Mechanical interpretation of back-relaxation of ionic electroactive polymer actuators

Abstract

The mechanical model obtained by a non-traditional approach to the basic components of the traditional viscoelastic models—spring and damper—elucidates the back-relaxation of ionic electroactive polymer actuators. The corresponding PDE characterizes the curvature or bending moment of the actuators throughout stimulated bending forward followed by relaxation back towards the initial shape. Combining series of short entities containing the lumped electrical circuit, and the transient bending moment generated according to the PDE, results in a new model of the ionic electroactive polymer actuators. This model takes into account the back-relaxation of the actuators as well as the superposition principle. The experiments carried out with three actuators of different ionic electroactive polymer materials show excellent accordance with the model.

Lifetime measurements of ionic electroactive polymer actuators

“…Similar configurations are described in our previous works (Punning et al, 2009;Vunder et al 2012). In order to reduce load on computer, voltages are generated by a specialized generator using an Atmel microprocessor.…”

IPMCs as EAPs: How to Start Experimenting with Them

“…1, the results may be biased. Since an IPMC can be regarded to behave like a transmission line, its curvature is often larger at smaller values of y L (Punning et al 2009;Vunder et al 2012;Kruusam€ ae et al 2014):…”

“…In the cases of actuator exhibiting a complex behavior of bending or its initial shape cannot be accurately described by a circular curve, a more general approach that divides the length of an actuator into vectors of equal length has been proposed (Punning et al 2009;Vunder et al 2012). Each vector is described by its angle Fig.…”

Ionic electroactive polymer artificial muscles in space applications

“…The vectorial interpretation expresses the curvature as a function of the distance from the input contacts along the sample. The curved line representing the shape of the actuator is divided into vectors of equal length, assuming that the curvature is constant within each vector41. The shape of the actuator is characterized by the matrix of angles of each vector with respect to the direction of the previous vector.…”