The Advanced Pore Morphology (APM) process, a new method for production of aluminum foam-polymer hybrid materials, is described. Small volume aluminum foam spheres are produced first and then adhesively joined in a separate process step to realize an APM foam part. Detailed information on mechanical properties of this new hybrid material is given. Results of uniaxial and hydrostatic compression tests are summarized and evaluated to show how typical parameters characterizing material and process such as spatial arrangement, size and density of the foam elements influence the global properties. Two levels of the hierarchical architecture of the material are evaluated-namely the individual foam spheres and the hybrid structure. Variation of adhesives and adhesive coating thickness used in bonding the spheres in conjunction with study of unbonded specimens provides additional insight in the influence of this bond. First estimates on density dependence of mechanical properties are derived from the experimental data. Distinctive differences between APM and conventional aluminum foams are qualitatively explained. Throughout the study, AlSi7 aluminum foam produced from chemically identical precursor material according to the powder metallurgical FOAMINAL® process is included as reference material. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

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The work described in this paper demonstrates that very small protein and DNA structures can be applied to various substrates without denaturation using aerosol printing technology. This technology allows high-resolution deposition of various nanoscaled metal and biological suspensions. Before printing, metal and biological suspensions were formulated and then nebulized to form an aerosol which is aerodynamically focused on the printing module of the system in order to achieve precise structuring of the nanoscale material on a substrate. In this way, it is possible to focus the aerosol stream at a distance of about 5 mm from the printhead to the surface. This technology is useful for printing fluorescence-marked proteins and printing enzymes without affecting their biological activity. Furthermore, higher molecular weight DNA can be printed without shearing. The advantages, such as printing on complex, non-planar 3D structured surfaces, and disadvantages of the aerosol printing technology are also discussed and are compared with other printing technologies. In addition, miniaturized sensor structures with line thicknesses in the range of a few micrometers are fabricated by applying a silver sensor structure to glass. After sintering using an integrated laser or in an oven process, electrical conductivity is achieved within the sensor structure. Finally, we printed BSA in small micrometre-sized areas within the sensor structure using the same deposition system. The aerosol printing technology combined with material development offers great advantages for future-oriented applications involving biological surface functionalization on small areas. This is important for innovative biomedical micro-device development and for production solutions which bridge the disciplines of biology and electronics.

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