The current paper presents the latest advancements in manufacturing, modeling and applications of ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) materials at University of Nevada, Reno. The paper highlights the newest techniques used in making the novel IPMCs. This includes the dimension control and patterning the electrodes so that the multiaxial bending of the material can be achieved. The novel concept of strain sensing and also more energy efficient actuation is discussed. Moreover, we have been working on improving the modeling of IPMC. The focus has been creating a physical model for design purposes. This has lead to developing a first full scale 3-dimensional model of IPMC material. Additionally, electrode effect has been presented and new techniques have been explored to take the Finite Element (FE) modeling of IPMC to the next level.

Date Published: 9 April 2010
PDF: 10 pages
Proc. SPIE 7642, Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2010, 76420U (9 April 2010); doi: 10.1117/12.848281

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7642:
Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2010
Yoseph Bar-Cohen, Editor(s)