Umut D. Cakmak

Cost-Efficient Open Source Desktop Size Radial Stretching System With Force Sensor

The rapid and efficient development of soft active materials requires readily available, compact testing equipment. We propose a desktop-sized, cost-efficient, and open source radial stretching system as an alternative to commercially available biaxial and uniaxial stretching devices. It allows for doubling the diameter of an elastomer membrane while measuring the applied force. Our development enables significant cost reduction (<;300 €) and increase the availability of equibiaxial deformation measurements for scientific material analysis. Construction plans, source code, and electronic circuit diagrams are freely available under a creative commons license.

From Playroom to Lab: Tough Stretchable Electronics Analyzed with a Tabletop Tensile Tester Made from Toy-Bricks

Toy bricks are an ideal platform for the cost‐effective rapid prototyping of a tabletop tensile tester with measurement accuracy on par with expensive, commercially available laboratory equipment. Here, a tester is presented that is not only a versatile demonstration device in mechanics, electronics, and physics education and an eye‐catcher on exhibitions, but also a powerful tool for stretchable electronics research. Following the “open‐source movement” the build‐up of the tester is described and all the details for easy reproduction are disclosed. A a new design of highly conformable all‐elastomer based graded rigid island printed circuit boards is developed. Tough bonded to this elastomer substrate are imperceptible electronic foils bearing conductors and off‐the‐shelf microelectronics, paving the way for next generation smart electronic appliances.

SEMI-ACTIVE DAMPING PERFORMANCE OF IRON PARTICLE FILLED SILICONE RUBBER

The aim of this work was to design, produce and evaluate a demonstrator to visualize the magneto-induced damping behaviour of materials. In contrast to standard materials, the damping coefficient of iron particle filled silicone rubbers can be controlled by a semi-active magnetic field. This field effect should be characterized in order to evaluate the suitability of these magnetorheological silicone elastomers for the use in different configurations and applications.

CHARACTERIZATION OF ULTRASONIC ASSISTED ADHESIVE JOINTS

Joining experiments using different adhesives were carried out. In addition to the adhesive, the specimens were also treated with ultrasonic waves to improve the load carrying capacity of the joined parts. Lap joint shear tests have been conducted to quantify this improvement.

COMPARISON OF VIRTUAL FIELDS METHOD, PARALLEL NETWORK MATERIAL MODEL AND FINITE ELEMENT UPDATING FOR MATERIAL PARAMETER DETERMINATION

Extracting material parameters from test specimens is very intensive in terms of cost and time, especially for viscoelastic material models, where the parameters are dependent of time (frequency), temperature and environmental conditions. Therefore, three different methods for extracting these parameters were tested. Firstly, digital image correlation combined with virtual fields method, secondly, a parallel network material model and thirdly, finite element updating. These three methods are shown and the results are compared in terms of accuracy and experimental effort.

Characterization of Thermoplastic Elastomers for Design Efforts

Different grades of several thermoplastic elastomer types were selected and are investigated over a wide frequency/time, temperature and loading range in a research project of the authors. Relevant material models are selected for different loading situations and based on these experimental data the material model parameters were determined either directly or by applying fitting procedures. These models along with the proper data were used for modeling the deformation and the failure behavior of typical engineering thermoplastic elastomer components. Furthermore, based on the modeling of various elastomers under different service relevant loading situation several design proposals were formulated.