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Abstract Standard laparoscopes, which are widely used in minimally invasive surgery, have significant handling limitations due to their rigid design. This paper presents an approach for a bending section for laparoscopes based on a standard semi-finished tube made of Nitinol with laser-cut flexure hinges. Flexure hinges simply created from a semi-finished product are a key element for realizing low-cost compliant structures with minimal design space. Superelastic materials such as Nitinol allow the reversible strain required for this purpose while maintaining sufficient strength in abuse load cases. This paper focuses on the development of a bending section for single use laparoscopic devices (OD 10 mm) with a bending angle of 100°, which enables the application of 100 µm diameter Nitinol actuator wires. For this purpose, constructive measures to realise a required bending curvature and Finite Element Analysis for determining the strain distribution in the flexural region are applied and described for the design of the flexure hinges. In parallel, the influence of the laser-based manufacturing process on the microstructure is investigated and evaluated using micrographs. The deformation behavior of the bending section is experimentally determined using Digital Image Correlation. The required actuation forces and the failure load of the monolithic bending section is measured and compared to a state of the art riveted bending section made of stainless steel. With the developed monolothic bending section the actuation force could be reduced by 50% and the available inner diameter could be increased by 10% while avoiding the need of any assembly step.

This experimental load control study presents results of an active trailing-edge flap feedforward controller for wind turbine applications. The controller input is derived from pressure-based lift estimation methods that rely either on a quasi-steady method, based on a three-hole probe, or on an unsteady method that is based on three selected surface pressure ports. Furthermore, a standard feedback controller, based on force balance measurements, is compared to the feedforward control. A Clark-Y airfoil is employed for the wing that is equipped with a trailing-edge flap of x/c=30% chordwise extension. Inflow disturbances are created by a two-dimensional active grid. The Reynolds number is Re=290 000, and reduced frequencies of k=0.07 up to k=0.32 are analyzed. Within the first part of the paper, the lift estimation methods are compared. The surface-pressure-based method shows generally more accurate results, whereas the three-hole probe estimate overpredicts the lift amplitudes with increasing frequencies. Nonetheless, employing the latter as input to the feedforward controller is more promising as a beneficial phase lead is introduced by this method. A successful load alleviation was achieved up to reduced frequencies of k=0.192.

This study reports a wet spinning method to spin composite micro-fibres of 2D liquid crystalline graphene oxide (GO) and exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets with very high MoS2 loading. The MoS2 dispersion was found to be isotropic irrespective of solvent type or solute concentration in the dispersion and thus found to be non-spinnable via wet spinning process. The liquid crystallinity of GO induces birefringence in the composite dispersion and enables the spinning of the composite dispersion containing high loading of MoS2 with great flexibility. We were able to spin composite microfibers with 69 wt% MoS2 loading for the first time. The resulting fibres were annealed at high temperature to produce flexible conductive rGO#MoS2 fibres. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman analysis strongly suggest homogeneous distribution of MoS2 throughout the fibres. Mechanical properties of the fibres were studied and maximum tensile strength (76.5 MPa) and Young's modulus (13.3 GPa) obtained with 10 wt% MoS2 loading. All solid-state flexible symmetric supercapacitor from these composite fibres was fabricated and the electrochemical performance was studied. The electrochemical study shows high areal capacitance of the produced composite fibres (as high as 282.6 mF cm−2) with good cycling stability (82.5% capacitance retention after 5000 cycles) that indicates high potential of these composite fibres as energy storage system for smart textile of the future.

To manufacture a high-performance structure made of continuous fiber reinforced plastics, Liquid Composite Molding processes are used, where a liquid resin infiltrates the dry fibers. For a good infiltration quality without dry spots, it is important to predict the resin flow correctly. Knowledge of the local permeability is an essential precondition for mold-filling simulations. In our approach, the intra-bundle permeability parallel and transverse to the fibers is characterized via periodic fluid dynamic simulations of micro-scale volume elements (VE). We evaluate and compare two approaches: First, an approach to generate VEs based on a statistical distribution of the fibers and fiber diameters. Second, an approach based on micrograph images of samples manufactured with Tailored Fiber Placement (TFP) using the measured fiber distribution. The micrograph images show a higher heterogeneity of the distribution than the statistically generated VEs, which is characterized by large resin areas. This heterogeneity leads to a significantly different permeability compared to the stochastic approach. In conclusion, a pure stochastic approach needs to contain the large heterogeneity of the fiber distribution to predict correct permeability values.

Additively manufactured polymer structures often exhibit strong anisotropies due to their layered composition. Although existing methods in additive manufacturing (AM) for improving the mechanical properties are available, they usually do not eliminate the high degree of structural anisotropy. Existing methods for continuous fiber (cF) reinforcement in AM can significantly increase the mechanical properties in the strand direction, but often do not improve the interlaminar strength between the layers. In addition, it is mostly not possible to deposit cFs three-dimensionally and curved (variable–axial) and, thus, in a path that is suitable for the load case requirements. There is a need for AM methods and design approaches that enable cF reinforcements in a variable–axial way, independently of the AM mounting direction. Therefore, a novel two-stage method is proposed in which the process steps of AM and cF integration are decoupled from each other. This study presents the development and validation of the method. It was first investigated at the specimen level, where a significant improvement in the mechanical properties was achieved compared to unreinforced polymer structures. The Young's modulus and tensile strength were increased by factors of 9.1 and 2.7, respectively. In addition, the design guidelines were derived based on sample structures, and the feasibility of the method was demonstrated on complex cantilevers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel hybrid manufacturing process that combines filament winding (FW) and tailored fiber placement (TFP) is introduced. The main idea is to place a TFP patch in between two filament wound layers aiming at maximizing the load transfer between the parts. To assess its feasibility, physical properties, such as density, fiber volume fraction and void content, and also the hybrid process kinematics and error propagation are evaluated. Furthermore, to determine the mechanical performance of this novel procedure, axial compression tests are carried out considering several unidirectional TFP patches. Key results show low-void content and good cross-section quality, demonstrating the feasibility of the process. In addition, mass–normalized load peaks as high as 394% with respect to the reference (non-patched) cylinder were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing representative volume elements with the finite element method is one method to calculate the local stress at the microscale of short fiber reinforced plastics. It can be shown with Monte-Carlo simulations that the stress distribution depends on the local arrangement of the fibers and is therefore unique for each fiber constellation. In this contribution the stress distribution and the effective composite properties are examined as a function of the considered volume of the representative volume elements. Moreover, the influence of locally varying fiber volume fraction is examined, using statistical volume elements. The results show that the average stress probability distribution is independent of the number of fibers and independent of local fluctuation of the fiber volume fraction. Furthermore, it is derived from the stress distributions that the statistical deviation of the effective composite properties should not be neglected in the case of injection molded components. A finite element analysis indicates that the macroscopic stresses and strains on component level are significantly influenced by local, statistical fluctuation of the composite properties.

The use of bioresorbable fracture fixation plates made of aliphatic polyesters have good potential due to good biocompatibility, reduced risk of stress-shielding, and eliminated need for plate removal. However, polyesters are ductile, and their handling properties are limited. We suggested an alternative, PLAMA (PolyLActide functionalized with diMethAcrylate), for the use as the matrix phase for the novel concept of the in situ curable bioresorbable load-bearing composite plate to reduce the limitations of conventional polyesters. The purpose was to obtain a preliminary understanding of the chemical and physical properties and the biological safety of PLAMA from the prospective of the novel concept. Modifications with different molecular masses (PLAMA-500 and PLAMA-1000) were synthesized. The efficiency of curing was assessed by the degree of convergence (DC). The mechanical properties were obtained by tensile test and thermomechanical analysis. The bioresorbability was investigated by immersion in simulated body fluid. The biocompatibility was studied in cell morphology and viability tests. PLAMA-500 showed better DC and mechanical properties, and slower bioresorbability than PLAMA-1000. Both did not prevent proliferation and normal morphological development of cells. We concluded that PLAMA-500 has potential for the use as the matrix material for bioresorbable load-bearing composite fracture fixation plates.

OBJECTIVES: Some epidemiological and animal data indicate that night work might increase the risk for breast cancer. We have investigated the risk in a German population-based case–control study known as GENICA (gene environment interaction and breast cancer). METHODS: The GENICA study involved interviews to assess shift work information in 857 breast cancer cases and 892 controls. We estimated risks of employment status and night shift characteristics using conditional logistic regression models, adjusting for potential confounders. Resampling and bootstrapping were applied to adjust the risk estimates for a potential selection bias. RESULTS: Among 1749 women, 56 cases and 57 controls worked in night shifts for ≥1 year, usually in the healthcare sector (63.0% of controls). Female night workers were more frequently nulliparous and low-educated than day workers (28.6% versus 17.8% and 12.3% versus 9.2%, respectively). Fewer women in night work had ever used post-menopausal hormone therapy (35.7% versus 51.9%). An elevated breast cancer risk was not associated with having ever done shift or night work when compared to women employed in day work only [odds ratio (OR) 0.96, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.67–1.38 and OR 0.91, 95% CI 0.55–1.49, respectively). Women who reported >807 night shifts, the third quartile of the distribution among controls, experienced a breast cancer risk of 1.73 (95% CI 0.71–4.22). Night work for ≥20 years was associated with an OR of 2.48 (95% CI 0.62–9.99) based on 12 cases and 5 controls. CONCLUSIONS: Long-term night work was associated with a modestly, but not significantly, increased breast cancer risk, while having ever done night work was not. The precision of the results was limited by a low prevalence of night work in this study population.