Soft Bijel X-ray CT test

X-ray CT image stacks, can be opened with ImageJ.
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Bijels are a relatively novel class of soft material, with potential applications in microfluidics, catalysis and tissue engineering. They consist of two continuous, interlocking channels of immiscible liquids, stabilised by a layer of jammed microparticles in between. Bijels are a true Edinburgh material: they were predicted by simulations in Edinburgh in 2005, experimentally realised in Edinburgh in 2007, and we have recently started to characterize their intriguing mechanical properties. One such property is the bijel's Poisson ratio, i.e. if a bijel is compressed along the z-axis, how much does it expand along the x and y axes. Simulations suggest that bijels may well have a Poisson ratio of 0, i.e. they do not expand in x and y when compressed along z.
This project aims to experimentally determine the Poisson ratio of materials with a bijel structure. Fortunately, the Poisson ratio is dimensionless and can thus be investigated at any length scale. We have already characterized the bijel structure at the micron scale using X-ray CT and the 3D data has been scaled to allow 3D printing at the mm scale. This allows us to easily change the softness of the channel materials and the volume ratio between the channels. The student will subject various 3D printed bijel structures to uniaxial compression, while measuring the axial stress and simultaneously imaging the bijel from the side using a camera.