Deakin University

About: Deakin University is a education organization based out in Burwood, Victoria, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 12118 authors who have published 46470 publications receiving 1188841 citations. The organization is also known as: Deakin.

Novel Electrically Conductive Porous PDMS/Carbon Nanofiber Composites for Deformable Strain Sensors and Conductors

Abstract: Highly flexible and deformable electrically conductive materials are vital for the emerging field of wearable electronics. To address the challenge of flexible materials with a relatively high electrical conductivity and a high elastic limit, we report a new and facile method to prepare porous polydimethylsiloxane/carbon nanofiber composites (denoted by p-PDMS/CNF). This method involves using sugar particles coated with carbon nanofibers (CNFs) as the templates. The resulting three-dimensional porous nanocomposites, with the CNFs embedded in the PDMS pore walls, exhibit a greatly increased failure strain (up to ∼94%) compared to that of the solid, neat PDMS (∼48%). The piezoresistive response observed under cyclic tension indicates that the unique microstructure provides the new nanocomposites with excellent durability. The electrical conductivity and the gauge factor of this new nanocomposite can be tuned by changing the content of the CNFs. The electrical conductivity increases, while the gauge factor d...

Additive manufacturing of steels: a review of achievements and challenges

Abstract: Metal additive manufacturing (AM), also known as 3D printing, is a disruptive manufacturing technology in which complex engineering parts are produced in a layer-by-layer manner, using a high-energy heating source and powder, wire or sheet as feeding material. The current paper aims to review the achievements in AM of steels in its ability to obtain superior properties that cannot be achieved through conventional manufacturing routes, thanks to the unique microstructural evolution in AM. The challenges that AM encounters are also reviewed, and suggestions for overcoming these challenges are provided if applicable. We focus on laser powder bed fusion and directed energy deposition as these two methods are currently the most common AM methods to process steels. The main foci are on austenitic stainless steels and maraging/precipitation-hardened (PH) steels, the two so far most widely used classes of steels in AM, before summarising the state-of-the-art of AM of other classes of steels. Our comprehensive review highlights that a wide range of steels can be processed by AM. The unique microstructural features including hierarchical (sub)grains and fine precipitates induced by AM result in enhancements of strength, wear resistance and corrosion resistance of AM steels when compared to their conventional counterparts. Achieving an acceptable ductility and fatigue performance remains a challenge in AM steels. AM also acts as an intrinsic heat treatment, triggering ‘in situ’ phase transformations including tempering and other precipitation phenomena in different grades of steels such as PH steels and tool steels. A thorough discussion of the performance of AM steels as a function of these unique microstructural features is presented in this review.

Evolution of 3D printed soft actuators

Abstract: Developing soft actuators and sensors by means of 3D printing has become an exciting research area. Compared to conventional methods, 3D printing enables rapid prototyping, custom design, and single-step fabrication of actuators and sensors that have complex structure and high resolution. While 3D printed sensors have been widely reviewed in the literature, 3D printed actuators, on the other hand, have not been adequately reviewed thus far. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the existing 3D printed actuators. First, the common processes used in 3D printing of actuators are reviewed. Next, the existing mechanisms used for stimulating the printed actuators are described. In addition, the materials used to print the actuators are compared. Then, the applications of the printed actuators including soft-manipulation of tissues and organs in biomedicine and fragile agricultural products, regenerative design, smart valves, microfluidic systems, electromechanical switches, smart textiles, and minimally invasive surgical instruments are explained. After that, the reviewed 3D printed actuators are discussed in terms of their advantages and disadvantages considering power density, elasticity, strain, stress, operation voltage, weight, size, response time, controllability, and biocompatibility. Finally, the future directions of 3D printed actuators are discussed.