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Full-Text Articles in Mechanical Engineering

Development And Verification Of A Mechanical Loading Device For Microfluidics, Stefan Habean, Erin Tesny Jan 2017

Development And Verification Of A Mechanical Loading Device For Microfluidics, Stefan Habean, Erin Tesny

Undergraduate Research Posters 2017

Establishing the role that mechanics play in nerve cell (e.g. neurons) function requires experimental testing. Microfluidic based experiments are commonly used to study neuron growth and function, and studies have found mechanics to play an important role in neuron health. External loads can be applied to a microfluidic device using a motor, which presumably influences the mechanical environment of the cells. While a motor can easily apply known displacements, a “load cell” is necessary to measure corresponding forces. In an existing prototype microfluidic loading device, a load cell was integrated and verified. The manufacturer's calibration of the load cell was …


Mechanics-Based Model For Non-Affine Swelling In Perfluorosulfonic Acid (Pfsa) Membranes, Ahmet Kusoglu, Michael H. Santare, Anette M. Karlsson May 2009

Mechanics-Based Model For Non-Affine Swelling In Perfluorosulfonic Acid (Pfsa) Membranes, Ahmet Kusoglu, Michael H. Santare, Anette M. Karlsson

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

A mechanics-based model is developed to predict the swelling pressure in perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) ionomer membranes during water uptake. The PFSA membrane is represented as a two-phase system, where the water-filled hydrophilic domains are dispersed throughout the hydrophobic polymer matrix. Two representative volume elements (RVEs) are used to represent the nanostructure: (i) a spherical RVE with a spherical hydrophilic domain at the center, and (ii) a cylindrical RVE with a cylindrical hydrophilic domain. The model starts with the non-affine swelling behavior of the membrane and interprets this as a structural reorganization of the RVEs to characterize the microscopic deformation. Swelling …


Stress-Strain Behavior Of Perfluorosulfonic Acid Membranes At Various Temperatures And Humidities: Experiments And Phenomenological Modeling, Ahmet Kusoglu, Yaliang Tang, Michael Santare, Anette M. Karlsson, Simon Cleghorn, William B. Johnson Feb 2009

Stress-Strain Behavior Of Perfluorosulfonic Acid Membranes At Various Temperatures And Humidities: Experiments And Phenomenological Modeling, Ahmet Kusoglu, Yaliang Tang, Michael Santare, Anette M. Karlsson, Simon Cleghorn, William B. Johnson

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The constitutive response of perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes based on tensile testing is investigated, and a phenomenological constitutive model for the elastoplastic flow behavior as a function of temperature and humidity is proposed. To this end, the G'Sell–Jonas (1979, “Determination of the Plastic Behavior of Solid Polymers at Constant True Strain Rate,” J. Mater. Sci., 14, pp. 583–591) constitutive model for semicrystalline polymers is extended by incorporating, in addition to temperature, relationships between the material constants of this model and the measured relative humidity. By matching the proposed constitutive model to the experimental stress-strain data, useful material constants …


Micromechanics Model Based On The Nanostructure Of Pfsa Membranes, Ahmet Kusoglu, Michael H. Santare, Anette M. Karlsson, William B. Johnson, Simon Cleghorn Nov 2008

Micromechanics Model Based On The Nanostructure Of Pfsa Membranes, Ahmet Kusoglu, Michael H. Santare, Anette M. Karlsson, William B. Johnson, Simon Cleghorn

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

A micromechanics model is developed to predict Young’s modulus of perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes at various temperatures and water contents. The morphology of PFSA membranes is characterized by a two-phase structure, where hydrophilic clusters expand to hold water molecules during swelling, whereas the hydrophobic polymer network maintains the structural stability. A representative volume element (RVE) is proposed based on the descriptions for the nanostructure of PFSA membranes available in the literature. On the basis of mechanics model, we estimate Young’s modulus in tension of PFSA membranes as a function of water volume fraction for various temperatures. The results show that …