High throughput mechanical rapid serial property testing of materials libraries
View Patent ↗A library of materials is screened for mechanical properties such as strength, tack or other properties. A library of materials is provided. A stimulus such as a stress or force is provided to each member of the library. A response (e.g., a strain) of each of the materials due to the stimulus is measured and the response, the stimulus or both are recorded and related to provide data. Thereafter, the data is analyzed to reach conclusions regarding properties of the material samples.
1. A method for screening an array of materials for strength, comprising:
providing a library of at least four sample materiaIs on a single substrate wherein the substrate includes a plurality of an opposing pair of jaws members or a plurality of spaced apart support members;
applying one or more forces to each of the at least four sample materials with one or more probes wherein the one or more probes are moved by an automatic system for applying the one or more forces;
monitoring a response of each of the at least four sample materials to the one or more forces; and
correlating the response of each of the at least four sample materials to strength of each of the at least four sample materials.
2. A method as in claim 1 , further comprising lowering the temperature of the at least four sample materials prior to applying the one or more forces to the at least four sample materials.
3. A method as in claim 1 , further comprising raising the temperature of the at least four sample materials prior to applying the one or more forces to the at least four sample materials.
4. A method as in claim 1 , wherein a first of said one or more forces is applied to a first of the at least four sample materials no more than five minutes previous to applying a second of said one or more forces to a second of the at least four sample materials.
5. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said library includes at least 16 different sample materials.
6. A method as in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the at least four sample materials is a polymeric material.
7. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the one or more forces place a tensile stress upon each of the at least four sample materials.
8. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the one or more forces places a compressive stress upon each of the at least four sample materials.
9. A method as in claim 1 , wherein thq one or more forces places a shear stress upon each of the at least four sample materials.
10. A method as in claims 1 , wherein the at least four sample materials are tested to determine failure strength.
11. A method as in claim 1 , wherein each of the at least four sample materials is a plastic material.
12. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said library includes at least 16 different materials, each attached to a single substrate and wherein the throughput rate of testing the at least 16 different materials is no greater than 10 minutes per material.
13. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said automatic system includes a robot arm.
14. A method as in claim 1 , wherein said response of said at least four sample materials is a deformation of each of the at least four sample materials.
15. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the one or more forces cause a predetermined deformation from an original predetermined configuration of the each of the at least four sample materials and wherein the response of the each of the at least four sample materials is a force exhibited by the each of the at least four sample materials in an effort to return to the original predetermined configuration of the each of the at least four sample materials.
16. A method as in claim 1 , wherein the strength of the each of the at least four sample materials is failure strength.
17. A method for measuring strength of a plurality of sample materials, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a library comprising at least four different sample materials on a single substrate wherein the substrate includes a plurality of an opposing pair of jaws members or a plurality of spaced apart support members; and
serially measuring the strength of each of the at least four different sample materials at a throughput rate no greater than about 5 minutes per sample material.
18. A claim as in claim 17 , wherein the library includes at least 8 different sample materials.
19. A claim as in claim 17 , wherein the library includes at least 16 different sample materials.
20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the strength of the at least four sample materials is measured at an average sample throughput of not more than about 2 minutes per sample material.
21. The method of claim 17 , wherein the library comprises at least 8 sample materials and at least about 50% of the at least 8 sample materials are different from each other.
22. The method of claim 17 , wherein the library comprises at least 16 sample materials and at least 75% of the at least 16 sample materials are different from each other.
23. The method of claim 17 , wherein the at least four sample materials are members of a combinatorial library of polymerization product mixtures.
24. A method for screening an array of materials for strength, comprising:
providing a library of at least 16 sample materials wherein each of the at least 16 sample materials is physically attached to a single substrate wherein the substrate includes a plurality of an opposing pair of jaws members or a plurality of spaced apart support members;
applying one or more forces to each of the at least 16 sample materials by contacting the each of the at least 16 sample materials with one or more probes wherein the one or more probes are moved by robot arm for applying the one or more forces and wherein the one or more forces cause at least partial deformation of the each of the at least 16 sample materials and wherein a first force of the one or more forces is applied to a first sample material of the at least 16 sample materials no more than 8 minutes prior to applying a second force of the one or more forces to a second sample material of the at least 16 sample materials;
monitoring a response of the each of the at least 16 sample materials in response to the one or more forces with one or more transducers wherein the response of the each of the at least 16 sample materials is selected from the group consisting of a force exhibited by the at least 16 sample materials and a deformation of the at least 16 sample material;
monitoring the one or more forces with one or more load cells to determine magnitudes of the one or more forces that are applied to at least 16 sample materials;
correlating the deformation of the each of the at least 16 sample materials and the magnitudes of the one or more forces to strengths of the each of the at least 16 sample materials; and
ranking the strengths of the each of the at least 16 sample materials relative to each other.