Relationship between Structure and Rheology of Hydrogels for Various Applications

Hydrogels have gained a lot of attention with their widespread use in different industrial applications. The versatility in the synthesis and the nature of the precursor reactants allow for a varying range of hydrogels with different mechanical and rheological properties. Understanding of the rheological behavior and the relationship between the chemical structure and the resulting properties is crucial, and is the focus of this review. Specifically, we include detailed discussion on the correlation between the rheological characteristics of hydrogels and their possible applications. Different rheological tests such as time, temperature and frequency sweep, among others, are described and the results of those tests are reported. The most prevalent applications of hydrogels are also discussed.

Characteristics of HEMP Radiation Field on Typical Transport Aircraft with Frequency Sweep Method

This paper presents characteristics of the HEMP radiation field on a typical transport aircraft using the frequency sweep method. Firstly, the characteristics of the HEMP field are analyzed. Then, various parameters including the electric field strength and magnetic field strength distribution are calculated using Altair FEKO software. Afterwards, the electric field strength distributions of three layers (top layer, inner layer and bottom layer) are calculated and analyzed. The results indicate that the HEMP induced field is affected by the aircraft body. The induced electric field strength E(t) varies greatly at different positions. Nevertheless, the peak value of E(t) is usually greater than the initial peak value of electric field strength E0. Such a study can provide guidance and insight into the protection design of the HEMP of the aircraft.

Characterization of Modal Frequencies and Orientation of Axisymmetric Resonators in Coriolis Vibratory Gyroscopes

This paper presents the characterization of the modal frequencies and the modal orientation of the axisymmetric resonators in Coriolis vibratory gyroscopes based on the approaches of the frequency sweep and the ring down. The modal frequencies and the orientation of the stiffness axis are the key parameters for the mechanical correction of the stiffness imperfections. The frequency sweep method utilizes the zero and the poles in the magnitude-frequency responses of the two-dimensional transfer function to extract the modal orientation information within the frequency domain. The ring down method makes use of the peak and the valley values of the beat signals at the readout electrodes to obtain the modal orientation and the coefficient of the nonlinear stiffness directly within the time domain. The proposed approaches were verified via a silicon ring resonator designed for gyroscopic sensing and the modal information from the experiments exhibited a good agreement between the methods of the frequency sweep and the ring down.

Reduction of Whole Body Vibration in a Wide Frequency Range Using Inflation Pressure Control of Air Bladder Cushion

Several types of interfaces like foam and inflated air cells exist to reduce the effect of mechanical vibration experienced in human-machine interfaces in different scenarios such as transportation. However, their vibration attenuation performance in a wide frequency range relevant to whole body vibration (1–80 Hz) leaves much to be desired. In this study, we investigate the effect of inflation pressure on the vibration attenuation behavior of an air cell cushion. An experimental setup capable of conducting frequency sweep tests and regulating inflation pressure in an air cell array cushion was developed. Frequency sweep tests were conducted at various inflations and the vibration transmissibilities at static inflations were plotted. A dynamic inflation scheme was developed based on the apriori knowledge of inflation dependent transmissibilities. Furthermore, the closed loop behavior of the inflation scheme was evaluated with a frequency sweep test. The resulting closed loop transmissibility indicated better vibration attenuation performance than any single static inflation for the air cell array cushion in the range of frequencies relevant to whole body vibration. This result lays the groundwork for potential air cell cushions which modify their inflation dynamically through a direct feedback from sensors like accelerometers to attenuate vibration in a wide frequency range.

Laser Photothermoacoustic Heterodyned Lock-in Depth Profilometry in Turbid Tissue Phantoms

Frequency-domain correlation and spectral analysis photothermoacoustic FD-PTA imaging is a promisingnew technique, which is being developed to detect tumor masses in turbid biological tissue. Unlike conventional biomedical photoacoustics which uses time-of-flight acoustic information induced by a pulsed laser to indicate the tumor size and location, in this research, a new FD-PTA instrument featuring frequency sweep chirp and heterodyne modulation and lock-in detection of a continuous-wave laser source at 1064 nm wavelength is constructed and tested for its depth profilometric capabilities with regard to turbid media imaging. Owing to the linear relationship between the depth of acoustic signal generation and the delay time of signal arrival to the transducer, information specific to a particular depth can be associated with a particular frequency in the chirp signal. Scanning laser-fluence modulation frequencies with a linear frequency sweep method preserves the depth-to-delay time linearity and recovers FD-PTA signals from a range of depths. Combining with the depth information carried by the back-propagated acoustic chirp signal at each scanning position, one could rapidly generate subsurface three-dimensional images of the scanning area at optimal signal-to-noise ratios and low laser fluences, a combination of tasks that is difficult or impossible by use of pulsed photoacoustic detection. In this paper, results of PTA scans performed on tissue mimicking control phantoms with various optical, acoustical, and geometrical properties are presented. A mathematical model is developed to study the laser-induced photothermoacoustic waves in turbid media. The model includes both the scattering and absorption properties of the turbid medium. A good agreement is obtained between the experimental and numerical results. It is concluded that frequency domain photothermoacoustics using a linear frequency sweep method and heterodyne lock-in detection has the potential to be a reliable tool for biomedical depth-profilometric imaging.