• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.347-356
• /
• 2023

Liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) fibers have been widely applied in various fields, such as soft robots and biomimetic actuators, in a one-dimensional form. LCEs possess the characteristics of both fluidity and solid order, as well as the elasticity of rubber, and exhibit stimulus-response based on these properties. In particular, by programming the responsiveness to various stimuli such as heat, light, electric fields, and magnetic fields in terms of shape-changing, various movements such as lifting, twisting, and rotating can be realized with high degrees of freedom. Therefore, LCE fibers have the potential for application in various fields such as artificial muscles, soft robots, wearable technologies, and sensing technologies. The research on liquid crystal elastomer fibers is evaluated to have high applicability in various fields in the Fourth Industrial Revolution as a smart material that can include various functionalities beyond simple fibers. In this review, we introduce the structure and basic characteristics of liquid crystal elastomer fibers, the latest research trends on orientation-based fabrication methods, and various applications such as artificial muscles, smart fabrics, and soft robots.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.416-421
• /
• 2023

Multifunctional composite materials capable of both load-carrying and energy functions are promising innovative candidates for the advancement of contemporary technologies owing to their relative feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and optimized performance. Carbon fiber (CF)-based structural batteries utilize the graphitic inherent structure to enable the employment of carbon fibers as electrodes, current collectors, and reinforcement, while the matrix system is an ion-conduction and load transfer medium. Although it is possible to enhance performance through the modification of constituents, there remains a need for a systematic design methodology scheme to streamline the commercialization of structural batteries. In this work, a bi-phasic epoxy-based ionic liquid (IL) modified structural battery electrolyte (SBE) was developed via thermally initiated phase separation. The polymer's morphological, mechanical, and electrochemical characteristics were studied. In addition, the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) between CF/SBE was investigated via microdroplet tests. The results accentuated the significance of considering IFSS and matrix plasticity in designing composite structural batteries. This approach is expected to lay the foundation for realizing smart structures with optimized performance while minimizing the need for extensive trial and error, by paving the way for a streamlined computational design scheme in the future.

• Journal of Powder Materials
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.111-118
• /
• 2020

The convergence of artificial intelligence with smart factories or smart mechanical systems has been actively studied to maximize the efficiency and safety. Despite the high improvement of artificial neural networks, their application in the manufacturing industry has been difficult due to limitations in obtaining meaningful data from factories or mechanical systems. Accordingly, there have been active studies on manufacturing components with sensor integration allowing them to generate important data from themselves. Additive manufacturing enables the fabrication of a net shaped product with various materials including plastic, metal, or ceramic parts. With the principle of layer-by-layer adhesion of material, there has been active research to utilize this multi-step manufacturing process, such as changing the material at a certain step of adhesion or adding sensor components in the middle of the additive manufacturing process. Particularly for smart parts manufacturing, researchers have attempted to embed sensors or integrated circuit boards within a three-dimensional component during the additive manufacturing process. While most of the sensor embedding additive manufacturing was based on polymer material, there have also been studies on sensor integration within metal or ceramic materials. This study reviews the additive manufacturing technology for sensor integration into plastic, ceramic, and metal materials.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.233-239
• /
• 2020

We proposed a simple process of fabricating electroconductive textiles by coating conductive polymer PEDOT:PSS (Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate)) on biocompatible PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) nanofiber web for application to smart healthcare. Electroconductive textiles were obtained by a drop-coating process using different amounts of PEDOT:PSS solutions., DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide) was then used as an additive in the post-treatment process to improve conductivity. The surface morphology of the specimens was observed by FE-SEM. The chemical structures of the specimens were characterized using FTIR. The electrical properties (linear and sheet resistance) of the specimens were measured. The effect of the bending angles on the electrical properties was also investigated to confirm their applicability as wearable smart textiles. FE-SEM and FTIR analysis confirmed that the deposition of PEDOT:PSS on the PLA nanofiber web surface was successful. The conductivity of the PEDOT:PSS/PLA nanofiber web was enhanced up to 1.5 ml with an increasing amount of PEDOT:PSS solutions, but there was no significant difference at 2.0 ml. The optimum condition of PEDOT:PSS deposition was established to 1.5 ml. Even when the specimen coated with 1.5 ml was bent every 30°, the change in the electrical resistance values was still low within 3.7 Ω. It confirmed that stable electrical performance was maintained and proved the applicability as a flexible textile sensor.

• Macromolecular Research
• /
• v.17 no.7
• /
• pp.528-532
• /
• 2009

The size and shape of free volume (FV) holes available in membrane materials control the rate of gas diffusion and its permeability. Based on this principle, a segmented, thermo-sensitive polyurethane (TSPU) membrane with functional gate, i.e., the ability to sense and respond to external thermo-stimuli, was synthesized. This smart membrane exhibited close-open characteristics to the size of the FV hole and water vapor permeation and thus can be used as smart food packaging materials. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), positron annihilation lifetimes (PAL) and water vapor permeability (WVP) were used to evaluate how the morphological structure of TSPU and the temperature influence the FV holes size. In DSC and DMA studies, TSPU with a crystalline transition reversible phase showed an obvious phase-separated structure and a phase transition temperature at $53^{\circ}C$ (defined as the switch temperature and used as a functional gate). Moreover, the switch temperature ($T_s$) and the thermal-sensitivity of TSPU remained available after two or three thermal cyclic processes. The PAL study indicated that the FV hole size of TSPU is closely related to the $T_s$. When the temperature varied cyclically from $T_s-10{\circ}C$ to $T_s+10^{\circ}C$, the average radius (R) of the FV holes of the TSPU membrane also shifted cyclically from 0.23 to 0.467 nm, exhibiting an "open-close" feature. As a result, the WVP of the TSPU membrane also shifted cyclically from 4.30 to $8.58\;kg/m^2{\cdot}d$, which produced an "increase-decrease" response to the thermo-stimuli. This phase transition accompanying significant changes in the FV hole size and WVP can be used to develop "smart materials" with functional gates and controllable water vapor permeation, which support the possible applications of TSPU for food packaging.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.33-40
• /
• 2007

We have designed and synthesized three Zn(II)-porphyrin derivatives, such as Zn(II) porphyrin ([G-0]Zn-P1) and aryl ether-typed dendron substituted Zn(II)-porphyrin derivatives ([G-1]Zn-P1 and [G-1]Zn-P-CN1). Their chemical structures were characterized by 1H-NMR, FT-IR, UV-vis absorption, EI-mass, and MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopies. Their electrochemical properties were studied by cyclic voltammetry measurement. These Zn(II)-porphyrin derivatives have been used to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on solid polymeric electrolytes as dye sensitizers and their device performances were evaluated by comparing with that of a standard Ru(II) complex dye. [G-1]Zn-P-CN1 showed the enhanced power conversion efficiency than those of other porphyrin derivatives, as expected. Short-circuit photocurrent density (Jsc), open-circuit voltage (Voc), fill factor (FF), and power conversion efficiency (η) of solid-typed DSSC for [G-1]Zn-P-CN1 were evaluated to be Jsc = 11.67 mA/cm2, Voc = 0.51 V, FF = 0.46, and η = 2.76%, respectively.

• Journal of Appropriate Technology
• /
• v.6 no.2
• /
• pp.219-225
• /
• 2020

Importance of touch equipment and smart learning increases and public institutions and educational facilities are applying smart devices to their daily environments. However, users of public smart devices are at risk of being exposed to the direct and indirect spread of infectious diseases. This study develops an exo-finger that wraps the fingertips of smart device users and is intended to have a disease prevention effect when used on public equipment. An exoskeletal body was fabricated by inserting a secondary material which is a mixture of the activating material, carbon black (CB) and a macromolecular polymer (elastomer) into a mold. This device was confirmed to have a touch function when the CB content was 0.030 wt% or higher, and the content of the elastomer was varied so that it could have a friction force similar to that when a person touches a smart device (a friction coefficient of 2.5). Through experiments, it was concluded that the CB content had little effect on the friction coefficient. As a result of testing the completed prototype on a smart device, it was proven that the developed exoskeletal device can be useful in situations where it is impossible to touch due to wearing protective gears, or when equipment such as gloves is used to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.593-606
• /
• 2015

This paper presents a novel concept of healing some of the damages in wind turbine blades (WTBs) such as cracks and delamination. This is achieved through an inherent functioning autonomous repairing system. Such wind turbine blades have the benefit of reduced maintenance cost and increased operational period. Previous techniques of developing autonomous healing systems uses hollow glass fibres (HGFs) to deliver repairing fluids to damaged sites. HGFs have been reported with some limitations like, failure to fracture, which undermines their further usage. The self-healing technique described in this paper represents an advancement in the engineering of the delivery mechanism of a self-healing system. It is analogous to the HGF system but without the HGFs, which are replaced by multiple hollow channels created within the composite, inherently in the FRP matrix at fabrication. An in-house fabricated NACA 4412 WTB incorporating this array of network hollow channels was damaged in flexure and then autonomously repaired using the vascular channels. The blade was re-tested under flexure to ascertain the efficiency of the recovered mechanical properties.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.307-325
• /
• 2014

A newly developed method based on energy is presented to study the damage pattern of FRP material. Basalt fiber reinforced polymer (BFRP) is employed to monitor the damage under fatigue loading. In this study, acoustic emission technique (AE) combined with scanning electronic microscope (SEM) technique is employed to monitor the damage evolution of the BFRP specimen in an approximate continuous scanning way. The AE signals are analyzed based on the wavelet transform, and the analyses are confirmed by SEM images. Several damage patterns of BFRP material, such as matrix cracking, delamination, fiber fracture and their combinations, are identified through the experiment. According to the results, the cumulative energy (obtained from wavelet coefficients) of various damage patterns are closely related to the damage evolution of the BFRP specimens during the entire fatigue tests. It has been found that the proposed technique can effectively distinguish different damage patterns of FRP materials and describe the fatigue damage evolution.

• Smart Structures and Systems
• /
• v.4 no.4
• /
• pp.391-406
• /
• 2008

This study attempts to develop a real-time debonding monitoring system for carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) strengthened structures by continuously inspecting the bonding condition between the CFRP layer and the host structure. The uniqueness of this study is in developing a new concept and theoretical framework of nondestructive testing (NDT), in which debonding is detected without relying on previously-obtained baseline data. The proposed reference-free damage diagnosis is achieved based on the concept of time reversal acoustics (TRA). In TRA, an input signal at an excitation point can be reconstructed if the response signal measured at another point is reemitted to the original excitation point after being reversed in the time domain. Examining the deviation of the reconstructed signal from the known initial input signal allows instantaneous identification of damage without requiring a baseline signal representing the undamaged state for comparison. The concept of TRA has been extended to guided wave propagations within the CFRP-strengthened reinforced concrete (RC) beams to improve the detectibility of local debonding. Monotonic and fatigue load tests of large-scale CFRP-strengthened RC beams are conducted to demonstrate the potential of the proposed reference-free debonding monitoring system. Comparisons with an electro-mechanical impedance method and an inferred imaging technique are provided as well.