Considerations for contractile electroactive materials and actuators

Lenore Rasmussen; Lewis D. Meixler; Charles A. Gentile

doi:10.1117/12.914988

3 April 2012 Considerations for contractile electroactive materials and actuators

Lenore Rasmussen, Lewis D. Meixler, Charles A. Gentile

Proceedings Volume 8340, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2012; 83401O (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.914988
Event: SPIE Smart Structures and Materials + Nondestructive Evaluation and Health Monitoring, 2012, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Electroactive polymers (EAPs) that bend, swell, ripple (first generation materials), and now contract with low electric input (new development) have been produced. The mechanism of contraction is not well understood. Radionuclide-labeled experiments, molecular modeling, electrolyte experiments, pH experiments, and an ionic concentration experiment were used to determine the chain of events that occur during contraction and, reciprocally, expansion when the polarity is reversed, in these ionic EAPs. Plasma treatment of the electrodes, along with other strategies, allows for the embedded electrodes and the EAP material of the actuator to work and move as a unit, with no detachment, by significantly improving the metal-polymer interface, analogous to nerves and tendons moving with muscles during movement. Challenges involved with prototyping actuation using contractile EAPs are also discussed.

Citation Download Citation

Lenore Rasmussen, Lewis D. Meixler, and Charles A. Gentile "Considerations for contractile electroactive materials and actuators", Proc. SPIE 8340, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2012, 83401O (3 April 2012); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.914988

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