Materials Student Nominated for Best Poster
BEST POSTER PRESENTATIONS RECOGNIZED AT THE 2004 MRS FALL MEETING
Poster sessions are an important and integral part of MRS meetings, allowing many more authors the opportunity to share their research and ideas with others. Because the quality of poster sessions is a major priority of the Society, 2004 Fall Meeting Chairs recognized the best presentations at the four evening poster sessions held in the Hynes Convention Center, held from November 29 – December 2. Elizabeth’s nomination recognizes her hard work in presenting her research ideas with other materials researchers.
Project Information
Spatially Dependent Mechanical Properties of Rat Whiskers for Tactile Sensing, Elizabeth K. Herzog2,1, David F. Bahr1, Cecilia D. Richards1, Robert F. Richards1 and David M. Rector3; 1Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington; 2Materials Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana; 3Veterinary and Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology, and Physiology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington.
Abstract
A new generation of sensors based on biologically inspired whisking action will help determine the presence and location of solid objects and fluid vortices similar to mechanisms used by whisker bearing animals such as rats and seals. A key to this system is the mechanical response of the whiskers to applied forces, which will be impacted by the elastic properties of these biologically inspired structures. To determine the effectiveness of biological whisking structures the elastic, viscoelastic, and plastic properties of whiskers from laboratory rats were determined. By using dynamic nanoindentation, we demonstrate that mechanical properties are essentially uniform by cross section over an entire whisker, but vary longitudinally from the whisker base (a 3.9 GPa elastic modulus) to the tip (a 3.1 GPa elastic modulus). Several recent studies show propagation of high frequency information through whiskers that are tuned by their physical properties, and have measured an average elastic response of approximately 3.5 GPa. In order to fully understand and model these properties, this study demonstrates the need for a more complex whisker structure than previously assumed.