While many studies on fused filament fabrication (FFF)-printed polymers focus on ultimate tensile strength or failure analysis, the elastic region of the stress–strain curve is frequently overlooked. However, in most engineering applications, components operate well within the elastic range. In mechanical joints, support frames, and other load-bearing structures, stiffness and elastic response are more critical than post-failure behavior, as these properties determine system performance during standard operating conditions before any damage occurs. This study examines the elastic properties of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) components fabricated via FFF, with a focus on the impact of printing orientation and nozzle temperature. Tensile tests were performed according to ISO 527-2:1993, and the results were compared to those of milled ABS parts (referred to as FT). Two print orientations were studied: XT, where the layers are oriented perpendicular to the loading direction, and ZT, where the layers are aligned parallel to the loading direction (load-aligned). The study reveals that printing orientation has a significant impact on mechanical behavior. The specimens printed in the ZT orientation exhibited superior elastic modulus and tensile strength compared to the XT specimens and also outperformed the milled FT parts. At 245 °C, the ZT specimens achieved an average tensile strength of 41.0 MPa, substantially higher than the FT’s 31.1 MPa. Moreover, the ZT had approximately 12.6% higher elastic moduli than the FT (1.97 GPa ZT compared to 1.74 GPa FT). Although the FT parts showed higher strain at break, the ZT-printed parts demonstrated a stiffness and strength that suggest their viability as replacements for machined components in load-bearing applications.

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is widely used to quantify mechanical properties, typically Young’s modulus, by fitting force–indentation data with various mathematical contact models. However, results across laboratories often diverge, and the causes remain unresolved. Here, we interrogate the methodology by which mechanical properties are defined in AFM indentation and identify key limitations of the Hertz model, the standard model for determining mechanical properties, notably that the contact radius is not directly determined, which limits the accuracy of the estimated Young’s modulus. We hypothesize that this inference systematically overestimates the true tip–sample contact, which inflates the contact area and thereby underestimates Young’s modulus. This bias is amplified under large indentation conditions, which are frequently used in soft-material studies. To isolate and clarify the issue, we focus on a well-characterized polymer, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), using it as a controlled testbed for contact radius overestimation. Our analysis is focused on the contact radius and Hertz-based extraction of Young’s modulus. We determined the contact radius and Young’s modulus using AFM with two different probes: a sphere with a 20 nm radius (SPHERE20) and a sphere with a 2 µm radius (SPHERE2000). The results were compared to macroscopic data obtained using a standard measurement (ISO 527-1:2019) of Young’s modulus. The contact was modeled using finite element analysis (FEA). The dependence of the contact radius on the indentation was compared to the Hertz model. The results from FEA fit corrected contact radius values, and it is smaller by 15.46% (SPHERE20) and 57.9% (SPHERE2000) than those calculated by the Hertz model.

Contact mechanics models are often inaccurate, due to (i) unknown contact radius, (ii) mechanical models not parameterizing it, (iii) in some models it is neither assumed meaningfully nor determined, and (iv) uncertain probe radius arising from manufacturer-specified nominal values and manufacturing tolerances. In this paper, an FEA model was used to quantify the evolution of the contact radius during indentation for two probe geometries: a pyramidal indenter (TRIANG2 nominal apex radius 2 nm) and a flat-ended punch (FLAT4000; nominal punch radius 4000 nm) on poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC), for which Young’s modulus (E_ref) was obtained by a standard mechanical tensile method. The effective contact radius, $R_{eff}$, determined from FEA, was subsequently used in a Hertz-based force–indentation parametrization. Uncertainty in the probe apex radius due to manufacturer tolerances was addressed by SEM measurement of the conical tip, enabling assessment of its impact on the modulus estimated from AFM indentation. Based on these results, we propose a practical, geometry-aware analysis methodology that is transferable across probe geometries. The effective contact radius, $R_{eff}$, is first established using a well-characterized reference material and subsequently applied to a mechanical model to extract Young’s modulus. In this approach, the Hertz-based parametrization is used as a consistent mathematical framework, while the effective contact radius accounts for probe-dependent contact evolution.

In this work, we extended our previous studies on the limitations of classical contact models from polymers to a biological system. We used yeast as a model system to investigate how contact evolution during indentation affects the accuracy of AFM-based determination of Young’s modulus. We proposed a practical correction framework for the classical Hertz and Sneddon flat-punch models to improve the extraction of mechanical properties from experimental data. Force-indentation curves were measured using a spherical (SPHERE) probe with a 2 μm radius and a flat (FLAT) probe with a 4 μm radius of plateau. The experimental results were analyzed using both corrected and uncorrected contact models, while a finite element analysis (FEA) model was used to determine the contact radius-indentation dependence. It showed that Young’s modulus estimated from AFM indentation using classical formulations is probe-dependent because the contact radius is inadequately described. By incorporating the FEA-derived effective contact radius into Hertz and Sneddon contact models, the same Young’s modulus was obtained for yeast with both probes and compared to reference values with other techniques. These findings establish contact evolution as a governing factor in AFM-based cell mechanics and provide a practical route toward robust, probe-independent, and more accurate determination of mechanical properties for living cells.

Biofuel cells (BFCs) generate electricity by converting chemical energy into electrical energy using biological systems. Saccharomyces cerevisiae (yeast) is an attractive biocatalyst for BFCs due to its robustness, low cost, and metabolic versatility; however, electron transfer from the intracellular reactions to the electrode is limited by the cell membrane. Nystatin is an antifungal antibiotic that increases the permeability of fungal membranes. We hypothesized that sub-lethal nystatin treatment could enhance mediator-assisted electron transfer without compromising cell viability. In this work, yeast was treated with nystatin during cultivation at concentrations of up to 6 µg/mL and combined with a dual-mediator system consisting of a lipophilic mediator (9,10-phenanthrenequinone, PQ) and a hydrophilic mediator (potassium ferricyanide). Scanning electrochemical microscopy revealed that the dual-mediator system increased local current responses by approximately fivefold compared to a single mediator (from ~11 pA to ~59 pA), and that nystatin-treated yeast exhibited higher local electrochemical activity than untreated yeast (maximum currents of ~0.476 nA versus ~0.303 nA). Microbial fuel cell measurements showed that nystatin treatment increased the maximum power density from approximately 0.58 mW/m² to approximately 0.62 mW/m² under identical conditions. Nystatin concentrations between 4 and 5 µg/mL maintain yeast viability at near-control levels, while higher concentrations cause a decrease in viability. These results demonstrate that controlled, sub-lethal membrane permeabilization combined with a dual-mediator strategy can enhance electron transfer in yeast-based biofuel cells.

This study investigates the combined effect of electrodeposited gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and AuNP–polypyrrole (PPy)-modified Saccharomyces cerevisiae on electrochemical glucose sensing. AuNPs were deposited onto electrode surfaces by cyclic voltammetry, and the resulting interfaces were characterized using atomic force microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. AFM analysis confirmed increased surface roughness and height variability after deposition, indicating substantial restructuring of the electrode interface. Electrochemical measurements showed that AuNP deposition altered interfacial charge storage and transfer and increased the measured charge-transfer resistance. Glucose sensing was evaluated in a ferricyanide-mediated system using yeast layers with or without AuNP and PPy modification over a 0–60 mM concentration range. All configurations exhibited saturating, non-linear glucose responses described by Hill fitting. Among the evaluated yeast-modified electrodes, the AuNP–PPy modified yeast produced the strongest glucose-induced current increase and the best low-concentration performance, achieving a limit of detection of 0.540 mM, compared with 1.016 mM and 1.330 mM for single-modified layers and 3.360 mM for unmodified yeast. These results show that combining AuNP electrodeposition with AuNP–PPy yeast modification improves interfacial properties and enhances mediator-assisted electrochemical glucose sensing.