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Micromachines
Special Issues
3D Printing of Non-Conventional Materials for Sensing and Actuation
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3D Printing of Non-Conventional Materials for Sensing and Actuation

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "D：Materials and Processing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 July 2021) | Viewed by 9207

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Gianluca Percoco

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanics, Mathematics and Management, Polytechnic of Bari, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: 3D printing; embedded sensing and actuation; microfluidics; 3D scanning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

New engineering applications of 3D printing are spreading very rapidly thanks to its low cost, ease of use, and increasing capability to produce manufacturable materials. In this context, two very interesting emerging fields are focused on in this Special Issue: sensing and actuation. On the one hand, the capability of embedding electrical circuits into 3D-printed components is very powerful, reducing the costs and needed time for assembly, while pneumatic soft actuators have several interesting applications in several engineering fields, such as biomimetics and gripping.

These activities are made possible by means of two classes of non-conventional extrudable materials: conductive and flexible materials, which represent very popular research fields; however, a strong research effort is also related to 3D printing of new non-conventional materials, with new functional properties.

Accordingly, this Special Issue seeks to showcase research papers, short communications, and review articles that focus on (1) novel designs, fabrication, control, and modeling of 3D-printed actuators and sensors and (2) new applications of non-conventional materials for 3D printing in interdisciplinary fields such as robotics, industry, biomedical engineering, aerospace, etc. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, soft robotics, embedded sensing, 4D printing, and 3D-printed lab-on-a-chip.

Prof. Gianluca Percoco
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • 3D-printed soft robotics
  • 3D-printed embedded sensing
  • 4D printing
  • 3D-printed lab-on-a-chip
  • 3D-printed sensors
  • 3D-printed actuators

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 4051 KiB  
Article
3D Printed Shape Memory Polymers Produced via Direct Pellet Extrusion
by Trenton Cersoli, Alexis Cresanto, Callan Herberger, Eric MacDonald and Pedro Cortes
Micromachines 2021, 12(1), 87; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi12010087 - 15 Jan 2021
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 3887
Abstract
Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are materials capable of changing their structural configuration from a fixed shape to a temporary shape, and vice versa when subjected to a thermal stimulus. The present work has investigated the 3D printing process of a shape memory polymer [...] Read more.
Shape memory polymers (SMPs) are materials capable of changing their structural configuration from a fixed shape to a temporary shape, and vice versa when subjected to a thermal stimulus. The present work has investigated the 3D printing process of a shape memory polymer (SMP)-based polyurethane using a material extrusion technology. Here, SMP pellets were fed into a printing unit, and actuating coupons were manufactured. In contrast to the conventional film-casting manufacturing processes of SMPs, the use of 3D printing allows the production of complex parts for smart electronics and morphing structures. In the present work, the memory performance of the actuating structure was investigated, and their fundamental recovery and mechanical properties were characterized. The preliminary results show that the assembled structures were able to recover their original conformation following a thermal input. The printed parts were also stamped with a QR code on the surface to include an unclonable pattern for addressing counterfeit features. The stamped coupons were subjected to a deformation-recovery shape process, and it was observed that the QR code was recognized after the parts returned to their original shape. The combination of shape memory effect with authentication features allows for a new dimension of counterfeit thwarting. The 3D-printed SMP parts in this work were also combined with shape memory alloys to create a smart actuator to act as a two-way switch to control data collection of a microcontroller. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Non-Conventional Materials for Sensing and Actuation)
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18 pages, 6868 KiB  
Article
Additive Manufacturing for Soft Robotics: Design and Fabrication of Airtight, Monolithic Bending PneuNets with Embedded Air Connectors
by Gianni Stano, Luca Arleo and Gianluca Percoco
Micromachines 2020, 11(5), 485; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi11050485 - 9 May 2020
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 4868
Abstract
Air tightness is a challenging task for 3D-printed components, especially for fused filament fabrication (FFF), due to inherent issues, related to the layer-by-layer fabrication method. On the other hand, the capability of 3D print airtight cavities with complex shapes is very attractive for [...] Read more.
Air tightness is a challenging task for 3D-printed components, especially for fused filament fabrication (FFF), due to inherent issues, related to the layer-by-layer fabrication method. On the other hand, the capability of 3D print airtight cavities with complex shapes is very attractive for several emerging research fields, such as soft robotics. The present paper proposes a repeatable methodology to 3D print airtight soft actuators with embedded air connectors. The FFF process has been optimized to manufacture monolithic bending PneuNets (MBPs), an emerging class of soft robots. FFF has several advantages in soft robot fabrication: (i) it is a fully automated process which does not require manual tasks as for molding, (ii) it is one of the most ubiquitous and inexpensive (FFF 3D printers costs < $200) 3D-printing technologies, and (iii) more materials can be used in the same printing cycle which allows embedding of several elements in the soft robot body. Using commercial soft filaments and a dual-extruder 3D printer, at first, a novel air connector which can be easily embedded in each soft robot, made via FFF technology with a single printing cycle, has been fabricated and tested. This new embedded air connector (EAC) prevents air leaks at the interface between pneumatic pipe and soft robot and replaces the commercial air connections, often origin of leakages in soft robots. A subsequent experimental study using four different shapes of MBPs, each equipped with EAC, showed the way in which different design configurations can affect bending performance. By focusing on the best performing shape, among the tested ones, the authors studied the relationship between bending performance and air tightness, proving how the Design for Additive Manufacturing approach is essential for advanced applications involving FFF. In particular, the relationship between chamber wall thickness and printing parameters has been analyzed, the thickness of the walls has been studied from 1.6 to 1 mm while maintaining air tightness and improving the bending angle by 76.7% under a pressure of 4 bar. It emerged that the main printing parameter affecting chamber wall air tightness is the line width that, in conjunction with the wall thickness, can ensure air tightness of the soft actuator body. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue 3D Printing of Non-Conventional Materials for Sensing and Actuation)
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