Laser-based bionic manufacturing

Over millions of years of natural evolution,organisms have developed nearly perfect structures and functions.The self-fabrication of organisms serves as a valuable source of inspiration for designing the next-generation of structural materials,and is driving the future paradigm shift of modern materials science and engineering.However,the complex structures and multifunctional integrated optimization of organisms far exceed the capability of artificial design and fabrication technology,and new manufacturing methods are urgently needed to achieve efficient reproduction of biological functions.As one of the most valuable advanced manufacturing technologies of the 21st century,laser processing technology provides an efficient solution to the critical challenges of bionic manufacturing.This review outlines the processing principles,manufacturing strategies,potential applications,challenges,and future development outlook of laser processing in bionic manufacturing domains.Three primary manufacturing strategies for laser-based bionic manufacturing are elucidated:subtractive manufacturing,equivalent manufacturing,and additive manufacturing.The progress and trends in bionic subtractive manufacturing applied to micro/nano structural surfaces,bionic equivalent manufacturing for surface strengthening,and bionic additive manufacturing aiming to achieve bionic spatial structures,are reported.Finally,the key problems faced by laser-based bionic manufacturing,its limitations,and the development trends of its existing technologies are discussed.

Compressive property and energy absorption characteristic of interconnected porous Mg-Zn-Y alloys with adjusting Y addition

In this study,interconnected porous Mg-2Zn-xY alloys with different phase compositions were prepared by various Y additions(x=0.4,3,and 6 wt.%)to adjust the compressive properties and energy absorption characteristics.Several characterization methods were then applied to identify the microstructure of the porous Mg-Zn-Y and describe the details of the second phase.Compressive tests were performed at room temperature(RT),200℃,and 300℃to study the impact of the Y addition and testing temperature on the compressive properties of the porous Mg-Zn-Y.The experimental results showed that a high Y content promotes a microstructure refinement and increases the volume fraction of the second phase.When the Y content increases,different Mg-Zn-Y ternary phases appear:I-phase(Mg_(3)Zn_(6)Y),W-phase(Mg_(3)Zn_(3)Y_(2)),and LPSO phase(Mg_(12)ZnY).When the Y content ranges between 0.4%and 6%,the compressive strength increases from 6.30MPa to 9.23 MPa,and the energy absorption capacity increases from 7.33 MJ/m^(3)to 10.97 MJ/m^(3)at RT,which is mainly attributed to the phase composition and volume fraction of the second phase.However,the average energy absorption efficiency is independent of the Y content.In addition,the compressive deformation behaviors of the porous Mg-Zn-Y are altered by the testing temperature.The compressive strength and energy absorption capacity of the porous Mg-Zn-Y decrease due to the softening effect of the high temperature on the struts.The deformation behaviors at different temperatures are finally observed to reflect the failure mechanisms of the struts.

Effect of solution treatment on the microstructure,phase transformation behavior and functional properties of NiTiNb ternary shape memory alloys fabricated via laser powder bed fusion in-situ alloying

Post-heat treatment is commonly employed to improve the microstructural homogeneity and enhance the mechanical performances of the additively manufactured metallic materials.In this work,a ternary(NiTi)91Nb9(at.%)shape memory alloy was produced by laser powder bed fusion(L-PBF)using pre-alloyed NiTi and elemental Nb powders.The effect of solution treatment on the microstructure,phase transformation behavior and mechanical/functional performances was investigated.The in-situ alloyed(NiTi)91Nb9 alloy exhibits a submicron cellular-dendritic structure surrounding the supersaturated B2-NiTi matrix.Upon high-temperature(1273 K)solution treatment,Nb-rich precipitates were precipitated from the supersaturated matrix.The fragmentation and spheroidization of the NiTi/Nb eutectics occurred during solution treatment,leading to a morphological transition from mesh-like into rod-like and sphere-like.Coarsening of theβ-Nb phases occurred with increasing holding time.The martensite transformation temperature increases after solution treatment,mainly attributed to:(i)reduced lattice distortion due to the Nb expulsion from the supersaturated B2-NiTi,and(ii)the Ti expulsion from theβ-Nb phases that lowers the ratio Ni/Ti in the B2-NiTi matrix,which resulted from the microstructure changes from non-equilibrium to equilibrium state.The thermal hysteresis of the solutionized alloys is around 145 K after 20%pre-deformation,which is comparable to the conventional NiTiNb alloys.A short-term solution treatment(i.e.at 1273 K for 30 min)enhances the ductility and strength of the as-printed specimen,with the increase of fracture stress from(613±19)MPa to(781±20)MPa and the increase of fracture strain from(7.6±0.1)%to(9.5±0.4)%.Both the as-printed and solutionized samples exhibit good tensile shape memory effects with recovery rates>90%.This work suggests that post-process heat treatment is essential to optimize the microstructure and improve the mechanical performances of the L-PBF in-situ alloyed parts.

Superhydrophobicity of Bionic Alumina Surfaces Fabricated by Hard Anodizing

Bionic alumina samples were fabricated on convex dome type aluminum alloy substrate using hard anodizing technique. The convex domes on the bionic sample were fabricated by compression molding under a compressive stress of 92.5 MPa. The water contact angles of the as-anodized bionic samples were measured using a contact angle meter （JC2000A） with the 3μL water drop at room temperature. The measurement of the wetting property showed that the water contact angle of the unmodi- fied as-anodized bionic alumina samples increases from 90° to 137° with the anodizing time. The increase in water contract angle with anodizing time arises from the gradual formation of hierarchical structure or composite structure. The structure is composed of the micro-scaled alumina columns and pores. The height of columns and the depth of pores depend on the ano- dizing time. The water contact angle increases significantly from 96° to 152° when the samples were modified with self-assembled monolayer of octadecanethiol （ODT）, showing a change in the wettability from hydrophobicity to su- per-hydrophobicity. This improvement in the wetting property chemical modification. is attributed to the decrease in the surface energy caused by the

Bioinspired flexible piezoresistive sensor for high-sensitivity detection of broad pressure range

The human skin has the ability to sense tactile touch and a great range of pressures.Therefore,in prosthetic or robotic systems,it is necessary to prepare pressure sensors with high sensitivity in a wide measurement range to provide human-like tactile sensation.Herein,we developed a flexible piezoresistive pressure sensor that is highly sensitive in a broad pressure range by using lotus leaf micropatterned polydimethylsiloxane and multilayer superposition.By superposing four layers of micropatterned constructive substrates,the multilayer piezoresistive pressure sensor achieves a broad pressure range of 312 kPa,a high sensitivity of 2.525 kPa^(−1),a low limit of detection(LOD)of<12 Pa,and a fast response time of 45 ms.Compared with the traditional flexible pressure sensor,the pressure range of this sensor can be increased by at least an order of magnitude.The flexible piezoresistive pressure sensor also shows high robustness:after testing for at least 1000 cycles,it shows no sign of fatigue.More importantly,these sensors can be potentially applied in various human motion detection scenarios,including tiny pulse monitoring,throat vibration detection,and large under-feet pressure sensing.The proposed fabrication strategy may guide the design of other kinds of multifunctional sensors to improve the detection performance.

Overdischarge-induced evolution of Cu dendrites and degradation of mechanical properties in lithium-ion batteries

The degradation of mechanical properties of overdischarge battery materials manifests as a significant effect on the energy density,safety,and cycle life of the batteries.However,establishing the correlation between depth of overdischarge and mechanical properties is still a significant challenge.Studying the correlation between depth of overdischarge and mechanical properties is of great significance to improving the energy density and the ability to resist abuse of the batteries.In this paper,the mechanical properties of the battery materials during the whole process of overdischarge from discharge to complete failure were studied.The effects of depth of overdischarge on the elastic modulus and hardness of the cathode of the battery,the tensile strength and the thermal shrinkage rate of the separator,and the performance of binder were investigated.The precipitation of Cu dendrites on the separator and cathode after dissolution of anode copper foil is a key factor affecting the performance of battery materials.The Cu dendrites attached to the cathode penetrate the separator,causing irreversible damage to the coating and base film of the separator,which leads to a sharp decline in the tensile strength,thermal shrinkage rate and other properties of the separator.In addition,the Cu dendrites wrapping the cathode active particles reduce the adhesion of the active particles binder.Meanwhile,the active particles are damaged,resulting in a significant decrease in the elastic modulus and hardness of the cathode.

Effect of pH Value on Nano-Al_2O_3/Ni+Co Gradient Bionic Composite Coating by Electrodeposition

The metal and nano-ceramic composite coatings were formed on gray cast iron surface by electrodepositon method.The Ni-Co was used as metal matrix,and the nano-Al2O3 was chosen as second-phase particulates.The gradient structure of biology material was the model to avoid bad interface bonding and stress distribution,therefore the gradient composite coating was prepared.The morphology of composite coatings was flatter and the microstructure was more com-pact than the pure Ni-Co coatings.Effect of pH value on surface morphology was analyzed,which some microcracks appeared when pH value was greater than 5.The content of codeposition na-no-Al2O3 reached a maximum value at pH value of 3-4,at the same time the properties including mi-crohardness and wear-resistance were analyzed.The result indicated that the mirohardness reached a maximum value and the wear loss volume was less at pH value 3-4.

Bionic Design and Simulation Analysis of Energy⁃Efficient and Vibration⁃Damping Walking Mechanism

African ostrich can run for 30 min at a speed of 60 km/h in the desert,and its hindlimb has excellent energy saving and vibration damping performance.In order to realize the energy⁃efficient and vibration⁃damping design of the leg mechanism of the legged robot,the principle of engineering bionics was applied.According to the passive rebound characteristic of the intertarsal joint of the ostrich foot and the characteristic of variable output stiffness of the ostrich hindlimb,combined with the proportion and size of the structure of the ostrich hindlimb,the bionic rigid⁃flexible composite legged robot single⁃leg structure was designed.The locomotion of the bionic mechanical leg was simulated by means of ADAMS.Through the motion simulation analysis,the influence of the change of the inner spring stiffness coefficient within a certain range on the vertical acceleration of the body centroid and the motor power consumption was studied,and the optimal stiffness coefficient of the inner spring was obtained to be 200 N/mm,and it was further verified that the inner and outer spring mechanism could effectively reduce the energy consumption of the mechanical leg.Simulation results show that the inner and outer spring mechanism could effectively reduce the motor energy consumption by about 72.49%.

A customized zeolitic imidazolate framework enabling bionic preconcentration of ultralow CO_(2)

Advancing our understanding of global climate,particularly in polar regions,requires accurate detection of carbon dioxide(CO_(2))in ice cores and deep sea environments.However,detecting trace levels of CO_(2)in these areas presents significant challenges.We introduce a novel preconcentration approach using functionalized zeolitic imidazolate framework,ZIF-8(CN),for the detection of ultra-low CO_(2).ZIF-8(CN)has small pores(4.4■and cyano groups(–CN),enabling highly selective adsorption of CO_(2)(36.2 cm^(3)g^(−1))over N_(2)(1.6 cm^(3)g^(−1))at 298 K.The mechanism involves unique–CN···CO_(2)···–CN interactions within the pore structure.When cast into a film on an aluminum substrate,ZIF-8(CN)demonstrates exceptional CO_(2)preconcentration capability(1 ppm in N_(2))with an extraordinary preconcentration factor of 748,outperforming traditional ZIF and zeolite materials.Additionally,a ZIF-8(CN)preconcentrator is designed and fabricated with bionic gas flow of fractal structure which optimizes the gas-film contact,and thus its performance is further improved by 115%.

A Selective‑Response Hypersensitive Bio‑Inspired Strain Sensor Enabled by Hysteresis Effect and Parallel Through‑Slits Structures

Flexible strain sensors are promising in sensing minuscule mechanical signals,and thereby widely used in various advanced fields.However,the effective integration of hypersensitivity and highly selective response into one flexible strain sensor remains a huge challenge.Herein,inspired by the hysteresis strategy of the scorpion slit receptor,a bio-inspired flexible strain sensor(BFSS)with parallel through-slit arrays is designed and fabricated.Specifically,BFSS consists of conductive monolayer graphene and viscoelastic styrene–isoprene–styrene block copolymer.Under the synergistic effect of the bio-inspired slit structures and flexible viscoelastic materials,BFSS can achieve both hypersensitivity and highly selective frequency response.Remarkably,the BFSS exhibits a high gage factor of 657.36,and a precise identification of vibration frequencies at a resolution of 0.2 Hz through undergoing different morphological changes to high-frequency vibration and low-frequency vibration.Moreover,the BFSS possesses a wide frequency detection range(103 Hz)and stable durability(1000 cycles).It can sense and recognize vibration signals with different characteristics,including the frequency,amplitude,and waveform.This work,which turns the hysteresis effect into a"treasure,"can provide new design ideas for sensors for potential applications including human–computer interaction and health monitoring of mechanical equipment.

Design of bionic water jet thruster with double-chamber driven by electromagnetic force

In response to the limitations of the single-chamber water jet thruster used in underwater vehicles mimicked by natural cephalopods,a novel approach involving a double-chamber water jet thruster has been proposed.This thruster utilizes electromagnetic force to manipulate the diaphragm,thereby altering the volume of the upper and lower chambers to achieve water jet propulsion.Experimental investigations were conducted to determine the tensile length-force characteristics of the diaphragm made of Agileus30.Subsequently,key parameters of essential propulsion components,such as solenoid coils,electromagnets,and currents,were established based on the tensile length-force curve,and the propulsion capabilities of the system were evaluated through theoretical analysis.Theoretical assessments indicate that the system does not produce reverse thrust regardless of whether the coil moves up or down.Further experimental results demonstrate that the maximum peak propulsion force generated by the dual-chamber water jet thruster within a 3-s cycle is 0.253N.

Kinematics of Terrestrial Locomotion in Mole Cricket Gryllotalpa orientalis

The fore leg of mole cricket （Orthoptera： Glyllotalpidae） has developed into claw for digging and excavating. As the result of having a well-suited body and appendages for living underground, mole cricket still needs to manoeuvre on land in some cases with some kinds of gait. In this paper, the three-dimensional kinematics information of mole cricket in terrestrial walking was recorded by using a high speed 3D video recording system. The mode and the gait of the terrestrial walking mole cricket were investigated by analyzing the kinematics parameters, and the kinematics coupling disciplines of each limb and body were discussed. The results show that the locomotion gait of mole cricket in terrestrial walking belongs to a distinctive alternating tripod gait. We also found that the fore legs of a mole cricket are not as effective as that of common hexapod insects, its middle legs and body joints act more effective in walking and turning which compensate the function of fore legs. The terrestrial lo-comotion of mole cricket is the result of biological coupling of three pairs of legs, the distinctive alternating tripod gait and the trunk locomotion.

DEM Numerical Simulation of Abrasive Wear Characteristics of a Bioinspired Ridged Surface

This paper presents numerical investigations into a ridged surface whose design is inspired by the geometry of a Farrer’sscallop.The objective of the performed research is to assess if the proposed Bioinspired Ridged Surface (BRS) can potentiallyimprove wear resistance of soil-engaging components used in agricultural machinery and to validate numerical simulationsperformed using software based on the Discrete Element Method (DEM).The wear performance of the BRS is experimentallydetermined and also compared with a conventional flat surface.Different size of soil particles and relative velocities between theabrasive sand and the testing surfaces are used.Comparative results show that the numerical simulations are in agreement withthe experimental results and support the hypothesis that abrasive wear is greatly reduced by substituting a conventional flatsurface with the BRS.

4D printing of core-shell hydrogel capsules for smart controlled drug release

Personalized drugs,as well as disease-specific and condition-dependent drug release,have been highly desired in drug delivery systems for effective and safe therapies.Four-dimensional(4 D)printing,as a newly emerging technique to develop drug capsules,displays unique advantages that can autonomously control drug release according to the actual physiological circumstances.Herein,core-shell structured hydrogel capsules were developed using a multimaterial extrusion-based 4 D printing method,which consists of a model drug as the core and UV cross-linked poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)(PNIPAM)hydrogel as the shell.Owing to the lower critical solution temperature(LCST)-induced shrinking/swelling properties,the prepared PNIPAM hydrogel capsules showed temperature-responsive drug release along with the topography changes in the cross-linked PNIPAM network.The in vitro drug release test confirmed that the PNIPAM hydrogel capsules can autonomously control their drug release behaviors according to changes in ambient temperature.Moreover,the increased shell thickness of these capsules causes an obvious reduction in drug release rate,distinctly indicating that the drug release behavior can be well adjusted by setting the shell thickness of the capsules.The proposed 4 D printing strategy pioneers the paradigm of smart drug release by showing great potential in the smart controlled release of drugs and macromolecular active agents.

The Indirect Shared Steering Control Under Double Loop Structure of Driver and Automation

Due to the critical defects of techniques in fully autonomous vehicles,man-machine cooperative driving is still of great significance in today’s transportation system.Unlike the previous shared control structure,this paper introduces a double loop structure which is applied to indirect shared steering control between driver and automation.In contrast to the tandem indirect shared control,the parallel indirect shared control put the authority allocation system of steering angle into the framework to allocate the corresponding weighting coefficients reasonably and output the final desired steering angle according to the current deviation of vehicle and the accuracy of steering angles.Besides,the active disturbance rejection controller(ADRC)is also added in the frame in order to track the desired steering angle fleetly and accurately as well as restrain the internal and external disturbances effectively which including the steering friction torque,wind speed and ground interference etc.Eventually,we validated the advantages of double loop framework through three sets of double lane change and slalom experiments,respectively.Exactly as we expected,the simulation results show that the double loop structure can effectively reduce the lateral displacement error caused by the driver or the controller,significantly improve the tracking precision and keep great performance in trajectory tracking characteristics when driving errors occur in one of driver and controller.

4D printing of PLA/PCL shape memory composites with controllable sequential deformation

Shape memory polymers(SMPs)are a promising class of materials for biomedical applications due to their favorable mechanical properties,fast response,and good biocompatibility.However,it is difficult to achieve controllable sequential shape change for most SMPs due to their high deformation temperature and the simplex deformation process.Herein,shape memory composites based on polylactic acid(PLA)matrix and semi-crystalline linear polymer polycaprolactone(PCL)are fabricated using 4D printing technology.Compared with pure PLA,with the rise of PCL content,the 4D-printed PLA/PCL composites show decreased glass transition temperature(Tg)from 67.2 to 55.2°C.Through the precise control of the deformation condition,controllable sequential deformation with an outstanding shape memory effect can be achieved for the PLA/PCL shape memory composites.The response time of shape recovery is less than 1.2 s,and the shape fixation/recov-ery rates are above 92%.In order to simulate sequential petal opening and sequential drug releasing effects,a double-layer bionic flower and a drug release device,respectively,are presented by assembling PLA/PCL samples with different PLA/PCL ratios.The results indicate the potential applications of 4D-printed PLA/PCL composites in the field of bio-inspired robotics and biomedical devices.

Numerical Modeling and Analysis of Grooved Surface Applied to Film Cooling

In order to improve the efficiency of film cooling, numerical investigation was carried out to study the effects of different film-cooled plates on surface heat transfer. Both grooved and non-grooved surfaces were concerned. The modeling was per- formed using Fluent software with the adoption of Shear-Stress Transport （SST） k-ωmodel as the turbulence closure. The coolant was supplied by a single film cooling hole with an inclination angle of 30°. The Mach numbers for the coolant flow and the mainstream flow were fixed at 0 and 0.6, respectively. At three blowing ratios of 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5, the aerodynamic behaviour of the mixing process as well as the heat transfer performance of the film cooling were presented. The numerical results were validated using experimental data extracted from a benchmark test. Good agreements between numerical results and the ex- perimental data were observed. For the film cooling efficiency, it shows that both local and laterally averaged cooling effectiveness can be improved by the non-smooth surface at different blowing ratios. Using the grooved surface, the turbulence intensity upon the plate can be reduced notably, and the mixing between the two flows is weakened due to the reduced turbu lence level. The results indicate that the cooling effectiveness of film cooling can be enhanced by applying the grooved surface.

Effect of elicitors, precursors and metabolic inhibitors on paclitaxel production by Taxus cuspidata cell culture

In this study, using Taxus cuspidata as a raw material, we obtained stable high-yielding cell lines by subculturing and quantified paclitaxel content using ultra- sonic extraction combined with TLC-UV spectrophotom- etry. In single factor and multiple factors tests to optimize design and study the effects of elicitors, precursors, and metabolic inhibitors on paclitaxel production by Taxus cuspidata cells, paclitaxel production reached 4.32 mg/L when 100 μmol/L methyl jasmonate, 20 mg/L salicylic acid, 400 mg/L phenylalanine and 2 mg/L gibberellin （GA3） were added to the culture medium of suspension cells. When adding metabolic adjustment factors on the 7th day of culture, extra- and intracellular paclitaxel production was the highest at 4.855 mg/L, paclitaxel release rate was 10.48 %, fresh mass and paclitaxel production of cell increased, respectively, by 6.08 and 11.57 %. By controlling the anabolism of paclitaxel, paclitaxel yield was significantly improved.

Bioinspired soft actuators with highly ordered skeletal muscle structures

Mammals such as humans develop skeletal muscles composed of muscle fibers and connective tissue,which have mechanical properties that enable power output with three-dimensional motion when activated.Artificial muscle-like actuators developed to date,such as the McKibben artificial muscle,often focus sole contractile elements and have rarely addressed the contribution of flexible connective tissue that forms an integral part of the structure and morphology of biological muscle.Herein,we present a class of pneumatic muscle-like actuators,termed highly mimetic skeletal muscle(HimiSK)actuator,that consist of parallelly arranged contractile units in a flexible matrix inspired by ultrasonic measurements on skeletal muscle.The contractile units act as a muscle fiber to produce active shortening force,and the flexible matrix functions as connective tissue to generate passive deformation.The application of positive pressure to the contractile units can produce a linear contraction and force.In this actuator,we assign different flexible materials as contractile units and a flexible matrix,thus forming five mold actuators.These actuators feature three-dimensional motion on activation and present both intrinsic force-velocity and force-length characteristics that closely resebmle those of a biological muscle.High output and tetanic force produced by harder contractile units improve the maximum output force by up to about 41.3%and the tetanic force by up to about 168%.Moreover,high displacement and velocity can be generated by a softer flexible matrix,with the improvement of maximum displacement up to about 33.3%and velocity up to about 73%.The results demonstrate that contractile units play a crucial role in force generation,while the flexible matrix has a significant impact on force transmission and deformation;the final force,velocity,displacement,and three-dimensional motion results from the interplay of contractile units,fluid and flexible matrix.Our approach introduces a model of the presented HimiSK actuators to better understand the mechanical behaviors,force generation,and transmission in bioinspired soft actuators,and highlights the importance of using flexible connective tissue to form a structure and configuration similar to that of skeletal muscle,which has potential usefulness in the design of effective artificial muscle.

Three-dimensional VOF simulation of droplet impacting on a superhydrophobic surface

It is very important to analyze and study the motion process of droplets impacting superhydrophobic surface, which is of great significanee to understand the mechanism of superhydrophobic surface and guide the design and manufacture of superhydrophobic surface. Taking by three-dimensional volume of fluid (VOF) simulation coupling coupled level set (CLS) algorithm, on the one hand, we simulate the morphological changes in the process of droplet impingement, as well as the internal velocity and the pressure distribution;on the other hand,we focus on the effects of droplet impact velocity, surface wettability, surface tension on the dynamics of the droplets. The CLSVOF model inherits the advantages of the VOF model for accurately constructing the phase interface and inherits the advantage that the level set can accurately calculate the surface tension, which improves the accuracy of the calculation of the droplet impact on the superhydrophobic surface. The computed results distinctly demonstrated there were four stages: falling, spreading, shrinking and rebounding. The time history of each stage agreed well with the pictures captured by high-speed camera, which indicated the computational fluid dynamics scheme was effective. Moreover, the motion mechanism of the droplets impacting on the solid surface is elaborated, which was helpful to control the solid-liquid interface to achieve a variety of solid interface characteristics.