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Analysis and Modeling of Electro-Mechanical Coupling in an Electroactive Polymer-Based Actuator

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Thomas A. Bowers ,
Patrick Anquetil ,
Ian Hunter  and
Neville Hogan
Thomas A. Bowers
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, MIT
Patrick Anquetil
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT Cambridge, MA 02139, U.S.A.
Ian Hunter
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, MIT
Neville Hogan
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, MIT
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Abstract

A non-linear constitutive model was formulated for ionic electroactive polymers (EAP) to describe the energetic coupling between electrical and mechanical domains. The polymer was modeled as a multi-port energy storage element with inputs from the electrical and mechanical domain. Using energy conservation methods, general relationships between stress, strain, voltage, and charge were determined. A solution to the uniaxial loading boundary condition was developed fully and compared to a linear model published by Madden and an electrochemical model published by Mazzoldi et al. Experimental results from a conducting polymer actuator composed of polypyrrole were used to validate the electro-mechanical coupling model. It was found that the correlation between the model and experimental data was very good for strains up to 3% and applied voltages up to 1 Volt; these are within the typical operating range of polypyrrole. The model is sufficiently simply to allow real-time control while also exceeding the linear coupling models in its ability to predict polymer behavior in normal operating ranges.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 785: Symposium D – Materials and Devices for Smart Systems , 2003 , D5.6
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2004

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References

REFERENCES

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