The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers Tokai Branch Award, Research Award

Award winner

TAMANO Shinji (Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Group)

MUTO Masakazu (Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Group)

MATSUDA Takeshi(Department of Engineering, at the time of research)

Award-winning research

Development of "Piezo-driven extensional rheometry," a method for measuring the extensional properties of water-based inkjet inks

Related Website of the winner

Complex Fluid Control Laboratory

Related Website

The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Tokai Branch

Outline

The Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers Tokai Branch Award for Research is presented to research groups that have contributed to the development of mechanical engineering through a series of research achievements.

In this study, we developed a new measurement technique called Piezo-driven extensional rheometry (DOD method) to evaluate the extensional properties of low-viscosity, dilute liquids. Conventional methods have made it difficult to accurately evaluate liquids with low viscosity and low elasticity. In this study, we focused on the fact that thin liquid threads are always produced when liquid is ejected from an inkjet head, and devised a unique DOD method that utilizes the inkjet ejection itself for measurement. This method demonstrates that it is possible to stably evaluate the extension characteristics of polymers even in dilute solutions, which have previously been difficult to measure. Furthermore, we demonstrated that this method allows for measurements down to lower concentrations compared to conventional methods. These achievements have high academic and social significance as foundational technologies supporting the advancement of inkjet technology and the development of environmentally friendly water-based inks, which led to this award.

This achievement was made possible by a grant from the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO).