![]() ![]() ![]() This was the key to finally successfully solving the challenge, thereby developing a new strategy for shaping fluids in a non-contact manner. “There was a creative leap at this point, as the team realised that electromagnetic induction could be used to control the liquid metal wires in a non-contact manner. However, our team found that a considerable electrical current (up to 70mA) could be measured in the resulting wires. “The liquid metal wires form by applying a small voltage (approximately 1 volt). Once the team started working on this topic, we realised that there is much more behind it,” said Wang. “There was an enjoyable element of discovery in this scientific process. Realizing highly controlled changes in directionality or complex shaping of liquids, especially without disrupting the cross-sectional shape of the stream, was the challenge for the team at UOW. To date, however, free-flowing liquid streams have been particularly difficult to manipulate in a non-contact manner. Previously developed non-contact technologies include acoustic manipulation and optical tweezers. Non-contact methods of manufacturing and manipulation can minimize the unwanted disturbance of objects being studied or manipulated. ![]() “The ability to control streams of liquid metals in a non-contact manner also enables new strategies for shaping electronically conductive fluids for advanced manufacturing and dynamic electronic structures” “The non-contact manipulation of liquid metal allows us to exploit and visualize electromagnetism in new ways,” said Yahua He, a PhD student at UOW and lead author of a paper on this work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The galinstan wires can be manipulated to move in a controlled path, and can even be suspended (against gravity) around the circumference of the applied magnetic field, assuming controlled, designed shapes. Wang is a node leader and theme leader at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET), and led the research team from UOW’s Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials within the Australian Institute for Innovative Materials. “Because these reactions require an electrical current passing through the wire, it becomes possible to apply a force to the wire via application of a magnetic field (ie, electromagnetic induction, the same mechanism as drives motion in an electric motor),” explained Xiaolin Wang from UOW. Under the application of a small ‘triggering’ voltage, this liquid metal becomes a wire, as a result of the voltage causing electrochemical oxidation that lowers the metal’s surface tension. The liquid metal is galinstan, an alloy of gallium, indium and tin, which favours the formation of droplets due to its high surface tension. Using just a small voltage and a magnet, they can move the metal in any direction and manipulate it to form unique, levitated shapes such as loops and squares. In a landmark discovery, researchers at the University of Wollongong (UOW) in Australia have realized the non-contact manipulation of liquid metal. ![]()
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