Research
Photo taken by: A. Price (SAPL)
Discovering new smart materials to enable innovative mechatronic systems.
Organic Mechatronics & Smart Materials Laboratory
- Smart Material Actuators and Sensors
- Mechatronic Systems for Industrial Automation and Biomedical Applications
- Additive Manufacturing of Advanced Materials
- Conductive Electroactive Polymers and Composites
- Magnetic and Thermal Shape Memory Materials
- Advanced Biomedical Technologies for Better Health
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Active Research Programs
3D Printing Technologies for the Fabrication of Nanoscale Actuator Arrays
This Research Program is funded through the NSERC Discovery Grants Program, and aims to discover and develop the knowledge and innovative new tools required to fabricate conductive polymer actuator arrays with complex details on a nanometer scale by means of specially developed 3D printing technologies.
Current Research Activities
Extruder design for fused filament fabrication of polyaniline blends
MESc Candidate
Ben Holness explores direct ink writing processes for the creation of novel 3D polyaniline electrochemically active structures by means of paste extrusion equipped delta robotics.
Embedded smart-polymer sensor arrays for smart orthopaedic implants
MESc Candidate
Carolina Micolini is co-supervised by
Dr. J. Johnson in Western's Biomedical Engineering program, in conjunction with Western's strategic Cluster of Research Excellence in Musculoskeletal Health and the
Bone and Joint Institute.
Radiation curing processes for the fabrication of 3D polypyrrole transducers
MESc Candidate
Andrew Cullen is investigating laser stereolithography techniques to fabricate 3D polypyrrole components for use as smart sensors and actuators using UV curing methods.
Mechatronic systems for the additive manufacturing of smart materials
NSERC USRA recipient
Robert Meagher is developing additive manufacturing technologies required to implement direct ink writing processes for smart polymers.
Investigation of embedded conductive polymer sensors for biomedical applications
Science Without Borders participant
Flavia Rodrigues Gabriel designs and fabricates complex polymeric components with embedded conductive polymer sensor arrays for the characterization of internal stress distributions within orthopaedic implants.
Development of smart 3D printed extracellular matrix scaffolds
Research Assistant
Kevin McLean is exploring 3D printing techniques for the manufacturing of extracellular matrix scaffolds from polypyrrole and a decellularized adipose tissue biomaterial for active scaffolds that simulate natural cell environments.
Finite element analysis of stacked dielectric elastomers
MEng Candidate
Jiajun Chen is simulating the dynamic performance of electro-viscoelastic elastomers by means user-defined material property subroutines integrated in ABAQUS.
Fabrication of multilayer polypyrrole actuators via electrochemical polymerization
MEng volunteer Aman Jowaheer recently graduated from Western's Mechanical Engineering graduate professional program and is currently investigating the fabrication of polypyrrole actuators for smart applications.
Active polymer mechano-transduction platforms for stem cell differentiation
MEng candidate Scott Gregus is exploring the feasibility of integrating low-voltage active polymer actuators within mechanotransduction platforms for the study of stem cell differentiation through non-invasive monitoring.
Lab Alumni
2016 Champion: Ben Holness, Photo: Tin Cup
2016 OMASML summer social mini-putting event
All past and present members of the Organic Mechatronics and Smart Materials Laboratory are invited to join our LinkedIn Group.
Current MEng Project Opportunities
P1: Design of a retrofitted centrifuge motor controller for phase separation in gels
P2: Chemical synthesis of conductive conjugated polymers
P3: Electropolymerization of conjugated polymer actuators
P4: Multiphysics finite element model of an instrumented biomedical implant
P5: Synthesis of carbon-based nanomaterials (co-supervised with
Dr. Sun)
P6: Feasibility Study of 3D Printed Batteries (co-supervised with
Dr. Sun)
