Bending response optimization of an ionic polymer-metal composite actuator using orthogonal array method

Abstract

In the recent past decades, Ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMCs) have been researched in detail due to their flexible characteristics and light in weight. IPMC is most well-known electro-active polymers (EAPs), which can be used in the medical applications, biomimetic, micro robotic actuators, artificial muscles, dynamic sensors and underwater propulsions. Due to their large bending actuation with low voltage sources and biocompatibility, IPMCs are receiving more and more attention to many researchers in recent days. To reduce the experimental costs, the principal factors which are responsible for more bending response are designed in this work using Taguchi orthogonal array method. Multiple process parameters include input voltage and thickness of the fabricated Ag-IPMC actuator was optimized to produce a maximum bending response. Experiments were carried out using L9 orthogonal array to recognize the optimal process parameters. In the optimized conditions, the IPMC actuator exhibited a noteworthy improvement in bending deflection compared to the normal conditions. Under the application of 1.0 V, the bending response increases around 30% in the optimised condition compared to normal IPMC actuator. This study lays a solid foundation for developing high performance IPMC actuator where higher bending displacement is required i.e., in the robotic and biomimetic application with a very small input voltage.