A Methodology for Damage Strength Evaluation of a Single Biomimetic Microcapsule

Abstract

An ultra-precision instrument with concomitant micromanipulation techniques is designed and set up to measure the damage strength of a single biomimetic microcapsule. It can provide the capability of simultaneously measuring the applied force and resultant displacement of a single microcapsule, with maximum force range of 5mN, resolution of 0.1µN and ultimate traveling distance up to 12mm, resolution of 1nm, respectively. By armed high magnification side-view system, it can offer extra and withal valuable information for the supervened analyzing. The bursting force of urea-formaldehyde biomimetic microcapsules of diameter 65µm in glucose solution was measured by this technique. The microcapsule was burst when the deformation reached a value of 56.2% of its diameter and the corresponding resonant force is about 1700µN. The technique provides an effective means to characterize elastic properties of micro biomimetic capsules and compare mechanical strength of microcapsules made of different ingredients.