A Soft Combustion-Driven Pump for Soft Robots

This paper describes the design and manufacture of a monolithic high-pressure diaphragm pump made entirely of soft elastomer material and driven by a combustion chamber incorporated within the soft pump structure. The pump can deliver pressures up to 60 kPa and can reach output flows up to 40 ml/min. Methane (CH4) combustion is used as the actuation source. The pump uses two soft flap-structured check valves for directing the flow. Pumping pressure and frequency dependence were measured and analyzed. Results show that controlled and repeatable combustion of methane is possible without damaging the soft structure. Experimentally, 6–10% methane is identified as the ideal air-fuel ratio for combustion. With continuous delivery of reactants, a 1 Hz pumping frequency was achieved. The volume of the combustion chamber and the material stiffness are identified to be major determinants of the stroke volume.

Properties of Lanthanum-Doped Bismuth Sodium Titanate (Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3) Prepared by Soft Combustion Technique

In this work, soft combustion technique was used to study the effect of lanthanum (La) doping on the properties of Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3 (BNT). The amount of La dopant investigated for (Bi0.5Na0.5)(1-1.5x)LaxTiO3 (BNLT) pellets were x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.05 and 0.10 (0, 1, 2, 5 and 10 mol% La). The addition of La dopant into the BNT structure caused lattice distortion and altered the crystal symmetry of the BNT from hexagonal to tetragonal symmetry for BNLT. BNT and BNLT pellets were sintered at 1100°C for 3 hours and pure perovskite phase BNT was obtained with the addition of La up to 5 mol%. A secondary phase of Bi2(Ti2O7) appeared when the pellet was doped with 10 mol% of La dopant. Increasing of La dopant in the pellet resulted in the increasing of dielectric constant and decreasing of dielectric loss. An optimum property was obtained by 5 mol% BNLT with dielectric constant of 753 and dielectric loss of 0.0377. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}

The Effects of Combustion Agents on the Formation of Bi-Based Compounds Synthesized Using the Soft Combustion Method

In this work, 20 % Pr doped bismuth sodium titanate (PBNT) powders were synthesized using the soft combustion technique. Three combustion agents; polyethylene glycol 200, citric acid and glycine with 0.2, 2.0 and 5.0 mol were used to aid combustion process. A single phase PBNT was obtained with the addition of 5 mol % citric acid. For most compounds, secondary phases presence such as Bi4Ti3O12and Bi2Ti2O7. In general, crystallite size increased with increasing sintering temperature that was due to diffusion of ions at high temperature. Dielectric properties increased with increasing densities. The optimum properties were obtained for PBNT synthesized using 5 mol % citric acid sintered at 1100°C for 3 hours which gave the highest dielectric constant (1153.20), acceptable loss tangent (0.1074) and high relative density (95.03).

Soft combustion technique: Solution combustion synthesis and low-temperature combustion synthesis; to prepare Bi4Ti3O12 powders and bulk ceramics

Bi4Ti3O12 (BTO) powders were synthesized using soft combustion techniques, specifically known as Solution Combustion Synthesis (SCS) and Low-temperature Combustion Synthesis (LCS). XRD results showed that the single phase BTO was obtained following calcinations at 800?C for the sample prepared using SCS; compared to after combustion, for the sample prepared using LCS. The TG/DTA showed a combustion temperature of around 252 - 280?C, which became stable with a single phase BTO at 500?C and above. Sintering was carried out at 1,100?C for 3 h, to determine the microstructures, grain orientation, relative density, dielectric, and ferroelectric properties, of the bulk ceramics. It was found that the bulk ceramics prepared using SCS exhibited elongated-like grains, strong (117)-preferred grain orientation, a relative density of 93.3%, ?r = 320 - 360, tan ? = 0.03 - 0.1, Pr = 6.8 ?C/cm2, and Ec = 20 kV/cm. Meanwhile, the bulk ceramics prepared using LCS showed plate-like grains, strong c-preferred grain orientation, a relative density of 83%, ?r = 143 - 195, tan ? = 0.01 - 0.38, Pr = 5.9 ?C/cm2, and Ec = 30 kV/cm.