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Polymers in Special Uses
Published in Manas Chanda, Plastics Technology Handbook, 2017
Electroactive polymers (EAPs) are polymers that exhibit a change in size or shape when stimulated by an electric field. The most common applications of this type of material are in actuators and sensors. In EAP actuator technology, a lightweight polymer responds to an electric field by generating mechanical motion. Because of their ability to mimic the properties of natural muscle, EAPs have also been termed electroactive polymer artificial muscle (EPAM). A number of materials have been explored for their use as artificial muscles. Among these, dielectric elastomers (DEs) appear to provide the best combination of properties for true muscle-like actuation. DEs behave as compliant capacitors, expanding in area and shrinking in thickness when a voltage is applied. A simple example of DE is natural rubber. A film of natural rubber can be made to change in shape by applying a large electric field across it.
Systematic Investigation of the Revolutionary Role of Electroactive Polymers in Modifying Microelectromechanical Systems
Published in Inamuddin, Mohd Imran Ahamed, Rajender Boddula, Adil A. Gobouri, Electroactive Polymeric Materials, 2022
Shaan Bibi Jaffri, Khuram Shahzad Ahmad
A myriad of materials have been synthesized and others are emerging with time, which are aimed at the welfare of humans by revolutionizing several domains in human life. The scientific community has been actively engaged in the development of novel materials that have varied compositions, for example, oxides, sulfides, tellurides, selenides, polymeric substances, and composite materials (Afsheen et al., 2020; Ahmad and Jaffri, 2018; Ijaz et al., 2020a). They are employed in a variety of applications that range from biomedical to photovoltaic applications, which depend on the characteristics required. Among different materials, polymeric substances have gained special attention for many decades due to their characteristics (Bonneaud et al., 2021; Nenna et al., 2021). Today, there are no areas of life where the utilization of polymers and polymeric composites has not been implemented. The field of polymers has grown considerably over time and a significant amount of research has been conducted to resolve the concerns raised against polymers for their persistence and stability in environmental matrixes that negatively affect life (Forouzanfar et al., 2021; Hafner et al., 2021). Polymers can be broadly categorized in different classes depending upon their composition, nature, type of application, and other characteristics. Electroactive polymers (EAPs) are the major class of polymers and polymeric substances that are known for their feature of undergoing change in their size ranges, morphology, and volume when they come into contact with an electrical field of higher strength (Peng et al., 2021; Marín et al., 2021). They are one of the active polymeric materials, such as magnetostrictive materials, piezoelectrics, alloys, and polymers that have shape memory, and thermoelastic polymers These active materials are mainly marked by their remarkable active disfiguration capacity, higher speed of response, lower density, and upgraded resilience. In addition, EAPs are remarkably lightweight materials that have good fracture tolerance and compliance. Furthermore, they are economically viable (Bar-Cohen, 2004). This category has grown into a large number of polymeric materials that are highly responsive toward electric field application.
Product ergonomics in industrial exoskeletons: potential enhancements for workforce efficiency and safety
Published in Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 2020
Pranav Madhav Kuber, Ehsan Rashedi
Various smart materials along with their properties along with their advantages and disadvantages are listed in Table 1. Among the tunable materials, electroactive polymers (EAP) are known to provide a variation in size in presence of electrical stimulation (Manti, Cacucciolo, and Cianchetti 2016). EAP can be classified based upon the actuation method: Ionic EAP – which causes shape change by the mobility of ions, and electronic EAP – which use electric fields. Types of ionic EAPs are gels, metal-polymer composites, conductive polymers and carbon nanotubes, while electronic EAPs include electrostrictive, electrostatic, piezoelectric and ferroelectric polymers (Bar-Cohen 2005). Ionic EAPs exhibit substantial circular deformation, and a study found that using polymer patterns resulted in sharp bending angles that were more than 90 degrees (Hong et al. 2017). EAP offers higher response speed, lower density, and greater resilience, all of which can benefit from building an adaptive exoskeleton structure (Bar-Cohen 2005). With further research, beams of large sizes can be developed to provide an effective adaptive and assistive mechanism to the human body. However, challenges posed in terms of selecting the right type of polymer, coalescing with other materials to obtain the required force and the feasibility of electrical stimulation on a wearable device, instigate a need for further exploration.
3D printing for soft robotics – a review
Published in Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 2018
Jahan Zeb Gul, Memoon Sajid, Muhammad Muqeet Rehman, Ghayas Uddin Siddiqui, Imran Shah, Kyung-Hwan Kim, Jae-Wook Lee, Kyung Hyun Choi
Smart materials are the active materials that can undergo some observable change in one domain in response to external stimuli through another domain; the external stimuli may be thermal, chemical, mechanical, optical, moisture, pH, pneumatic and electric or magnetic field. Additive manufacturing or 3D printing of smart materials has been an astounding boost for researchers in the form of 4D printing and soft robotics. When smart materials fabricated by 3D printing in a particular shape have the potential to alter their given shape or properties with repect to time under the influence of some external stimuli, this phenomenon is called 4D printing [30]. Whereas, soft robotics is a broad term that includes actuators, artificial muscles, soft stretchable sensors, soft energy harvesting, pneumatic nets, electroactive polymers and soft electronics. The soft robotics is the field of mimicking of a natural organism using smart materials. This artificial organism paradigm has not only mimicked the shape and motion of some natural organism but now it is also going to exploit all the traits of a natural organism. The revolution in 3D printing has accelerated the progress in soft robotics; it involves two types of contributions: direct printing of smart materials, and 3D printing of moulds for soft robotics. We have spotlighted this review with both types of additive manufacturing in soft robotics. Smart materials which have been used in soft robotics or actuators for soft robotics are dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs), hydrogels, electroactive polymers (EAPs), SMAs, shape memory polymers (SMPs) and FEAs.
Technologies used in responsive facade systems: a comparative study
Published in Intelligent Buildings International, 2022
Negar Heidari Matin, Ali Eydgahi
Electroactive polymers (EAPs) are a group of ultra-lightweight, fixable, and smart materials that change their size and shape based on environmental conditions (Stoughton 2017). These materials are composed of a polymeric membrane that is sandwiched between two electrodes. Applying a high voltage to these materials causes deformation in the polymer because of electrostatic forces that exist between the two electrodes (Mondia 2014). As illustrated in Figure 9, the Decker Yeadon LLC has utilized the adaptation features of EAPs to design a prototype to control daylight penetration of a Homeostatic facade system in 2011. This system contains a flexible core covered with EAP-actuators that are capable of bending based on expansion and contraction of the material (Minner 2011).