Evaluating Viscoelastic and Fatigue Response of Silica Filled ‘Green Tire’ and Conventional Carbon Black Filled Rubber

Overview Trends in tire development and manufacturing have shifted to high performance rubbers that not only offer better durability but higher performance and lower fuel consumption. Silica, as a filler material, is now replacing conventionally used carbon black due to its unique set of properties. This webinar will illustrate how High Force Dynamic Mechanical Analysis…

Novel 3D Printed Liquid Crystal Elastomers and the Characterization of their Anisotropy, Rate-Dependency, and Dissipation Properties

Overview Liquid-crystal elastomers (LCEs) uniquely combine molecular ordering with entropic elasticity. The result is a class of anisotropic elastomers with remarkable properties spanning stimuli responsive actuation to exceptional dissipation of mechanical energy. Our group has recently developed a range of photopolymerizable LCE resins and inks which we 3D print using direct ink writing (DIW) and…

Correlating Cured Rubber Characteristics to Product Performance

Overview New product design is expedited by gathering product performance metrics early in the compound development process. These key metrics link to final product performance and answer common questions: How will my product perform in its final application? Is performance guaranteed over the lifetime of the product? Predicting mechanical rigidity, suitability to end-use environmental conditions,…

Fatigue and Durability of Medical Devices

Overview Durability testing of Medical Devices is crucial for validation of performance and safety and often becomes an important element of regulatory submissions. As such, devices undergo a range of extensive fatigue characterization to support lifetime predictions for the design, optimization and approval for safe and life-changing device solutions. A variety of common standards-based…

Mechanics and Strength of Biomaterials

Overview This presentation will introduce a range of biomaterials test applications where mechanical test instruments are assisting researchers and engineers in gaining a better understanding of native and artificial tissues. Tissue characterization often leverages test techniques designed to measure quasi-static and dynamic properties of human or animal model tissues. These measurements can be used to…

Chris Yakacki: Characterization of Active Shape-Memory Polymers

Chris Yakacki: Characterization of Active Shape-Memory Polymers The field of stimuli-sensitive polymers has grown rapidly over the past decade. Actively-moving polymers have gained attention and have been proposed for use in applications from shape-changing biomedical devices to morphing structures. This webinar covers the basics of characterizing shape-memory polymers using thermo-mechanical equipment, such as the Q800 and…