scholarly journals Electroactive Polymers Obtained by Conventional and Non-Conventional Technologies

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (16) ◽  
pp. 2713
Author(s):  
Akel F. Kanaan ◽  
Ana C. Pinho ◽  
Ana P. Piedade
Keyword(s):  
Electroactive Polymers ◽  
Polymer Processing ◽  
Processing Technique ◽  
Electrical Stimulus ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
Artificial Muscles ◽  
Electromechanical Properties ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Soft Actuators

Electroactive polymers (EAPs), materials that present size/shape alteration in response to an electrical stimulus, are currently being explored regarding advanced smart devices, namely robotics, valves, soft actuators, artificial muscles, and electromechanical sensors. They are generally prepared through conventional techniques (e.g., solvent casting and free-radical polymerization). However, non-conventional processes such as those included in additive manufacturing (AM) are emerging as a novel approach to tune and enhance the electromechanical properties of EAPs to expand the scope of areas for this class of electro-responsive material. This review aims to summarize the published work (from the last five years) in developing EAPs either by conventional or non-conventional polymer processing approaches. The technology behind each processing technique is discussed as well as the main mechanism behind the electromechanical response. The most common polymer-based materials used in the design of current EAPs are reviewed. Therefore, the main conclusions and future trends regarding EAPs obtained by conventional and non-conventional technologies are also given.

Enhancement of the Mechanical Properties of PEBAX Graphene Nanocomposite Using Supercritical Fluid Assisted Extrusion Polymer Processing Technique

2017 ◽  
Vol 883 ◽  
pp. 75-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nireeksha Karode ◽  
Laurence Fitzhenry ◽  
Siobhán Matthews ◽  
Philip Walsh ◽  
Austin Coffey
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Supercritical Carbon Dioxide ◽  
Mechanical Performance ◽  
Mechanical Analysis ◽  
Polymer Processing ◽  
Processing Technique ◽  
Graphene Nanocomposites ◽  
Mechanical Tensile ◽  
Supercritical Carbon

Medical tubing used in minimally invasive devices presents a number of design considerations depending on the material used, design requirements (such as sufficient stiffness, flexibility and biocompatibility) and processing conditions. Currently, manufacturing industries adopt co-extrusion systems to meet design specifications, by using multilayer configuration leading to higher cost per device and increased complexity. This paper investigates the mechanical performance of nanocomposites using supercritical carbon dioxide assisted polymer processing technique. The use of innovative medical compounds such as PEBAX graphene nanocomposites have resulted in measurable improvements in mechanical properties. This study also presents the effect of supercritical carbon dioxide on the mechanical and physical properties of the polymer matrix. The mechanical properties have been investigated using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) and mechanical tensile test, where sufficient reinforcement was observed depending on the composition of graphene within PEBAX matrix. ATR-FTIR was used to further analyze the effect of supercritical carbon dioxide and interactions within the polymer composite matrix.

scholarly journals Implementation of Soft-Lithography Techniques for Fabrication of Bio-Inspired Multi-Layer Dielectric Elastomer Actuators with Interdigitated Mechanically Compliant Electrodes

Actuators ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mert Corbaci ◽  
Wayne Walter ◽  
Kathleen Lamkin-Kennard
Keyword(s):  
Soft Lithography ◽  
Skeletal Muscles ◽  
Actuation Voltage ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Humanoid Robots ◽  
Dielectric Elastomer ◽  
Industrial Robots ◽  
Artificial Muscles ◽  
Dielectric Elastomer Actuators ◽  
Soft Actuators

Advancements in software engineering have enabled the robotics industry to transition from the use of giant industrial robots to more friendly humanoid robots. Soft robotics is one of the key elements needed to advance the transition process by providing a safer way for robots to interact with the environment. Electroactive polymers (EAPs) are one of the best candidate materials for the next generation of soft robotic actuators and artificial muscles. Lightweight dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) provide optimal properties such as high elasticity, rapid response rates, mechanical robustness and compliance. However, for DEAs to become widely used as artificial muscles or soft actuators, there are current limitations, such as high actuation voltage requirements, control of actuation direction, and scaling, that need to be addressed. The authors’ approach to overcome the drawbacks of conventional DEAs is inspired by the natural skeletal muscles. Instead of fabricating a large DEA device, smaller sub-units can be fabricated and bundled together to form larger actuators, similar to the way myofibrils form myocytes in skeletal muscles. The current study presents a novel fabrication approach, utilizing soft lithography and other microfabrication techniques, to allow fabrication of multilayer stacked DEA structures, composed of hundreds of micro-sized DEA units.

scholarly journals Mid and Near-Infrared Reflection Spectral Database of Natural Organic Materials in the Cultural Heritage Field

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Invernizzi ◽  
Tommaso Rovetta ◽  
Maurizio Licchelli ◽  
Marco Malagodi
Keyword(s):  
Near Infrared ◽  
Organic Materials ◽  
Protective Coatings ◽  
Total Reflection ◽  
Reflection Mode ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Infrared Reflection ◽  
Detailed Interpretation ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Spectral Database

This study presents mid and near-infrared (7500-375 cm−1) total reflection mode spectra of several natural organic materials used in artworks as binding media, consolidants, adhesives, or protective coatings. A novel approach to describe and interpret reflectance bands as well as calculated absorbance after Kramers-Kronig transformation (KKT) is proposed. Transflection mode spectra have represented a valuable support both to study the distorted reflectance bands and to validate the applicability and usefulness of the KK correction. The aim of this paper is to make available to scientists and conservators a comprehensive infrared reflection spectral database, together with its detailed interpretation, as a tool for the noninvasive identification of proteins, lipids, polysaccharides, and resins by means of portable noncontact FTIR spectrometers.

scholarly journals Design a blockchain-based middleware layer in the Internet of Things Architecture

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanweer Alam
Keyword(s):  
Internet Of Things ◽  
Fog Computing ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Generation Computing ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
Iot Devices ◽  
The Internet Of Things

In next-generation computing, the role of cloud, internet and smart devices will be capacious. Nowadays we all are familiar with the word smart. This word is used a number of times in our daily life. The Internet of Things (IoT) will produce remarkable different kinds of information from different resources. It can store big data in the cloud. The fog computing acts as an interface between cloud and IoT. The extension of fog in this framework works on physical things under IoT. The IoT devices are called fog nodes, they can have accessed anywhere within the range of the network. The blockchain is a novel approach to record the transactions in a sequence securely. Developing a new blockchains based middleware framework in the architecture of the Internet of Things is one of the critical issues of wireless networking where resolving such an issue would result in constant growth in the use and popularity of IoT. The proposed research creates a framework for providing the middleware framework in the internet of smart devices network for the internet of things using blockchains technology. Our main contribution links a new study that integrates blockchains to the Internet of things and provides communication security to the internet of smart devices.

A Comprehensive Study on Internet of Things Based on Key Artificial Intelligence Technologies and Industry 4.0

2021 ◽  
pp. 171-191
Author(s):  
Banu Çalış Uslu ◽  
Seniye Ümit Oktay Fırat
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Internet Of Things ◽  
Information Exchange ◽  
Industry 4.0 ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Smart Devices ◽  
Complex Environments ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Key Technologies ◽  
Shed Light

Under uncertainty, understanding and controlling complex environments is only possible with an ability to use distributed computing by the way of information exchange between devices to be able to understand the response of the system to a particular problem. From transformation of raw data in a huge distribution of network into the meaningful information, to use the understood knowledge to make rapid decisions needs to have a network composed of smart devices. Internet of things (IoT) is a novel approach, where these smart devices can communicate with each other by using key technologies of artificial intelligence (AI) in order to make timely autonomous decisions. This emerging technical advancement and realization of horizontal and vertical integration caused the fourth stage of industrialization (Industry 4.0). The objective of this chapter is to give detailed information on both IoT based on key AI technologies and Industry 4.0. It is expected to shed light on new work to be done by providing explanations about the new areas that will emerge with this new technology.

Keywords Recognition from EEG Signals on Smart Devices a Novel Approach

2021 ◽  
pp. 83-94
Author(s):  
Sushil Pandharinath Bedre ◽  
Subodh Kumar Jha ◽  
Prashant Borde ◽  
Chandrakant Patil ◽  
Bharati Gawali ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Smart Devices ◽  
Eeg Signals ◽  
Novel Approach

scholarly journals Application and Analysis of an Ionic Liquid Gel in a Soft Robot

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Chenghong Zhang ◽  
Bin He ◽  
Zhipeng Wang ◽  
Yanmin Zhou ◽  
Aiguo Ming
Keyword(s):  
Ionic Liquid ◽  
Uv Light ◽  
Electroactive Polymers ◽  
Electroactive Polymer ◽  
Soft Robot ◽  
Polymer Gel ◽  
Basic Module ◽  
Soft Actuator ◽  
New Type ◽  
Soft Actuators

Due to their light weight, flexibility, and low energy consumption, ionic electroactive polymers have become a hotspot for bionic soft robotics and are ideal materials for the preparation of soft actuators. Because the traditional ionic electroactive polymers, such as ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs), contain water ions, a soft actuator does not work properly upon the evaporation of water ions. An ionic liquid polymer gel is a new type of ionic electroactive polymer that does not contain water ions, and ionic liquids are more thermally and electrochemically stable than water. These liquids, with a low melting point and a high ionic conductivity, can be used in ionic electroactive polymer soft actuators. An ionic liquid gel (ILG), a new type of soft actuator material, was obtained by mixing 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMIMBF4), hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), diethoxyacetophenone (DEAP) and ZrO2 and then polymerizing this mixture into a gel state under ultraviolet (UV) light irradiation. An ILG soft actuator was designed, the material preparation principle was expounded, and the design method of the soft robot mechanism was discussed. Based on nonlinear finite element theory, the deformation mechanism of the ILG actuator was deeply analyzed and the deformation of the soft robot when grabbing an object was also analyzed. A soft robot was designed with the soft actuator as the basic module. The experimental results show that the ILG soft robot has good driving performance, and the soft robot can grab a 105 mg object at an input voltage of 3.5 V.

scholarly journals Graphene/silver nanoflower hybrid coating for improved cycle performance of thermally-operated soft actuators

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengxu Piao ◽  
Ji Won Suk
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Hybrid Coating ◽  
Cycle Performance ◽  
Artificial Muscles ◽  
Pristine Graphene ◽  
Pulsed Current ◽  
Enhanced Heat Transfer ◽  
Graphene Flakes ◽  
Sewing Threads ◽  
Soft Actuators

Abstract Twisted and coiled actuators (TCAs), fabricated by twisting cheap nylon sewing threads, have attracted a great deal of attention for their use as artificial muscles or soft actuators. Since the dynamic behavior of a thermally-operated TCA is governed by its thermal properties, graphene and silver nanoflowers (AgNFs) were spray-coated onto the surface of an actuator to achieve enhanced heat transfer. Addition of AgNFs improves interfacial thermal contacts between graphene flakes, while pristine graphene flakes have extremely high in-plane thermal conductivity. Thus, the synergistic effect of graphene and AgNFs reduced the total cycle time of the TCA by up to 38%. Furthermore, when a pulsed current with a 40% duty cycle was applied to the TCA, the graphene/AgNF-coated TCA exhibited a threefold larger peak-to-peak amplitude of the displacement oscillation of the actuator, as compared to that of the non-coated TCA, which demonstrates that the combination of graphene and AgNFs effectively reduced a cooling time of the TCA. This work shows great potential for a simple coating of graphene and AgNFs to produce high-performance thermally-operated soft actuators.

High Performance Electroactive Polymers and Nano-composites for Artificial Muscles

2006 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shihai Zhang ◽  
Cheng Huang ◽  
Rob J. Klein ◽  
Feng Xia ◽  
Q. M. Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Electroactive Polymers ◽  
Nano Composites ◽  
Artificial Muscles

Novel Approach for Tension Testing Micro Tubes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott W. Wagner ◽  
William J. Emblom ◽  
Kevin M. Johnson ◽  
Kahaan P. Shah ◽  
Navrose Handa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
Stainless Steel ◽  
Predictive Models ◽  
Testing Machine ◽  
Tube Hydroforming ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
New Process ◽  
Tension Testing ◽  
Materials Used ◽  
Book Values

Due to the miniaturization of products, new or modified processes are required to create small components. With the development of these new processes, it is also important to establish methods to evaluate the mechanical properties of the materials used in these components. These properties are necessary for accurately creating representative predictive models and simulations. At the same time, this evaluation can be challenging as sampling specimens become smaller the securing and handling of these smaller specimens becomes very difficult. Recently, researchers made studies to develop and model the micro tube hydroforming (MTHF) process. In many of these studies, the mechanical properties used were either traditional book values or were values obtained directly from the manufacturers. The question then becomes, how do the manufacturers determine their provided mechanical properties? The research in this study focuses on the development and testing of a new process to determine the mechanical properties of stainless steel micro tubes. Specifically, a set of clamps for securing a micro tube in a standard tension-testing machine were developed. A method for localizing the stress within the middle of a specimen was developed and the findings are presented in this paper.

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