Additive manufacturing methods for fabricating synthetic Hagfish skeins

Hagfish, a type of eel-like fish that live near the bottom of the ocean, possess a unique self-defense mechanism. Hagfish release a rapidly deploying slime that clogs the gills of their predators. The slime is composed of both mucus and "skeins", which are long continuous fibers arranged in compact bundles. This thesis discusses the manufacturing of synthetic skeins, which have many defense applications including naval defense, firefighting, instant coagulation, and more. A model for synthetic skeins is defined and two manufacturing methods, 2-Photon Lithography (2-PL) and Embedded 3D Printing are discussed and evaluated. 2PL was performed on a Nanoscribe Photonic Professional GT2 with a new resin, IP-PDMS. A printing process was developed, optimize, and used to print preliminary skeins. Challenges and limitations of this additive manufacturing process for synthetic hagfish skeins is discussed. A custom Embedded 3D Printer was designed and built to use solvent exchange as a novel curing method. The solvent exchange mechanism, which allows for printing smaller diameters than any other method in the literature, is explained. Compact synthetic hagfish skeins with an expansion ratio of 1:1,000 were successfully printed and fiber diameters under 3 μm were achieved. Other capabilities for this printer system are also discussed. A library of printable materials via solvent exchange, prototype composites, and a method for manufacturing hairs are presented. Specific tasks for future work are also described.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Mechanical Engineering

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2023

Author dc:creator

• Siu, Ryan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Tawfick, Sameh

• Additive Manufacturing

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2023 Ryan Siu

Language dc:language

en, eng

Handle dc:identifier

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/120593

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F120593