Equivalent modeling for ionic polymer–metal composite actuators based on beam theories

Abstract

Equivalent beam and equivalent bimorph beam models for IPMC (ionic polymer-metal composite) actuators are described in the ensuing paper. Important physical properties of IPMCs including Young's modulus and electro-mechanical coupling coefficient were determined using the rule of mixture, bimorph beam equations, and measured force-displacement data of a cantilevered IPMC actuator. By using a beam equation with estimated physical properties, the actuation displacements of a cantilevered IPMC actuator were calculated to show an excellent agreement between the computed tip displacements and the measured data. Finite element analysis (FEA), along with the predetermined physical properties, was used to predict the force-displacement relationship of an IPMC actuator, which is key data to effectively design many engineering devices of interest. Indicated by the results from the FEA agreeing with the measured data, the proposed models can be adopted for modeling of IPMC actuators with advanced shapes and other boundary conditions.

“Equivalent” Electromechanical Coefficient for IPMC Actuator Design Based on Equivalent Bimorph Beam Theory

“…Models for predicting the behavior or performance of IPMCs have been classified as physical models [16][17][18], black box models [19,20], and gray box models [20][21][22][23]. Gray box models initially proposed by Kanno et.…”

“…al. [21], are primarily for actuator response and based on several physical laws combined with limited physical properties determined by experimental or analytical methods [22]. The approach is also implemented to determine models for IPMC-based sensors [23].…”

Multiphysics modeling of an IPMC microfluidic control device

“…As such, there has been much work in the area of modeling this material for these applications. (Berning et al 2002;Hu et al 2004;Lee et al 2005;Nguyen and White 1993;Shahinpoor and Kim 2004;Segalman et al 1992;Springer et al 1991;Wang 2004;Weber and Newman 2004). Most models and empirical work has focused on the electro-mechanical behavior of this material.…”

Biomimetic Sensing – Actuators Based on Conducting Polymers

“…They applied this model to the study of a biomimetic device (propulsion fins) (Alici et al 2007). Finally, Lee et al (Lee et al 2005) used this model for the movement of ionic polymer-metal composite actuators and more recently, Du et al (Du et al 2010) developed a general model for a multilayer system (N layers) to link the actuation strain of the actuator to the bending curvature.…”