Actuation of Electro‐Active Artificial Muscle at Ultralow Frequency

Abstract

The electromechanical properties of an electro‐active artificial muscle of poly(styrene‐alt‐maleimide)/poly(vinylidene fluoride) with glycerol as a solvent at ultralow frequencies were investigated. Actuated at higher potentials and in the open air, the artificial muscle showed no back‐relaxation, and the deformation increased steadily as long as the voltage was applied quasi‐statically. Under a simple stimulus with such low frequency as 0.005 Hz, the artificial muscle displayed excellent harmonic responses, and its actuation performance was observed to be improved continuously by a self‐activating process along with the time increased. This is attributed to a combination effect resulting from the unique nanochannels of the ionic network polymer and the large inertia mass of the viscous glycerol. magnified image

Dielectric, mechanical and electro-stimulus response properties studies of polyurethane dielectric elastomer modified by carbon nanotube-graphene nanosheet hybrid fillers

“…Dielectric elastomers are one of the most promising classes of flexible actuator materials that exhibit excellent performance such as large active strain, high energy density, fast response, high electromechanical coupling efficiency, reliability, durability, as well as easiness of processing [2][3]. This field is growing rapidly, as measured by the number of research papers, performance of the technology and diversity of potential applications, including micropumps, energy harvesters, space robotics, positioners and bioinspired robotic systems [4][5][6][7][8]. However, a key limitation for the practical application of dielectric elastomer actuators is the high electric field (>100 MV/m) to drive them [9].…”

The enhanced actuation response of an ionic polymer–metal composite actuator based on sulfonated polyphenylsulfone

“…For polymers, sulfonation and carboxylic acidification are two major methods of chemical modification in order to transform ordinary polymers into polyelectrolytes (ion-exchange resins). Sulfonated polymers used in IPMC actuators included radiation-grafted fluoropolymers, [13][14][15] sulfonated aromatic block polymers, [16][17][18][19][20][21][22] sulfonated random copolymers, [23][24][25][26][27] sulfonated condensation polymers, [28][29][30][31][32][33] sulfonated semi-interpenetrating networks, [34][35][36] sulfonated homopolymers and their blends or composites. [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] Meanwhile, relatively few carboxylated polymers derived from radical copolymerization were also employed to prepare IPMC actuators, e.g.…”