{"362071":{"#nid":"362071","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Vladimir V. Tsukruk: Looking at Contact Lenses With  New Set of Eyes","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EContact lenses have to fulfil a number of contradictory functions while remaining optically clear \u2013 they need to be flexible enough to make them comfortable, but must also maintain their shape in saline conditions. Current mechanical characterisation of lens materials is based solely on tensile tests, which measure only the \u003Cem\u003Eaveraged\u003C\/em\u003E elastic modulus of the entire lens. With coatings and wetting agents widely used in the latest multiphase lenses, it is becoming increasingly important to measure the \u003Cem\u003Elocal\u003C\/em\u003E mechanical properties of these materials.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELed by Vladimir V. Tsukruk, Georgia Tech engineers turned to AFM-based surface force spectroscopy (SFS) to characterise the micromechanical properties of commercial contact lenses at the nanoscale. This technique has been used to study surface topography, friction, and protein absorption in contact lens materials and in eye tissue, but the paper from Tsukruk (\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.materialstoday.com\/polymers-soft-materials\/news\/mechanical-properties-of-contact-lenses\/\u0022 target=\u0022_self\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EPolymer \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E55 \u003C\/strong\u003E(2014)\u0026nbsp;6091\u20136101\u003C\/a\u003E [DOI: 10.1016\/j.polymer.2014.09.053]) is the first to probe the surface mechanical properties in wet conditions. The team\u2019s technique combined two AFM modes - high frequency (tapping mode) measurements, which provide high resolution maps of topography and mechanical properties, and static (force volume) nanoindentation, which utilises tip sample interactions to accurately calculate mechanical properties.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.materialstoday.com\/polymers-soft-materials\/news\/mechanical-properties-of-contact-lenses\/\u0022\u003ERead more about the research here.\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A team from Georgia Tech have measured the mechanical properties of soft contact lenses under practical conditions using an atomic force microscope (AFM)."}],"uid":"27863","created_gmt":"2015-01-08 13:18:11","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:50","author":"Christa Ernst","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-01-08T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2015-01-08T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"362061":{"id":"362061","type":"image","title":"Tsukruk in Lab","body":null,"created":"1449245782","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:16:22","changed":"1475895098","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:38","alt":"Tsukruk in Lab","file":{"fid":"202081","name":"tsykruk.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tsykruk_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tsykruk_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":349933,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tsykruk_0.jpg?itok=BW-LY-RT"}}},"media_ids":["362061"],"groups":[{"id":"1271","name":"NanoTECH"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"42941","name":"Art Research"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"113871","name":"contact lenses"},{"id":"12701","name":"Institute for Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"113861","name":"nanoscale properties"},{"id":"169695","name":"surface force spectroscopy"},{"id":"8239","name":"Vladimir Tsukruk"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39451","name":"Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"39471","name":"Materials"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}