Conductive Composites
Supervisor: Assistant Professor Pablo Valdivia y Alvarado (BRD Lab), carried at SUTD (2018 - 2020)
Ferromagnetic Composites
Supervisor: Lecturer Dana D. Damian (Scheffield Biomedical Robotics Lab), carried at the University of Zurich, MIT and Harvard Children's Hospital in 2012 - 2013
Composite Materials
The development of stretchable and flexible conductive materials opened a new range of possibilities in the field of electronics. Allowing the fabrication of flexible circuits, artificial skin and soft sensors enabling device integration for health monitoring as well as diagnostic and therapeutic applications in modern healthcare. Materials such as Eutectic indium gallium alloys, carbon or ionic fluids to name a few have been used for this purpose. Alternatively, conductive composites (CC) can be synthesized by mixing conductive fillers like silver powders or carbon nanotubes with a polymer matrix such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or Ecoflex (EF). In this preliminary work, we study the electrical and mechanical properties of silver-based conductive composites. The same concept can be applied to synthesize materials with different characteristics such as magnetic or ferromagnetic.
Summary
This work presents the fabrication of an elastic actuator with ferromagnetic properties capable of producing compressive stress and strain in the presence of magnetic fields. The elastic structure consists of a mixture of a soft elastomer and 99% pure iron powder. The magnetic and elastic properties of the material were modeled and investigated based on the principles of electromagnetism. These elastic actuators reach up to approximately 2700 N/m2 stress and achieve a strain of approximately 17% when embedded in a solenoid coil. The elastic actuators are promising for use as muscle-like structures while they provide softness in interaction.
Publications
Federico Fries, Shuhei Miyashita, Daniela Rus, Rolf Pfeifer and Dana D. Damian, Electromagnetically Driven Elastic Actuator, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics 2014 (ROBIO), Bali, Indonesia, pp 309-314.
DOI: 10.1109/ROBIO.2014.7090348
Best Conference Paper Award
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Federico Fries, Shuhei Miyashita, and Dana D. Damian, Soft-Core Electromagnet, ETH International Workshop on Soft Robotics and Morphological Computation 2013, Locarno, Switzerland, July
Poster Presentation
Summary
The development of stretchable and flexible conductive materials opened a new range of possibilities in the field of electronics. Allowing the fabrication of flexible circuits, artificial skin and soft sensors enabling device integration for health monitoring as well as diagnostic and therapeutic applications in modern healthcare. Materials such as Eutectic indium gallium alloys, carbon or ionic fluids to name a few have been used for this purpose. Alternatively, conductive composites (CC) can be synthesized by mixing conductive fillers like silver powders or carbon nanotubes with a polymer matrix such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or Ecoflex (EF). In this preliminary work, we study the electrical and mechanical properties of silver-based conductive composites
Publications
Federico Fries, and Pablo Valdivia y Alvarado, Whisker-like Sensors with Soft Resistive Follicles, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics 2017 (ROBIO), Macau, China, pp 2038-2043.
DOI: 10.1109/ROBIO.2017.8324719
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Federico Fries, Theo Calais, Shaohui Foong, and Pablo Valdivia y Alvarado, Design of Flexible Silver Based Conductive Composites for Biomedical Applications (work in progress)
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