Assessment of Inks and Binding Agents
Where: Boulder Experimental Electronics and Manufacturing Laboratory
For: Austin Hayes' Research
At the Boulder Experimental Electronics and Manufacturing Laboratory, I designed an assembly to measure the surface tension of different inks and binding agents. This assisted Austin Hayes with his research on additive manufacturing and its role in developing more efficient wind turbine generators.
I performed various experiments to develop and test inks that would bind the resin for making a 3D printed mold of a wind turbine generator. In order to assess fluid properties, I used a rheometer and an assembly that utilized MATLAB and a simple USB camera to estimate surface tension. While I did not write the MATLAB code, I learned a lot about GUIs and other useful program tools.
This project/independent study lasted for a semester. My final presentation can be viewed here.
Above, you can see the post processed image of the droplet. The MATLAB code calculated the Beta curve in order to estimate surface tension.
This is one of the photos I took with the surface tension measurement assembly. Using MATLAB, I found the width of the syringe needle and converted the pixel number to mm. This measurement was used in the calculation of surface tension.
This is the 3D printed setup for the USB camera (left) and syringe mount (right). Both sat on a flat surface in order to minimize errors.