Voit, Walter E.
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10735.1/4984
Walter Voit is an Associate Professor of Mecanical Engineering. He was a member of UTD's inaugural class of Eugene McDermott scholars in 2001 and finished his academic training with a PhD from Georgia Tech. He returned to UTD in 2010 as a member of the faculty. His research interests include:
- Shape memory polymers
- Polymer manufacturing
- Ionizing radiation
- Thermomechanical properties
- Biopolymer mechanics
Browse
Browsing Voit, Walter E. by Author "0000-0002-0603-6683 (Ecker, M)"
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
- Results Per Page
- Sort Options
Item Electrical Properties of Thiol-ene-Based Shape Memory Polymers Intended For Flexible Electronics(MDPI AG, 2019-05-17) Frewin, Christopher L.; Ecker, Melanie; Joshi-Imre, Alexandra; Kamgue, Jonathan; Waddell, Jeanneane; Danda, Vindhya Reddy; Stiller, Alison M.; Voit, Walter E.; Pancrazio, Joseph J.; 0000-0002-0603-6683 (Ecker, M); 0000-0002-4271-1623 (Joshi-Imre, A); 0000-0003-0135-0531 (Voit, WE); 0000-0001-8276-3690 (Pancrazio, JJ); Frewin, Christopher L.; Ecker, Melanie; Joshi-Imre, Alexandra; Kamgue, Jonathan; Waddell, Jeanneane; Danda, Vindhya Reddy; Stiller, Alison M.; Voit, Walter E.; Pancrazio, Joseph J.Thiol-ene/acrylate-based shape memory polymers (SMPs) with tunable mechanical and thermomechanical properties are promising substrate materials for flexible electronics applications. These UV-curable polymer compositions can easily be polymerized onto pre-fabricated electronic components and can be molded into desired geometries to provide a shape-changing behavior or a tunable softness. Alternatively, SMPs may be prepared as a flat substrate, and electronic circuitry may be built directly on top by thin film processing technologies. Whichever way the final structure is produced, the operation of electronic circuits will be influenced by the electrical and mechanical properties of the underlying (and sometimes also encapsulating) SMP substrate. Here, we present electronic properties, such as permittivity and resistivity of a typical SMP composition that has a low glass transition temperature (between 40 and 60 °C dependent on the curing process) in different thermomechanical states of polymer. We fabricated parallel plate capacitors from a previously reported SMP composition (fully softening (FS)-SMP) using two different curing processes, and then we determined the electrical properties of relative permittivity and resistivity below and above the glass transition temperature. Our data shows that the curing process influenced the electrical permittivity, but not the electrical resistivity. Corona-Kelvin metrology evaluated the quality of the surface of FS-SMP spun on the wafer. Overall, FS-SMP demonstrates resistivity appropriate for use as an insulating material. © 2019 by the authors.Item A Mosquito Inspired Strategy to Implant Microprobes into the Brain(Nature Publishing Group, 2018-11-05) Shoffstall, Andrew J.; Srinivasan, Suraj; Willis, Mitchell; Stiller, Allison M.; Ecker, Melanie; Voit, Walter E.; Pancrazio, Joseph J.; Capadona, Jeffrey R.; 0000-0002-0603-6683 (Ecker, M); 0000-0003-0135-0531 (Voit, WE); 0000-0001-8276-3690 (Pancrazio, JJ); Stiller, Allison M.; Ecker, Melanie; Voit, Walter E.; Pancrazio, Joseph J.Mosquitos are among the deadliest insects on the planet due to their ability to transmit diseases like malaria through their bite. In order to bite, a mosquito must insert a set of micro-sized needles through the skin to reach vascular structures. The mosquito uses a combination of mechanisms including an insertion guide to enable it to bite and feed off of larger animals. Here, we report on a biomimetic strategy inspired by the mosquito insertion guide to enable the implantation of intracortical microelectrodes into the brain. Next generation microelectrode designs leveraging ultra-small dimensions and/or flexible materials offer the promise of increased performance, but present difficulties in reliable implantation. With the biomimetic guide in place, the rate of successful microprobe insertion increased from 37.5% to 100% due to the rise in the critical buckling force of the microprobes by 3.8-fold. The prototype guides presented here provide a reproducible method to augment the insertion of small, flexible devices into the brain. In the future, similar approaches may be considered and applied to the insertion of other difficult to implant medical devices.