This work is dedicated to principles of energy harvesting or scavenging from free energy around us. Energy harvesting principles are described in the first part. Following chapter is devoted to description of piezoelectricity and piezoelectric materials. Next part researches already reported results on piezoelectric energy harvesters. Following chapter shows simulations on designed structures in ANSYS® Workbench. Next the fabrication of the structures is described. Measurement are made regarding to maximum generated power.

Vďaka ich vysokej verzatilite a nízkej priestorovej náročnosti sú metapovrchy sľubným nasledovníkom tradičných optických komponentov. Táto práca sa upriamuje na metapovrchy, ktoré môžu nahradiť polvlnné doštičky a difraktívne deliče zväzku. Práca prezentuje dve stratégie výroby nanoštruktúr z oxidu titaničitého s vysokým pomerom strán -- jedna používa reaktívne iónové leptanie vrstvy TiO2 skrz kovovú masku, kým druhá používa štrukturovaný elektrónový rezist ako formu pre depozíciu atomárnych vrstiev TiO2. V závere práce sú charakterizované a analyzované optické vlastnosti vyrobených štruktúr, predovšetkým ich fázový posun a transmisivita.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第22776号 / 工博第4775号 / 新制||工||1747(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院工学研究科材料工学専攻 / (主査)教授 杉村 博之, 教授 邑瀬 邦明, 教授 宇田 哲也 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

Graphene electronics represent a developing field where many material properties and devices characteristics are still unknown. Researching several possible fabrication processes creates a fabrication process using resources found at Cal Poly a local industry sponsor. The project attempts to produce a graphene network in the shape of a fractal Sierpinski carpet. The fractal geometry proves that PDMS microfluidic channels produce the fine feature dimensions desired during graphene oxide deposit. Thermal reduction then reduces the graphene oxide into a purified state of graphene. Issues arise during thermal reduction because of excessive oxygen content in the furnace. The excess oxygen results in devices burning and additional oxidation of the gate contacts that prevents good electrical contact to the gates. Zero bias testing shows that the graphene oxide resistance decreases after thermal reduction, proving that thermal reduction of the devices occurs. Testing confirms a fabrication process producing graphene electronics; however, revision of processing steps, especially thermal reduction, should greatly improve the yield and functionality of the devices.

De nouvelles solutions basées sur la technologie de l'intégration hydraulique ont été introduites dans la mise en œuvre d'un système robotique humanoïde à actionnement hydraulique compact et léger. Pour ce faire, les chercheurs ont appliqué des méthodes et des technologies récentes basées sur des techniques d'usinage avancées et sur la fabrication additive de métaux. Malgré cela, ces méthodologies ont montré des limites liées non seulement au temps de réalisation, ce qui induit des coûts élevés, mais également au poids total du mécanisme obtenu. Ainsi, il important de développer des travaux de recherche sur de nouvelles méthodologies pour réaliser des mécanismes robotiques hydrauliques intégrés, compacts, légers et à faible coût économiques.C’est l’objet de travail développé dans cette thèse qui a pour objectif de proposer de nouvelles méthodologies pour la fabrication de composants mécaniques de robots humanoïdes à commande hydraulique. Cela concerne, en premier lieu, la fabrication additive de matériaux composites qui sera développée pour la réalisation des pièces structurelles classiques. En second lieu, deux nouvelles méthodologies sont proposées pour l’obtention de composants hydrauliques intégrés légers, avec une résistance élevée et un temps de réalisation et un coût réduits. La première méthodologie consiste à combiner la fabrication additive de polymères thermoplastiques et la simple formation de composites aléatoires en carbone. Tandis que la deuxième propose l'utilisation de tuyaux en silicone à la place des thermoplastiques imprimés tout en gardant le même matériau de renfort. Les deux méthodologies sont détaillées étape par étape et appliquées au bras du robot HYDROïD. Des gains importants sur le poids total du bras sont donnés. Par ailleurs, un nouvel vérin hydraulique composite léger est développé pour remplacer les vérins métalliques dont le poids est fatalement très élevé. Une procédure développée à partir du modèle de contraintes, passant par un processus d'optimisation et se terminant par la conception mécatronique est présentée. L’actionneur hydraulique est mis en œuvre et testé pour l'articulation du genou du robot HYDROïD et une proposition de généralisation à toutes les articulations est également avancée. Enfin, des perspectives à court et à moyen termes pour des développement ultérieur de nouvelles générations de systèmes robotiques à actionnement hydraulique intégré concluent cette thèse. / Modern researches have been inducted in the implementation of a compact and lightweight hydraulically actuated humanoid robotic systems, using the technology of hydraulic integration. In the a eld, researchers have applied recent technologies starting from advanced machining methodologies and ending with additive manufacturing of me-tals. Despite, these methodologies have shown inconvenient points related to cost, time and weight of the obtained mechanism. This motivates the research of new methodologies toward developing compact, cost effective and light-weight hydraulic integrated robotics mechanisms, which are discussed in this thesis.This thesis represents new methodologies toward fabricating mechanical components of the hydraulic actuated humanoid robots. This starts with the classical structural parts which will be fabricated using additive manufacturing of composite materials. Then, the hard task comes. Two new methodologies are proposed to obtain hydraulic integra-ted components with lightweight, high strength and with low time and cost. The rst methodology is by combining the additive manufacturing of thermoplastics polymers and the simple forming of random carbon ber composites. While, the second methodology proposes the usage of silicone pipes instead of the printed thermoplastics, keeping the same reinforcement material. The two methodologies are explained step by step and applied to the arm of HYDRO•D robot. Lately, a new lightweight composite hydraulic actuator is developed to replace the heavy weight metallic one. This is using a developed procedure starting from stress model, passing by an optimization process and ending with the mechatronic design. Then, this hydraulic actuator is implemented and tested. This is applied to the knee joint of the robot and generalized to all the robot joints. By the end of this thesis, an important conclusion will be drawn and the perspective of the research will be settled for further development.

<div><div><div><p>The exceptional long-term performance of concrete is a primary reason that this material represents a significant portion of the construction industry. However, a portion of this construction material is prone to premature deterioration for multi-physical durability issues such as internal frost damage, restrained shrinkage damage, and aggregate susceptibility to fracture. Since each durability issue is associated with a unique damage mechanism, this study aims at investigating the underlying physical mechanisms individually by characterizing the mechanical and thermal properties development and indicating how each unique damage mechanism may compromise the properties development over the design life of the material.</p><p>The first contribution of this work is on the characterization of thermal behavior of porous media (e.g., cement-based material) with a complex solid-fluid coupling subject to thermal cycling. By combining Young-Kelvin-Laplace equation with a computational heat transfer approach, we can calculate the contributions of (i) pore pressure development associated with solidification and melting of pore fluid, (ii) pore size distribution, and (iii) equilibrium phase diagram of multiple phase change materials, to the thermal response of porous mortar and concrete during freezing/thawing cycles. Our first finding indicates that the impact of pore size (and curvature) on freezing is relatively insignificant, while the effect of pore size is much more significant during melting. The fluid inside pores smaller than 5 nm (i.e., gel pores) has a relatively small contribution in the macroscopic freeze-thaw behavior of mortar specimens within the temperature range used in this study (i.e., +24 °C to -35 °C). Our second finding shows that porous cementitious composites containing lightweight aggregates (LWAs) impregnated with an organic phase change material (PCM) as thermal energy storage (TES) agents have the significant capability of improving the freeze-thaw performance. We also find that the phase transitions associated with the freezing/melting of PCM occur gradually over a narrow temperature range (rather than an instantaneous event). The pore size effect of LWA on freezing and melting behavior of PCM is found to be relatively small. Through validation of simulation results with lab-scale experimental data, we then employ the model to investigate the effectiveness of PCMs with various transition temperatures on reducing the impact of freeze-thaw cycling within concrete pavements located in different regions of United States.</p><div><div><div><p>The second contribution of this work is on quantification of mechanical properties development of cementitious composites across multiple length scales, and two damage mechanisms associated with aggregate fracture and restrained shrinkage cracking that lead to compromising the long-term durability of the material. The former issue is addressed by combining finite element method-based numerical tools, computational homogenization techniques, and analytical methods, where we observe a competing fracture mechanism for early- age cracking at two length scales of mortar (meso-level) and concrete (macro-level). When the tensile strength of the cement paste is lower than the tensile strength of the aggregate phase, the crack propagates across the paste. When the tensile strength of the cement paste exceeds that of the aggregate, the cracks begin to deflect and propagate through the aggregates. As such, a critical degree of hydration (associated with a particular time) exists below which the cement paste phase is weaker than the aggregate phase at the onset of hydration. This has implications on the inference of kinetic based parameters from mechanical testing (e.g., activation energy). Next, we focus on digital fabrication of a cement paste structure with controlled architecture to allow for mitigating the intrinsic damage induced by inherent shrinkage behavior followed by extrinsic damage exerted by external loading. Our findings show that the interfaces between the printed filaments tend to behave as the first layer of protection by enabling the structure to accommodate the damage by deflecting the microcrack propagation into the stable configuration of interfaces fabricated between the filaments of first and second layers. This fracture behavior promotes the damage localization within the first layer (i.e., sacrificial layer), without sacrificing the overall strength of specimen by inhibiting the microcrack advancement into the neighboring layers, promoting a novel damage localization mechanism. This study is undertaken to characterize the shrinkage-induced internal damage in 7-day 3D-printed and cast specimens qualitatively using X-ray microtomography (μCT) technique in conjunction with multiple mechanical testing, and finite element numerical modeling. As the final step, the second layer of protection is introduced by offering an enhanced damage resistance property through employing bioinspired Bouligand architectures, promoting a damage delocalization mechanism throughout the specimen. This novel integration of damage localization-delocalization mechanisms allows the material to enhance its flaw tolerant properties and long-term durability characteristics, where the reduction in the modulus of rupture (MOR) of hardened cement paste (hcp) elements with restrained shrinkage racking has been significantly improved by ~ 25% when compared to their conventionally cast hcp counterparts.</p></div></div></div></div></div></div>

<div>From its advent in the 1980s until the 2000s, many of the advances in additive manufacturing (AM) technology were primarily focused on the development of various 3D printing techniques. During the 2000s, AM came to a juncture where these processes were well developed and could be used effectively for rapid prototyping purposes; however, the ability to produce functional components that could reliably perform in a given system had not been fully achieved. The primary focus of AM research since this juncture has been to transition AM from a rapid prototyping technique to a legitimate means of mass manufacturing end-use products. In order to make this happen, two significant areas of research needed to be advanced. The first area focused on advancing the limited selection and functionality of the materials being used for AM. The second area focused on the characterization of the end-use products comprised of these new materials.</div><div><br></div><div>The primary goals of the work described in this document are to substantially further the field of the additive manufacturing by developing new functional materials and subsequently characterizing the resultant printed components. The primary focus of the first two chapters (Chapters 2 and 3) is to further characterize an energetic material system comprising of aluminum (Al) particles embedded in a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) binder, which has been shown to be compatible with AM. This material system has the ability to be implemented as a lightweight multifunctional energetic structural material (MESM); however, significant characterization of its structural energetic properties is needed to ensure reliable MESM performance. First, variations of a previously demonstrated Al/PVDF filament were investigated in order to determine the effect of material constituents on the structural energetic properties of the material. Seven different Al/PVDF formulations, with various particle loadings and particle sizes, were considered. The modulus of elasticity and ultimate strength for the seven formulations were obtained via quasi-static tensile testing of 3D printed dogbones. The energetic performance was quantified via burning rate measurements and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) of 3D printed samples. Next, variations in the AM process were made and the effect of print direction on the same properties was determined. Once viable MESM performance was quantified, representative structural elements were printed in order to demonstrate the ability to create structural energetic elements. During quasi-static tensile testing, it was observed that aligning the load direction perpendicular to the print direction of the component resulted in inferior mechanical properties. This reduction in mechanical properties can be attributed to the lack of continuity at material interfaces, a well studied phenomena in AM.</div><div><br></div><div>This phenomena is the primary focus of the next two chapters (Chapters 4 and 5), which investigate the polymer healing process as it pertains to fusion-based material extrusion additive manufacturing, also known as fused filament fabrication (FFF). In the context of the FFF process, the extent of the polymer healing, or lack thereof, at the layer interface is known to be thermally driven. Chapter 4 quantifies the relationship between the reduction in mechanical properties and the temperature of the previously deposited layer at the time the subsequent layer is deposited. This relationship gives insight into which parameters should be closely monitored during the FFF process. The following chapter investigates incorporating plasma surface treatment as a means to improve the reduced mechanical properties seen in Chapter 3 and 4. As plasma surface modification can affect various stages of the polymer healing process, a variety of experiments were completed to determine which mechanisms of the plasma treatment were significantly affecting the mechanical properties of the FFF components. The thermal history was analyzed and it was hypothesized that enhanced diffusion at the layer interface was not a significant contributor to, but a rather a detractor from, the improved mechanical properties in this system. A variety of tests investigating how the plasma treatment was affecting the wettability of the surface were performed and all of the tests indicated that the wettability was increased during treatment and was likely the driving mechanism causing the improvement seen in the mechanical properties. These tests give some initial insight into how to successfully pair plasma treatment capabilities with FFF systems and give insights into how that plasma treatment can affect the polymer healing process in FFF applications.</div>

My degree project aims to create a set of furniture and space which all “warped” by the voices of my beloved family member. I investigated how to record and translate the voices and materialize them into furniture. I processed the emotion of missing my family by materializing their voices through my “voice embedding methods.” Which I translate voices into form.  My “warped” space aims to reflect the power of human emotions. The voice curves that I extract from the “voice warping method” are rich in information and emotions. I want this “warping complexity” to question the ideology of the clean and empty “ideal space,” which is the tendency in today’s interior architecture and furniture design.

Next-generation batteries with improved microstructure and performance are on their way to meet the market demands for high-energy and power storage systems. Among different types of batteries, Li-ion batteries remain the best choice for their high energy density and long lifetime. There is a constant but slow improvement in Li-ion batteries by developing new materials and fabrication techniques. However, further improvements are still needed to meet government and industry goals for cost, cycling performance, and cell lifetime. A fundamental understanding of particle-level interactions can shed light on designing new porous electrodes for high-performance batteries. This is a complex problem because electrodes have a multi-component, multi-phase microstructure made through multiple fabrication processes (i.e., mixing, coating, drying, and calendering). Each of these processes can affect the final microstructure (particle and pore locations) differently. This work seeks to understand the porous microstructure evolution of Li-ion electrodes during the drying and calendering fabrication processes by a combination of modeling and experimental approaches. The goal is to understand the mechanisms by which the electrode components and fabrication processes determine the battery microstructure and subsequent cell performance. A multi-phase smoothed particle (MPSP) model has been developed on a publically available simulation platform known as LAMMPS. This model was used to simulate particle-level interactions and predict the mechanical and transport properties of four fabricated electrodes (i.e. a graphite anode and three traditional metal oxide cathodes). One challenge was to include different electrode components and their interactions and relate them to physical properties like density and viscosity that can be measured experimentally. Another challenge was to generate required electrode property data for model validation, which in general was not found in the literature. Therefore, a series of experiments were conducted to provide that information, namely slurry viscosity, electronic conductivity, porosity, tortuosity, elastic modulus, and electrode crosssections. Understanding these properties has value to the battery community independent of their use in this study. The MPSP model helps us explain observed transport heterogeneity after calendering but brings up new questions about the drying process that have not been addressed in previous works. Therefore, the drying fabrication step was studied experimentally in more detail to fill this knowledge gap and explain our simulation results. The MPSP model can also be used as a predictive tool to explore the design space of Li-ion electrodes where conducting the actual experiments is very challenging. For example, the distinct effect of particle size, shape, orientation, and stiffness on electrode transport and mechanical properties are difficult to determine independently, and therefore this model is an ideal tool to understand the effect of these properties. The final model, which is publically available, could be used with adjustments by future workers to test new materials, fabrication processes, or electrode design (e.g., a multi-layered structure).

Infrared (IR) imaging devices based on energy detection has shown a dramatic development in technology along with an impressive price reduction in recent years. However, for a low-end market as in automotive applications, the present cost of IR cameras is still the main obstacle to broadening their usage. Ongoing research has continuously reduced the system cost. Apart from decreasing the cost of infrared optics, there are other key issues to achieve acceptable system costs, including wafer-level vacuum packaging of the detectors, low vacuum level operation, and the use of standard materials in the detector fabrication. This thesis presents concepts for cost reduction of low-end IR cameras.      The thesis presents a study of detector performance based on the thermal conductance design of the pixel. A circuit analog is introduced to analyze the basic thermal network effect from the surrounding environment on the conductance from the pixel to the environment. A 3D simulation model of the detector array conductance has been created in order to optimize the performance of the arrays while operated in low vacuum. In the model, Fourier's law of heat transfer is applied to determine the thermal conductance of a composite material pixel. The resulting thermal conductance is then used to predict the performance of the detector array in low vacuum.      The investigations of resist as the intermediate bonding material for 3D array integration are also reported in the thesis. A study has been made of the nano-imprint resists series mr-I 9000 using a standard adhesive wafer bonding scheme for thermosetting adhesives. Experiments have been performed to optimize the thickness control and uniformity of the nano-imprint resist layer. The evaluation, including assessment of the bonding surface uniformity and planarizing ability of topographical surfaces, is used to demonstrate the suitability of this resist as sacrificial material for heterogeneous detector array integration.      Moreover, the thesis presents research in wafer-level packaging performed by room temperature bonding. Sealing rings, used to create a cavity, are manufactured by electroplating. The cavity sealing is tested by liquid injection and by monitoring the deflection of the lid membrane of the cavities. A value for the membrane deflection is calculated to estimate the pressure inside the cavities.