Characterization of an Electroactive polymer actuator in diaphragm micropump for organ-on-chip application

Master thesis (2021)

Authors

S. Srivastava Mechanical Engineering

Contributors

Massimo Mastrangeli Electronic Components, Technology and Materials - EEMCS (supervisor 1)
P.A. Motreuil-Ragot Electronic Components, Technology and Materials - EEMCS (supervisor 1)
M.A. Bessa Team Georgy Filonenko - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering (supervisor 1)
Faculty
Mechanical Engineering
Copyright: © 2021 Sudiksh Srivastava
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Published Date

29-11-2021

Language

English

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Faculty

Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

The existing drug development process is economically and scientifically challenging. It fails to efficiently emulate human physiology in-vitro with the current pre-clinical studies which includes in-vitro cell culture models and animal testing. Organ-on-Chip (OoC) technology aims to recreate an in-vivo like micro environment to investigate drug response more effectively. There are ongoing attempts to fabricate OoC technology as a single-platform microdevice to minimize its reliance on external components. In this perspective, the functionality and throughput of this technology can be improved. One such novel approach is addition of an ionic electroactive polymer (iEAP) actuated diaphragm micropump. The primary aim of this thesis project was to determine the suitable dimensions of a micro cantilever iEAP, specifically Ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) to generate appropriate flow rate for the projected diaphragm micropump. In addition to that, dynamics of the IPMC cantilever actuator was examined in dry environment. To achieve this the actuator tip - force, tip-displacement and longevity tests were performed. The results at macroscopic scale were tentatively explained with molecular characteristics of the material. As a result, it was shown that an IPMC cantilever actuator of millimetric size possesses viscoelastic properties and classical mechanical theories cannot be used to validate the experimental results. Secondly, the actuation results for 0.1 and 1 Hz align with the input driving frequency. The IPMC cantilever of length 7 mm generates the maximum tip-force of 0.138 mN and it is suggested to be used as a diaphragm actuator for the upcoming micropump.