Minoru Taya - US grants

9414696 Taya The research will explore the use of TiNi shape memory alloy fibers and reinforcements in aluminum and epoxy matrix composites. The use of a shape memory alloy for a fiber reinforcement can result in the production of compressive residual stresses in the matrix phase of the composite. This can result in increases in flow stress and toughness of the composite as compared to these properties in the same composites when the TiNi was not treated to produce a shape memory effect in the composite. The induced compressive stress in the matrix as a result of the shape memory alloy treatment of TiNi is responsible for the enhancement of the tensile properties and toughness of the composite. The concept of enhancing the mechanical properties of composites by inducing desirable stress states via shape memory reinforcements is innovative and the research is well worth support. ***

EEC-9700705 ABSTRACT This award provides funding to the University of Washington, under the direction of Dr. Minoru Taya, for the support of a Combined Research-Curriculum Development project entitled, "Electronic Packaging and Materials." This project's goals are to establish an interdisciplinary research-curriculum on electronic packaging and materials (EPM) at the University of Washington. A curriculum of four courses with materials supplemented by new research results will be designed for teaching advanced undergraduate and first-year graduate students as well as engineers from local and regional industries as a part of the existing Televised Instruction in Engineering (TIE) system.

9975848
Taya

This award will provide partial support for the development of a new experimental capability necessary for the experimental study of a new class of smart magnetic materials that exhibit coupling among the mechanical, thermal and magnetic behavior: magnetostrictive alloys, magnetostrictive alloy fiber and particulate actuated polymer matrix composites and homogeneous ferromagnetic shape memory alloys and their composites. These magnetic smart materials are increasingly important, as they constitute a key actuator element for smart devices and structures thanks to their fast and powerful response at the time of actuation. Accurate characterization of these magnetic smart materials will provide precise data for the constitutive equations of the materials, which will be used by the engineers designing such smart devices.

The testing system will allow testing under a very broad range of magnetro-thermo-mechanical loading. For instance, it will be possible to perform constant stress - increasing magnetic field or constant magnetic field - increasing applied stress and magnetization experiments in which the stress and field axes are parallel or orthogonal to one another. Finally, the electromagnet may be used separately for the measurement of magnetic properties at constant temperature and stress free hysteresis behaviors. The instrument will be used for short, intermediate to long-term purposes. The short to intermediate term purpose includes use of the instrument to characterize the magnetoelastic properties of the ferromagnetic shape memory alloys under magneto-thermo-mechanical loading, as a part of the current research project, design of shape memory alloys for actuator system of helicopter blades, in collaboration with aerospace companies. For the intermediate to long-term purpose, the proposed instrument will be used for characterization of the ferromagnetic SMAs with transformation temperatures close to a human body temperature with applications to biomedical implant devices. Students and faculty engineers at several local companies, at the University of Washington, and researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Testing (NIST), Boulder, Colorado will use the instrument.

The instrument will also be used for undergraduate education allowing a new course in magneto-rheological design to be developed, and magnetic modules to be added to existing materials science courses.
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The developed facility will significantly enhance the research capabilities and collaborative interactions of faculty and students at the University of Washington the private sector, and a Federal government laboratory.
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0218805
Kuga

Despite the economical and technical problems with the current Iridium and GlobalStar and proposed Teledesic satellite systems, it is expected that a high-speed satellite-based internet will become practical in the near future. Iridium and GlobalStar do not have sufficient bandwidth to accommodate high-speed transmission of data. It is undeniable that the future anywhere-anytime high-speed internet access requires low-earth-orbit K or Ka-band satellite systems similar to the one proposed by Teledesic.

One of the major problems with the proposed Teledesic system is the cost of the ground station antenna and control system. Unlike a geo-synchronous satellite, the low-orbit satellites move from horizon to horizon in 10 to 20 minutes. The antenna must be able to keep track of one or more satellite locations in order to obtain an uninterrupted connection. This is usually performed using phased array or mechanically steerable antennas. Unfortunately, the mechanically steerable antennas which use electro-mechanical actuators are usually bulky and prone to mechanical failures. The electronic phased array antennas are fast and no moving parts are involved, but they are very expensive.

Their objective is to develop a low-cost steerable antenna using a novel phase shifter and electro-active polymer (EAP) actuators. In order to achieve this objective, the PIs propose the following four tasks.
Task 1: Develop a low-cost phase shifter for a phased-array antenna using EAP.
Task 2: Design a practical, low-cost phased-array antenna.
Task 3: Develop a variable reflector surface antenna with EAP actuators.
Task 4: Develop reliable and practical EAP materials and actuators.

The phase shifter consists of a tiny mechanically movable dielectric element on
transmission lines. To move the dielectric block, they will use a newly developed EAP actuator which requires only 1-2V. An EAP actuator can also be used as a microwave switch to create a controllable delay line. The whole unit can be integrated with the patch antennas on a multi-layer PCB. The proposed antenna does not contain any solid state microwave switches or electromechanical devices. It can be fabricated inexpensively. They have already conducted the numerical simulations and results were obtained for several TL configurations. Another application of the EAP actuator is for a mechanically steerable antenna. A profile of a flexible membrane or plates can be controlled accurately with an array of EAP actuators. A desired radiation pattern can be quickly created by adjusting the surface profile. There are many technical challenges to realize the EAP-based antenna. To achieve their objective, they must develop reliable EAP materials and actuators.

The PIs believe that the proposed low-cost antenna will be one of the key components to realize the "Internet-in-the-Sky". Although many aspects of this antenna have been tested and verified, they still need to work on several details. An EAP actuator is still in an infant state. To design the proposed antenna, they need a close collaboration between a material scientist who can design the EAP actuator and electrical engineers who can utilize the EAP actuator for the antenna applications.

0303536
Taya
An SGER award supports research on the design of mechanically active surfaces using ferromagnetic shape memory alloys. The FePd alloy can be made to switch surface morphology between flat, corresponding to the austenite phase and the magnetic field turned off, and sawtooth form, corresponding to the martensite phase and the magnetic field turned on. The morphology change may potentially be useful in design of brakes or propulsion systems for miniature systems. The work will entail development of suitable single crystal plates with optimal martensite twin morphology, testing for durability and speed of switching, and initial tryouts in miniature mechanisms.
The broader impact of the work is that it could result in development of a new method for providing miniature movement, or braking for a large number of industrially important MEMS and other miniature systems and devices.
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0424414
Kuga


The objective of this research is to develop practical microwave devices based on EAP actuators. The PIs have conducted preliminary experiments using Flemion and the results are very encouraging. To achieve their objective, they propose the following four tasks. Task 1: Complete the self-assembly process to create gold electrodes on Flemion and fabricate a practical actuator. Task 2: Develop a Flemion micro-actuator for microwave devices and MEMS. Task 3: Complete the development of a low-cost phase shifter for steerable antennas. Task 4: Design a practical, low-cost phased-array antenna for satellite communications.

The proposed activity is centered on new material development and device fabrications. Because the actuator performance depends on the interface between membrane and electrodes, the nanotechnology and self-assemble will be an essential part of their project. In addition, the small low-power microwave devices have tremendous applications for wireless communications. Polymer-based microwave and optical devices are mentioned as one of the most important technologies in the future. Although they are focusing on the microwave applications of EAP actuators in this proposal, these actuators can be applied for many different applications. Education and training of students are always their primary goals.

The objective of this EFRI-SEED project is to develop a set of new switchable dyes and polymers as the basis for electrochromic windows (ECWs) and energy-harvesting (EH) ECWs which substantially reduce cooling/heating loads and increase human comfort. An secondary objective is to develop a partner methodology for moving towards the design of zero-energy buildings that transfers this new technology into educational programs for both the academic and building design communities. The project will develop EH-ECW technology by combining the merits of electrochromic window and dye-sensitized solar cell technologies for dimming control and to generate power to operate not only the ECWs but also other electrical systems. The researchers will study the fundamentals of sensor/controller systems for optimal use of the EH-ECWs in a given room, and the consideration of environmental life cycle impact into EH-ECW technology development and dissemination. The integration of EH-ECW systems into an autonomous building system is the basis for a new concept called "locally harvesting and locally used." The material systems studied promise substantial improvements over existing systems and will parallel component development with the use of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). The LCA will form an overall framework to bring together the research and expertise of an interdisciplinary team including technology development and educational integration. The researchers will develop models to forecast environmental impacts for scaled fabrication sequences, performance for a variety of building types with the proposed ECW/EH-ECW systems and locations, and demolition systems.

The research will investigate the use of EH-ECWs to generate a substantial portion of the energy used by buildings, thus reducing the impacts of central energy generation, and to increase visual comfort and building envelope performance resulting in healthier, more productive indoor environments, as well as to smooth the transfer of the above integrated technology to residential and commercial building design and the construction industry, targeting the $20B window market. This team plans to interact with the existing NSF centers, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, UW laboratories, a local architectural group and window company, the Seattle Science Center, and the University of Ulster (UU) as a foreign collaborator.

The FY 2010 EFRI-SEED Topic that supports this project was sponsored by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorates for Engineering (ENG), Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE), and Computer & Information Science and Engineering in collaboration with the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Nanohelix is considered a new and attractive building block element for designing a set of new synthetic nano-actuators and -sensors and combination of them, namely nanorobotics which has broader applications; biomedicine, nanomedicine, key catalyst for synthesis of pharmaceutical medicine, key electrodes for energy devices (battery, solar cells, etc), and proximity tactile sensor of soft-matter robotic hands. If the nanohelix is mechanically flexible and made of magnetically active material, which is controlled under applied magnetic field, such magnetically active nanohelix can be designed into a new robotics system for diagnosis and treatment of difficult-to-treat cancers. The proposed nanorobotics can have multi-functions; (i) swimming under magnetic guidance, thanks to the shape of "helical spring", (ii) mechanical vibrations of the nanorobotics with flexible nanohelix under applied magnetic field and gradient, thus, killing cancer cells due to mechanical stress loading, and (iii) magnetically active material for nanorobotics plays also as a magnetic resonance imaging enhancer, thus, accurate locations of the nanorobots if they are attached to cancer cell sites, can be identified by the magnetic resonance imaging.

We recently synthesized iron-palladium alloy nanohelices by using chemistry processing route; alumina-silica template and electroplating to make solid-state iron-palladium alloy nanohelices. This iron-palladium alloy nanohelix is down-sizing from our previous design of macro-iron-palladium alloy spring which exhibited the fast vibrations under applied magnetic gradient. The key scientific mechanism associated with the macro-iron-palladium alloy spring, which we discovered is a new actuation mechanism (hybrid mechanism), a set of chain-reactions; applied magnetic gradient, magnetic force, stress induced martensite phase from austensite phase, resulting in fast-actuation within a very short time. We recently made molecular dynamics modelling to simulate another actuator mechanism of iron-palladium alloy nanohelices under applied "constant" magnetic field. We also synthesized another nanorobot which is composed of iron-palladium alloy cylindrical head (head) and nanohelix where we can replace the iron-palladium alloy head by an iron head, thus, the nanorobot based on the combination of iron head and iron-palladium alloy helix may serve more effective nanorobot concept.
The goals of the proposed NSF project are multi-fold: (1) to prove the hypothesis driven mechanical stress-induced apoptosis of cancer cells by using the nanorobots under magnetic field, (2) to establish the optimum navigation control of the magnetic nanorobots and (3) to demonstrate the effectiveness of the nanorobots for cancer diagnosis and treatment using in vitro experiment. To achieve the above goals, we propose the following five tasks over a three-year period:

Task-A: High-yield processing of magnetic nanohelices and their nanorobots (Taya)
Task-B: Characterization of the nanostructure and properties of iron-palladium alloy nanohelices (Taya)
Task-C: Modeling work (Kuga/Taya)
Task-D: Production of nanorobots containing solution for apoptosis study (Takao/Taya)
Task-E: In vitro experiment for magnetic nanorobots under applied magnetic field/gradient (Lee/Kuga)

The broader impact of this proposal is that the proposed nanorobots based on magnetic nanohelices, leading to opening up new applications discussed above. We plan to incorporate the results into education,i.e., into the existing graduate course on active and sensing materials and their integrated systems and educational summer program at University of Washington.
The intellectual significances of this NSF project are: (i) to establish high-yield processing route for key building block element of nanorobots, i.e. iron-palladium nanohelices, and combined magnetic head and iron-palladium alloy nanohelix , (ii) to study if the hybrid mechanism of actuation in magnetic nanohelix is realized, (iii) to construct a cohesive model for an accurate control of nanorobots navigation, (iv) to test the hypothesis of mechanical stress loading-induced cell death and (v) to design Helmholtz coil system tailored for accurate navigation of nanorobots.