Immersion Precipitation 3D Printing (ip3DP)
Immersion Precipitation 3D Printing (ip3DP)
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3D Printing of Fluids at Ambient Conditions
1. Estimation of Mechanical Properties of Capsule Membrane using Electrodeformation
The deformation of a thin elastic capsule subjected to a uniform electric field is investigated in the Stokes flow regime. The electrohydrodynamic flow is analyzed using a perfect conductor and a perfect dielectric model for the capsule and the fluid phase, respectively. A theoretical analysis is carried out using an asymptotic expansion in the electric capillary number (Ca) (a ratio of the electric stress to the elastic tension) in the small deformation limit using the finite deformation Hooke’s law. The analysis is used to determine the elasticity of polysiloxane capsules suspended in oil, the deformation of which is obtained using videography. The boundary element method is implemented to seek numerical solutions to the hydrodynamic, elastic, and electrostatics equations. The finite deformation Hooke’s law, the Mooney-Rivlin, and Skalak’s model for elasticity is employed. The effect of electric capillary number, unstressed geometry, and the type of membrane material on the deformation of a capsule is presented in the high Ca number limit using numerical simulation. Capsules synthesized with higher monomer concentration displayed electric stress-induced wrinkling process at high electric field strengths. The burst of a capsule is characterized by poration of the polymer membrane, which could be symmetric or asymmetric at the two poles, depending upon the value of the capillary number. The results should be useful in understanding the response of elastic capsules such as red blood cells and polymerized membranes, to an electric field, in applications such as electrodeformation and electroporation. It also provides a theoretical framework for a possible way of determining the elastic parameters of a capsule.
References:
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1. Rahul Karyappa, Shivraj Deshmukh and Rochish Thaokar, Deformation of an elastic capsule in a uniform electric field, Physics of
Fluids, 26, 122108 (2014). DOI: 10.1063/1.4903838
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2. Study of Kinetics of Interfacial Polymerization and Synthesis of Non-spherical Capsules using Electric Fields
A new method for studying the effect of pH on the polysiloxane network formation using electric fields is presented. The kinetic data obtained using these experiments indicates that the two-step interfacial polycondensation of silanes is strongly dependent on the pH, and the mechanism is essentially different at low and neutral to high values of pH. Very rapid hydrolysis followed by moderate rates of condensation are observed at neutral and high pH. The rate of hydrolysis is drastically reduced, while that of condensation is slightly lowered at low pH as compared to that at high values of pH. The slow hydrolysis reaction at low pH is then exploited to synthesize nonspherical microcapsules. Nonspherical polysiloxane microcapsules with varying aspect ratios from 1.05 to 1.97 are synthesized by controlling the applied electric field.
References:
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1. Rahul Karyappa and Rochish Thaokar, Electric-field-assisted formation of nonspherical microcapsules, Langmuir, 30,
10270-10279 (2014). DOI: 10.1021/la501617t