Presenters: Clark Roubicek
Authors: Bethany Parkinson, Clark Roubicek
Faculty Advisor: Larry Howell
Institution: Brigham Young University
Recently, resorbable materials have found everyday use in areas of science, medicine,and engineering. In most cases, the function of the resorbable material is to completely dissolve away, as is the case with resorbable sutures and quick release pills. However, resorbable materials have yet to be used as means of actuating mechanical systems. We prove that this is possible and has the potential to provide distinct advantagesin certain situations. In order to understand the potential use of resorbable materials in engineering design, two fundamental principles must be defined. The first is the feasibility of using resorbable materials as a means of actuating mechanical systems. The second is whether these materials result in predictable, repeatable actuation. We propose using resorbable materials to actuate mechanical systems and show the possibility of this actuation using several prototypes. These prototypes portray both gradual anddelayed,instantaneous actuation of a mechanicalsystem. We create several different mechanisms to show how resorbable materials can used under different loading schemes. We also include a list of potential resorbable-material-actuated mechanisms and their applications in various fields of work. We conclude that resorbable materials are controllable and customizable, and can offer a unique method of actuation for a variety of different mechanisms. We present force vs. displacement data of the mechanisms and dissolution vs. time plots for the resorbable materials. Additionally, in order to aid others in designing mechanisms via resorbable materials, we propose a set of parameters that affect the resorption time and failure methods.