A study of mechanoelectrical transduction behavior in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) gel as smart sensors

Abstract

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) gels are soft electroactive polymers (EAPs) being researched for soft robotic applications. Sensing properties of these EAPs have not been investigated in detail in regard to fundamental mechanoelectrical transduction behavior, but this smart material has been shown to exhibit a detectable response to external stimuli. This study shows PVC gels to be an extremely sensitive material when undergoing mechanoelectrical transduction and explores some response dependencies and proposes a theoretical framework for mechanoelectrical transduction within the gel. The work presented here also uncovers a very interesting phenomena under extremely low compressive loads during the initial contact with the gel. This phenomenon is attributed to a surface tension creeping motion onto the loading surface with an accompanying polarity inversion in the sensing signal relative to fully loaded gels in compression. Experimental work on hysteresis was also completed showing very little memory in steady state mechanoelectrical response to repeated stepped loading cycles. This study demonstrates the mechanoelectric ability of PVC gels to perform in sensing experiments and acts as a fundamental framework to further broaden the applications of PVC gel sensors.

Investigation of a Simple Viscoelastic Model for a PVC-Gel Actuator under Combined Mechanical and Electrical Loading

“…PVC-gel-based soft actuators have demonstrated superior performance mimicking human muscles and may provide good stability and durability. Moreover, they show great potential for applications in soft-robotic and unconventional-actuator setups, generating impressive innovative momentum with ongoing improvements in the field of soft robotics and drive concepts [ 3 , 4 ]. Experimental studies on PVC gels to understand their material behavior and chemical structures have been reported [ 5 , 6 , 7 ].…”

Multiphysics Modeling Framework for Soft PVC Gel Sensors with Experimental Comparisons

“…The sensing properties of these materials were recently investigated and found to be adsorptive-like in nature [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]. The fundamental studies investigating the underlying mechanisms of mechanoelectrical transduction include compressive loading applications.…”

PVC gel smart sensor for robotics sensing applications: an experimental and finite element simulation study *

“…PVC gel is a good electroactive polymer material for exploring soft actuators because it has a lot of creepinduced deformation/displacement and a lot of yield stress. It is also good for robotics, devices, quick reaction time, light weight, power efficiency, durability, a remarkably low driving voltage, and it is easy to make and process [15][16][17][18][19].…”

“…Many studies and research have been talked about the PVC gel as a soft actuator, such as in [15,17,[20][21][22][23][24] based on the different boundary conditions of the PVC gel and its electrodes to create a variety of soft actuators with noise-free bending action, tensile movement, extended motion, molecular study, plasticizer thickness, and creep motion. From these studies and more, PVC gel-based soft actuators provide a number of benefits over other soft actuators in terms of practical usage.…”

“…There has been few researches talking about the sensing properties of PVC gel. Neubauer et al in [17] demonstrates that PVC gels are a highly sensitive material when it comes to mechanoelectrical transduction, investigate specific response dependency, and present a mathematical model for mechanoelectrical behavior in the PVC gels. The work described here reveals an intriguing phenomenon that occurs during the initial contact with the gel under extremely modest compressive stresses.…”