Investigation of ablation characteristics for microrobotic materials using laser machining

Abstract

Microrobotic devices have been widely investigated as promising alternatives to convent biomedical technologies. By utilizing magnetic materials, microrobotic devices can be wirelessly manipulated by external magnetic fields without the use of additional power transfer units or batteries. Thus, the overall structures of the microrobotic devices can be effectively minimized to be applied for the human body. To manipulate the devices, various methods such as a magnetic force-based pulling method, cilia-like beating method, and helical propulsion method have been proposed. Conventional helical microrobotic devices have generally been manufactured by using three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies. These technologies are useful when manufacturing spatially complex structures such as the helical structures. However, due to the limitations of the extrusion and lamination processes, microrobotic devices can be constructed with low degree of precision and can have poor surface roughness under the 3D printing technologies. This may cause undesirable damages to the human body tissues. Furthermore, 3D printing requires long processing time due to post-processing to remove unwanted body parts. To improve surface quality and shorten processing time, this research uses laser machining technology. Before directly applying laser machining to fabricate helical microrobotic devices, laser ablation characteristics on Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), which is a common material used for 3D printing, are investigated.Microrobotic devices have been widely investigated as promising alternatives to convent biomedical technologies. By utilizing magnetic materials, microrobotic devices can be wirelessly manipulated by external magnetic fields without the use of additional power transfer units or batteries. Thus, the overall structures of the microrobotic devices can be effectively minimized to be applied for the human body. To manipulate the devices, various methods such as a magnetic force-based pulling method, cilia-like beating method, and helical propulsion method have been proposed. Conventional helical microrobotic devices have generally been manufactured by using three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies. These technologies are useful when manufacturing spatially complex structures such as the helical structures. However, due to the limitations of the extrusion and lamination processes, microrobotic devices can be constructed with low degree of precision and can have poor surface roughness under the 3D printing t...