Quantitative high-throughput measurement of bulk mechanical properties using commonly available equipment

Abstract

Machine learning approaches have introduced an urgent need for large datasets of materials properties. However, for mechanical properties, current high-throughput measurement methods typically require complex robotic instrumentation, with enormous capital costs that are inaccessible to most experimentalists. A quantitative high-throughput method using only common lab equipment and consumables with simple fabrication steps is long desired. Here, we present such a technique that can measure bulk mechanical properties in soft materials with a common laboratory centrifuge, multiwell plates, and microparticles. By applying a homogeneous force on the particles embedded inside samples in the multiwell plate using centrifugation, we show that our technique measures the fracture stress of gels with similar accuracy to a rheometer. However, our method has a throughput on the order of 10³ samples per run and is generalizable to virtually all soft material systems. We hope that our method can expedite materials discovery and potentially inspire the future development of additional high-throughput characterization methods.