Indium Gallium liquid metal flexible sensor

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Thank you, lab tech Ian Fraser, for building this awesome liquid metal flexible sensor for our students.

Materials Science Lesson:

Did you know that most strain gauges are made of solid metal? However, due to the lack of ductility in the metal, strain gauges only operate at relatively small strains.
Furthermore, did you know that indium (In) has a melting point of 157°C, and gallium (Ga) has a melting point of 30°C? When these two solid metals are combined, they form eutectic alloys with a melting point of only 15°C, resulting in them becoming liquid metals at room temperature.
Here in our materials science course at the U. of Victoria, we injected these liquid In-Ga eutectic alloys into microfluidic channels within a flexible polymer (PDMS). We then measured the resistance between the two electrodes. When pressure is applied to this sensor, the length and cross-section of the channel change, which, in turn, affects the resistance of the device.

#materialsscience #materialseducation #metallurgy #experientiallearning #gramifylearning #microfluidic #mems

@UVic