Conjugated Polymer Actuators

MRS Bulletin ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabeth Smela
Keyword(s):  
Conjugated Polymer ◽  
Low Voltage ◽  
High Strength ◽  
Electroactive Polymer ◽  
Artificial Muscles ◽  
Polymer Actuators ◽  
Actuation Mechanism ◽  
Conjugated Polymer Actuators

AbstractConjugated polymer artificial muscles fill a unique niche in the electroactive polymer portfolio. They combine high strength, low voltage, and reasonable speed with versatile fabrication and design. This article reviews the actuation mechanism in these materials and presents some of the designs that have been developed for applications such as Braille displays, catheters, and bioMEMS devices.

A Multistable Linear Actuation Mechanism Based on Artificial Muscles

2010 ◽  
Vol 132 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahim Mutlu ◽  
Gürsel Alıcı
Keyword(s):  
Polyvinylidene Fluoride ◽  
Microelectromechanical Systems ◽  
Angular Displacement ◽  
Input Voltage ◽  
Electroactive Polymer ◽  
Artificial Muscles ◽  
Rectilinear Motion ◽  
Polymer Actuators ◽  
Actuation Mechanism ◽  
Polymer Actuator

In this paper, we report on a multistable linear actuation mechanism articulated with electroactive polymer actuators, widely known as artificial muscles. These actuators, which can operate both in wet and dry media under as small as 1.0 V potential difference, are fundamentally cantilever beams made of two electroactive polymer layers (polypyrrole) and a passive polyvinylidene fluoride substrate in between the electroactive layers. The mechanism considered is kinematically analogous to a four-bar mechanism with revolute-prismatic-revolute-prismatic pairs, converting the bending displacement of a polymer actuator into a rectilinear movement of an output point. The topology of the mechanism resembles that of bistable mechanisms operating under the buckling effect. However, the mechanism proposed in this paper can have many stable positions depending on the input voltage. After demonstrating the feasibility of the actuation concept using kinematic and finite element analyses of the mechanism, experiments were conducted on a real mechanism articulated with a multiple number (2, 4, or 8) of electroactive polymer actuators, which had dimensions of 12×2×0.17 mm3. The numerical and experimental results demonstrate that the angular displacement of the artificial muscles is accurately transformed into a rectilinear motion by the proposed mechanism. The higher the input voltage, the larger the rectilinear displacement. This study suggests that this multistable linear actuation mechanism can be used as a programmable switch and/or a pump in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) by adjusting the input voltage and scaling down the mechanism further.

Electroactive polymer actuators as artificial muscles: are they ready for bioinspired applications?

2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 045006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Carpi ◽  
Roy Kornbluh ◽  
Peter Sommer-Larsen ◽  
Gursel Alici
Keyword(s):  
Electroactive Polymer ◽  
Artificial Muscles ◽  
Polymer Actuators

A scalable model for trilayer conjugated polymer actuators and its experimental validation

2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 421-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Fang ◽  
Xiaobo Tan ◽  
Yantao Shen ◽  
Ning Xi ◽  
Gursel Alici
Keyword(s):  
Conjugated Polymer ◽  
Experimental Validation ◽  
Polymer Actuators ◽  
Conjugated Polymer Actuators

Conjugated Polymer Actuators and Devices: Progress and Opportunities

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (22) ◽  
pp. 1808210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Melling ◽  
Jose G. Martinez ◽  
Edwin W. H. Jager
Keyword(s):  
Conjugated Polymer ◽  
Polymer Actuators ◽  
Conjugated Polymer Actuators
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