Deflection analysis of IPMC actuators under AC voltages using DIC method

Abstract

The deflection response characteristics of ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) cantilever actuator under alternating current (AC) excitations are investigated in the present work. A program based on numerical calculation platform MATLAB for digital image correlation (DIC) analysis with multiple regions of interest (ROI) is developed. The program can be used to study the micro-scale dynamic lateral movement processes of the fabricated IPMC sample with Pt electrodes, which are recorded by a digital microscope. The results indicate that the deflection amplitude increases linearly with the increase of excitation voltage and from the clamped side of the sample to the free side, and has approximately a negative exponent relation with the excitation frequency. Moreover, the vibration center of vibrating IPMC sample is not fixed. The program has been proved to obtain deflections of multiple ROIs simultaneously, thus is very useful for mechanical measurements.

Development of IPMC actuators with high bending uniformity and orientation

“…Finally, they verified the validity of the model in non-uniformly varying IPMCs. Liu et al [31] analyzed the response of IPMCs under AC voltage and proposed in their paper that the electrode resistance causes the excitation field strength to decrease along the length of the IPMC, which leads to a change in its bending curvature. However, none of the above studies gave a solution to the non-uniform deformation of IPMC.…”