Rapid, autonomous high-throughput characterization of hydrogel rheological properties via automated sensing and physics-guided machine learning
Zhang, Junru; Liu, Yang; Sekhar.P, Durga Chandra; Singh, Manjot; Tong, Yuxin; Kucukdeger, Ezgi; Yoon, Hu Young; Haring, Alexander P.; Roman, Maren; Kong, Zhenyu; Johnson, Blake N.
aGrado Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA
bMacromolecules Innovation Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA
cDepartment of Computer Science, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA
dDepartment of Sustainable Biomaterials, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA
eDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA
fDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA
High-throughput characterization (HTC) of composition-process-structure-property relations is essential for accelerating molecular and material discovery and manufacturing paradigms. Here, we present a rapid, autonomous method for HTC of hydrogel rheological properties in well plate formats via automated sensing and physics-guided supervised machine learning. The novel HTC method facilitates rapid, autonomous characterization of hydrogel rheological properties and percolation processes associated with gelation and network interpenetration in 96-well plate formats at a rate of 24 s/sample (70 times faster than the state-of-the-art). Viscoelastic properties and phase behavior obtained by the method were benchmarked against traditional rheology studies. The speed and utility of the method were demonstrated by high-resolution characterization of the gel point of Pluronic F127, collagen, and alginate-PNIPAM hydrogels in 96-well plate formats at resolutions of 0.31 wt% (Pluronic F127), 0.031 mg/ml (collagen), and 0.069 wt% (NIPAM), respectively. Experimental composition-property relation data generated from sensor multivariate time-series data, calibration data, and fluid-structure interaction models enabled accurate classification of sample phase using supervised machine learning. Feature augmentation using sensor physics, here, a fluid-structure interaction model, improved material (i.e., sample) phase classification accuracy relative to that obtained in the absence of physics-based feature augmentation. Ultimately, creating rapid, autonomous HTC methods that synergize with common high-throughput experimentation formats, such as well plates, can accelerate the pace of research across several disciplines as well as generate new tools for quality assurance and control across emerging industries.
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