Microstructuring of glass by laser irradiation: applications on microoptics and microfluidics

En la presente tesis se propone la fabricación de elementos en vidrio para micro-óptica y microfluídica que exigen microestructuras de alta calidad. Estos elementos son altamente demandados desde sectores industriales, por lo que se precisan técnicas de procesado, rápidas, sencillas y de bajo coste

Laser-Based Fabrication for Microfluidics Devices on Glass for Medical Applications

We report a laser-based process for microstructuring glass materials for microfluidics applications. The hybrid technique is composed of a nanosecond Q-Switch Nd:YVO4 laser for fabricating the initial microfluidic microstructures on soda-lime glass substrates and a thermal treatment for reshaping and improving its morphological and optical qualities. The proposed technique preserves the advantages of the laser direct-write technique in terms of design flexibility, simplicity, fast prototyping, low cost, and so on. The beam spot size, pulse overlapping, ablation threshold, debris deposition, heating temperature, and time are investigated and optimized for fabricating optimal microfluidics structures on glass. The manufactured chips for circulating tumor cells (CTCs) capture were tested with tumor cells (Hec 1A) after being functionalized with an EpCAM antibody coating. Cells were successfully arrested on the pillars after being flown through the device giving our technology a translational application in the field of cancer research

How Innovation affects Users’ Emotional Responses: Implications for Product Success and Business Sustainability.

The market is experiencing an expanding range of products, prompting manufacturing companies to differentiate themselves from competitors by moving away from conventional concepts. However, these innovations often fail to meet consumer expectations, leading to product failure, and consequently, an unsustainable evolution of the market and the business. This unsustainability requires designers to adapt innovations to align with consumer needs and desires. Understanding and validating these adaptations can be achieved by examining users’ emotional responses to innovative products. The objective of this study is to assess the influence of innovation in the development of new successful products, sales performance, and, therefore, business sustainability. This evaluation is based on the perceptions of potential consumers through the analysis of users’ emotional responses to various new product concepts at different design stages. A case study presents the evaluation of 48 new interactive lamp concepts categorized into relaxation, study, and leisure topics. The target audience for these concepts is consumers aged 18 to 24. The designs were developed by 12 teams of final-year industrial design students using insights from a prior psychographic study involving over 800 potential consumers. The findings highlight differences in users’ perceptions of innovative and traditional products across topics. These differences relate to users’ interest, intuitiveness, and desirability toward a product. Generally, traditional product concepts are perceived as more intuitive, but users show greater interest and desire for innovative concepts, with some variations among the analyzed topics. The business environment is encouraged to share these data with new product-development teams to achieve sustainable market and business growth.Partial funding for open access charge: Universidad de Málag

How Innovation Affects Users’ Emotional Responses: Implications for Product Success and Business Sustainability

The market is experiencing an expanding range of products, prompting manufacturing companies to differentiate themselves from competitors by moving away from conventional concepts. However, these innovations often fail to meet consumer expectations, leading to product failure, and consequently, an unsustainable evolution of the market and the business. This unsustainability requires designers to adapt innovations to align with consumer needs and desires. Understanding and validating these adaptations can be achieved by examining users’ emotional responses to innovative products. The objective of this study is to assess the influence of innovation in the development of new successful products, sales performance, and, therefore, business sustainability. This evaluation is based on the perceptions of potential consumers through the analysis of users’ emotional responses to various new product concepts at different design stages. A case study presents the evaluation of 48 new interactive lamp concepts categorized into relaxation, study, and leisure topics. The target audience for these concepts is consumers aged 18 to 24. The designs were developed by 12 teams of final-year industrial design students using insights from a prior psychographic study involving over 800 potential consumers. The findings highlight differences in users’ perceptions of innovative and traditional products across topics. These differences relate to users’ interest, intuitiveness, and desirability toward a product. Generally, traditional product concepts are perceived as more intuitive, but users show greater interest and desire for innovative concepts, with some variations among the analyzed topics. The business environment is encouraged to share these data with new product-development teams to achieve sustainable market and business growth

Bacterias diazotroficas y solubilizadoras de fósforo aisladas de las especies forestles altoandinas colombianas Weinmannia tomentosa y Escallonia myrtilloides

Encenillo (Weinmannia tomentosa Lf) and pagoda (Escallonia myrtilloides Lf) are dominant native tree species that can be found in the forests of the complex Andean Guerrero (Cundinamarca, Colombia). Forty two phosphorus-solubilizing bacteria and 125 nitrogen-fixing strains were isolated from the rhizosphere of these trees, out of which the microbial strains presenting the best five results of dissolution of phosphate and acetylene reduction by plant species were selected. The diazotrophic strains selected were identified as close to Enterobacter gergoviae, Alcaligenes sp. (E13C and E12E strains), Enterobacter sp. (E14C.2 strain), Pseudomonas sp., Sphingomonas sp., Paenibacillus sp., Achromobacter sp., Flavobacterium adoratum, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and as phosphate-solubilizingbacteria near to Pantoea agglomerans, Pantoea sp., Brevudimonas sp., Enterobacter sp. (E6C.1 strain), Burkholderia cepacia, Arthrobacter sp., Aeromicrobium sp., Corynebacterium sp., Pimelobacter sp. and Micrococcus sp. In order to perform preliminary in vivo tests with the chosen microorganisms, it was inoculated bacterial mixture to encenillo and pagoda seedlings and evaluated their longitudinal growth for three months under greenhouse conditions. The major averages were obtained with the inoculation of Enterobacter gergoviae and Pantoea sp. in encenillo seedlings (average increase of 51% and 57% greater than the controls without microbial inoculation and sterile molasses medium, respectively) and the mixture of all selected bacteria in pagoda (Stimulation of 16% and 32% compared to controls molasses and without bacterial inoculation, respectively). The results showed that all the combinations using microbial inocula significantly stimulated longitudinal growth (Duncan multiple range test P<0.05). The synergism shown by co-inoculation of diazotrophic bacteria and phosphate solubilizing bacteria indicate the potential of these microorganisms as plant growth promoters and biofertilizers.El encenillo (Weinmannia tomentosa L.f) y la pagoda (Escallonia myrtilloides L.f) son especies forestales nativas predominantes en bosques altoandinos del complejo Guerrero (Cundinamarca, Colombia). De la rizosfera de estos árboles se aislaron 42 bacterias solubilizadoras de fósforo y 125 fijadoras de nitrógeno, de las cuales se escogieron las cepas microbianas que presentaron los cinco mejores resultados de disolución de fosfato y reducción de acetileno por cada especie vegetal. Las cepas diazotróficas escogidas se identificaron como cercanas a Enterobacter gergoviae, Alcaligenes sp. (Cepas E12E y E13C), Enterobacter sp (cepa E14C.2), Pseudomonas sp., Sphingomonas sp., Paenibacillus sp., Achromobacter sp., Flavobacterium adoratum y Klebsiella pneumoniae; y como solubilizadoras de fósforo a Pantoea agglomerans, Pantoea sp., Brevudimonas sp., Enterobacter sp. (Cepa E6C.1), Burkholderia cepacia, Arthrobacter sp., Aeromicrobium sp., Corynebacterium sp., Pimelobacter sp. y Micrococcus sp. Se realizaron ensayos preliminares in vivo con los microorganismos escogidos y se inocularon diferentes combinaciones bacterianas en plántulas de encenillo y pagoda. Se evaluó el crecimiento longitudinal durante tres meses bajo condiciones de invernadero. Los mayores promedios se obtuvieron con la inoculación de Enterobacter gergoviae y Pantoea sp., en plántulas de encenillo (incremento promedio de 51% y 57% más que los controles sin ninguna inoculación microbiana y medio melaza estéril, respectivamente) y con la mezcla de todas las bacterias escogidas en pagoda (estimulación de 16% y 32%, con respecto a los controles melaza y sin inoculación bacteriana, respectivamente). Todas las combinaciones microbianas utilizadas estimularon significativamente el crecimiento longitudinal (prueba de Duncan P<0,05). El sinergismo mostrado por la co-inoculación de bacterias diazotróficas y solubilizadoras de fósforo indican el potencial de estos microorganismos como promotores de crecimiento vegetal y posibles biofertilizantes

Laser-based surface multistructuring using optical elements and the Talbot effect

We present a laser based technique combined with the Talbot effect for microstructuring surfaces. The use of the Talbot effect is introduced as a solution to avoid damage of the periodic object used for micropattering different surfaces during the ablation process. The fabrication of two periodic objects (a mask and a microlens array) for micropattering surfaces and the identification of their Talbot planes is presented. A metal foil is ablated at distances corresponding to selected Talbot planes of the periodic objects. The setup allows us to design the desired pattern and the result is a multistructured surface with a high number of identical microholes, achieving a minimum diameter around 4μm. The different aspect of the periodic object working in direct contact and working at these Talbot distances is shown. These pictures reveal the advantages of working of using Talbot effect for a rapid, repeatable and no-contaminant multistructuring. Some industrial applications are illustrated.This work has been supported by the Consellería de Cultura, Xunta de Galicia/FEDER, Spain under Contract EM2012/019S

Product Design by Additive Manufacturing for Water Environments: Study of Degradation and Absorption Behavior of PLA and PETG

Additive manufacturing technologies are shifting from rapid prototyping technologies to end use or final parts production. Polymeric material extrusion processes have been broadly addressed with a specific definition of all parameters and variables for all different of technologies approaches and materials. Recycled polymeric materials have been studied due to the growing importance of the environmental awareness of the contemporary society. Beside this, little specific research has been found in product development applications for AM where the printed parts are in highly moisture environments or surrounded by water, but polymers have been for long used in such industries with conventional manufacturing approaches. This work focuses on the analysis and comparison of two different additively manufactured polymers printed by fused filament fabrication (FFF) processes using desktop-size printers to be applied for product design. The polymers used have been a recycled material: polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PETG) and polylactic acid (PLA). Degradation and water absorption behaviors of both materials are presented, analyzed and discussed in this paper, where different samples have been immersed in saturated solutions of water with maritime salt and sugar together with a control sample immersed in distilled water. The samples have been dimensionally and weight-controlled weekly as well as microscopically analyzed to understand degradation and absorption processes that appear in the fully saturated solutions. The results revealed how the absorption process is stabilized after a reduced number of weeks for both materials and how the degradation process is more remarked in the PLA material due to its organic nature

Systematic approach for high piezoelectric AlN deposition

Aluminum nitride (AlN) is a wide band gap semiconductor with interesting piezoelectric properties for many applications, including micromechanical systems (MEMS), acoustic wave sensors or energy harvesting devices. The influence of DC reactive magnetron sputtering (DCRMS) deposition parameters on the structural, crystalline, and piezoelectric properties of AlN thin films are presented. The systematic approach of Design of Experiments (DoE) has been used to evaluate the role of magnetron power, nitrogen and argon flows on the deposition process and the film properties. Magnetron power and argon flow have resulted to be the parameters causing the most significant effects on the deposition rate. AlN films have been deposited with a high crystal quality, showing low values of FWHM (0.28) and c-axis orientation parallel oriented respect to the growth direction, as evidenced by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). These samples also showed a high piezoelectric coefficient (d33) of 5 pC/N for AlN thin films. This work highlights the importance of deposition parameters on the properties of the film and the important role that DoE play for its optimization with a minimum number of depositions