In this article, we report on a flexible sensor based on a sandpaper molded elastomer that simultaneously detects planar displacement, rotation angle, and vertical contact pressure. When displacement, rotation, and contact pressure are applied, the contact area between the translating top elastomer electrode and the stationary three bottom electrodes change characteristically depending on the m...

Recently developed high-speed ionic devices require adherent laminates of stretchable and dissimilar materials, such as gels and elastomers. Adhesion between stretchable and dissimilar materials also plays important roles in medicine, stretchable electronics, and soft robots. Here we develop a method to characterize adhesion between materials capable of large, elastic deformation. We apply the ...

VistamaxxTM Specialty Elastomers are polyolefin elastomers with isotactic propylene crystallinity. These polymers contain a predominant (>80%) amount of propylene with isotactic propylene crystallinity, with the balance of the composition being ethylene and other αolefins. This new family of thermoplastic elastomers are highly elastic and exhibit excellent recovery from deformation. These polym...

● TABLE II Thin Layer ... Abstract TOP The cause of silicone gel implant aging and rupture is not known. Recent reports indicate the failure rate is higher than previously published, and implant aging and rupture may be due to progressive mechanical deterioration of the outer vulcanized silicone shell. It is known that lipids are absorbed by the hydrophobic silicone elastomer, and lipid infiltr...

By employing recent results (Lopez-Pamies, O., 2014, “Elastic Dielectric Composites: Theory and Application to Particle-Filled Ideal Dielectrics,” J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 64, p. 6182 and Spinelli, S. A., Lefèvre, V., and Lopez-Pamies, O., “Dielectric Elastomer Composites: A General Closed-Form Solution in the Small-Deformation Limit,” J. Mech. Phys. Solids, 83, pp. 263–284.) on the homogenizatio...

model (CZM). Using stability analysis of linear equations governing plane strain quasi-static deformations of an elastomer, we find (i) a non-dimensional number relating the elastomer layer thickness, h, the long term Young's modulus, E1, of the interlayer material, the peak traction, Tc, in the CZM bilinear tractionseparation (TS) relation, and the fracture energy, Gc, of the interface between...

Implants for the treatment of tissue defects should mimic the mechanical properties of the native tissue of interest and should be resorbable as well as biocompatible. In this work, we developed a scaffold from variants of poly(glycolic) acid which were braided and coated with an elastomer of poly(glycolide-co-caprolactone) and crosslinked. The coating of the scaffold with the elastomer led to ...

A significant challenge in robotics is providing a sense of touch to robots. Even though several types of flexible tactile sensors have been proposed, they still have various technical issues such as a large amount of deformation that fractures the sensing elements, a poor maintainability and a deterioration in the sensitivity caused by the presence of a thick and soft covering. As one solution...

Rather than using graphene oxide, which is limited by a high defect concentration and cost due to oxidation and reduction, we adopted cost-effective, 3.56 nm thick graphene platelets (GnPs) of high structural integrity to melt compound with an elastomer-ethylene-propylene-diene monomer rubber (EPDM)-using an industrial facility. An elastomer is an amorphous, chemically crosslinked polymer gener...

PURPOSE Aortic Customize is a new concept for endovascular aortic aneurysm repair in which a non polymerized elastomer is injected to fill the aneurysm sac around a balloon catheter. The aim of this in vitro study was to investigate the extent of aneurysm wall stress reduction by the presence of a noncompliant elastomer cuff. METHODS A thin-walled latex aneurysm (inner radius sac 18 mm, inner...