Large displacement fast conducting polymer actuators
Name
76765856-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
14.24 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
263239e81a06192ef4677b04046a8511
Author(s)
Chen, Angela Y. (Angela Ying-Ju), 1982-
Advisor(s)
Ian W. Hunter.
Date Issued
2006
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Conducting polymers are a promising class of electroactive materials that undergo volumetric changes under applied potentials, which make them particularly useful for many actuation applications. Polypyrrole , is one of the most common conducting polymers of choice for the development of actuator technologies and has been well characterized in its mechanical, electrical, and electrochemical response. Although capable of producing almost 10 times more active stress for a given cross-sectional area than skeletal muscle, strains are relatively low on the order of 1 to 2 %, as are strain rates, which are on the order of a couple percent per second. Small strains can be amplified to produce large bending displacements by configuring the conducting polymer film in a trilayer configuration with two conducting polymer films sandwiching an electrolyte gel layer. This thesis focuses on the development of conducting polymer bending actuators in air. There is a strong correlation found between applied voltage, temperature, and the speed of actuation. Several experiments were carried out to determine the effect of temperature on the mechanical, electrical, and electrochemical properties of the components of the trilayer.
(cont.) This data coupled with thermal profiles of trilayers during actuation, electrochemical profiles, and force generation plots of the trilayers shed light on how these bending actuators can be optimized and integrated into different applications such as propulsion mechanisms for autonomous underwater vehicles.
Description
Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 93-96).
Subjects
Mechanical Engineering.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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