Engineering Commons^™

Mechanical Actuation Via Resorbable Materials, Bethany Parkinson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Resorbable materials—or materials which diffuse into their surroundings—present a promising means of actuating mechanical systems. In current practice, such as in the realm of in vivo surgical devices, resorbable materials are often intended to perform a temporary function and completely dissolve when that function is completed (e.g. resorbable sutures). In this paper, resorbable materials are proposed for use in a different way: as a means for actuating mechanical systems. We create several prototypes which demonstrate that resorbable materials, combined with stored energy, can be used to actuate mechanical systems under several loading conditions and in various applications. We also present …