and weight ratio of ferromagnetic particles affect the MR effect. The application testbed with the pre-magnetized MRE has been developed, and various types of core materials were tested experimentally for effective bi-directional changes of their stiffness. The MR effects and corresponding response times of the applications were studied and compared. According to the results, the MR effect and its response time are also related to the magnetic permeabilities of the core materials in addition to the attraction and repulsion forces between the core and magnetized particles. The MR effects for different core materials were observed to be approximately 0.08~0.25%. The response times of the applications were found by measuring a rise time of the MR effect for the step input are 40ms and 46 ms each by forward and reverse currents in the coil

System-Engineered Miniaturized Robots: From Structure to Intelligence

The development of small machines, once envisioned by Feynman decades ago, has stimulated significant research in materials science, robotics, and computer science. Over the past years, the field of miniaturized robotics has rapidly expanded with many research groups contributing to the numerous challenges inherent to this field. Smart materials have played a particularly important role as they have imparted miniaturized robots with new functionalities and distinct capabilities. However, despite all efforts and many available soft materials and innovative technologies, a fully autonomous system-engineered miniaturized robot (SEMR) of any practical relevance has not been developed yet. In this review, the foundation of SEMRs is discussed and six main areas (structure, motion, sensing, actuation, energy, and intelligence) which require particular efforts to push the frontiers of SEMRs further are identified. During the past decade, miniaturized robotic research has mainly relied on simplicity in design, and fabrication. A careful examination of current SEMRs that are physically, mechanically, and electrically engineered shows that they fall short in many ways concerning miniaturization, full-scale integration, and self-sufficiency. Some of these issues have been identified in this review. Some are inevitably yet to be explored, thus, allowing to set the stage for the next generation of intelligent, and autonomously operating SEMRs

Extrusion-based Direct Write of Functional Materials From Electronics to Magnetics

New micro- and nanoscale fabrication methods are of vital importance to drive scientific and technological advances in electronics, materials science, physics and biology areas. Direct ink writing (DW) describes a group of mask-less and contactless additive manufacturing (AM), or 3D printing, processes that involve dispensing inks, typically particle suspensions, through a deposition nozzle to create 2D or 3D material patterns with desired architecture and composition on a computer-controlled movable stage. Much of the functional material printing and electronics area remains underdeveloped for this new technology. There is a need to understand and establish the advantages and shortcomings of extrusion-based DW over other AM technologies for various applications. Further, the integration of extrusion DW with other AM technologies, such as stereolithography (SLA), remains an active area of research. In this study, we performed a comprehensive study of the relationships between ink properties/machine parameters and the printed line dimensions, including parametric studies of the machine parameters, an in-nozzle flow dynamics simulation, and a preliminary 3D comprehensive flow dynamics simulation. We explored the boundary and possibilities of extrusion-based DW. We pushed the limit of DW printing resolution, solid content of nonspherical particles, and printed polymer-bonded magnets with the highest density and magnetic performance among all 3D printing magnet techniques. We optimized the design of DW ink from rheological, mechanical, and microscopic perspectives. We are one of the first experimentalists as of author’s knowledge to perform bimodal highly concentrated suspension rheology analysis using nonspherical particles. Great improvements in solid loading were achieved by using the best large-to-small particle size ratio and large particle volume ratio found. The data and analysis could provide a new standard and solid experimental support for functional material printing