skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Additive Manufacturing of Compensator Devices for Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy is a powerful and effective treatment which targets malignant tumors. Thus, improvements in radiation therapy devices such as compensators can have an immediate impact on the treatment of cancer patients. This paper investigates the design and manufacturing of customized radiation modulation devices. This research proposes a thin-walled device design that can use recyclable fillable media such as water. This approach has several advantages including localized radiation exposure, eco-friendly design, and lower fabrication costs. The Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technique was used to develop a hollow bottle-like electron bolus with higher precision (μm resolution). The radiation modulation properties of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and polycarbonate (PC) materials were investigated. The compensator devices were subjected to high radiation doses and mechanical loads to check for dimensional deformations which can impact subsequent radiation profiles. Our findings showed that both ABS and PC materials had superior radiation tolerance as evaluated by the dimensional deviation analysis. Further, the devices had adequate mechanical properties as confirmed by deformation tests and finite element analysis. This paper provides a framework for the design and manufacture of custom compensators for radiation therapy.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1663128
PAR ID:
10197265
Author(s) / Creator(s):
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the 2020 IISE Annual Conference
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ; (, American Society of Mechanical Engineers)
    Abstract Minimally invasive endovascular therapy (MIET) is an innovative technique that utilizes percutaneous access and transcatheter implantation of medical devices to treat vascular diseases. However, conventional devices often face limitations such as incomplete or suboptimal treatment, leading to issues like recanalization in brain aneurysms, endoleaks in aortic aneurysms, and paravalvular leaks in cardiac valves. In this study, we introduce a new metastructure design for MIET employing re-entrant honeycomb structures with negative Poisson’s ratio (NPR), which are initially designed through topology optimization and subsequently mapped onto a cylindrical surface. Using ferromagnetic soft materials, we developed structures with adjustable mechanical properties called magnetically activated structures (MAS). These magnetically activated structures can change shape under noninvasive magnetic fields, letting them fit against blood vessel walls to fix leaks or movement issues. The soft ferromagnetic materials allow the stent design to be remotely controlled, changed, and rearranged using external magnetic fields. This offers accurate control over stent placement and positioning inside blood vessels. We performed magneto-mechanical simulations to evaluate the proposed design’s performance. Experimental tests were conducted on prototype beams to assess their bending and torsional responses to external magnetic fields. The simulation results were compared with experimental data to determine the accuracy of the magneto-mechanical simulation model for ferromagnetic soft materials. After validating the model, it was used to analyze the deformation behavior of the plane matrix and cylindrical structure designs of the Negative Poisson’s Ratio (NPR) metamaterial. The results indicate that the plane matrix NPR metamaterial design exhibits concurrent vertical and horizontal expansion when subjected to an external magnetic field. In contrast, the cylindrical structure demonstrates simultaneous axial and radial expansion under the same conditions. The preliminary findings demonstrate the considerable potential and practicality of the proposed methodology in the development of magnetically activated MIET devices, which offer biocompatibility, a diminished risk of adverse reactions, and enhanced therapeutic outcomes. Integrating ferromagnetic soft materials into mechanical metastructures unlocks promising opportunities for designing stents with adjustable mechanical properties, propelling the field towards more sophisticated minimally invasive vascular interventions. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; (, Journal of Electronic Packaging)
    Abstract Structural components such as printed circuit boards (PCBs) are critical in the thermomechanical reliability assessment of electronic packages. Previous studies have shown that geometric parameters such as thickness and mechanical properties like elastic modulus of PCBs have direct influence on the reliability of electronic packages. Elastic material properties of PCBs are commonly characterized using equipment such as tensile testers and used in computational studies. However, in certain applications viscoelastic material properties are important. Viscoelastic influence on materials is evident when one exceeds the glass transition temperature of materials. Operating conditions or manufacturing conditions such as lamination and soldering may expose components to temperatures that exceed the glass transition temperatures. Knowing the viscoelastic behavior of the different components of electronic packages is important in order to perform accurate reliability assessment and design components such as printed circuit boards (PCBs) that will remain dimensionally stable after the manufacturing process. Previous researchers have used creep and stress relaxation test data to obtain the Prony series terms that represent the viscoelastic behavior and perform analysis. Others have used dynamic mechanical analysis in order to obtain frequency domain master curves that were converted to time domain before obtaining the Prony series terms. In this paper, nonlinear solvers were used on frequency domain master curve results from dynamic mechanical analysis to obtain Prony series terms and perform finite element analysis on the impact of adding viscoelastic properties when performing reliability assessment. The computational study results were used to perform comparative assessment to understand the impact of including viscoelastic behavior in reliability analysis under thermal cycling and drop testing for Wafer Level Chip Scale Packages. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; (, Gels)
    Gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogels have been used in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine because of their biocompatibility, photopatternability, printability, and tunable mechanical and rheological properties. However, low mechanical strength limits their applications in controlled drug release, non-viral gene therapy, and tissue and disease modeling. In this work, a dual crosslinking method for GelMA is introduced. First, photolithography was used to pattern the gels through the crosslinking of methacrylate incorporated amine groups of GelMA. Second, a microbial transglutaminase (mTGase) solution was introduced in order to enzymatically crosslink the photopatterned gels by initiating a chemical reaction between the glutamine and lysine groups of the GelMA hydrogel. The results showed that dual crosslinking improved the stiffness and rheological properties of the hydrogels without affecting cell viability, when compared to single crosslinking with either ultraviolet (UV) exposure or mTGase treatment. Our results also demonstrate that when treated with mTGase, hydrogels show decreased swelling properties and better preservation of photolithographically patterned shapes. Similar effects were observed when three dimensional (3D) printed and photocrosslinked substrates were treated with mTGase. Such dual crosslinking methods can be used to improve the mechanical properties and pattern fidelity of GelMA gels, as well as dynamic control of the stiffness of tissue engineered constructs. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; (, Advanced Materials Technologies)
    Abstract Biocompatible and nanoscale devices for biological modulation of cells and tissues possess the potential for tremendous impact on medical and industrial technologies. Typical medical devices and therapies tend to be macroscale, comprised of nonbiocompatible materials, and broadly targeted, resulting in imprecise treatments and adverse effects such as chronic immune response and tissue damage. The development of nanoenabled and biocompatible technologies—ranging from biodegradable nanoparticles for localized drug delivery to transient electronic devices for stimulation therapy to engineered biofilms with applications to nanomedicine—will continue to enable the advent of personalized medicine and precision therapies. In this review, recent research into this frontier is reviewed, first analyzing the synthesis of nanoenabled and biocompatible technologies and then presenting significant considerations regarding the development of such materials. Lastly, the latest advancements in biocompatible, nanoenabled devices are examined, followed by a discussion of the direction of future research in the field. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; (, Advanced Materials Technologies)
    Abstract Radiative cooling has been recently intensively explored for thermal management and enhancing energy efficiency. Yet, traditional materials with singular emissivity fall short in dynamic thermal management, highlighting the need for materials that can adjust their thermal radiation in real time. Active modulation methods, requiring external stimuli such as mechanical stretch, electric potential, or humidity change, offer adaptability but can increase energy use and complexity. Passive approaches, using materials' inherent thermal‐responsive properties, face manufacturing and scalability challenges. Here, a scalable yet effective passive approach is introduced for adaptive thermal modulation based on gold (Au) and liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) with a reversible response to environmental temperature changes. This modulator enables a “low thermal resistance” state through actuation‐induced microcracks that expose a high‐emissivity polymer substrate, and a “high thermal resistance” state by closing these microcracks and forming a high thermal resistance air gap between the modulator and the target object. The flexible design and fixed external dimensions of the Au‐LCE thermal modulator make it adaptable to various surface geometries. Furthermore, by adjusting the LCE's chemical composition, the modulator's transition temperature can be tailored, broadening its applications from enhancing building energy efficiency to improving clothing thermal comfort. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email