Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T08:32:28.970Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Constitutive Response of Active Polymer Gels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2011

S. P. Marra ,
K. T. Ramesh  and
A. S. Douglas
S. P. Marra
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21218
K. T. Ramesh
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21218
A. S. Douglas
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical Engineering The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland 21218
Get access

Abstract

Active polymer gels can achieve large, reversible deformations in response to environmental stimuli, such as the application of an electric field or a change in pH level. Consequently, great interest exists in using these gels as actuators and artificial muscles. The goal of this work is to characterize the mechanical properties of ionic polymer gels and to describe how these properties evolve as the gel actuates. Experimental results of uniaxial tests on poly(vinyl alcohol)-poly(acrylic acid) gels are presented for both acidic and basic environments. These materials are shown to be to be slightly viscoelastic and compressible and capable of large recoverable deformations. The gels also exhibit similar stress in response to mechanical deformation in both the acid and the base.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 600: Symposium FF – Electroactive Polymers , 1999 , 261
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Kurauchi, T., Shiga, T., Hirose, Y., Okada, A., in Polymer Gels Fundamentals and Biomedical Applications, edited by DeRossi, D., Kajiwara, K., Osada, Y., and Yamauchi, A. (Plenum Press, New York: Plenum Press, 1991), pp. 237–246.Google Scholar
2. Bar-Cohen, Y., Leary, S., Shahinpoor, M., Harrison, J.O., Smith, J., SPIE Smart Structures and Materials Symposium, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices, Newport Beach, CA, 1999.Google Scholar
3. Hoffman, A.S., in Polymer Gels Fundamentals and Biomedical Applications, edited by DeRossi, D., Kajiwara, K., Osada, Y., and Yamauchi, A. (Plenum Press, New York: Plenum Press, 1991), pp. 289–297.Google Scholar
4. Tanaka, T., and Fillmore, D.J., Journal of Chemical Physics, 70, pp. 1214–1218, (1978).Google Scholar
5. Peters, A., and Candau, S.J., Macromolecules, 21, pp. 2278–2282, (1988).Google Scholar
6. Chiarelli, P., and DeRossi, D., Progress in Colloid and Polymer Science, 78, pp. 4–8, (1988).Google Scholar
7. Shin, H.S., Kim, S.Y., Lee, Y.M., Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 65, pp. 685–693, (1997).Google Scholar
8. Chiarelli, P., Basser, P.J., DeRossi, D., and Goldstein, S., Biorheology, 29, pp. 383–398, (1992).Google Scholar
9. Genuini, G., Casalino, G., Chiarelli, P., and DeRossi, D., in NATO ASI Series, vol. F57, edited by Taylor, G.E. (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1990) pp. 341–360.Google Scholar
10. Caldwell, D.G., and Taylor, P.M., International Journal of Engineering Science, 28, pp. 797–808, (1990).Google Scholar
11. Treloar, L.R.G., The Physics of Rubber Elasticity, 3rd ed. (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1975).Google Scholar