A liquid metal-based structurally embedded vascular antenna: I. Concept and multiphysical modeling

Hartl, Darren J.; Frank, Geoffrey J.; Huff, Gregory H.; Baur, Jeff

doi:10.1088/1361-665x/aa5142

Cited by 18 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…By leveraging these unique characteristics, researchers have recently demonstrated advances in reconfigurable, responsive, and stretchable electronic devices. [5][6][7][8] Select applications of liquid metals include soft electronic skins, [9,10] dynamic and flexible antennas, [11][12][13][14] and self-healing and elastic electronics. [15,16] Moreover, the fluid nature of GaLMAs such as eutectic gallium-indium (eGaIn) enables broad process compatibility with additive printing methods such as direct write, inkjet, transfer, and 3D printing.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Wiring up Liquid Metal: Stable and Robust Electrical Contacts Enabled by Printable Graphene Inks

Secor

Cook

Tabor

et al. 2017

Adv Elect Materials

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electronic materials. By leveraging these unique characteristics, researchers have recently demonstrated advances in reconfigurable, responsive, and stretchable electronic devices. [5][6][7][8] Select applications of liquid metals include soft electronic skins, [9,10] dynamic and flexible antennas, [11][12][13][14] and self-healing and elastic electronics. [15,16] Moreover, the fluid nature of GaLMAs such as eutectic gallium-indium (eGaIn) enables broad process compatibility with additive printing methods such as direct write, inkjet, transfer, and 3D printing. [17][18][19][20][21][22][23] As such, research toward the control and integration of GaLMAs for printed, stretchable, and reconfigurable electronics has attracted broad scientific and practical interest.Despite their promise, the development of liquid metal electronics must overcome several challenges for widespread application. In particular, stable electrical contacts have been identified as a critical challenge for the integration of GaLMAs in electronic circuits and systems. [4] Since gallium alloys rapidly with most metals, GaLMAs lead to unstable or mechanically sensitive interfaces when combined with metal electrodes or interconnects, thereby preventing the reliable integration of eGaIn functionality with conventional electronics. In a recent dramatic demonstration of this effect, Dickey and coworkers exploited the aggressive alloying of eGaIn with silver to direct the motion of liquid metal droplets across a surface, completely removing the silver in the process. [24] Therefore, to enable broader application of eGaIn with conventional circuits, interfacial alloying needs to be suppressed without compromising electrical or mechanical properties.Here, we demonstrate printed graphene as a reliable and high-performance interfacial layer to enable electrical connections to eGaIn. In contrast to conventional metals, sp 2 -bonded carbon materials are stable to alloy formation with liquid metals. [25,26] To leverage this property in a platform that is suitable for printed GaLMAs, graphene inks based on cellulose derivatives are used for robust contacts to liquid metal. This class of graphene inks has shown broad process compatibility with excellent electrical conductivity, mechanical durability, and environmental stability. [27][28][29][30] A thin film (≈100 nm) of fewlayer graphene flakes printed between conventional silver leads and eGaIn acts as a physical barrier, effectively passivating the surface against alloying while retaining the ability to conduct current across the interface. Moreover, graphene interfacial Gallium-based liquid metal alloys (GaLMAs) are a unique class of advanced materials with the potential to offer unprecedented opportunities in stretchable and reconfigurable electronics. Despite their promise, the development of liquid metal electronics must overcome several challenges for widespread application. In particular, stable electrical contacts have been identified as a critical challenge for the integration of GaLMAs in electronic...

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Wiring up Liquid Metal: Stable and Robust Electrical Contacts Enabled by Printable Graphene Inks

Secor

Cook

Tabor

et al. 2017

Adv Elect Materials

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“…The gain of an LM monopole antenna was 5.10 to 5.26 dBi [24], matching the gain of a standard monopole (5.17 dBi). An embedded vascular LM dipole antenna had nearly identical radiation patterns as a Cu dipole antenna [25], and a helical LM antenna had the same gain as the Cu version of the antenna [26]. Table 1 shows the dimensions and parameters of the sprayed LM transmission line (TL).…”

Section: Sprayed Lm Patch Antennamentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-Cost Rapid Fabrication of Conformal Liquid-Metal Patterns

et al. 2019

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Patterned conformal conductive structures are used to realize flexible electronics for applications such as electronic skin, communication devices, and sensors. Thus, there is a demand for low-cost rapid fabrication techniques for flexible and stretchable conductors. Spray-coating of liquid metals is a prototyping method that is compatible with elastic substrates. In this work, UV-curable and polyimide masks were used to pattern sprayed liquid metal (LM). The effect of the spraying parameters on the thickness and conductivity of the LM was characterized. A minimum LM linewidth of 48 µm was achieved, along with a minimum gap width of 34 µm. A LM patch antenna and transmission line, which can potentially be used for communication systems, were demonstrated using this fabrication process.

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“…Three-dimensional woven composites have been used for some applications, such as blade containment systems and body armor, and they offer the potential for multifunctional applications, such as integrating active cooling, self-healing, or a tunable antenna into the material. [1][2][3][4] One of the strengths of 3D textiles is the wide variety of possible weave patterns, such as orthogonal, angle interlock, layer-to-layer, and many more. Orthogonally woven textiles have one of the simplest patterns and will be focus of this work.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detailed stress analysis of a twill orthogonally woven textile composite

Ballard

Whitcomb

2020

Journal of Composite Materials

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A finite element analysis framework that leverages high-performance computing was used to analyze a twill orthogonally woven textile model. Boundary conditions for uniaxial tension along the warp direction were applied to a large analysis region, and an interior subregion was used for investigating the stress distributions. The locations of severe stresses were investigated for the binders, wefts, warps, and matrix, respectively, and the connection of the stress state to the surrounding tow architecture was discussed. It was shown that the highest stresses developed in the binders where the path of a binder changed direction, due to a transfer of load to nearby wefts that induced a severe shear stress in the binder. Additionally, severe stress concentrations were observed in both the wefts and binders where the binders traversed the thickness of the textile and came near a weft. The magnitude of the concentration in the binders closely matched across similar locations. On the other hand, the concentrations in the weft appeared to be sensitive to the faceted surfaces of the tows, which sometimes resulted in sharp edges, but these stress the concentrations in the wefts did remain localized. In the warps, the normal stress in the direction of the load was the largest, but the most severe stress state was shown to occur in a very small region where warps came close to binders as the path of the binder transitioned.

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A liquid metal-based structurally embedded vascular antenna: I. Concept and multiphysical modeling

Cited by 18 publications

References 58 publications

Wiring up Liquid Metal: Stable and Robust Electrical Contacts Enabled by Printable Graphene Inks

Wiring up Liquid Metal: Stable and Robust Electrical Contacts Enabled by Printable Graphene Inks

Low-Cost Rapid Fabrication of Conformal Liquid-Metal Patterns

Detailed stress analysis of a twill orthogonally woven textile composite

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