Week 8:

     This week, we created a housing to hold the load cell for testing.  Using this new housing, we tested the load cell using weights.  We did this to get a line of best fit for voltage outputs vs. force.  Below are the results of the testing.

Mass (grams)	Force	Volts (in mV)
0	0	-0.088
50	.49	-0.127
100	.94	-0.185
200	1.96	-0.29
500	4.9	-0.31
700	6.86	-0.81
900	8.82	-1.02

Using this graph, the line of best fit, y = -9.3906 x - 0.7689 was found, and can be used to find the force easily.  If you plug in a voltage value x and solve, the answer will be the force.

     Also this week, a scanning electron microscope was used to photograph the carbon black and polyethylene fibers.  The fibers will not be able to be tested using a kawabata evaluation system due to their size.  The mats did not come out thick enough, making it impossible for the machine to test it.  This most likely happened from in-optimal conditions for spinning the fibers.  There are a lot of variables when electrospinning, and without the correct conditions fibers will not spin correctly.