Abstract
A transparent and electroactive plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) gel was investigated to use as a soft actuator for artificial muscle applications. PVC gels were prepared with varying plasticizer (dibutyl adipate, DBA) content. The prepared PVC gels were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and dynamic mechanical analysis. The DBA content in the PVC gel was shown to have an inverse relationship with both the storage and loss modulus. The electromechanical performance of PVC gels was demonstrated for both single-layer and stacked multi-layer actuators. When voltage was applied to a single-layer actuator and then increased, the maximum displacement of PVC gels (for PVC/DBA ratios of 1:4, 1:6, and 1:8) was increased from 105.19, 123.67, and 135.55 µm (at 0.5 kV) to 140.93, 157.13, and 172.94 µm (at 1.0 kV) to 145.03, 191.34, and 212.84 µm (at 1.5 kV), respectively. The effects of graphene oxide (GO) addition in the PVC gel were also investigated. The inclusion of GO (0.1 wt.%) provided an approximate 20% enhancement of displacement and 41% increase in force production, and a 36% increase in power output for the PVC/GO gel over traditional plasticizer only PVC gel. The proposed PVC/GO gel actuator may have promising applications in artificial muscle, small mechanical devices, optics, and various opto-electro-mechanical devices due to its low-profile, transparency, and electrical response characteristics.
Highlights
Polymer based artificial muscles have seen great interest from the research community because they demonstrate large strains, have a high response rates, and have a large power output in response to changes of external factors like temperature, pH, light, and electric field[1,2,3,4,5]
The spectra show the peak at 1,732 cm−1 which corresponds with the carbonyl group (C = O) bands in the dibutyl adipate (DBA) and Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) gels
While at 1.5 kV they show displacements of 212.84 μm and 240.13 μm (13%), respectively. This shows an approximate 20% enhancement on average across all voltage ranges for PVC/Graphene oxide (GO) gels over PVC gels
Summary
Polymer based artificial muscles have seen great interest from the research community because they demonstrate large strains, have a high response rates, and have a large power output in response to changes of external factors like temperature, pH, light, and electric field[1,2,3,4,5]. Dielectric elastomer actuators are another type of EAP actuator where great focus has been applied and a variety of applications have been developed including fluid pumps, variable focus lenses, and conformal skins[7,8]. This type of actuator requires high voltages (often >1 kV) because high electric fields (~100 V/μm) are necessary for actuation[9]. Electrophoresis happens when the electric field is applied to the GO suspension, the charged GO move toward the oppositely charged electrode driven by the electric force[23]
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