Study on the piezoresistivity of Cr-doped VO thin film for MEMS sensor applications.

Cr-doped VO thin film shows a huge resistivity change with controlled epitaxial strain at room temperature as a result of a gradual Mott metal-insulator phase transition with strain. This novel piezoresistive transduction principle makes Cr-doped VO thin film an appealing piezoresistive material. To investigate the piezoresistivity of Cr-doped VO thin film for implementation in MEMS sensor applications, the resistance change of differently orientated Cr-doped VO thin film piezoresistors with external strain change was measured.

Effect of Degradation in Small Intestinal Fluids on Mechanical Properties of Polycaprolactone and Poly-l-lactide--caprolactone.

Polycaprolactone and poly-l-lactide--caprolactone are promising degradable biomaterials for many medical applications. Their mechanical properties, especially a low elastic modulus, make them particularly interesting for implantable devices and scaffolds that target soft tissues like the small intestine. However, the specific environment and mechanical loading in the intestinal lumen pose harsh boundary conditions on the design of these devices, and little is known about the degradation of those mechanical properties in small intestinal fluids.

Nonlinear Inflatable Actuators for Distributed Control in Soft Robots.

As soft robotic systems grow in complexity and functionality, the size and stiffness of the needed control hardware severely limits their application potential. Alternatively, functionality can be embodied within actuator characteristics, drastically reducing the amount of peripherals. Functions such as memory, computation, and energy storage then result from the intrinsic mechanical behavior of precisely designed structures.

Innovative Fabrication of Hollow Microneedle Arrays Enabling Blood Sampling with a Self-Powered Microfluidic Patch.

Microneedles are gaining a lot of attention in the context of sampling cutaneous biofluids such as capillary blood. Their minimal invasiveness and user-friendliness make them a prominent substitute for venous puncture or finger-pricking. Although the latter is suitable for self-sampling, the impracticality of manual handling and the difficulty of obtaining enough qualitative sample is driving the search for better solutions.

Multi-Ion-Based Modelling and Experimental Investigations on Consistent and High-Throughput Generation of a Micro Cavity Array by Mask Electrolyte Jet Machining.

The controllability and consistency in the fabrication of micro-textures on large-scale remains a challenge for existing production processes. Mask electrolyte jet machining (MEJM) is an alternative to Jet-ECM for controllable and high-throughput surface microfabrication with more consistency of dimensional tolerances. This hybrid configuration combines the high-throughput of masked-ECM and the adjustable flow-field of jet-ECM.