Large nonlinear deflection behavior of IPMC actuators analyzed with an electromechanical model

Abstract

This study presents an electromechanical engineering model for the analysis of the large deflection curves of ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) cantilever actuators under direct current (DC) voltages. In this paper, the longitudinal normal strain performance of the material was investigated using digital image correlation on a micro-scale. The deflection of the actuator is analytically obtained with the application of an elliptic integration method based on the relationship between strain gradient and excitation voltage, and the minimum excitation voltage is derived based on the assumption that the actuators have small deformations. The validity of the electromechanical model is then justified with the experimental results obtained from Pt- and Ag-IPMC actuators at various excitation voltages. The findings of this study confirm that the introduced electromechanical model can accurately describe the large nonlinear deflection behavior of IPMC actuators.