The snap-through dynamics of the bi-stable IPMC actuators were investigated to generate much larger displacements and
periodical stable locomotion based on jumping phenomena according to boundary conditions. First, in the clamped-free
BC, two curved cantilever IPMC actuators with a constant curvature and initial tip deflections of 8mm and 16mm were
fabricated from flat IPMCs through thermal treatment under hot water simultaneously to reduce the residual stresses. A
flat and two curved IPMC actuators were tested to evaluate the effect of initial shape in terms of step responses,
harmonic responses and frequency response function tests under small and large deformation. The snap-through
phenomena for the curved IPMC actuators unlike the flat IPMC actuator were observed with much larger tip
displacements, low power consumption and periodical jumps of the instant velocity. Second, in case of all-clamped BC,
the large and bistable responses were observed under DC and AC excitation through the end-shortening effect. These
tests were conducted with various end-shortenings of 0.25, 0.5, and 1.0 mm. The jumping phenomena of IPMC actuator
was remarkably observed at their conditions, respectively. Present results show that the initial curved deflection and endshortening
of the IPMC actuator strongly affects the large deformation at respective boundary conditions due to the snapthrough
phenomena.
The ionic polymer metal composite actuators have the best merit for large deformation and bio-mimetic motion generation. In this study, the noble patterning methods of multiple electrodes have been developed for the realization of the bio-mimetic fish-like locomotion by actuating the multiple electrodes. There are so many fabrication methods for patterning and depositing the platinum electrodes including electroless chemical reduction, physical sputtering, e-beam deposition and electroplating. Generally, the ionic-polymer metal composite actuator has been fabricated in electroless plating technique, while it needs very long fabrication time and shows poor repeatability in the actuation performance. Therefore the several fabricating methods are newly investigated by combining electroless plating, photolithograpy, physical sputtering, and electroplating techniques capable of precisely patterning and actuating of the multiple electrodes. Present results show that the initial composite between the Nafion polymer membrane and the platinum electrode is very important for the better bending performance. Consequently, the mixing the electroless chemical reduction and sputtering or electroplating can be a promising candidate for the better bending performance, although the patterned shape of the multiple electrodes may be coarse in the fabricating process of the electroless plating with masking tapes. However, the sputtering and electroplating methods with a photolithography technique can be incorporated in the precise design of MEMS devices, while the actuation performance may be slightly reduced.
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