What is Thubber?

Progress in emerging domains like wearable computing, soft robotics, and biohybrid engineering depends on new classes of soft multifunctional materials that match the mechanical properties of soft biological tissue while having metal-like electrical and thermal properties. In our lab we developed on a new class of soft material in which we embed liquid inclusions of Gallium based alloy metals inside soft polymers. Since the inclusions are liquid-phase, their presence does not significantly change the mechanical properties of the host elastomer compared to other fillers, i.e. rigid inclusions. However, the high deformability of liquid inclusions would result in high rate of heat transfer in the composite. The thermally conductive rubber, Thubber be engineered to have thermal conductivity of 5 W/m.K < k < 10 W/m.K while being softer than skin (E < 100 kPa) and stretchable up to 6x its natural length.

Copyright © 2017 Navid Kazem

Last Update: 12/2017