07/19/2021
By Sokny Long

The University of Massachusetts Lowell, Department of Plastics Engineering, invites you to attend a doctoral dissertation defense by Shruti Deshmukh on “Manufacturing of Flexible Thermoplastic and Stretchable Elastomeric Dielectric Substrates for Printed Electronics.”

Ph.D. Candidate: Shruti Deshmukh
Defense Date: Wednesday, July 28, 2021
Time: 1:30 to 3.30 p.m. EST
Location: This will be a virtual defense via Zoom. Those interested in attending should contact Shruti_Deshmukh@student.uml.edu and committee advisor, Joey_Mead@uml.edu, at least 24 hours prior to the defense to request access to the meeting.

Committee Chair (Advisor): Joey Mead, Interim Associate Dean, College of Engineering, University Professor, UMass Lowell

Committee Members:

  • Carol Barry, Department Chair and Professor, Plastics Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Alireza Amirkhizi, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Erin Keaney, Research Scientist, Plastics Engineering, UMass Lowell
  • Mary Herndon, Co-Director, RURI, Advanced Materials Laboratory, Raytheon

Brief Abstract:
Flexible and stretchable electronics are an emerging technology for next-generation electronic systems due to their ability to be thin, while having excellent mechanical conformability through bending, stretching, flexing, twisting, and folding. Their lightweight, robust design and low cost of production lead to a wide variety of applications such as antennas, RF devices, wearable electronics, stretchable artificial skin, medical biodevices, and smart textiles. The focus of this dissertation is to develop a method for manufacturing novel, flexible, and stretchable substrates with enhanced dielectric properties. This is achieved by incorporating a ferroelectric filler into the base material making the substrate novel compared to current commercially available polymer and elastomers substrates. The biggest challenge in this work is to incorporate high filler loading and maintain the mechanical and material properties. A high level of filler also makes the manufacturing process more difficult. The thesis addresses and investigates the difficulties in substrate manufacturing, optimization of filler, analysis of mechanical and electrical properties of substrates.

All interested students and faculty members are invited to attend the online defense via remote access.