Measurements of Young’s Modulus of Microgel Aggregate Assembled by Relative diamagnetic Assembly.

Abstract

In the field of soft robotics, which focuses on the physical flexibility of biological systems, hydrogels with high water content have been applied as a material for soft robotics because of their elasticity and light weight. Conventionally, lightcuring resins used for three-dimensional modeling of hydrogels have been considered problematic due to their high toxicity to living bodies. We fabricate three-dimensional objects by aggregating microgels made of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAm), which has high biocompatibility, by relative diamagnetic assembly and electrostatic attraction. This paper reports Young's moduli of microgel aggregation measured by performing indentation tests on the aggregates using a micro force sensor. When the microgel aggregation were subjected to repeated heating and cooling, the aggregation shrank and its Young's moduli increased. In addition, we will simulate the deformation of the aggregate using Young's modulus. The deformation of the aggregation by laser heating is applied to actuators for grasping micro objects in microdevices.