The Fluid Mechanics for Functional Material team creates new materials from scratch. Here, droplets or particles are used as "building blocks" that add functionality to 3D-printed pieces in programmable shapes.
Our research focuses on creating the right building blocks and stacking them into the right shape, for example by understanding and controlling the impact of micro-scale droplets [1,2]. Together with collaborators, this strategy has advanced multi-scale tissue engineering [3], rapid fabrication of complex particles for chemical reactions [3,4], and 3D printed micro-sensors in gold and platinum [5,6].
Upcoming projects will focus on aero-acoustic materials, thin-film flows, and foams. These projects are pursued in close collaboration with experts who have deep knowledge of the application field, either at the University of Twente, in companies or with (inter)national collaborators.
[1] Visser, C.W., Frommhold, P., Mettin, R., Wildeman, S., Sun, C., & Lohse, D. (2015) “Dynamics of high-speed micro-drop impact: numerical simulations and experiments at frame-to-frame times below 100 ns.” Soft Matter, 11: 1708-1722
[2] Wildeman, S., Visser, C.W., Sun, C. & Lohse, D. (2016) “On the spreading of impacting drops”, Journal of Fluid Mechanics 805: 636-655.
[3] Visser, C.W., Kamperman, T., Karbaat, L.P., Lohse, D., Karperien, M. (2018), “In-air microfluidics enables rapid fabrication of emulsions, suspensions, and 3D modular (bio)materials”, Science Advances 4(1):eaao1175
[4] Kamperman, T., Trikalitis, V.D., Karperien, M., Visser, C.W., Leijten, J. (2018), “Ultrahigh-Throughput Production of Monodisperse and Multifunctional Janus Microparticles Using in-Air Microfluidics”, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
[5] Visser, C.W., Pohl, R., Romer, G.R.B.E., Sun, C., Huis in ‘t Veld, A.J., & Lohse, D. (2015) “Towards 3D printing of pure metals by picosecond laser-induced forward transfer.” Advanced Materials 27(27):4103-4108
[6] Luo, J., Pohl, R. Ma, Q., R¨omer, G.R.B.E., Sun, C., Lohse, D., Visser, C.W., (2017), “Printing functional 3D micro-devices by laser-induced forward transfer”, Small 1602553