In the past decade, natural-fiber composites with thermoplastic and thermoset matrices have been embraced by European car manufacturers and suppliers for door panels, seat backs, headliners, package trays, dashboards, and interior parts. Natural fi bers such as kenaf, hemp, fl ax, jute, and sisal offer such benefi ts as reductions in weight, cost, and CO 2 , less reliance on foreign oil sources, and recyclability. However, several major technical considerations must be addressed before the engineering, scientifi c, and commercial communities gain the confi dence to enable wide-scale acceptance, particularly in exterior parts where a Class A surface fi nish is required. Challenges include the homogenization of the fi ber's properties and a full understanding of the degree of polymerization and crystallization, adhesion between the fi ber and matrix, moisture repellence, and fl ame-retardant properties, to name but a few.

This paper identifies and characterizes silicone elastomers that are well-suited for fabricating highly stretchable and tear-resistant devices that require interfacial bonding by plasma or UV ozone treatment. The ability to bond two or more pieces of molded silicone is important for creating microfluidic channels, chambers for pneumatically driven soft robotics, and other soft and stretchable devices. Sylgard-184 is a popular silicone, particularly for microfluidic applications. However, its low elongation at break (∼100% strain) and moderate tear strength (∼3 N/mm) make it unsuitable for emerging, mechanically demanding applications of silicone. In contrast, commercial silicones, such as Dragon Skin, have excellent mechanical properties yet are difficult to plasma-bond, likely because of the presence of silicone oils that soften the network yet migrate to the surface and interfere with plasma bonding. We found that extracting silicone oligomers from these soft networks allows these materials to bond but only when the Shore hardness exceeds a value of 15 A. It is also possible to mix highly stretchable silicones (Dragon Skin and Ecoflex) with Sylgard-184 to create silicones with intermediate mechanical properties; interestingly, these blends also only bond when the hardness exceeds 15 A. Eight different Pt-cured silicones were also screened; again, only those with Shore hardness above 15 A plasma-bond. The most promising silicones from this study are Sylgard-186 and Elastosil-M4130 and M4630, which exhibit a large deformation (>200% elongation at break), high tear strength (>12 N/mm), and strong plasma bonding. To illustrate the utility of these silicones, we created stretchable electrodes by injecting a liquid metal into microchannels created using such silicones, which may find use in soft robotics, electronic skin, and stretchable energy storage devices.

Nanocrystalline cellulose (NCC) was prepared by sulfuric acid hydrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose. A differential centrifugation technique was studied to obtain NCC whiskers with a narrow size distribution. It was shown that the volume of NCC in different fractions had an inverse relationship with relative centrifugal force (RCF). The length of NCC whiskers was also fractionized by differential RCF. The aspect ratio of NCC in different fractions had a relatively narrow range. This technique provides an easy way of producing NCC whiskers with a narrow size distribution.

This article develops a methodology to predict the elastic properties of long-fiber injection-molded thermoplastics (LFTs). The corrected experimental fiber length distribution and the predicted and experimental orientation distributions were used in modeling to compute the elastic properties of the composite. First, from the fiber length distribution (FLD) data in terms of number of fibers versus fiber length, the probability density functions were built and used in the computation. The two-parameter Weibull's distribution was also used to represent the actual FLD. Next, the Mori-Tanaka model that employs the Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method was applied to calculate the stiffness matrix of the aligned fiber composite containing the established FLD. The stiffness of the actual as-formed composite was then determined from the stiffness of the computed aligned fiber composite that was averaged over all possible orientations using the orientation averaging method. The methodology to predict the elastic properties of LFTs was validated via experimental verification of the longitudinal and transverse moduli determined for long glass fiber injection-molded polypropylene specimens. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the effect of a variation of FLD on the composite elastic properties. Our analysis shows that it is essential to obtain an accurate fiber

A rapid, nondestructive, and accurate method for determining the normal spring constants of scanning probe microscopy cantilevers is presented. Spring constants are determined using a commercial combination atomic force microscope and nanoindentation apparatus configured with a W-indenter tip geometrically configured into either a scanning tunneling microscope pointed tip or chisel shape that may be placed onto the cantilever of interest with high accuracy. A load is applied to the cantilever tip and the corresponding displacement is measured. From the force–displacement curve, the spring constant is determined. For cantilevers with spring constants greater than 1 N/m, the derived spring constants are believed to be accurate to within ±10%, with better accuracy for stiffer levers. This method has been used to measure the stiffness of cantilevers from several manufacturers.