Affiliation:
1. Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Biomimetic Robotics and Intelligent Systems Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering Southern University of Science and Technology Shenzhen Guangdong 518055 China
2. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Human‐Augmentation and Rehabilitation Robotics in Universities Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering Southern University of Science and Technology Shenzhen Guangdong 518055 China
3. School of System Design and Intelligent Manufacturing Southern University of Science and Technology Shenzhen Guangdong 518055 China
4. Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Soft Mechanics & Smart Manufacturing Department of Mechanics and Aerospace Engineering Southern University of Science and Technology Shenzhen Guangdong 518055 China
5. Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) Guangzhou 510000 China
Abstract
AbstractSoft shells are ubiquitous in soft devices, e.g., soft robots, wearable sensors, and soft medial replicas. However, previous widely accepted methods, such as mold casting, dip coating, and additive manufacturing, are limited to thick shells due to the mold assembly and the large friction during demolding, long processing time for mold dissolution, and poor scalability, respectively. Here, a facile, robust, and scalable manufacturing technique, named flow casting, to create soft shells with complex geometries and multifunctionalities is proposed. The method involves a flow‐governed layer casting process and a peel‐dominated demolding process. A one‐dimensional soft shell is first made with controllable thicknesses (100–400 µm) and fabricated various soft shells of intricate geometries, including three‐branched, circular‐shaped, and exquisite microstructures such as papillae and microgrooves on curved surfaces, with the resolution of feature sizes on the order of 100 µm. Furthermore, the versatility of this method is demonstrated with a 3D vascular phantom model for a magnetic robot transporting, microstructured cubic sleeves for enhancing the grasping ability of rigid grippers, and a stretchable optical waveguide capable of color changing by external mechanical stimuli.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory
Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province
Subject
Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering,Mechanics of Materials,General Materials Science
Cited by
5 articles.
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